Pintoo and the Giant
by Sulabha R.Devpurkar and illustrated by Ashwin Chikerur
“Pintoo and The Giant” by Sulabha R.Devpurkar and illustrated by Ashwin Chikerur. Published by Tulika. A charming story of a little boy and his tryst with a giant. Eight year old Pintoo is walking home from school one evening. His friend Raju isn’t accompanying him on that particular day. The walk to his home seems very long and the sun is setting fast.
Pintoo’s imagination takes wings and he doesn’t want to run into a snake or a ghost or a genie. It is one thing to think about these during the day but the dark itself is already quite intimidating. Pintoo decides to take a shortcut through some maize fields to reach the shiva temple at the top of a hillock. His home is quite near to the temple. The fear of getting lost is quite high on his mind as he takes the zig zag path through the fields and isn’t able to see the temple any longer.
As he gets out of the field and feels a bit better seeing the temple again, he feels himself being lifted up higher and higher by who seems to be a..... giant! He is sure it cannot be a ghost. Pintoo shudders when he looks into the face of the giant. The giant has big hands, a large red nose, thick eyebrows, a big moustache and hairy chest. He is worried that the giant will eat him up.
What happens next? Is the giant a friendly one? Does Pintoo manage to reach home safely? Read the story to find out! The beautiful illustrations add to the charm of the story. My (then) six year old loved the book and asked me to read it multiple times. He was as apprehensive about the giant as Pintoo was. And he hoped that the giant wouldn’t eat children. The simple storyline appealed to him and struck a chord with him. The book is apt for children aged 5+. Thank you Vidya Mani for this lovely recommendation in one of funky rainbow’s buzzaars.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Tulika books here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.