Title- A Pallava Adventure (Girls of India Series)
Author- Preetha Leela Chockalingam
Illustrator- Megha Vishwanath
Published by- Puffin India
Type- Paperback
Length– 288 pages
Age recommendation- 10 years and above
Book summary- Pallavi, a twelve year old girl from Mamallapuram of the Pallava empire, is one of the few privileged ones who gets to attend the classes held at the royal library since her father works in the king’s court. She enjoys studying with her best friend Shobavathi and dreams of becoming a scholar when she grows up.
However, things take a different turn when her father loses his job due to alcoholism and is sent away by the king to a Buddhist monastery for penance. Pallavi, too, has to leave school and assist her stepmother to run a seaside shop.
She misses her classes very much but her stepmother, Kaivalya, tries to compensate it by helping her practice writing at home. Also, when Pallavi is at her shop, she scribbles poems on the jugs used for storing the food items. When one such jug is found by the library scholars, it enthralls them. Things go awry when the Chalukya spies too, come to know about Pallavi’s intellect and try to use it to plot against the Pallavas.
Moreover, a strange woman enters Pallavi’s life and makes her question about the honesty of those people who are dear to her. Will Pallavi be able to forgive her near ones? How will the Pallavas be saved from the Chalukyas?
Review:
- The book is quite fast paced and it taught me a lot about the Pallava empire. At the end of the book, the author has shared some notes about the Pallavas which had been very helpful for me to correlate it with the story and also to differentiate between the facts and the fiction.
- The story takes place around 620 C.E. The author has portrayed everything so well that I felt like I had been transported to that particular time period where women were treated equally with men. They could study, fight wars, own properties and take up jobs as teachers. I also learnt a lot about the cuisine and the clothing style of the Pallavas.
- When we were in school, our syllabus was mainly focused on the history of Northern part of India. If not for this book, I would have never known that the Pallavas were so developed in architecture, academics and learning.
- Coming to the story, Pallavi’s quest for learning and the fact that she is equally adept in Old Tamil, Pallava Tamil and Sanskrit will make the reader to instantly fall in love with her character. I also loved the bonding between Pallavi and her stepmother, Kaivalya. The way they survived when Pallavi’s father was away, is commendable. The friendship of Pallavi and Shobavathi also deserves special mention.
- The beautiful cover design and illustrations inside the book have made the story come to life.This is a must-have book for all middle graders since it will teach the children a lot about an important part of our country’s history. So, don’t think twice before buying this gem.
There are other books in the GIRLS OF INDIA SERIES. You can read the review of A Chera Adventure here and of A Hoysala Adventure here.
If you enjoyed this review and wish to go back in time, you can order the book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
CLICK & BUY NOW!Disclaimer: Sritama is part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc.
