Read 36 of 2022. Maithili and the Minotaur – Web of Woe by C.G. Salamander and Rajiv Eipe

Title: Maithili and the Minotaur – Web of Woe
Author: C.G. Salamander
Illustrator: Rajiv Eipe
Publisher: Puffin Books, Penguin Random House India
ISBN: 978-0143455189
Genre: Children’s Literature, Graphic Novels, Comics
Pages: 64
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 4/5

I could not stop smiling as I turned the pages of Maithili and the Minotaur – Web of Woe, the first in an Outlandish Graphic Novel Series, and outlandish it is to the very core.

Maithili is an outcast from the human world, and she doesn’t know why. She also cannot fit in at school. No monster one will speak with her, except for the Minotaur. Everyone apparently seems to be hiding something from Maithili (which is sort of revealed in the book but not quite), till an incident occurs that changes the course of the story.

This comic/graphic novel series is so exciting and also very real when it touches upon the topics of alienation, loneliness, and what it means to be different. The graphics by Rajiv Eipe are minimal initially and later they get more colourful, and interesting.

Maithili and the Minotaur is a wholesome read – and I recommend everyone read it, irrespective of age. It is a chaotic journey, and the illustrations do justice to it. It is about monsters and humans living together (and why are they labelled to begin with?)  and that in itself is a strong message. Do check it out.

Sleepovers by Jacqueline Wilson. Illustrations by Nick Sharratt

Title: Sleepovers
Author: Jacqueline Wilson
Illustrations by Nick Sharratt
Publisher: Young Corgi
ISBN: 978-0552557832
Genre: Children’s Books
Pages: 112
Source: Personal Copy
Rating: 4/5

Sleepovers was read as I came across this book through Vanya’s RemedialBookClub. It is their first read and I decided to read it as well. I need something sweet to calm and heal me. The book is a children’s book and is about four friends Amy, Bella, Chloe, and Emily. Daisy is the new one at school, and she is the one who starts the alphabet club given they are A, B, C, D, and E.

 With this starts attending birthday parties which are sleepovers, and how over time their friendship develops. Wilson writes about young girls and their sisterhood in the sweetest and real manner. The insecurities, the envy, the joy, and the fun are evident. Sleepovers is a book also about horrible children can be to each other, but is a lesson on empathy and kindness which we so need in the world we live in.

 The book also speaks of disability that people shy away from. It touches on being bullied and how it can be dealt with if your support system is strong enough. I think it is a great read to also be read aloud and enacted. Sleepovers was a break that was much needed.

 

The Milk of Dreams by Leonora Carrington

Title: The Milk of Dreams
Author: Leonora Carrington
Publisher: New York Review Children’s Collection
ISBN: 978-1681370941
Genre: Children’s Books
Pages: 56
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

The Milk of Dreams by Leonora Carrington is such a strange book – even though it is for children. The short stories are odd, have a fairy tale quality to them, and are surreal to the hilt.

These stories aren’t the usual fare that authors serve up for children. They are dark – with children’s body parts missing, some sewed back, and a story also of a vulture getting stuck in gelatin. Carrington read these stories to her children, and that’s how they came to be. In fact, the illustrations in the book are also from the ones that she made on the children’s bedroom walls.

This book is bizarre, and at the same time delightfully odd and silly. I was captivated by all of it – the drawings, the prose that was crazy, and the nonchalance of it all, in the sense of it being read to kids. There is John, who has wings for ears, and “Humbert the Beautiful”, and my personal favorite being “The Horrible Story of the Little Meats” – a fantastic fairy of a woman who doesn’t like kids, and ends up feeding them bad meat, to then do what she wants to.

The Milk of Dreams is a read that is short and yet stays with you. I could reread and reread it some more. Maybe this time I will pay more attention to the illustrations as well. All said and done, it is the kind of book that could be read easily in less than an hour and like I said, go back to once in a while.

The Beach at Night by Elena Ferrante. Translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein.

Title: The Beach at Night
Author: Elena Ferrante
Translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein
Illustrations by Mara Cerri
Publisher: Europa Editions
ISBN: 978-1609453701
Genre: Children’s Books, Picture Books
Pages: 38
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

This book is a picture book by Ferrante. It is also a children’s book (or so it seems). The Beach at Night is a deceptive book, that pretends to be a book for kids and can scare the bejesus out of you. It is a macabre story of a doll and has several hints of terror. This is told in the traditional sense of a fairy tale for kids, but goes deeper than that. The book is from the doll’s perspective (almost reminded me of the doll we meet in My Brilliant Friend) and has so much touches of darkness all throughout.

It is as though all her books have the same theme – darkness, loneliness, and the idea to belong at some level. Although this book does have a happy ending, it still is peppered with a lot of dark imagery (though it is this small a book). I don’t even know if the book is for children really, but it definitely works for adults.

In this one the translation itself might be limited, given the few use of words, but nonetheless it is done effectively to transport you to the world of Ferrante. Let me tell you something about the story. Celina the doll is jealous of the new kitten Minu. She gets lost along the way and somehow the story then reaches the beach. What happens next and the things that happen to her is what the book is about.

The illustrations by Mara Cerri are so aligned to the story and are more than enough to create the atmosphere of loneliness and abandonment, thereby leading to the other darker themes of the short picture book. The Beach at Night is an unusual book, and yet hands down so fulfilling a read, the one that will haunt you for a while.

She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger.

Title: She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History
Author: Chelsea Clinton
Illustrated by Alexandra Boiger
Publisher: Philomel Books
ISBN: 978-0525516996
Genre: Children Non-Fiction
Pages: 32
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 Stars

We need more books such as these. We need books to empower our children – more so girls – they need to know that nothing is impossible and not achievable. There is no such thing as a “man’s world”. And even if there is, it shouldn’t exist because time’s up.

I wasn’t aware that Chelsea Clinton had written books. I got to know of this book by chance and though it is for children, I think it is meant for all. Men and women alike and for people in general, more so for men if you ask me. Chelsea speaks of life of 13 very independent, strong and brave women in various fields, around the world and how they impacted the world. This is a book that is just one of those starts that make children see the world differently. I would so want every mother to gift this to her son, just so he understands and sees the world differently – without privilege of being a son to begin with.

“She Persisted: Around the World” is a book that is deceitfully simple and carries so much gravitas in it. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, though of course it ended very soon. The illustrations by Alexandra Boiger are quaint and simple – striking and full of colour and complement the words superbly. Books such as these are baby steps – steps that might eventually pave way for all the leaps and jumps.