I grew up on Enid Blyton and Ruskin Bond’s books. These are the earliest books I remember loving, once I started reading independently as a child. Imagine my joy then, when Penguin India sent me Bond’s latest book to review!

The story itself is an autobiographical memoir of Bond’s life at school through the year 1947. He loves reading, playing football or hockey, eating jalebis, sneaking out of school and having fun with his gang of friends. The Fearsome Four belong to different religions and have distinct personalities. But as Bond puts it, “Adults seem to think it important, but at thirteen, friendship and loyalty seemed to matter more.”

The boys have the usual school challenges- studies, sports, food, new girl in an all boy’s school, sneaking out and getting caught, bonding over spankings, etc. But the boys also encounter partition, choices. separation, death and hope.

Written in Bond’s simple style, the book makes one think fondly of their school days.… Click to read the rest

Both V and I, love books. Period. And my dream home involves a huge bookshelf lining a wall of the living room. Because, why would one want to do anything other than flaunt their books, right? Wrong! We have been doing book rotation with V’s collection and it has made a world of difference to us. Rotating books is basically keeping only a part of the books on display or for use, and changing them every so often. Let me take you through it.

Why Book Rotation?

Does not overwhelm the child
I hate going to the supermarket simply because my list would say oil- but the oil aisle would have twenty different brands with different quantities. It irritates me to check all the ingredients and prices, make calculations in my head, and finally make a choice. Think about how much it would be for a child to choose one book out of a hundred.… Click to read the rest