Title : Changing the world…one bite at a time
Author : Anusha Gumber
Illustrator : Pankaj Singh Rathour.
Genre : Illustration Fiction ; Children’s fiction ; Veganism
Pages : 80
I received this Review Copy from Half Baked Beans in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Half Baked Beans and Book Marketing Consultant Richa Saxena!!
BLURB
Looking at the world through a “hooman” lens is so boring. If humans can eat, sleep, talk, and feel pain, so can dogs, cows, and chickens, or for that matter any other living being. What about a world where dogs protest against atrocities on calves or “hoomans” fight with other “hoomans” so that animals are treated with kindness and compassion? Changing the World: One Bite at a Time is a sparkling and ambitious book which aims to educate the world about veganism, a lifestyle choice and a movement that stems from humane effort to stop cruelty towards animals. The protagonist is Soldier James, a domesticated dog, who does not understand where Chicababy CoCo, his chicken friend, and Bachua, his calf friend, suddenly disappear. You have to read the story to find out how James deals and fights with so many problems, one bite at a time. From the world of humans, there is Radhika Didi, a young NGO worker who tries to to teach people that it is time to stop treating animals cruelly, considering that they are an important part of our universe. With colorful characters and witty twists, Changing the world is a funny and sensitive story for children, with a message for the young and adults alike.
REVIEW
Changing the World…one bite at a time is an illustrative book written by an eighteen year old author, Anusha Gumber. This book is written from the perspective of a dog named Soldier James. The way this dog sees the world and perceive things will tend to change the mindsets of the readers. The illustrations in this book plays an important role, these amazing illustrations has been done by Pankaj Singh Rathour.
This book has veganism as the central theme of it. How a dog feels guilty for eating fellow chickens and cows as it’s meal and the turmoil it undergoes. The author has beautifully tried to convey the feelings of the animals which are being killed for sake of filling our tummies. This book was also informative where the author has informed us about the benefits of being a Vegan and how it can be healthy to our body as well as the environment. She has also broken a lot of myths revolving around Veganism. The idea behind this book was good.
The storyline of the book could have been a bit more elaborate. For instance, Radhika, one of the lead characters in the book goes to an animal farm to convince their owners into being considerate towards their cows, like asking them to stop using steriod to yeild more milk. She only says this once and just like that these farm owners decides to be considerate, it felt kind of unreal. Let us be realistic, because no one is going to that selfless and stop injecting their cows, these people’s incomes are based upon the milk produced by cows so they won’t do it immediately. The next thing which could have been better was the layout of the book, I read the ebook version of it, many pages had only texts, it could have been a combination of both illustrations and texts throughout. It could have increased the readability of the book.
On the world, this book would be immensely enjoyed by young readers and kids. It also has the capacity to change their eating habits and lifestyle.
MY VIEWS
Now, I am someone who would like to call myself as a pure Non-Vegetarian lol that’s how much I like eating meat. I can understand the turmoil undergone by the poor animals but this is the lifestyle I have been brought up with. All I can do is empathize with this book to some level but will I apply it to my life? I don’t think I can do it in the near future.
At certain places this book talks against eating Beef. Well, we live in a country where people are dictated what to eat and not to eat. So this made me feel uncomfortable. And in a country like India, right now Veganism feels like a luxury. I personally don’t know whether it is advisable to convert to veganism when there is so much malnourishment prevailing globally.
On a personal level, this is not a book or an area which would interest me because I don’t see myself becoming a Vegan anytime soon but none the less this book was an amazing effort by the author to take a stand for what she believes and practices and it should be encouraged.
This book would be enjoyed and be useful to people who are into Veganism or Vegetarians who are planning to switch to veganism. And if you want your kids to understand why you are opting for Veganism, this book could be a useful one to help them understand.
My rating for this book would be 2.4 out of 5 stars
Get hold of this book here!
Happy Reading Folks!
~ Meenu
