Book Name: GULGUL IN SEA-SAW GARA
Author & Illustrator: Ashok Rajagopalan
Type: Paperback
Age Group: 5-8 years
The Gajapati Kulapati famed author with an aim to make people, especially little people, laugh, has undoubtedly kept the reader, entertained and giggling throughout the book.
Little girl Gulgul along with her parents (and a secret member included), residing in planet GR33N, plan for a trip to a planet. Yes, you heard it right, a planet, C-54G4RA or See-Saw Gara, as preferred by Gulgul. They are up for an adventure ride in a planet that is a giant water park in itself where everyone lives in an aquarium, swimming in their living room. But wait, they are not alone. They have another family of four, parents with twin boys, and also a pilot and co-pilot along with them in their journey to this planet.
What starts as an exciting exploration into the land (rather, water) of sea flowers, corals, seabras, soon turns out to be a nightmare with the sighting of triopus, quadropus, pentopus (sounds familiar right? keep guessing!) and merlions. What awaits ahead is a sea of adventure with waves of laughter, fear, quick witted plans and learnings.
This book makes for a quick getaway into the world of wonders and creative imaginations.
What we both (myself & Miss. M – my 8.5 year old daughter) loved the most is the creative play with words – she found it funny while I found it clever. While for her it was all about how the words sounded and looked, for me it was the thoughtfulness in coining the words.
The author’s typical style (can also be seen in Gajapati Kulapati series) of usage of onomatopoeia makes the story come alive. What looked simple or at times nonsensical from an adult view has proven to be the most appealing point from a child’s view. It was a lovely sight to see Miss. M have a well spent noon with an one-stretch read of this book with bursts of laughter.
For the first time, what may look like a fun-filled adventure read, may actually give some insights on topics like food chain, breaking gender stereotypes and a curiosity for coining or understanding words over re-reads.
To summarize, this book makes for a great read if you are looking for a witty and fun-filled adventure ride, ready to give wings to your imagination.
Also keeping the choice of font and line space in the book, I will suggest this for kids who are in a transition phase from picture books to chapter books and also to those in the age group 7-10 and just starting out with reading .
But otherwise, you are always free to pick this up for a “train journey read” too, irrespective of age, if fun and laughter is what you look for.
Happy Reading 🙂
You can read reviews of the other books in this series Gulgul in Jungalu , Gulgul in Parapara on our site as well. There are some new releases in the Gulgul series. Check them out here on amazon. You can read Divit’s review of Gulgul in Papadom here.
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