Title: Beautiful Leela
Author: Arti Sonthalia
Illustrator: Asuma Noor
Publisher: Scholastic India
Type: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
Length: 128 pages
Age group: 10 years onwards
This review has been written by my 13 year old daughter Mahathi.
Hello, fellow bookworms! I am back with another book review, and this time, I have a very interesting book for you!
This book is titled Beautiful Leela and is about a girl named Leela, who is around 12–13 years old. She loves singing and Math (I know, I know. Even I didn’t believe it at first!), has lovely curly hair, and a beautiful, deep shade of brown skin.
But Leela feels insecure about her skin colour and is afraid to be seen. She doesn’t talk to many of her classmates and mostly keeps to herself except when she is with Aisha and Keshav, her two best friends. She tells them everything.
Aisha is bold, popular and, unfortunately, not very supportive of Leela’s skin colour. She keeps pointing it out and makes Leela feel even more insecure. Once, she tells Leela that she shouldn’t sing when she looks so dark. Another time, when Leela wants to try her friend Swati’s lipstick, Aisha doesn’t allow her to, saying that it wouldn’t look good on her dark skin.
The interesting thing is that Leela doesn’t see Aisha this way. She thinks of Aisha as someone she can hide behind—a protective shield. She believes that Aisha protects her and takes her opinions VERY seriously. And I mean it!
On the other hand, Keshav is gentle and kind. He loves listening to Leela sing and never comments on her skin colour. He makes her feel comfortable and free. Leela thinks of him as a sanctuary—a safe space. She tells him everything, and he listens and gives her advice.
At home, Leela’s parents and younger sister are loving and supportive, but her grandmother’s attitude towards her skin colour makes Leela question herself even more. As Leela navigates her friendships and family relationships, she slowly begins to understand that she doesn’t need to change the way she looks to be beautiful.
The story explores colourism, self-acceptance, friendship, family and kindness, while showing how the people around us can influence the way we see ourselves. It also reminds us that being a true friend means making someone feel accepted and valued for who they are.
Personally, I loved this book. It promotes acceptance of all skin colours and beautifully emphasises the importance of family, friendship and kindness.
I loved the illustrations, and I really liked the simple language used throughout the book. The book cover immediately grabbed my attention.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book , especially if you enjoy stories about friendship, family and learning to love yourself.
Have fun reading!
Love,
Miss.M
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Disclaimer: Seethalakshmi and her daughter, Miss.M are a part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc.
