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Young World
Spooky tales
PAROMITA PAIN
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Meet a super cool medicine woman who can work wonders!
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Margaret Bhatty Chicken Mama and other stories is about some wonderful, unusual and truly lovely people who are a pleasure to meet. From the very start the book makes you wonder and isn’t that what all interesting books are supposed to make you do? Who do you think Chicken Mama is? Certainly not some hen who lost its identity in a
tandoor! Instead she is super cool with spiky hair and a medicine woman who can turn time backwards to boot. Some talent, isn’t it?
What is it that you don’t know about ghosts? Well, you must know two things about them and Spooky’s tale begins with them. Spooky and the professor is a funny story about an attention seeking ghost faintly reminiscent of Eba Ebotson’s (a writer and lauder of the ghostly world) stories but if you haven’t read her you wouldn’t know. And Spooky isn’t the only one here. The genie of the yantra is another and his adventures with Das Babu make for a hilarious read.
Meet Husky the dog who smiles a lot. Did you just say dogs can’t smile? You will turn ardent believer after you finish reading Sammy.
Gentle, humorous and rather friendly in tone, the tales are page turners simply because their simple plots are riveting in their warmth. Meant for young children, they are ideal ‘read alouds’.
The illustrations by Priyanka Gupta are a delight. They are simple and retain their pencil sketch quality in print and will encourage young readers to draw as well. They add to the mood of the tales and it’s a pity they don’t adorn too many pages.
CHICKEN MAMA AND OTHER STORIES by Margaret Bhatty, A Puffin original, Rs 175
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