The Story School

by Nandini Nayar

“The Story School” by Nandini Nayar. Published by Talking Cub, the children’s imprint of Speaking Tiger. A gripping adventure tale showcasing the power of stories and their importance in the lives of everyone especially children.

The story is set in the kingdom of Songarh. It is a good place to live but has one major problem. There prevails a story law which bans stories of any kind and the punishment that one gets for telling a story is supposed to be quite horrible. The protagonist Maymo is an orphan who lives with other children like her at the home of a kind lady called Joshi Ma in Songarh. The story starts when she turns eleven. On her eleventh birthday, Maymo discovers to her amazement that she is a storyteller with stories bubbling and frothing inside her. She cannot control herself from spewing them out of her mouth. And the children cannot resist listening to her stories. Behind Joshi Ma’s back of course!

Breaking the story law does have serious consequences. The shadows of the fearsome story sensors are behind Maymo  and she has to run away from the place she calls her home. She ends up in a strange school at the edge of a forest near the border with the kingdom of Achalgarh. In this school, no one has dared to tell stories so far and everyone has no choice but to eat the terrible food cooked in the school kitchen. Maymo slowly figures out that there are some people who want to tell stories but resist. The children are certainly craving for some stories along with good food. There are some storytellers too just like her. Can they escape from the law which wants to crush their storytelling abilities and imagination therefore? Can they show the rulers of both Songarh and Achalgarh why stories are needed? Is there hope for stories at all in this kingdom? Can the power of stories win over the narrow mindsets of those in power? Read the delightful and gripping book to find out the story of Maymo and her fight for the sake of stories and storytellers.

My 8.5 year old and I enjoyed reading this lovely book. The plot was very gripping and kept him as well as me hooked. To imagine a land where stories were banned was quite difficult. For stories in some form or the other are what keep us going and not making our lives mundane and mechanical. We shuddered at the thought of all the horrible food that the children were served day in day out at the residential school. The highly imaginative dishes whipped up with brinjal like paratha, barfi, biscuits and toffee had us in splits at the expense of the poor children of course! Thank heavens this is fictional :) The book is funny as well as deeply moving making one ponder about why stories are essential and violence isn’t the only way to deal with international relations through the example of the two kingdoms of Songarh and Achalgarh. The character of Maymo is going to stay for long in our memories for her courage and problem solving skills. It was a refreshing change to see an endearing character like Joshi Ma run an orphanage where she took good care of the children who loved her back in reciprocation. Overall a compelling read which is a lovely addition to everyone’s bookshelves.

Recommended Age

The book is apt for children aged 11+ for self reading and can be read aloud to younger children with a little bit of explanation like we did.

Where to buy from?

The publishers Talking Cub here.

Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Talking Cub, for review. Thank you to Tanu, from Talking Cub, for sending across the book!