Book: Indian Folktales Retold

Author: Ruskin Bond

Publication: Natraj Publishers

Price: Rs. 225

Pages: 153

Plot: This book is a collection of 16 short stories (folktales). It is a children’s book and is illustrated by Manasi Parikh. And I must say that the illustrations are attractive and quite comical too.

Coming to the stories, the folktales retold in this book are long-lost and forgotten ones. The introduction of the book says that these are some of the author’s favourite folktales. Through these folktales, our ancestors have learned some lessons, and by retelling these with his own wit and humour, Ruskin Bond is trying to teach these lessons further. Though the purpose of reading is not always the lessons but also the pleasure.

There are stories of rajas, rakshasas, queens, animals, and many more. I loved the fact that it has a variety of characters in the stories. The stories will definitely remind you of your childhood days and the stories heard during that time.

My Views: I enjoyed reading this book, some of the stories were fun to read, while there are some which I didn’t like much. Mostly the stories are laughable, and these stories reminded me of the folktales which my mother used to tell me and my brother when we were kids.

In the introduction, the author has talked about the learnings from the stories, but I could not figure out any such learnings. Though I think that Ruskin Bond’s books and stories are something which I don’t enjoy a lot. I have read some of his stories earlier but loved only a few of them. I don’t find the magic in all of his stories.

Overall for me, it is an average book for children to read, good for children about 10-14 years old.

Recommendations: If you like Ruskin Bond’s stories, then you can definitely give it a read.

Ratings: 3/5

If you would like to read more reviews of Children’s books, then give this post a read. I will see you with the next post, till then keep celebrating life.

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