Vee Loved Garlic
by Richa Jha and illustrated by Kunal Kundu
“Vee Loved Garlic” by Richa Jha and illustrated by Kunal Kundu. Published by Pickle Yolk books. A charming picture book for all the garlic lovers.
The story starts off with Miss Vee Noonie tasting garlic for the first time in her life. Her friend Novi shared a sandwich with her and it tasted unusually delicious. And Vee fell in love with garlic. It felt divine and she started dreaming about eating garlic always.
When her parents realise that she has eaten garlic, they are determined to keep her away from it at any cost. Now what is the problem with garlic one might think. Well Miss Vee Noonie is no ordinary girl. In fact she is a vampire. And as we all know... or rather believe, garlic is fatal for vampires!!
Does something bad happen to Vee by eating garlic? Will she be able to give it up? What do her parents do to keep her away from garlic? Does she try convincing her parents that garlic may not be as fatal as they believe? A tale of love, conviction, perseverance and triumph.
Quirky facts about vampires as well as garlic have been portrayed so well in the story as well as the gorgeous illustrations. Miss Vee is accompanied by Miss Fing and Batty at all times. And the names of all characters are so amusing. Papa Moony, Mama Miloony, Loony Moonies (Vee’s younger siblings) and so on! My (then) six year old was amused to know that vampires sleep during the day in coffins. Loved the book! And the creativity of Richa Jha of course!! Thank you Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow for this wonderful recommendation. The book is apt for children aged 5+.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Pickle Yolk books here.
An independent indie bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.
There is one place in the world which Vee is going to fall in love with. The town of Gilroy in California, aptly called “Garlic Capital of the world”. Garlic, I mean the smell of garlic, is in the air there quite literally. We had been there two years ago and visited the Garlic World store. Garlic in every possible form we could think of lined the shelves there in packets, bottles and jars. Chopped, brined, pickled, powdered and nuts coated with garlic powder are some of them that I can recollect. And, yes, garlic ice cream too in vanilla and chocolate flavours. We did try them and it wasn’t so bad after all. Quite decent to be honest :)