The Postwoman and Other Stories by Priyadarshini | Book Review

Books are one of the best ways for us to record our learnings, pass on the knowledge, impart wisdom to the next generation. Children’s books are primarily intended to teach children about morals and good principles, but if we are to celebrate individuality, shouldn’t we leave the interpretation of these tales open to children?

And unaffected by the established notions, a child could actually come up with a surprising take on a story or an image in the story.

Writer Priyadarshini felt that if you want to read a book that has not been written yet, you need to write it and has come up with a collection of short stories with a purpose of making the readers forget their worries, anxieties and troubles by generating good feelings of a love, warmth, kindness and empathy.

Called Postwoman and other Stories, this collection was published by Norton Press and was provide to us by the writer. We extend our thanks to the writer for the same and we are happy to share our review of these stories with you.

Book Cover:

Let us take a look at the cover page of this book.

For a kids special short stories collection, a cover page is expected to be a little funny and attractive. The designer has done a nice job here. The image, doesn’t cover the full cover page and that looks a little unprofessional.

The fonts used for the book title and the small objects shown on the cover page looks attractive for sure.

Stories:

The collection has following stories. As you can see, each starts with a lovely quote:

The Soan papdi man

Life is unpredictable, eat the dessert first – Helen Keller

Malli and her best friend Ezhil stop everyday after school to enjoy hot and fluffy soan papdi sold from a little cart. But one day, the cart did not have the usual life. So, the children went looking for the soan papdi man. When the journey took them to the soan papdi man sitting on a bench enjoying nature, they learned that he had simply taken a day off – looking after newborn bulbul chicks. Facing the dilemma of leaving the chicks and disappointing waiting children, what would they do?

When the ocean came to Maanvizhi

My soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me – Longfellow

A young girl called Maanvizhi has never seen an ocean and can’t really imagine what it would be like. She doesn’t want to know about it through school lessons or books or videos and she stopped going to school when the lessons were focusing on the ocean.
Her teacher Ms. Kalvi cam to Maanvizhi’s house with an unusual solution – to bring the ocean to Maanvizhi’s house.

The Postwoman

I’ll write to you. A super-long letter, like an old-fashioned novel. – Haruki Murakami

Poovi is sitting at home looking outside at a gray day filled with heavy rain. She is waiting for a letter from a dear friend, but how can it reach her on a day like this? What is so special about the letter you ask – it contains a flower that blooms only once in twelve years. But a postwoman is on her way with the treasure letter. Will she be delayed by the weather, by the little boy on the road, little girl with a jar, little dog near the blue house or will she reach Poovi to enjoy the purple flower that is such a rarity?

A Christmas Story

Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more – Dr. Seuss

Iniyazh, Maran and Aruvi are discussing their plans for the Christmas by the lake. But when they go shopping for decorations, they find that a landslide is blocking the road and there’ll be no Christmas goodies arriving this year. Now, instead of being disheartened, the friends decide to use what they have in a creative way to create Christmas decorations. And so they make Christmas wreaths of meadow grass, pinecone stringers for the tree, ice-cream stick glued to make stars and they had a joyful and happy Christmas filled with love and friendship.

The Ferry Keeper’s Daughter

In the hearts captivated by innocence, the eternal peace of a quiet lake is experienced – Mehmet Murat ildan.

Neer is the Ferry Keeper’s daughter. When she finished school, she started ferrying the children from one end of lake to another, just like her father did. One of the girls Chapma asked Neer one day, if she ever got bored rowing the same route every day. But Neer showed her how every day can be different if you just keep looking for the quiet changes of nature.

The Patchwork Quilt

We stitch together quilts of meaning to keep us warm and safe, with whatever patches of beauty and utility we have on hand. – Anne Lamott

Oyila and her parents go on a trip, but her grandmother, Nila stays home to rest and relax. But Nila asks Oyila to gether pieces of fabric from wherever she goes – t-shirts, scraps, pillowcases, anything. And so as Oyila visits the sea, a hill station, a dense jungle and so on, she buys something for her grandmother. Nila combined all these goodies with Oyila’s baby cloths and turned those into a patchwork quilt.

The Birdwatcher

I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance – E.E. Cummings

Mayil loves watching birds and listening to birdsong as well as their silence and stillness. She loved how they fly away from conflict rather than shouting at each other. But one day, she cannot find her binoculars and surprise, a bluebird appears in the sky carrying her binoculars!

The Craftswoman

Art is not a handicraft it is a transmission of feeling the artist has experienced – Leo Tolstoy

Ezhilarasi was a craftswoman who made snakes, figurines, hats and balls out of coconut leaves. All the children loved her creations – even more than the expensive plastic dolls. And when Ezhilrasi’s soul was carried away by the ocean, the children build a shop to continue her good works.

Views and Reviews:

We enjoyed the simple stories and the illustrations that go with each one of those. Through all stories, there is a call, a memory of the simple pleasures of life, a desire to make most of what you have got and children stepping up with their creativity when something unexpected happens, whether it is the disappearance of a favourite treat or not being able to buy wanted decorations or toys. The best thing is the references to nature – green grass, flowers, trees, ocean and birds rather than electronic toys of the cities.

The stories share lovely quotations and simple, colourful images that young children will find very appealing.

The stories also boost the connection with families and friends that see children thrive through not only childhood years, but build foundations to good emotional intelligence for life.

The book has small errors, like story number 8 is marked as story number 7. But, apart from that a collection of visually appealing, lovely stories of joy and happiness derived from simple things we would love to recommend for your young ones.

Summary:

A recommended read for young children with a few hours to spend dreaming about simple pleasure and good values of life.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

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