Title: Taj Mahal – The Story Of A Wonder Of The World
Author: Tilottama Shome
Illustrator: Kavita Singh Kale
Publisher: Talking Cub
Type: Paperback
Pages: 128
Age group: 10 – 15 years
This book review is by my son Medhansh Dwivedi who is soon turning 11 and loves history & lego.
The Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world, that was built by Shah Jahan in the memory of his late wife Mumtaz Mahal. He built this magnificent structure from white marble. I received this book as a review copy from Kids Book Café since I am interested in history. It was the right choice as this book is awesome. The book was small yet so detailed, I loved this combination. To know more about the book read on.
This Taj Mahal book as I mentioned, goes into a lot of details that talk about how exactly the Taj Mahal was made. It takes you back to Humayun’s time when he took refuge in Persia. That is when Humayun became a Shia from Sunni. This conversion made the Taj Mahal’s architecture slightly Persian.
Did you know that the architecture of the Taj Mahal’s top dome is a double vaulted dome, which means the dome has two layers, interesting isn’t it?! What makes this monument remarkable is that the every part designed has been thought through well and carries a meaning. Shah Jahan visualized Taj Mahal as a garden from his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal in Jannat. In Shah Jahan’s time the Taj looked beautiful and had a huge complex around which is not there anymore. The complex was a large bazaar in Shah Jahan’s time and he divided it into four parts, but because of the city construction it is not there now.
There are many more such interesting facts in the book which will wow you with the magnificent wonder of the world. Read the book to find out those facts, which many don’t know. Here are some pieces of information which I liked about this book – the author included Humayun into the story and how he became Shia from Sunni and how it impacted the Architecture of the Taj Mahal. You would find some snippets of information written separately which also are very interesting. The author herself is an architect and she has included the layout of the Taj Mahal and she also has explained a lot of terms like double vaulted dome, a squinch – a wedge that sits on the top corner of a square space, pendentive, etc, which for me were new and quite informative.
I would recommend this book for 10 to 15 year olds but history buffs young or old can read this book too.
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