Book: Thatha’s Pumpkin
Author: Lalita Iyer
Illustrator: Proiti Roy
Book type: Paperback
Age group: 3-6 years
First of all I thank kids book cafe for this lovely book which we won in #KbcKeepCalmAndReadOn Campaign. So glad we did. This is a must have book in every child’s book collection.
This is a story about a little girl (Tia) and her grandfather (Thatha). Thatha has grown a huge pumpkin on his farm and he is so proud of it. Tia feels he is a magician to grow such a huge pumpkin. Thatha had planned to prepare pumpkin halwa for Tia’s birthday and is excited about it.
The story has many lovely segments which draws our attention. Tia’s grandmother (Paati), however, was not very pleased to see such a huge pumpkin, which is occupying a lot of space in the house. Tia then suggests to share the pumpkin with their friends. Indeed, it was an excellent idea.
Paati and Tia make slices out of the pumpkin, pack it in a paper bag (one of the wonderful segments of the story – use of recycled/environment friendly products) and distribute it to their neighbours and friends. For each slice, the neighbours have a different pumpkin recipe that they mention! It’s so interesting to know the names of recipes where we can use pumpkin and make tasty dishes.
However, at the end, to Tatha’s surprise, only a small piece remains for him to prepare the halwa. It is then, we come to know about the another magician in the family. You need to read the book to find out. 🙂
The illustrations in the book are exquisitely textured that express the eventful journeys of each lovely slice and enhance the storytelling. Joy, my 3 year old son, enjoyed looking at Tia’s expression on each illustration on every page. The concept of her independence despite being a child, caught his attention!
The language used is quite simple for kids to read and enjoy every page. The quality of the pages is also very good.
The story exhibits many wonderful segments. One of them is that inspite we grow old, we should always have our hobbies and interests alive and have fun with our friend circles. And of course, the moral of the story, ‘Sharing is fun’ is very well explained at the end wherein all the friends and neighbours assemble at Tia’s birthday party with their Pumpkin dishes.
Apart from the beautiful story and enchanting illustrations, Joy was most curious about the different pumpkin recipes mentioned in the book. He has actually asked me to prepare them! Lol 🙂
Joy and I have enjoyed reading the story together. Looking forward to read more of Lalita Iyer’s books. This was our first book from Karadi Tales. We shall be adding more to our wishlist!
You can find other Karadi Tales books here, on Amazon.
If you like this review and wish to order this lovely book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
CLICK & BUY NOW!
