Favourite Stories for Boys
Puffin Books, Rs 150

Let the title not deceive you. Girls can enjoy Favourite Stories for Boys as well. The book is a collection of short stories by some of India’s finest children’s writers — from Ruskin Bond to Poile Sengupta.

The first story, Owlet, by Ranjit Lal, is about a budding cricket star who lets go of the most important game in his life for the sake of a little owlet. But it is the second story, The Secret Lives of Billy Billimoria by Rahul Srivasatava, which makes you sit up. This ghost story is about 12-year-old Zach, who discovers dark secrets about his recently deceased, superstar great-grandfather, Billy. The narrative holds your attention from the time Zach introduces his great-grandfather as Billy — who insists on being called that because it makes him “feel good” — to the time when Zach comes face-to-face with reality on a stormy, lightning-struck night. It feels a trifle filmi — which is all right, since the story is set against the backdrop of the Mumbai film industry.

How to Chase a Dragon by Geeta Doctor is set in Bhutan and has vivid descriptions of the place — right from the thankas (wall hangings) to the ceremonial dances inside the Dzong monastery. The events, which lead up to Ashvith, one of the central characters, earning the nickname of ‘Snot-nose’, bears a strong resemblance to what happens to Saleem ‘Snotnose’ Sinai in Midnight’s Children.

The Big Race by Ruskin Bond is a warm account of a beetle race and has all the ingredients of a Ruskin Bond tale written all over it. From the description of the “early morning sun beginning to make emeralds of the dewdrops” to the final twist in the tale, it swings you right back to his classics.

Jerry Pinto’s rather lengthily titled The Things They Shouldn’t Ask You is a humorous telling of all that goes on surreptitiously in classrooms.

Shreekumar Varma’s Kari’s Corridor is about Kari, a young boy, who is ordered by his principal to fetch a book from the out-of-bounds archives room. Kari, however, takes a little Spaceman-Spiff break à la Bill Waterson’s Calvin. And what follows is fun.

The book ends with a note on the contributors and deserves your attention because of the humour in it. It includes personal anecdotes about the authors. For instance, this is what the publishers have to say about Jerry Pinto: “forty years old. He is fat and brown and is losing hair.”

A good read, this one.