Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Title: Heidi

Author: Johanna Spyri

Type read: Abridged

Publication: Tiny Tot Publications

Price: INR 50

Review By: Vidhi Sethi (10 years)

Heidi, one of the best classic kidlit books of English language is a wonderful story. It is about an orphan little girl named Heidi who is brought up by her maternal aunt, until Heidi is four. When her aunt gets a good job, she leaves her in her uncle's house.She is very happy in the beautiful  Swiss Alps. Her only kid companion is a herds boy named Peter.

But after sometime, her aunt comes back and takes her away to Frankfurt again, where Heidi is sent to school for the first time. She is very unhappy with the new city life and becomes very thin and sickly. She also meets Clara there. But for her health, the doctor advises that she must go back to the mountains to get well. She is extremely happy to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps again.

 

It is truly a beautiful story. It is best for young readers. 

Have a good time reading!!!

No Talking by Andrew Clements

Title: No Talking

Author: Andrew Clements

Illustrator: Mark Elliot

ISBN: 978-1-4169-0984-2

Publication: Autheneum Books

The story of 'No Talking' revolves around a bunch of fifth graders from Laketon Elementary School in New Jersey. They were considered the most talkative class in the history of the school and were thus comically named as 'The Unshushables' by their teachers.

One fine day, a student Dave Packer, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's a-day per week vow of silence,decides to not talk for as long as he could. An interesting scheme of events lead Dave to challenge his classmate Lynsey Burgess into a boys vs girls "no talking" competition, in which they were not allowed to speak for two whole days!

The most interesting part of the book is to see how the students act and react in the given situation and how their behaviour shapes the ultimate fate of the contest. It is also incredible how the teachers, though utterly distraught by the talkative nature of the kids, also get perturbed by the new setting and how one teacher sees a new opportunity in it.

I would personally recommend this book to all kidlit lovers as it is a true delight for the readers. The story gives a deep insight into the psychology of the children and their adult mentors and how, even though similar, their individual behaviours tend to vary. How the children started of as a lot divided among themselves, stand up unanimous when formally asked to break apart.

A perfect pleasure read.

wild From lost to found on the pacific crest trail

Title : wild From lost to found on the pacific crest trail

Author : Cheryl Strayed

Publisher : Knopf

Genere: Biography/Adventure/Soul searching

Pages:311

Price: $25.95

“It had only to do with how it felt to be in the wild.With what it was like to walk for miles for no reason other than to witness the accumulation of the trees and meadows ,mountains and deserts,streams and rocks,rivers and grasses,sunrises and sunsets.The experience was powerful and fundamental.It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild,and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way”

Hiking is an invigorating activity which people undertake for a multitude of reasons.For some it is a getaway,for some photography and love for nature while for some it is workout and the ecstasy from  hard labour. Personally I have been hiking on and off to get away from the comforts of life and  to be in the wild.But there are people like Cheryl who set out on a trail to find themselves , to get rid of the past in order to make a new beginning.Still whatever be the purpose the 3 month journey of Cheryl pursuing the Pacific Crest Trail(PCT) was equally preposterous and inspiring.

Ideally on such long trails people trek in groups but going solo and that too without much prior experience of trekking somewhat tells you desperate Cheryl was.Things were not good in her life and her past was quite gloomy too.She lost her mother of cancer,parted with her siblings , broke up her marriage , was under drug abuse for a short period of time and on the top of all these got herself pregnant. However among all these things the loss of her mother was profound and throughout the trail she speaks of her mother.She desperately needed to get away from her dark past and so she packed her bag.“There,I’d walk and think about my entire life.I’d find my strength again,far from everything that had made my life ridiculous.” 

There are few things about Cheryl’s venture that makes this book an exciting read.Her under preparedness for the trip makes it quite different from other trekking stories. Not only was she new to the world of navigation her knowledge of the trail was confined to one book which was a Bible for her.She was the only woman on the trail and owing to her solo attempt she had a very heavy backpack.To add to her woes her shoes were not proper and was running low on cash.In the beginning of the trip she was unsure and the heavy snowing made her change mind but eventually she felt that she had to traverse the path and so did it.

Cheryl read a good number of books on the trail and the books are mentioned in the glossary. While many people postponed their hiking plans to next year owing to the heavy snow,she did not give up though at time she was marked by trepidation.She had to take a detour to avoid the snowy patch but eventually she stayed on her way.A lot of times in the first month of the trail she talks of her mother,reminiscing of the past where she had a happy life with her mom.I liked the idea when she mentions about her not shedding tears and also how she wanted to be a writer. It really felt good to read this book for it clearly is a sign of her dream coming true.

On a trail 1100 miles long one needs something more than courage to go on.For some it may be a dream but for Cheryl it was redemption.Not only did she had the encounters with the bears,rattlesnakes and other wild animals but also she witnessed the beauty of the wild.Hot,humid,wet,chilly weather that she witnessed was quite in contrast to the multitude of people she met on her trek.The last chapter when she reaches the Bridge of the Gods is enchanting and pretty much sums up the book. Read this astounding tale of courage and be inspired.

Rating: 4.0/5

Stanley And The Magic Lamp by Jeff Brown

Title : Stanley and the magic lamp

Author :Jeff Brown

Publisher : Harper Collins

Review by : Raghav Sharma (10 years)

A boy named Stanley Lambchop lived in America. There was a time when Stanley was flat, can you believe that - a flat boy? Can you guess how he became flat? The answer is that a bulletin board had fallen over him while was sleeping. And while being flat, Stanley conveniently visited various kingdoms of adventures. But in 'Stanley and The Magic Lamp', Stanley is round and normal again.

When Stanley and his  younger brother Authur were doing their homework, they caught sight of a lamp on their table . Stanley rubbed it and surprisingly a genie came out of it. His name was - Prince Fawzi Mustafa Aslan Mirza Melek Namerd Haraz. Now the whole Lambchop family experiences various magics in their lives by wishing upon the genie like Mrs. Lambchop could now fulfill her wish to be famous , Stanley and Authur could fly and Mr. Lambchop could play the best tennis in the whole world. 

And now its your job to read the book to know more about the wonders that genie brought in the lives of Lampchop family.

I feel it is a great read for children between the age group 6-10 yrs and I will look forward to reading more of Stanley's adventures myself. 

Detective Camp by Ron Roy

Title: Detective Camp
Series: A to Z Mysteries, Super Edition 1
Author: Ron Roy
Illustrator: John Steven Gurney
Publication: Random House

With apprehensions in my mind and fingers crossed, I picked up this book from the World Book Fair 2012, Delhi, for my sister. Though the book looked good, I only hoped that it could make an interesting read.

'Detective Camp' under the A to Z Mystery series is a fantasy story of three children - Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose, who go to a certain Detective Camp, to spend their summer vacation. There they meet a number of wonderful people like Mario, detective Robb, some crazy creatures like Mote, the remote eating goat, Ronald the rooster and some suspicion arousing people like Musee, Buzzy and so on.

The kids have a lot of fun with the camp activities where they are allowed to swim, take part in archery, nature walks, crafts and a lot of other fun games, besides a complex treasure hunt, of course. It is here that these three kids start to smell something fishy about the ongoing activities and contact Detective Robb with all their evidences gathered. It is extremely interesting to read how the little kids prevent a huge scam from taking place. At no point the reading of this novel turns a self-forced labour.

I haven't read any other book by Ron Roy, but I can imagine him as the next Enid Blyton. This is a particularly mesmerizing book, a must read for all kids and kidlit lovers.

Rating: 4.5/5

Dancing To Your Heart's Desire by Laxmi Hickhad

Title: Dancing To Your Heart’s Desire

Author: Laxmi Hichkad

Publication: Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.

ISBN: 978-81-288-3663-3

The author has narrated the story using the beautiful Indian state of Goa as a backdrop and its culture and social scene to depict and follow the lives of girlfriends Kimberly, Anjali, Sanjana and Maya. The young girls are on the last leg of their medical studies and are doing their internship in a hospital. The author through the girls makes you experience myriad of emotions, the exuberance of the young people, the helplessness and the frustration of not being able to help a friend, Sia, who is seriously ill, the romance of Sanjana and Sameer, the pain of having loved and lost with Maya and Vishal, the infatuation and the power of a crush with Anjali and Sean and a totally different emotion with Kimberly, Ronaque and Sachin. All this added up with the day to day life in a hospital, where the young doctor’s fortitude, integrity, honesty and courage are tested, completes the story. 

Do read on to find out how these girls cope up with their lives? What do they do for Sia? Are they successful in their endeavors? How things proceed in their love lives?

Laxmi Hichkad is a debutant author and a doctor herself. I found the story fast paced and interesting. Another thing that I liked about this book was that the author did not get derailed by getting into the details of medical profession. Inspite of it being based on doctors life and having a strong emotional angle, the author has ended it with such a finesse that it does not leave a cloud of gloom behind. The book overall makes a good pass time read.

Hyper Harry by Patricia H. Aust

Title : Hyper Harry

Author : Patricia H. Aust

The author Patricia H. Aust is a well informed person on ADHD as she had been on the CT Task Force on ADHD and was a school social worker working with children who had severe ADHD, while she wrote this book.

The story of 8-year old Harry is narrated in the voice of his elder brother 12-year old Ted, who finds it extremely challenging to deal with behavioral peculiarities of Harry. Many times he wants to avoid Harry but he also wants to help him when Harry gets into trouble because of no fault of his own. But it leads to situations when Ted finds himself confused and disturbed.

The story brings out the feelings, emotions, frustrations, desperation and turmoil of a young adult sharing space with a hyperactive sibling and what all it needs from him/her to be a compassionate, understanding and loving brother or sister.

I have a couple of books dedicated to the symptoms of ADHD and how some of them can be mitigated with medication, continuous therapies and tender love and care but this is one of a few books which have brought the feelings of a sibling in the forefront and that I feel, is commendable.

Taking cues from her experience while working with children with ADHD, Patricia does mention how medication helped Harry to a certain extent but it cannot completely eliminate the problem. Through Hyper Harry, she has tried to address this problem keeping in mind the mental state and stress every individual of the family goes through trying to grapple with the situation. I found the story and narrative having a lot of potential, however, I felt the soul was missing from it. Somehow, it did not move me the way usually such stories do and should do. If I have to give one suggestion, I feel the parents role could have been discussed in a little more detail but this is my personal view.

The author recommends this book to be read with the child who is suffering from ADHD but I am not so sure about it. I would suggest parents to use their own discretion in considering this option.