#454 - A Pinch of Magic

by Asha Nehemiah and illustrated by Priyankar Gupta

“A Pinch of Magic” by Asha Nehemiah and illustrated by Priyankar Gupta. Published by Duckbill. A delightful story of little Veena who has to help her aunt Malu when there is a crisis at hand.

Veena’s aunt Malu is in trouble. The reason being a broken pinching spoon used in the preparation of her herbal medicines. It is very important for her to measure the ingredients using it. Without another spoon of that kind, she cannot make the medicines. One might wonder what is so upsetting about that? She can get another spoon right! So here’s the catch.

The pinching spoon is not an ordinary one by any means. The only person who made them seemed to have disappeared. There was no trace of the person. Aunt Malu had posted a letter requesting for a spoon. It had come back undelivered. The reason being that the address was not found. Well the address was quite strange or rather too funny to imagine. She seemed to have reached a dead end with regard to the spoon. Whatever was Aunt Malu to do now? Could Veena help her aunt? Can she come up with an idea? Will aunt Malu’s herbal medicine business shut down? Read the engrossing book to find out all these.

Like the other books of Asha Nehemiah that we have managed to read so far, this was full of warmth and joy. The humour made me and my nine year old chuckle as we read the book. The funny names, the thick plot and the mystery of the identity of the spoonmaker-cum-teacher made it such an enjoyable and interesting read. The suspense made us read it in one go. We had picked this up on a visit to Blossom bookstore which is one of the book havens for us in Bengaluru. It was a delight when we realised after reading the book that it happened to be a signed copy by Asha! That was such a wonderful surprise. The book is part of the “Hole Books” series. This series is for children who have begun reading chapter books on their own. This was our fifth hole book after “Nisha Small : The Knot of Gold”, “Chitti’s Travelling Book Box”, “Petu Pumpkin Tiffin Thief” and “Mira the Detective”.  There is another hole book featuring Veena and aunt Malu called “Trouble With Magic”. We are now eager to read that too.

Recommended Age

The book is apt for children aged 7 and above.

Reasons to Read

For a story with a healthy dose of humour, mystery and adventure involving fun!