Bookasura: The Adventures of Bala and the Book - Eating Monster [Paperback] Arundhati Venkatesh and Priya Kuriyan Arundhati Venkatesh and Priya Kuriyan

When I was 17, I had just completed my 12th exams and was waiting for the Karnataka govt to allocate Engineering seats to students. I devoured a lot of RK Narayan books those 2 months while I waited for the results to be declared. RK Narayan books feature a middle class India, mostly kids off to grand parents homes for summer vacations, a lot of south Indian food cooked with love by the grandma and of course hot summers and cooling off under the fan. Years passed by - I moved to another state to complete my Engineering, took a job and since then haven't read any of RK Narayan.Of course there are a lot of books that have devoured since I read a lot to my child- books that fellow mommies recommend, a lot of them being international titlesBut when I began reading Bookasura , memories of my childhood rushed past me., my sitting on the bed , devouring one RK narayan after another as I waited for the entrance exam results to be declaredThank you Arundhati . Thanks for bringing back simple joys of life - such as a summer vacation, grand parents, home cooked meals with love, and gardens with abundance of trees and fruits.Today we live in a fast paced world that is obsessed with gadgets and deals and all that children know is a holiday spent at a posh holiday home !, hence it is a delight to dwell into books that give you a chance to relive childhood memories filled with simplicity and loveBookasura has a very RK Narayan-ish touch to it . and that makes me wander off in my mind to the homes of a South Indian thatha pattis(grand parents) , summer vacations, journeys, food . and while you read the book, you can actually envisage Bala in his grand parents home devouring the vadas , sambar , idlis and chutney. There is also a very funny moment when the grandma does the usual dhristhi sutti podaradu in tamil ( removing evil eye from the child by circling salt around a child's head ) .Bookasura has a mention of some of the International classics which most of us are aware of. These are juxtaposed very cleverly and will pull off a few chuckles from the reader .The ending is classic and is gonna receive a thumbs up from parents because it takes a dig at ...... a certain someone that is annoying and .. go read the book!My fav illustrations from the book is that of the grandpa hugging his grand son at the bus top and the grand pa watching over the boy devouring food lovingly.More power to Indian authors and illustrators I say !There is also one of the baby with food all over her jaws and she trying to reach the phone while her mommy is on call with her son , Bala ! classic

Very creative and well written. My 6 year old absolutely loved it and his love for books grew seeing the central character Bala's obsession for books. I love the reference to other books, some of which my kiddo has read and some of those he hasn't (he immediately made note of these to get it from the library). Also the grandparents in the book are just the best

Bookasura bought for 100 Rs, Book was too small however the content in it has been relished by me and my kid. Its a nice story which infuses love of grand parents and their story telling. For me it was a surprise when my 3.5 year monster he calls himself monster gave his attention for this read aloud and always tells bakasura and bookasura. Bookasura is story about a boy Bala how he outwits the book eating monster with his clever plan. The author was genious enough to interlink the famous indian cartoon character chota bheem and the names of the ten books appropriately. I loved the way the writer narration between Bookasura and the boy Bala. For the kids who love adventures, Monsters could be a great buy. Give it a thought before buying based on child's sensitivity. Thanks for Amazons great packing with cardboard case.

It's a very rare publication. I don't know I have waited for many days to receive this book. But at last I got it from Amazon. Tha nks Amazon.

Good book

My 10 year son like the book very much..but paper quality was not good.

My boy realy enjoyed reading this book...language is easy ...apt for 6-7 yrs kids n it keeps up the interest till end

Received pirated copy of book, very poor paper and print quality. Disappointed by this..Despite this, my 6 year old kid really enjoyed the book. Engaging content.