May 082023
Rap On Gopi! [Review]
Rate this Book / Post

Book Name: Gobi Goes Viral
Author: Vibha Batra
Illustrated By: Shamika Chaves
Publisher: Scholastic
Type: Paperback
No. of Pages: 116 pages
Recommended age: 8-12 years

This review is written by my 10 year old son Divit who is happily spending his summer holidays with his huge stash of books.

I was super happy to get this book to review since I had loved Pinkoo Shergill Pastry Chef a lot and when I heard this book is by the same author and illustrator I was indeed very excited to read this. Here is my review of this fantastic book.

The story is about a boy called Gopi Chander. He is a simple and ordinary boy who studies in Primrose Academy. But very unfortunately it looks like his days are limited in the school. His parents can’t afford to pay the school fees! I know it sounds impossible but there are kids who are not as fortunate as us. On top of this, Gopi doesn’t even have any friends. AND worst of all, he is being bullied by the toughest, meanest bullies on earth!

They’d bully him because he would say stuff like iss-cool for school, iss-pinach for spinach, iss-trawberries for strawberries, brake-fast for breakfast, eejy-peejy for easy peesy, cuff-and-cold… You get it. He had an accent. But not the kind that people liked. He had the kind that people made fun of and that is the reason he got bullied quite mercilessly. They all called him “F(Ph)ool Gobi”.

But like the saying goes, “every cloud comes with a silver lining”, just when Gopi was absolutely heartbroken with all the bullying and teasing an amazing opportunity comes his way. THE TALENT SHOW!!! But what could he possibly do? Dance, Prance about, act? Yeah, no. He never thought that he could show off his rapping skills in the talent show. Yes, Gopi could actually rap really well. He was a natural at it. He was always rapping in his daydreams and dreamt of becoming a rapping rock star anyways. His rapping talent even got him a new friend Pari and thanks to Pari he discovered he could be a rap God.

But there were things stopping him. He knew he couldn’t rap in English because of his accent. That would turn into a nightmare and the bullies would never let him hear the end of it! But he had very less time to prepare. What could he possibly do to seize this golden opportunity?

Finally the wait was over and the day of the talent show finally arrived. He got the shock of his life as it turned out that one can’t perform in a foreign language as the judges wouldn’t be able to understand it. Hindi was counted as a foreign language (imagine!). So that was a problem. A BIG one.

Do you think Gobi would be able to perform in English with his accent? Or would he be embarrassed? Doomed? Would he give up? Would he have to leave his school? Or could he save the day by being brave!! Read this awesome book, which I completely LOVED, to know all the answers.

If you ask me what I loved about the book, here is the list-

  1. The cover- It is so catchy and got my attention immediately. Gobi is written with a shiny font and the sketches are just too good.
  2. Gopi- For being such a simple, brave and courageous boy. And for being so cool about his accent, for trying his best to survive among the bullies. He is such an inspiration.
  3. Pari- For being a good friend to Gobi especially during his hard times.
  4. Language- The simplicity of the language that made me enjoy the book and made me feel like I was actually a part of it.
  5. Story- The story is really engaging and I had to finish it in one go. It is inspiring in many ways.
  6. Illustrations- The sketches are so awesome.

If you have loved Pinkoo for trying to do something different and listening to his heart, you will surely love Gopi for not giving up and being so courageous.

The previous book by the same author-illustrator duo: Pinkoo Shergill Pastry Chef.
NEW RELEASE: Kolam Kanna is Vibha’s next book!

If you enjoyed this review and wish to buy the book from Scholastic India (kbc affiliate link), type Gobi Goes Viral in search after clicking this red button. Scholastic always has attractive offers on!

CLICK & BUY NOW!

Should you wish to buy this book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link), click here.

Disclaimer: Achira and her sons are part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the author via kbc.


Write a Comment