Title: PRABIR’S NEW FLUTE (Hook Book)
Author: Asha Nehemiah
Illustrator: Rajiv Eipe
Publisher: Duckbill Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
Type: Paperback
Length: 40 Pages
Age recommendation: 5 to 8 years
Prabir is a young boy who plays the flute beautifully. His music is the highlight of every happy event in his village of Munshipara and the neighboring villages. But one day his flute breaks in an accident. Prabir builds himself a new flute with a stalk of bamboo cut from a clump growing in the junkyard. But many days later, when he plays the flute at a wedding, the flute makes sad, wailing sounds engulfing the bride, groom and all the guests in misery.
Prabir had used bamboo to craft his new flute (the same material with which his previous flute was made of). Still, it did not make the same beautiful sounds as before. Will he able to find the perfect piece of bamboo? Will he be able to create a flute which enraptured everyone with its music.
The nature vs nurture is an age-old scientific debate on which many books, essays and in-depth articles have been written. But this beautiful picture book explains the intricate relationship between genetic inheritance (nature) and environmental influences (nurture) in such a simplistic manner. As our Asha says, there is a picture book for every topic under the sun. 😊
We loved author Asha Nehemiah’s style of writing especially her descriptions of the sound of Prabir’s flute. Daksh is in splits every time he reads the below lines and tries to mimic the same.
“The next note sounds like air leaking from a big tyre.”
“Like thousands of frogs with sore throats croaking after the rain”
Rajiv Eipe’s attention to detail in every illustration is praiseworthy. He manages to capture a varied range of emotions in all his character drawings – happiness, sadness, curiosity, shock, gossip mongrels. The story can be interpreted through pictures alone – they are so descriptive!
There are other Hook Books published by Duckbill which are just as funny and engaging as this book is. –You can read reviews of other hook books on our website. We have reviewed Biji’s in the Kitchen! , PUPPY TROUBLE, KITTEN TROUBLE. Other fun reads include Shoo! Crow here. Not to miss, I Want A Pet!, Cyrus the Whyrus, Passepartout, Is That You?….
Get Hooked: The Hook Book Box Set – a set of 11 Hook Books (440 pages) is also available which works out to be more economical!
If you enjoyed this review and wish to join Prabir in building his new flute, you can order the book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
CLICK & BUY NOW!Disclaimer: Khushboo and Daksh are part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher.
