Little Jagadish And The Great Experiment
by Anjali Joshi and illustrated by Debasmita Dasgupta
“Little Jagadish And The Great Experiment” by Anjali Joshi and illustrated by Debasmita Dasgupta. Published by Penguin. A charming book encouraging children to follow their curiosity with experiments and trying to find answers to questions through clues and observations.
The book has been inspired by the life and pathbreaking works of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose who is considered as the father of Indian modern science. Though it is not biographical in nature, the book imagines how he must have begun to question things during his childhood and ended up as a scientist in a quest to find out answers which were not present in books.
Little Jagdish used to spend a lot of time with his Baba listening to stories spanning across various topics. As he grew older, his curiosities grew and questions started forming. When he realised through his teacher that all answers are not found in books, he decided to take her advice and do experiments to find out the answers. What was he trying to find out? How did he go about it? What were his observations? Did the experiments help him get an answer? Read the story narrated in verse format to find out.
My eight year old enjoyed reading the book with me. He was excited to know how scientists work. He wants to know more about Sir J.C. Bose now. The book encourages children to find out more about things by observing and trying out different experiments to understand better through the example of Jagadish. The experiments could also lead to new discoveries as well! What better way to understand concepts than trying out practically. There are a couple of simple experiments listed at the end of the book for the children to try at home. The illustrations are bright and colourful adding to the charm of the book. The last two pages have a note by the author about the book and some facts about Sir J.C. Bose. Overall a simple book with an extremely important underlying theme.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 7+.
Reasons to Read
The book stresses on the need to observe, explore and experiment to find answers to the curious questions that children come up with.
The book is a good way to introduce an imminent person like Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose to children.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India, for review. Thank you to Greeshma and Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!