Lights for the Blue Prince

by Soumya S Ayer and illustrated by Ito Corrado

“Lights for the Blue Prince - A Story of Diwali” by Soumya S.Ayer and illustrated by Ito Corrado. Published by Vakils, Feffer and Simons. A re-telling of the Ramayana inspired by shadow puppet theatre which is an ancient form of storytelling.

The Ramayana is a popular tale that has been told since ancient ages. It is one of the legends associated with the celebration of Deepavali/Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. The story of Prince Rama referred to as the “Blue Prince” and his efforts to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of the evil Ravana. The people of Ayodhya celebrated the return of their blue prince by lighting lamps. This ancient practice is being followed to date by people in the land of Rama.

The narration is crisp and complemented beautifully by the illustrations using traditional shadow puppets and silhouettes. A very different book indeed due to the use of shadow photography.  The medium works so well for portraying the epic. The last few pages have information about shadow puppetry, Deepavali and the Ramayana.

My seven year old enjoyed the book. He had seen performances of the Ramayana using fire dance in Bali and also using shadow puppets at Kalakshetra in Chennai. He was happy to see the puppets being used to illustrate the epic. Thank you Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow for recommending this gem of a book! Apt for children aged 6+.

Where to buy from?

An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.