A Grandmother’s Kitchen Adventures – Biji’s in the Kitchen! [Review]

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Book Title: Biji’s in the Kitchen (Hook Book)
Author: Natasha Sharma
Illustrator:  Sonal Gupta
Publisher: Duckbill Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House India)
Type: Paperback
Pages: 40 pages
Age Group: 5-8 years

A funny tale about persistence, uniqueness and breaking stereotypes

Biji’s in the kitchen is a funny book with a strong message breaking stereotypes. Ishani and I have read this book multiple times and every time we have found it absolutely hilarious.

The book celebrates the bond between a grandmother and her granddaughter. This grandmother, called Biji by her granddaughter, is a strong and confident woman. Biji is a lot of things – a freedom fighter, an excellent motorcyclist, a learner, but unlike most other grandmothers, she is not a great cook. That does not mean she does not try; she does, but she believes only in freestyle cooking so she will not refer to any recipe books. This leaves the family making excuses for not trying her dishes which usually turn out tasting pretty bad. But Biji makes everyone try her food and she does not hesitate to admit the flaws in her cooking. She loves learning new things. She likes mixing up flavours and creating mishmash dishes along with her granddaughter. Isn’t she the coolest granny breaking the stereotypical granny image we all have in our minds?

Ishani and I had multiple conversations on how her Nani is an excellent cook and how Biji is so different, yet so similar to her own Nani. We discussed how despite failing multiple times in her kitchen adventures, Biji is persistent and how like all grandparents, she loves her granddaughter. Most important of all, we discussed how the granddaughter always makes an effort not to hurt her Biji’s feelings despite the food being difficult to gulp down.

The language is easy for a 5 year old to understand and the illustrations are really cute.

Will Biji succeed in her cooking adventures? If you have a 5+ year old who enjoys funny books while you want them to read books with messages, Hook Books are a perfect choice. These books are not preachy but they give us such beautiful topics to talk about with our little ones.

There are other Hook Books published by Duckbill which are just as funny and engaging as this book is. You can read reviews of other hook books, KITTEN TROUBLE here. And Shoo! Crow here. Not to miss, 
I Want A Pet!, Cyrus the Whyrus, Passepartout, Is That You?
Get Hooked: The Hook Book Box Set – a set of 11 Hook Books (440 pages) is also available which works out to be more economical!

Should you wish to join Biji and her granddaughter in their kitchen saga, you order your copy from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),

CLICK & BUY NOW!

Disclaimer: Prachi is part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc.