Title: Blue
Author: Devashish Makhija
Illustrator: Satwik Gade
Type: Paperback
Length: 40 pages
Publisher: Duckbill Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
Age Group: 6/7 years+
Disclaimer: This book is not for young children to read by themselves. It holds a mirror to us adults, shows how prevalent casteism still is in our “progressive” society.
The book’s cover page has a young boy with a face full of wonder and curiosity, and a colourful kite in his hand.. or is it his hand?
The story follows Bhim, who is intrigued by all the colourful kites and strings that are covering the city during the annual kite festival. Satwik Gade’s vivid, colourful pictures bring all the glory of the festival to life, no imagination needed! Equally vivid is his depiction of the casteist exclusion of Bhim’s bustee (slum/basti) from the festival. Devashish Makhija’s writing is minimalistic and direct; he gives no explanations, just states facts. And for this reason, it is all the more powerful.
At this point, the book changes course and becomes metaphorical, poetic, and fantastical. It shows how following his heart and not letting hurdles stop him, allows Bhim to become a part of the kite festival in an unconventional, much bigger, and more meaningful way. Again, the illustrations elevate the story and how! The story also seems to show that someone from a marginalised community has to overcome many difficulties to get to a place that is much more easily accessible to a privileged person.
It takes time for young children to wrap their heads around this book. Anidampurva, my 6 year old son, was mostly quiet as I read, asking only a few questions like what is a slum and why are they not celebrating, and that got the ball slowly rolling. It is also one of those books where you have to plan ahead on how and how much you can talk to children about different aspects of the story.
I found ‘Blue’ to be a good conversation starter for two reasons. One, it leaves room for interpretation, which means you can weave the thread in many ways. You want to talk about inclusion? About societal rules that aren’t always good? About standing up for your friends? About following your instincts? That no dream is unreachable if you just hold on to it? There are many ways the conversation could go!
Two, casteist discrimination and exclusion are difficult topics to broach with young children. If you think your child is ready but you aren’t, this book will throw you a life jacket. Because if we don’t talk about it at home, they will hear about it from elsewhere. And what they hear and how they perceive it will stay with them for a long time, even into adulthood.
There are other Hook Books published by Duckbill which are just as 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, The Race for Rugda. Other fun reads include Shoo! Crow here. Not to miss, I Want A Pet!, Cyrus the Whyrus, Passepartout, Is That You?….
Get Hooked to Pets (includes Hey Diddle Diddle!, I Want a Pet, Puppy Trouble, Passepartout, Is That You?): A 4 in 1 Gorgeously Illustrated Book on Pets | Giftable Hardback Edition | Ages 5+
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 liked reading this review and wish to order the book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
CLICK & BUY NOW!Disclaimer: Kimeera and her sons are part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc.
