Title: Story of the Ordinary
Author: Deepika Bhalla
Genre: Children’s book
Pages: 75
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
Visit the beautiful lanes of India to meet the wonderful hands that create magic with three stories about the extraordinariness of the people assumed ordinary. The stories are about the interaction between children and skilled labourers and how, with short experiences, they understand the value and support each of them brings to us all.
The beauty, however, lies in the emptiness of the characters. An opportunity for our readers to empathise with the characters and fill in the facial expressions and colours, matching their imagination.
So read, feel and fill!!!!!
REVIEW
Story of the Ordinary by Deepika Bhalla is an amazing children’s book with extraordinary and unique elements to it. This uniqueness of the book will entice the young readers and will them engaged throughout the book. Story of the Ordinary consists of three stories, as it is shown on the cover, one story talks about a Junk Man, another is about a Potter and the other about one is about a Blacksmith. These three stories will enable the children to realise the importance of all these professions and the people doing them.
Before coming the storyline, narration and all of that. Let us focus on the interesting and engaging part of this book. This book is filled with a lot of pictures. The book is alternated with stories and pictures. The interesting part is that the readers can colour these pictures, which would be fun for young readers. More than that, what this book will do to the readers is, they will also be able to understand and empathise with the characters. Teaching empathy to young kids would be really hard and it might take a long time for them to understand empathy but with the help of this book, they will be able to understand the concept. How exactly? The author has left the faces of the characters blank and the children are encouraged to draw the expression of the characters based on their understanding after reading the book. These drawings will also help the parents understand how their children perceived the story. And it’s a win-win for both parents and children.
Coming to the stories, all the stories have been written precisely in simple language. The author has a knack for explaining small and complex things in a way a little kid can understand. All three stories were heart-warming and will fill the readers’ hearts with happiness and satisfaction. Of course, it is a children’s book and it definitely has good morals which will make the kids more sensible and help them grow up into amazing humans. The narrative style was on-point, clear and engaging.
This book is recommended to all children who can read and understand them, probably above 6 years. But do not behold your kids from experiencing the joy of reading this awesome book. If your child can’t read yet, read the book for them and colour with them. They would definitely love this quality time with their parents.
MY VIEWS
I read a children’s book after a long time and I always love reading children’s books. I’m super glad I got to read this book. I read this book in a jiffy and started my colouring work. I didn’t have a colour pencil kit but that wouldn’t stop me from bringing out the child in me. I ordered a colour pencil box from Zepto and started colouring in no time.
I know I didn’t do such a great job in colouring this super cool book but yeah, the intent matters right? If this book can make a full-grown adult start colouring then think about your kids and how it will make them feel.
Another interesting fact, the moment I completed the book, my new neighbour’s three-year-old kid came to my house. I didn’t know how to entertain her so I asked her whether she likes stories and she said yes. We had a language barrier but found a middle ground and I successfully narrated the first story to her. And she loved it. From the next day onwards she started coming to my house and started asking for stories. Since I have narrated all three stories to her, now I’m short of stories. Now, I’m gonna selfishly put some pressure on the author, she needs to write more such stories asap. I have a better idea, maybe the author should make it a series and write stories about various other professions and make children understand these professions.
I personally loved the Potter’s story, and after reading that I wanted to try my hands on pottery. My pottery-loving friend and I are planning to attend a class in real soon.
My rating for this book would be 5 out of 5 stars
Do buy this book for your kids and make them experience it.
Happy Reading folks!
~ Meenu
