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A review by beccabookshelf
Asha and the Toymaker by Sakshi Mangal
2.0
Asha’s father sells hand crafted wooden toys in order to pay for her to go to school, however he is worried as hasn’t been able to sell as much as he wants to. Asha wants to help her father despite him wanting her to focus on her studies instead. She sneaks into his workshop and uses her paints to decorate his toys so that they are more beautiful than the other toys in the marketplace. At first her father is upset with her, however children soon surround him trying to buy the beautiful toys. He then asks Asha to paint all his toys from now on, as long as her homework is done.
I liked getting a chance to see more of Indian culture through this book, the art is very cute though not my favourite kind of style. We see a range of handcrafted toys such as cars, rocking horses, damaru, lakdi ki kathi, and dolls. There is a diverse range of characters in the artwork, different ages, ethnicities, and abilities. The Blue City is a gorgeous backdrop to this story. I liked the story overall, however I don’t quite love the messages it gives to young children. The idea of utilising your skills to help others is great, however I think her choosing to ignore her father’s wishes and go and paint on his creations in his studio was a poor choice. While reading with a child an adult would need to be talking about making the right choices throughout in order to combat this. Some children would potentially take the message the wrong way and choose to ruin other peoples creations because they thought their idea was better. This might’ve been better if Asha had proposed her idea to her father that he agreed, or she would have convinced him otherwise, rather than go against his wishes.
AGE: 5+
GENRE: Children’s Fiction, Art, Family,
DETAILS: 40 Pages, Picture Book
I received this as an eBook through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I liked getting a chance to see more of Indian culture through this book, the art is very cute though not my favourite kind of style. We see a range of handcrafted toys such as cars, rocking horses, damaru, lakdi ki kathi, and dolls. There is a diverse range of characters in the artwork, different ages, ethnicities, and abilities. The Blue City is a gorgeous backdrop to this story. I liked the story overall, however I don’t quite love the messages it gives to young children. The idea of utilising your skills to help others is great, however I think her choosing to ignore her father’s wishes and go and paint on his creations in his studio was a poor choice. While reading with a child an adult would need to be talking about making the right choices throughout in order to combat this. Some children would potentially take the message the wrong way and choose to ruin other peoples creations because they thought their idea was better. This might’ve been better if Asha had proposed her idea to her father that he agreed, or she would have convinced him otherwise, rather than go against his wishes.
AGE: 5+
GENRE: Children’s Fiction, Art, Family,
DETAILS: 40 Pages, Picture Book
I received this as an eBook through NetGalley in return for an honest review.