Monday 21 April 2014

Book Review: The Magic Moonlight Flower and Other Enchanting Stories by Satyajit Ray, Translated by Arunava Sinha

In the era of the nineties, where one of the most important traits of children was read and hear the standard fare of stories and sagas that are fairly common across all Indian households like Akbar and Birbal, Panchatantra, Jataka Tales and Tenali Raman. There, some of the great writers who contributed to the society with substantial literary works were quite neglected and came into limelight at a much later period and their works were exposed to the readers much later part of the age than the age it was intented for. However, the great works created by these celebrated writers like Satyajit Ray, Ruskin Bond etc. captured the reader’s attention who than thoroughly enjoyed the creative works by them. The book is dedicated to that age, which has been often ignored by most of us and one wishes to have some knowledge and time to do things which can otherwise bring in a lot more fun at a given age.
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In this book, the author has compiled 4 stories of kings, princess, young heroes, demons, ogres and magic –ingredients which help in crafting a perfect children’s story. "The Magic Moonlight Flower and other enchanting stories" is a combination of various genres like a fairy tale, fantasy, science fiction etc, which represents the literary flair of Ray who was a creative writer and demonstrator for children and young adult readers.
This story was first translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha and the first story in the book tells a tale of  Sujan Harbola, the boy who is known for speaking to the birds. The author in this book has woven this first story which is based on the rare gift of mimicry, the art of imitating birds and animal calls. Truly an exotic story which even children would not have heard before.
 This tale is about this simple boy who fantasizes to get married to a princess. The author has employed some of the original illustrations which make it even more interesting.
The second story in the book is about "Gangaram's Lucky Stone" in which Ray has celebrated the virtues of sincerity and the aptitude to keep one’s faith in the righteousness of humankind. The book consists of stories like Ogre And the Princess and the Magic Moonlight Flower.
The last story tells a tale of a boy who tries to obtain  a magical flower which can save his father from "miseria", a deadly disease that robs the soul of its will to live.
Satyajit Ray, recognized as a publisher, calligrapher, illustrator, graphic designer and film reviewer. He has crafted eternal fictional characters like Feluda, Professor Shonku, the sleuth and the scientist. The author narrates in a simple manner and has painted a vibrant picture with his words that keeps his readers captivated onto his books. The translation by Arunava Sinha, has managed to preserve the constancy of the stories.
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Pick out this book for your children that will take them to the world of fantasy and will enable them to make imaginations which in turn will help to make the creative in nature. So, what are you waiting for…Just get ready for infuse some creativeness in your children by buying books online and thus get these at your doorstep. Available at Lelobooks, best online bookstore in India!
Hurry now and grab your book!

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