Kalpana Chawla - A Story of Determination
by Falguni Gokhale
“Kalpana Chawla - A Story of Determination” by Falguni Gokhale. Published by Tota Books. An inspirational biography of Kalpana Chawla for children to give them courage to dream and work towards achieving it.
Kalpana Chawla was a bright little girl from the town of Karnal in Haryana. Her name Kalpana literally translated to “imagination” in Hindi. She was a brilliant student. She loved going to school and was good at science as well as sports. She worked very hard and liked to learn new things. She loved watching stars and aeroplanes in the sky. She loved listening to music and dancing.
Kalpana wanted to become a flight engineer. She was the only girl in her class and the first female aeronautical engineer to graduate from her college. What a proud achievement for this bright-eyed girl! Her dreams did not end here. She went on to do more path breaking work after moving to the US and ended up working at NASA. This book traces her journey.
Kalpana’s journey was unfortunately cut short by a shuttle disintegration accident. She ended up becoming a star in the sky literally. Her message to children was to take care of our fragile planet. Her life was a shining example of courage, determination, passion and perseverance to achieve her dreams. Her fascination for our planet and the galaxies beyond was reflected in her work.
My seven year old was fascinated to know about her journey. Yes, the ending is sad. But he was reassured that she became a star and could stay in the sky watching over our earth. The book is part of the “Books to Inspire” series by Tota books. We have enjoyed reading two other books from the series on “Dhyan Chand” and “Bhimsen Joshi”. The book is apt for children aged 5/6+.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Tota Books here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.