#444 - Bookasura : The Adventures of Bala and the Book-Eating Monster

by Arundhati Venkatesh and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan

“Bookasura - The Adventures of Bala and the Book-Eating Monster” by Arundhati Venkatesh and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan. Published by Scholastic. A story which celebrates the power of stories, books, reading and imagination.

Bala was having his summer holidays. He loved reading books. These days his parents seemed to be busy with his baby sister. They were planning to send him off to his grandparents’ home for the holidays as they couldn’t spend time with him. Also watching television wasn’t good for him. Though he wasn’t very convinced about it in the beginning, he begrudgingly thought it was a better idea. His baby sister had eaten pages from his book. And he was horrified at the prospect of losing more books to her. He would lock away his books and take just ten of them with him.

Bala’s grandparents lived in Melagam. He went there with Navaneeth uncle and Kala aunty on a bus. They were returning to their home. Bala was having a good time with his grandparents. While loitering around Navaneeth uncle’s garden, Bala came across a giant monster with many heads named Bookasura. The monster said that he was very hungry and asked Bala if he had any food. When Bala handed him a book, Bookasura gobbled it up to his horror. To keep Bookasura from eating him next, Bala assured him that he would come near his den every day and give him books to eat. But Bala had a limited number of books. What would happen when he ran out of books? Was Bookasura going to eat him then? Can Bala come up with a plan to save himself? Can his love for reading and imagination rescue him from this ordeal? Will Bookasura be able to stop eating books after all? Read this gripping book to know what lies in store for both Bala and Bookasura.

The story is a treat for book lovers. My nine year old was hooked to the book and wanted to know what would happen next. He was worried about Bala being eaten by Bookasura. We loved the thought process of Bala and the extraordinary way in which he tackles Bookasura. In a way, I think we gobbled up the story just like Bookasura was devouring the books :) We loved the names of the books that Bala had taken with him and given to Bookasura. They are some of the popular books for young children and we had read some of them a couple of years ago. Names like “Gruffalo” and “Where the Wild Things Are” brought back such lovely memories. Another thing that my son loved was the mention of yummy dishes that Bala got to eat at his grandparents’ home. It was a treat for the foodie in him. The quirky illustrations brought the characters and scenes to life. The book won the best children’s book award at Comic Con 2015. My son is eager to read the sequel to this book next and figure out more about Bala’s adventures.

Recommended Age

The book is apt for children aged 6/7 and above.