The Moustache Man
by Priya Ramanathan and illustrated by Garima Gupta
“The Moustache Man” by Priya Ramanathan and illustrated by Garima Gupta. Published by Karadi Tales. A hilarious tale about how a wily man with a weird moustache changes everything about a perfect village.
Nekgaon was a perfect village once upon a time. Everything happened perfectly there on a regular basis. Nothing out of the ordinary ever happened there! The Golden Temple Express train would stop at Nekgaon for just a few minutes every once in a while in the middle of night. But Nekgaon of the present day is anything but boring. Even stranger is the appearance of the people. Everyone wears a moustache.
Wondering what might have caused this transformation. A small egg-shaped man got off the train one night at Nekgaon. He had an outlandish moustache and a giant tarantula like beard. His beard had many branches on which grew flowers and sparkling rhinestones. It was so long that one would wonder if the man would trip over it and fall. The man’s name was Manek Mustaki and he carried a wooden box.
Mustaki walked around Nekgaon. The villagers went about their routine ignoring him. Until he did an extraordinary thing. He leaned over to his box and whispered into it. His beard and moustache danced in the wind and stroked the box. This was too much for even the people of Nekgaon to digest. They wanted to know what he was doing. What did he tell them? What did the villagers do after that? What did they figure out from this incident? How did the village change to its present state? Know all of this in this hilarious book about gossip and moustaches!
My 7.5 year old has enjoyed reading this book for almost two years now. The sight of Mustaki and his moustache made him chuckle as we read the book. The quirky and bright illustrations bring the story to life. The book is apt for children aged 6+.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 6+.
Reasons to Read
The book is full of fun, laughter and mischief making the children giggle as they read it.
The book conveys the message subtly that nothing needs to be picture perfect all the time. It is absolutely fine to make mistakes. But the more important thing is to accept and learn from those mistakes, laugh about it and move on.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Karadi Tales here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.