#381 - Who’s Afraid of a Giant Wheel?
by Zainab Sulaiman
“Who’s Afraid of a Giant Wheel?” by Zainab Sulaiman. Published by Duckbill. An endearing story of nine year old Noorie and the various difficulties that she is facing.
Noorie lives with her grandma, mother and younger sister Nida who is three years old in Bengaluru. Her dad works in Dubai. She is sassy while she is at school and doesn’t listen to her teachers. She whiles away her time talking and fooling around. Without realising it herself, she and her best friend Amy are bullying others. Her second best friend in school is Seema who is one of the quiet types and kind to Noorie. When she is back home, her best friend is Tina who stays in the neighbourhood. Tina is older than her and Noorie adores her. But Tina and her twin Tarun target Noorie most of the time and bully her. Noorie gives in to their threats and bullying despite not liking it as she doesn’t want to lose Tina’s friendship. She is a mere puppet in Tina’s hands and doesn’t seem to think about anything else around her.
Noorie misses her dad quite a bit. Life at home is not the same without him. She is frustrated most of the times. She ends up being mean to her sister Nida quite often though she is a toddler who looks up to her. When Amy leaves school to move to Delhi, Tina feels even more lost. To add to her woes, daddy seems to have grown quite distant. He hardly comes or even calls. No one mentions him at home. Her mother looks sad all the time. What could be the reason? Was daddy not coming back? Did he not love and miss them? Tina doesn’t seem to realise any of these turmoils in Noorie’s mind and continues to boss over her without caring much. Will Noorie be able to overcome the fears building up in her about her family and future? Is everything so bleak in Noorie’s life? Who will help Noorie accept what is going on around her? Read this story filled with faith, trust and hope to know what Noorie is going to find on this giant wheel like ride of her life.
My 8.5 year old son and I loved reading the book. The themes of bullying, friendship, looking for attention, kindness, acceptance, inclusion and empathy are what we found in this contemporary book. The book also addressed Noorie’s fears and insecurities stemming up from her missing having her parents together. This was something that my son had not read about earlier and was quite the revelation for him. We did have a short conversation about it but I am not sure what went into his mind. We felt bad for Noorie each time she was subjected to bullying by Tina and Tarun who just targeted her and never treated her as a friend truly. My son felt that this was why Noorie in turn bullied her classmates and sister. The meanness in Noorie wasn’t natural and was being caused by the vicious circle that her being bullied caused. All that Noorie wanted was love, warmth, help and friendship around her like any other child. She wanted a happy family. The book opens up the fact that we must move on with faith, trust and hope even if things do not turn up the way we want to as life is all about moving ahead. And there are people around us who are ready to help us if we reach out to them. It could be family or friends who provide us with love and support in getting through difficult times of our life. There are ups and downs at different times of our lives like the ride on a giant wheel.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 9 and above.
Reasons to Read
The story touches upon several topics such as bullying, friendship, facing fears and insecurities, parental separation, empathy, kindness, inclusion, moving ahead with hope and faith which are quite relatable for children.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India (Duckbill), for review. Thank you to Greeshma and Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!