* Winner of the SCBWI 2019 Crystal Kite Award (Middle East/Asia/India region).
Book: The Clever Tailor
Author: Srividhya Venkat
Hardcover
Ages: 4-7 years
It was like a trip to Rajasthan. The bright colours and the traditional dresses. So much of culture and wonderful illustrations. My five year boy and I loved this story book. Everything about it.
The Clever Tailor is a book which is fun and enjoyable and most importantly totally Indian! I really wanted a book for my child which was a fun read and yes, knowing me as a mom that had a bit of a lesson too.
I wanted something different than foreign tales. I love foreign books too but they don’t give the same morals and ethnic belonging that our Indian books do. I wanted something that I and my boy could relate to and connect with as our own. So I picked up The Clever Tailor.
We have Indian mythology themed books such as Ganesha and Hanuman (read review here). We have also read festival based story books such as Amma, tell me about Holi. This book was not like those. It is a simple tale of an Indian tailor and his family.
The story is about a clever tailor who with a cloth stitches a saffa for himself and then turns it to a dress for his wife, and then turns it to cloth for his son and finally a small dress for his daughter’s doll. Talk about cloth recycling! Quite imaginative. While reading the book my boy did ask, “Ma, What is saffa?” I then proudly explained that is is our tradition head dress for men.
The colours, animation and overall themes makes this just an enjoyable read. My boy read this with me and we both decided to plan a trip to Rajasthan. Such books really make me proud of our traditions and attires.
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