The monkeys of Matheran (2018; Pp: 32); The Horse, The Hare And The Cat (2017; Pp: 14); The Broken Bullock Cart (2017; Pp: 12); Chetan and Lollipop (2016; Pp: 10); Sam and Snowy (2016; Pp: 8) by Kersie Khambatta. Published by the author, P. O. Box 39226, Howick, Auckland 2145, New Zealand; email: kersiekhambatta@gmail.com; tel: 0064 27 2914115. Price: Rs 950 each.
These five delightful short stories by Kersie Khambatta (pictured), a writer of children’s stories based in Auckland, New Zealand,
beautifully and vividly illustrated by Eva Brichau, a recently graduated graphic designer, also based in Auckland and handsomely printed and published on glossy paper are a visual treat for children. The monkeys of Matheran is illustrated by Ahmedabad based Tejal (Beena) Mistry.
The language of the stories is simple, yet colorful and there is just enough text on every page to catch the attention of the young reader and keep his interest going. In Sam and Snowy, Sam gets stuck under the deck trying to rescue his pet white rabbit Snowy and has in turn to be rescued by the fire brigade. Chetan, the son of a warden at the Kaziranga rhino sanctuary and the protagonist of Chetan and Lollipop, always wanted a baby rhino as a pet. Fortune favors him; he finds one in a cave, brings it home and decides to rear it till his furious mother comes to rescue her baby and take it home. In The Broken Bullock Cart, Sunil — a boy from a poor family where the father owes the money lender substantial sums of money and the mother is frail and sickly — finds a broken bullock cart. His father is reluctant to help him repair the same so he takes the aid of his friend Anand, has the cart repaired by a friendly helpful carpenter, borrows bullocks from the village headman and takes part in a race at a fair with the hope of winning a prize and helping to alleviate the domestic financial condition. Khambatta, a semi-retired lawyer by profession, describes the fair with the snake charmer with his cobra and a man with a black bear, a picture vividly captured and portrayed by his illustrator. In The Horse, The Hare and The Cat, Dottie and her friend Paddy decide to race Mimi, the hare, against Flopsy, the horse, with amusing results.
Kersie Khambatta’s story books for children
The longest of the stories is The monkeys of Matheran. Khambatta describes Matheran with great perception: the journey by the toy train, the vicious monkeys, "the crazy rider whipping his distressed pony to get it to gallop,” rubbish lying alongside the railway tracks and the "jarring music” of the bazaar. The food at the hotel in which Amy and her parents are living is mediocre and when they try to supplement it with purchases from the bazaar, they are attacked by monkeys. But Amy does find a friend and they promise to keep in touch when they return to Bombay.
Khambatta and the illustrators have performed a very valuable task: capturing the imagination of the young minds and encouraging them to read.
F. G.