Thea Stilton and the Legend of the Fire Flowers - Review

Thea Stilton and the Legend of the Fire Flowers (Thea Stilton Graphic Novels Book 15)

Hello! My name is Colette. Meet my friends Nicky, Violet, Paulina and Pamela. We are the Thea sisters. We love solving mysteries. Do you want to know one of our mysteries? If you want to know then read it! This story is about how we save people from getting killed from the hot lava of the mountain Mauna Loa. The story is when our friend Thea got freedom from her brother to go out on a vacation. You might be wondering why she had to take permission from her brother to go for a vacation? Its because her brother is the publisher and he is even an author. She is only a special correspondent for the Rodent Gazzette. Do you now understand why? So she took a flight to Whale island. She was so very excited to know how we did it. We narrated the adventure. We had come to Hawaii for a dance competition. We even saw our enemy was also participating! When we were staying in the hotel we got a call from professor van Kraken that the Mauna Loa is going to erupt! The next day we went to get information about the mountain but every single mouse said it was not going to erupt. We met an old mouse sitting next to the ocean. We asked him if it was going to erupt he said yes we were surprised that every mouse said no but this mouse said yes. When we were wondering how was this true we saw a white dog. The old mouse sighed.

He said the mountain is going to erupt because there was a legend that if we see a white dog the mountain will erupt. When we got to know about this we thought we had better investigate. In the afternoon it was dark we thought we had better see the observatory lab. When we saw the observatory lab we noticed that the digital selector was connected to professor Crusterson's computer!It was shocking! It meant that professor Crusterson was selecting information about the mountain for the other researchers that's why the other researchers were not able to know about the unknowing eruption. Suddenly a clapping noise filled the room. it was professor Crusterson, Sammy Sharkfur and two fake policemen! They were the dishonest mice. They locked us up in the basement of the observatory lab. Even if we screamed no one could hear us but we heard a noise it was the elderly mouse. He untied all of us and led us out of the basement. The next day we warned every one that the mountain is going to erupt . Our enemy Ruby said that nothing was going to happen but I pulled her and her crew out of the hotel just before the hot lava reached the hotel. The dishonest mice were arrested and all the mice were safe outside. Wasn't it a scary adventure? hope you enjoyed it.

THE END 

Amazon IN,

© 2017, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved.
(this was originally written in 2014, but not posted)

eGranth- Anvita and Anika's Book Newsletter - August 2017 (Part 1)

eGranth - The Books Newsletter. August 2017 - Part 1

Editor: This is the fifth newsletter, and as you all know, it is being edited by me, Anvita Agarwal. This newsletter has sections too, and I have decided to add more in the section where I mention my studies, and what I have been learning at school. I have included books that are good books, and have been recommended to me by my father. All of them are books one must read, and I can guarantee that the person will enjoy it. My sister has provided half of the content and put in a lot of hard work into it, so they are well written. Later on, we might have themed newsletters, so one newsletter will have one particular theme on which the whole newsletter will be based one. Happy Reading! – Anvita

 

Percy Jackson – Heroes of Olympus

By Rick Riordan

Books in this series: The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades, The Blood of Olympus
Fiction: mythology: adventure
Age: 9 – 12
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN

Percy Jackson is the name heard universally. It is one of the most recommended books. Rick Riordan, also known as ‘Myth Master’, has written a wide collection of books with a fictional character named Percy Jackson, who is the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. This genius has cleverly combined Greek and Roman myths together to form a series of enjoyable books. I had heard of the books but hadn’t read them until now. I started reading his second series of books revolving around a group of eight people – Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Nico, Hazel, Frank and Leo. That series of books is called ‘Heroes of Olympus’. The main storyline is their mission to prevent the Earth goddess Gaia from rising. Gaia seeks revenge against the gods, but isn’t in full consciousness, though she is still able to create the giants, her children. The giants are recruiting the monsters, and getting some good people on their side. Meanwhile, they caused more trouble by chaining Thanatos, the god of Death. This resulted in serious consequences. Anyone who dies, won’t stay dead! They will come back to life because Thanatos is not controlling who comes in or out of the underworld! Percy along with the rest must prevent Gaia from awakening and at the same time free Thanatos to seal the Doors of Death. The first series of books is the Percy Jackson series. This series is before the ‘Heroes of Olympus’. In this series, Percy along with Rachel, Annabeth and Grover, a satyr must prevent Kronos, the gods’ father, from piecing his body together and come back to full power. I loved both series, as they are interesting, and at the same time have many funny bits in them. The storyline has many twists and turns, that you don’t get bored, and long to know what will happen next. The story flows smoothly and each book has a new mystery altogether that you can wait for. This book is categorized as one of my favorite series. I am moving onto his other two series, which I’ve heard are as good as the others.

A Mauryan Adventure

by Subhadra Sen Gupta

Fiction: History: Mystery
Age: around 9-12
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN, Kindle

This book is written by Subhadra Sen Gupta. She has set thus fictional story in the time of King Ashoka, and the storyline talks about a girl named Madhura, and about a conspiracy that wants to overthrow King Ashoka. It is how Madhura and her brother Karthik, a spy, along with the help of Kamalika, a dancer who is also a spy, find out about the conspiracy and catch the culprit. I really liked this book as it portrayed Madhura as a girl of strong character, which rarely any books do. She describes whatever is happening in the story very well, and one can vividly imagine what is going on. My favorite part of the book was when Madhura helped Princess Sanghamitra sneak out to the bazaar alone. Sanghamitra longed to visit the bazaar alone with Madhura without the large entourage of guards who would escort her anywhere outside the palace. The guards wouldn’t give her the space she wanted and she couldn’t sit and chew paan, or eat the delicious, mouth-watering food from the roadside shops. This brings out another characteristic of Madhura. She is observant, and was the only one who noticed that the guards never checked the maids, who would pull their fine muslin dupatas over their head, and cover their face. This made it easy for Madhura and Sanghamitra to escape unnoticed. The story is written in simple, understandable English, and an age group between 9-12 would enjoy it because it has a mystery and adventure, which this age group enjoys.

Secrets of Zynpagua: The Return of the Princess

by Ilika Ranjan

Fiction: Fantasy
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN, Kindle

Like most children, I love books which take me to fictional worlds which I can explore and enjoy. Reading such books allows my imagination to run wild. Not all books are that great, and can’t create the same vision the good ones do, but this one did. ‘Secrets of Zynpagua’ is written by Ms. Illika Ranjan. She was one of the authors who visited our school. Every year, my school calls one author to our school to talk about one of their books that was recently published. Apparently, Ms. Illika Ranjan had come to our school before when her first book in the ‘Secrets of Zynpagua’ series had been published. This year she came to our school as her second book in the series had been released. Standard 7 and 8 were called to attend her session. During the session, she handed out free books to a few students. I managed to receive one of the books. I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. She described everything in detail, and each part of the story is clear. The story involves many characters, and keeps switching from one scene to the other, but it is very smooth, and one doesn’t get confused. The whole book talks about a land that was once on Earth, and was called Zynpagua. The ruler of Zynpagua was Queen Sussaina. There were good times in Zynpagua, until Sussaina neglected her kingdom when she was pregnant and allowed Drudan, an evil scientist, come to power. The three stars- Sun, Venus, and Mars, that made Zynpagua happy and rich, didn’t bestow their light and allowed Drudan to rule. Drudan created a light called the Violet Light, that would kill anyone if it entered the person’s veins. The violet light was so strong, that it pulled Zynpagua from the Earth’s surface and threw it into space. This scared the people and they accepted Drudan’s rule. Drudan locked Sussaina in the shadow of the Moon, so she couldn’t escape. At that time, she got pregnant with a baby girl who would save everyone from Drudan. This girl was sent to India to protect her from Drudan until she was old enough to return to Zynpagua. The rest of the book talks about how she returned to Zynpagua and drove Drudan out.

Vicious Vikings Here We Go (Horrible Histories)

by Terry Diary

History, Humour
Age: 9-12 years
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN, Kindle

A book on Vikings! Why on one of the most disgusting races on Earth? Well, that is part of the story, as Vikings are also one of the fiercest creatures on Earth, but also extremely gruesome and violent. This book is based on the life of the Vikings, their expeditions, Viking myths, and their wars. Caution: People with a bad stomach, or no tolerance for violence should not read this book. I repeat, they should not read this book. This book has a lot on Viking Myths and stories. It is a perfect way to learn about Vikings. These books are always filled with illustrations that are there side by side the information. The illustrations are extremely hilarious. Don’t worry! These are not your boring history textbooks, they are extremely funny, and have a lot of information that will interest you. This book may be filled with a little gore, so you can skip the parts that you don’t want to read. It conveys information in such a way that you do not forget it easily. The books are short, about 200 pages, so they do not bore you easily. There aren’t a lot of words on the page, so it will feel less like a history textbook, which is filled with words and dates. How frustrating!

Gita for Children

by Roopa Pai

Religion, Philosophy
Age: 9-12
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN, Kindle

The Bhagvad Gita, the book that every Hindu says is the wisest, and the one with all answers. What is so important about it? Why do people refer to it so much? The answers to all of this is found in this book. It is written by Roopa Pai. She is also the author of the Taranaut series (refer to the May newsletter for information on this series). As the name suggests, it is the Gita for ‘Children’, so it naturally isn’t very difficult to understand. Roopa Pai has written this book in the casual language children use nowadays, to make it more interactive, and interesting for children. She has translated the main points of the Gita into a book. Children of the present time, deign to touch the Gita. Her writing style is so good that even children nowadays will want to read it. To give you a glimpse of the book, I have listed a few lessons the Gita teaches us, that she has mentioned in the book. Some of them are:

• Your work is your duty. Don’t feel any emotions when you receive the results of your actions. You should neither feel happy, nor sad. A man who has understood this, is the most contended of all.
• You should do what you work is, and not want any reward for your work. Your duty is to do work, and not expect rewards. The shloka below rightly explains this in its two simple lines:

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते माफलेषु कदाचन| 

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि || 47 ||

karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana 

mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi

You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.

Personally, I loved the book, and learnt a lot from it. I could read it like a storybook, because it was so simple and interesting. The chapter names itself are so catchy and interesting. It was much easier to read than the other translations of the Gita in English.

The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat

by Theoni Pappas

Math, games
Age: 9-14
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN, Kindle

Maths! Oh my god! So many problems to solve. I need to memorize these problems! So basically, Math class is the class of semi-consciousness, and confusion. How about a fun math storybook? Most reply, “Nah. Can’t be.” You had better believe it, as I present before you a book that has explains Math in a simple manner, without writing so many equations. After each chapter, or in between a chapter, there are a few problems to check your understanding. To check the answers, go to the end of the book (Don’t cheat just because I revealed this juicy bit of information!). The whole book helps you explore Math concepts from the eyes of Penrose, a cat, and the main character in the story. The writer, Theoni Pappas, says she got the idea of creating Penrose from her on cat who would sprawl himself among the papers kept on her study, to take a nap (you will notice this scenario many times in the book. Penrose will spread himself on his mistress’s papers to take a nap). I really loved this book, as it was so simple, it cleared of the Math concepts that refused to get inside my head. Classes 5 – 8 can read this book, as the Math concepts in this book go up to this standard.

The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures

by Malba Tahan

Math
Age: 10-14
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN

As the name suggests, this is another mathematical book, is written by Júlio César de Mello e Souza, who also went under the pen name Malba Tahan or Breno de Alencar Bianco. The whole book talks about the journey of a man called Hanak Tade Maia, and his friend Beremiz Samir, who is none other than the Man Who Counted. It shows different situations and problems that Beremiz Samir. Each problem brings out the beauty of numbers, or it shows one of the properties of numbers. Most of the problems are extremely confusing, or almost impossible problems to solve, but notice how Beremiz Samir cleverly solves all the problems. I really enjoyed this book. Each problem is unique, and helps you look at problems differently, helping you solve them. It isn’t very difficult to understand, but you might have to look at a few problems again, as they involve a few concepts that are a little confusing. I found the book interesting, and I did not get bored. It helped strengthen my Math concepts. Standard 6-8 can read this book.

School Studies

Science, Education

Age: 12-13
Reviewed by: Anvita

In the July Newsletter, very little had been told about what we have been doing in school. In this newsletter, I am including a little more on the chapters we are learning at school. Till now, my favorite subject has been Science. I am enjoying all the chapters as they are interesting, and I am learning a lot from them. I have completed four chapters in Science, including all the parts of Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Last time I gave you a glimpse of what I had learnt in Chemistry through one of my science experiments provided by my school, so this time I will focus more on what I did in Biology. In Biology, so far, I have learnt nutrition in plants and nutrition in animals. I enjoyed the second chapter more, where they explain how food is ingested*, digested**, the nutrients are absorbed^, then they are assimilated^^, and lastly the undigested food is excreted~. I have learnt this process in three kinds of living organisms – amoeba, ruminants (like cows), and humans. I found the way amoeba digested their food the most interesting of all, and I would like to share it with all of you. Amoeba are single-cellular organisms, and their digestion process is pretty simple. Amoeba do not have a lot a very complex body structure, so they more or less look like unshapely blobs. When Amoeba find the presence of food near them, they form pseudopodia, false feet, that completely enclose the food. This creates a space, called the food vacuole, where digestive juices are secreted, and the food is digested.

*when a living organism eats food.
**when the food is broken down into simpler substances.
^when the soluble substances produced by the body during digestion are absorbed by the tissues of the body.
^^when the body uses simpler substances to build more complex substances for the body to use.
~when the undigested food is taken out from our body.

(... to be concluded in Part 2)

© 2017, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved.

August 2017 Newsletter - Secrets of Zynpagua by Ilika Ranjan

Secrets of Zynpagua: The Return of the Princess

by Ilika Ranjan

Fiction: Fantasy
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN, Kindle

Like most children, I love books which take me to fictional worlds which I can explore and enjoy. Reading such books allows my imagination to run wild. Not all books are that great, and can’t create the same vision the good ones do, but this one did. ‘Secrets of Zynpagua’ is written by Ms. Illika Ranjan. She was one of the authors who visited our school. Every year, my school calls one author to our school to talk about one of their books that was recently published. Apparently, Ms. Illika Ranjan had come to our school before when her first book in the ‘Secrets of Zynpagua’ series had been published. This year she came to our school as her second book in the series had been released. Standard 7 and 8 were called to attend her session. During the session, she handed out free books to a few students. I managed to receive one of the books. I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. She described everything in detail, and each part of the story is clear. The story involves many characters, and keeps switching from one scene to the other, but it is very smooth, and one doesn’t get confused. The whole book talks about a land that was once on Earth, and was called Zynpagua. The ruler of Zynpagua was Queen Sussaina. There were good times in Zynpagua, until Sussaina neglected her kingdom when she was pregnant and allowed Drudan, an evil scientist, come to power. The three stars- Sun, Venus, and Mars, that made Zynpagua happy and rich, didn’t bestow their light and allowed Drudan to rule. Drudan created a light called the Violet Light, that would kill anyone if it entered the person’s veins. The violet light was so strong, that it pulled Zynpagua from the Earth’s surface and threw it into space. This scared the people and they accepted Drudan’s rule. Drudan locked Sussaina in the shadow of the Moon, so she couldn’t escape. At that time, she got pregnant with a baby girl who would save everyone from Drudan. This girl was sent to India to protect her from Drudan until she was old enough to return to Zynpagua. The rest of the book talks about how she returned to Zynpagua and drove Drudan out.

© 2017, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved.

August 2017 Newsletter - A Mauryan Adventure by Subhadra Sen Gupta

A Mauryan Adventure

by Subhadra Sen Gupta

Fiction: History: Mystery
Age: around 9-12
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN, Kindle

This book is written by Subhadra Sen Gupta. She has set thus fictional story in the time of King Ashoka, and the storyline talks about a girl named Madhura, and about a conspiracy that wants to overthrow King Ashoka. It is how Madhura and her brother Karthik, a spy, along with the help of Kamalika, a dancer who is also a spy, find out about the conspiracy and catch the culprit. I really liked this book as it portrayed Madhura as a girl of strong

character, which rarely any books do. She describes whatever is happening in the story very well, and one can vividly imagine what is going on. My favorite part of the book was when Madhura helped Princess Sanghamitra sneak out to the bazaar alone. Sanghamitra longed to visit the bazaar alone with Madhura without the large entourage of guards who would escort her anywhere outside the palace. The guards wouldn’t give her the space she wanted and she couldn’t sit and chew paan, or eat the delicious, mouth-watering food from the roadside shops. This brings out another characteristic of Madhura. She is observant, and was the only one who noticed that the guards never checked the maids, who would pull their fine muslin dupatas over their head, and cover their face. This made it easy for Madhura and Sanghamitra to escape unnoticed. The story is written in simple, understandable English, and an age group between 9-12 would enjoy it because it has a mystery and adventure, which this age group enjoys.

  © 2017, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved.

August 2017 Newsletter - Percy Jackson: Heroes of Olympus

Percy Jackson – Heroes of Olympus

by Rick Riordan

Books in this series: The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades, The Blood of Olympus
Fiction: mythology: adventure
Age: 9 – 12
Reviewed by: Anvita
Buy from: Amazon US, Amazon IN

Percy Jackson is the name heard universally. It is one of the most recommended books. Rick Riordan, also known as ‘Myth Master’, has written a wide collection of books with a fictional character named Percy Jackson, who is the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. This genius has cleverly combined Greek and Roman myths together to form a series of enjoyable books. I had heard of the books but hadn’t read them until now. I started reading his second series of books revolving around a group of eight people – Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Nico, Hazel, Frank and Leo. That series of books is called ‘Heroes of Olympus’. The main storyline is their mission to prevent the Earth goddess Gaia from rising. Gaia seeks revenge against the gods, but isn’t in full consciousness, though she is still able to create the giants, her children. The giants are recruiting the monsters, and getting some good people on their side. Meanwhile, they caused more trouble by chaining Thanatos, the god of Death. This resulted in serious consequences. Anyone who dies, won’t stay dead! They will come back to life because Thanatos is not controlling who comes in or out of the underworld! Percy along with the rest must prevent Gaia from awakening and at the same time free Thanatos to seal the Doors of Death. The first series of books is the Percy Jackson series. This series is before the ‘Heroes of Olympus’. In this series, Percy along with Rachel, Annabeth and Grover, a satyr must prevent Kronos, the gods’ father, from piecing his body together and come back to full power. I loved both series, as they are interesting, and at the same time have many funny bits in them. The storyline has many twists and turns, that you don’t get bored, and long to know what will happen next. The story flows smoothly and each book has a new mystery altogether that you can wait for. This book is categorized as one of my favorite series. I am moving onto his other two series, which I’ve heard are as good as the others.

© 2017, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved.

The Clever Kitten, by Enid Blyton

The Clever Kittne, by Enid Blyton

This is one of Enid Blyton's short stories that I really liked, so I have given it below so that you can enjoy it as much as I did.


Elsie's birthday was coming soon. She was throwing a birthday party all her best friends and relatives. She was dying to have a pet. She was very fond of animals. When her birthday was coming near her parents thought of what they should buy for her. Her mother thought of buying her a big and nice workbasket. Her father thought Elsie would like to have a pet. Elsie always thought having a pet was lots of fun. It was a day before her birthday and she was given ten pounds from her mother. She went to a shop nearby her house to buy a birthday present for herself. She looked inside the shop and saw a nice big workbasket right at the front of the shop. She asked her mother that she wanted to buy it. Elsie spent nine pounds on that workbasket. When she was looking at the back of the shop she saw the nicest, fluffiest white kitten in the shop. She stroked the kitten gently and because of this action the kitten stretched and was awake. It jumped into Elsie's arms because it thought she was the nicest girl the kitten had ever met. Elsie showed her mother the kitten and then asked the shopkeeper how much was the kitten. The shopkeeper replied that it was for ten pounds but she only had one pound left. She asked her mother that can she buy the kitten instead of the workbasket but her mother said no because she had already chosen the workbasket so it was supposed be the workbasket. Elsie was so sad she gently put the kitten back on the pillow. The kitten leaped up into Elsie's arms. Elsie put it back into it's right place. It was the time to pack the present. The kitten wanted Elsie so badly that when the shopkeeper girl was going to get a bag to put the workbasket in the white kitten quietly slipped into the workbasket. When the shopkeeper girl was going to give the workbasket to a girl to deliver she thought it was a bit heavy from before but she did not bother to look inside. The girl who had to deliver left at midnight and delivered it safely to Elsie's house. The very next day it was Elsie's birthday. She had many gifts they all were piled up together. There was a doll from her aunt, a book from her grandmother, a pincushion from the cook, a box of sweets from the housemaid, ten pounds from her father and a workbasket from her mother. The kitten smelt mice in the house so she quietly slipped out of the basket and caught the mice to eat. She peeped out of a basket and saw Elsie's mother laying breakfast. She was joyful. She knew Elsie will be out any moment! Elsie came out and looked at all the lovely presents lying in one heap. She was delighted. When she opened the workbasket she saw the lovely white kitten inside. She squealed in delight. She thanked her parents for buying the kitten. Her parents were very puzzled. They looked at the kitten and told Elsie that the kitten had sneaked in when the shopkeeper girl was not looking. They told Elsie that they have to return the kitten to the shopkeeper girl. When they were on their way to the shop. Her father shouted" Elsie you are such a goose. How much money did I give you today?" Elsie replied ten pounds. Her father asked again How much does the kitten cost? Elsie replied ten pounds! She took her ten pounds with her and told the shopkeeper girl everything. She gave her the money and bought the kitten. Since the kitten was so furry and it's fur was as white snow she named him Snowball. Wasn't she very lucky.


THE END

© 2017, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved.
(this was originally written in 2014, but not posted)

Evie: The Mist Fairy

Evie: The Mist Fairy (Rainbow Magic: The Weather Fairies, No. 5)

Hello my name is Evie. I will tell you how my friends helped me restore my weather feather. I am one of the weather fairies. The friends I have mentioned their names are Rachel and Kirsty. In this book we tricked a goblin into giving the weather feather back to me so that I could take it back to Fairyland. I want to tell you how we tricked the goblin. When we got to know that the weather was not good and it was very foggy, we knew that it was goblin mischief. The same day Kirsty's mom was taking part in the running competetion. We tried looking for the goblin but we couldn't find him. When we were flying we heard a moan. We stopped to see who it was. It was a goblin. We quickly hid in a tree. The goblin was moaning because he was tired and did not want the mist feather. We even saw that the goblin saw a human and thought it was a pogwurzel. When the goblins were small they were very naughty, so their mother said that if they trouble them a pogwurzel will come and eat them.  From that time the goblins think that humans are pogwurzels. I tried to ask him in a polite way that could he give my feather back. But he was too stubborn to listen. When we were thinking that time Rachel had an idea. She asked me that if I could use my magic to imitate the voice of a pogwurzel? She said she had enough magic to do so. Rachel told the idea to Kirsty. Kirsty liked the idea very much. I transformed them to their normal form. They hid behind a tree and then ran out and started shouting that a pogwurzel was chasing them. The goblin was frightened when we came running like that. Then I used my magic to imitate the voice of a pogwurzel. It was funny to watch the goblin scream. The goblin was so scared that he begged for me to clear the path so that he could run away. He gave my feather back and then I cleared the way for him. Now I told you how we tricked the goblin. Hope you enjoyed it!
Amazon

© 2017, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved.
(this was originally written in 2014, but not posted)

Short Story - Little Amy and the Baboon

Little Amy, aged 10, walked up to the grocery store. It was another Saturday morning when her mother as usual had forgotten to go for grocery shopping. She reached the grocery store and pulled out a list. Tomatoes, Celery, Broccoli, Capsicum and Corn, the usual. She pulled out a wad of bills and paid. As she was walking back home, she felt something tugging at the celery. She pulled the celery, thinking it was one of the audacious kids down the street. She heard a screech. She whirled around to find a baboon tugging hard at the celery. This was astounding. She had never seen a baboon trotting down Wellington lane, New Jersey. She started tugging back, refusing to let go. All of a sudden she saw the baboon’s appearance change. The baboon was looking at her. His appearance had changed. His grey fur was falling off, revealing patches of skin that were strangely red. His eyes were bloodshot, and his teeth were looking sharper than before. A red liquid was smudged near his lips. He seemed to have grown long, sharp talons that were piercing into the celery. The baboon scratched her using his talons. She let out a piercing shriek. She let go of the celery and ran.

She reached home, and somehow managed to babble a garbled version of the story to her confused mother. She was about to point out the claw marks on her arm, but when she looked down, there were no marks! Her mother took her to be disturbed by something and started taking her to the psychiatrist. Her psychiatrist tried to talk the idea out of her head of a creature. After two weeks, she felt better and was back to being carefree. She still had nightmares about it, but they too slowly faded. A month later, her school was taking them to Camp Greenwood, a camp near her school. Her mother allowed her, and she was off to camp. She enjoyed her first day, savoring every moment she spent there with her friends. The day passed and it was now nighttime. Everyone at camp was asleep, and she had decided to get herself a snack, as she had only eaten one slice of the woodfire pizza they had cooked. As she was slowly making her way to the kitchen, she heard a familiar screech. The same high pitched unearthly screech that had struck terror in her heart.

She steeled herself and slowly crept towards the kitchen. She saw the same baboon sitting in the kitchen grabbing celery from the Vegetable stack. This puzzled her. Monkeys usually ate any vegetable given. She had never seen a monkey as a picky eater. The monkey had apparently not noticed Amy, so it continued searching for celery. After he was done, he crept towards the kitchen’s back door. This time Amy followed. She couldn’t believe she was doing it, but her curiosity got the better of her. The monkey walked towards the woods. Shivering with fear and excitement, she stalked the baboon. It continued along a long road. It stopped at a burrow, and jumped in. Amy jumped in too. The burrow was narrow, so she felt cramped up sliding through it. At the end of the burrow stood a fearsome sight. There was a humungous castle that sprawled across the landscape, that looked like it was coated in... tomato juice? The monkey headed towards the palace and entered it. At the entrance was a sign that said ‘Beware! Don’t enter Little Johnny’s property’.

She remembered a folktale she had heard. Her mother used it to threaten Amy to sleep. Little Johnny was a mythical baboon that was said to harm little kids, and loved tomato juice. Celery was its diet. She opened the door with shaking hands. The palace was magnificent from the inside. It was lavishly furnished. She ran across the hall not wanting to lose Little Johnny. Little Johnny stopped at a room and went in. Amy crept inside unnoticed to find the room filled with celery. She accidently stepped on a celery stick, tripping over it. Little Johnny froze, and turned around menacingly. She gulped. She was in big, big trouble.

Little Johnny looked livid with fury, making Amy wonder whether he could get so worked up that his eyes popped out of his head. Little Johnny advanced upon her, ready to strike a fatal blow. Amy’s mind started working like clockwork. She had barely a few seconds before the crazy baboon ripped her to shreds. She desperately started thinking about something that might end this creature once and for all, and save her neck. “Everyone has a weakness. I just need to find it.” She thought. It suddenly struck her. Her mother had told her, “No one knows what Little Johnny fears, but a riddle is there that tells us about his weakness. It says, ‘An element it is, which bows before water and is stroked by the air.’” When she was small, she was puzzled with the riddle. Now it seemed too obvious. It was fire. She spotted two pieces of coal sitting in a corner. She had an idea, and she hoped it would work.
“Hey! Little Johnny! Come and get me!” She shouted. Little Johnny stopped. Clearly, no one had challenged him. He looked confused for a few seconds, and that was all she needed. She dashed to the pieces of coal, and started to strike them. At the first try, nothing happened. When she tried it a second time, the coals sparked and a merry fire started burning. She threw the burning coals at Little Johnny, before they burnt her hand. They fell on Little Johnny, and he screeched. He gave Amy a last look and melted like wax. Amy laughed with joy. She ran out of the castle, all the way to camp. She narrated this story to her friends and her teacher. They took it lightly, not believing a word. Amy secretly smiled. She had vanquished the creature preventing it from disturbing anyone else. Even if no one believed her, she had a good story to narrate to her sister.

© 2017, Anvita Agarwal. All rights reserved

Anvita and Anika's Book Newsletter - June 2017

e-granth – Anvita and Anika's Book Newsletter, June 2017

From the Editor’s Desk

Here is the June Newsletter which you all have been waiting for. In this newsletter, I have decided to include sections, so that you readers, can navigate easily through the newsletter, searching for the section that might contain your favourite books. As my sister and I are alternating on who would run the newsletter, this time, it is I, Anvita Agarwal, who is editing the newsletter. This time, I have included books that have not been read by me for a long time. My sister provided the content for four books, and I added the rest. In the next newsletter, we mostly will have a section on the textbook reading we do.

Enjoy reading this newsletter!

- Anvita

Horrific Horror
As the name suggests, this section will have horror stories. Bunnicula and Araminta Spook are included in this section. This time, these books aren’t that scary, so people who don’t like spooky books, don’t worry. You won’t get too spooked out.

Bunnicula, A Rabbit Tale of Mystery

Vampires, Draculas and other horrific creatures are common. What about a bunny-dracula? Or should I say Bunnicula? This horrifyingly funny book is written by Deborah and James Howe, describing the odd behavior of a new pet rabbit. The rabbit has fangs, sleeps during the day and wakes up at night, and, has odd markings on his fur, more like a Dracula. Suspicious, the two pets of the house – Chester, the cat and Harold, the dog, are bent on finding out the mystery behind this odd rabbit. This is another one of my cousin’s books. I never wanted to open it until I was bored and decided to read something I hadn’t read before. It wasn’t that scary as it was funny. Young children would love reading this books, though it has a slightly chilling title and quote that says, ‘Today Vegetables...Tomorrow the world!’. This is a series of books, with seven books in it. Though I have read only one book in the series, I would love to read the rest of the six books. Anyone would love to sit and read these books without stopping to even have a sip of water. [link]

Araminta Spook

Looks like I have a taste of horror-comedy books this month. The second book I’m going to include in this newsletter, is a series of books written by Angie Sage – Araminta Spook. This is the third book that my cousin has given me, which I naturally read, because I have enjoyed the books she has given me till now. My cousin gave me the second book in the series, ‘The Sword in the Grotto’, which I enjoyed a lot. I then bought the first book, ‘My Haunted House’. More than scary, I found it adventurous and funny. All the characters in the book had hilarious dialogues (bar Araminta), and it didn’t feel boring after a small part of the book. I liked the second book more than the first one, though the first book is usually supposed to be the better one. I want to review the second book in this series, as I liked it more. The general idea of this book is how Araminta and Wanda, decide to fetch a sword kept in a dark and dangerous place for one of their ghost, Sir Horace’s five hundredth birthday. This book is something I’ve read a lot of times but never felt it to be boring, or that the storyline wavers in between. It is well written and is enjoyable. In fact, I’d love to say ‘Best Book Ever!’ [link]


BOOKALICIOUS
This is the third section, and as a matter of fact, it contains exactly three books! George’s Adventures, The Lemonade War and Horrible History: Wicked Words. These three books are truly lovely books, and I’m sure you won’t be bored by them. This section has the books I’d mainly want you to read.

THE LEMONADE WAR

I liked this book a lot. It talks about how Evan and Jessie, two siblings, start fighting, as Evan is embarrassed that his little sister is being promoted from second grade to fourth grade, the class he is going to, this year. Evan knows that he is not as good at Math and other subjects as Jessie is, and is afraid that he will feel ashamed that his sister knows more than him. Not wanting to tell Jessie this, he starts acting rude to her, which starts a full-fledged quarrel. They decide to have a bet. The one who earns one hundred dollars from their lemonade stand wins, and the loser should give the winner all his earnings during the war. This starts the Lemonade War. Who will win? Will Evan tell Jessie the truth behind his odd behavior? This is the main story. Jacqueline Davies has done a very good job in describing the sibling rivalry. She is mainly known for her Lemonade War series, though she has written many books. I have read two books, ‘The Lemonade War’ and the following book, ‘The Lemonade Crime’. Both were interesting and different. I enjoyed both a lot. There are business tips in between the book that are interesting, and important. She describes each character’s strengths and weaknesses properly, so you could understand when they face a problem, how they would handle it. She shows what happens in day to day life, jealousy. Jealousy is a feeling that is common between siblings. For example, when the mother praises one of the siblings for something, the other experiences this feeling. I liked the book, and really want to read the rest of the books in the series.[link]

Horrible Histories: Wicked Words

I got this book from a nearby library, trusting it to be hilarious, judging its cover. My father recommended me to read it, as it looked good, and I have read other books in this series. Recently, I’ve been reading a book like this called ‘The Knowledge: Triffic Chocolate’, as I enjoyed the book ‘Wicked Words’ so much. It isn’t a storybook, nor is it an encyclopedia. It is a mixture of both. It gives you a lot of information on how language came into use, what language is, who was the first one to use language, and a lot more. It talks a lot about different categories English words come under, like Acronyms. I enjoyed reading this book. It was hilarious, as it had illustrations that described precisely what they wanted to say. Towards the end, they give you a great deal of new tongue twisters. Here, I’ve provided two of them for you try: ‘Sister Susie’s sewing shirts for soldiers, such skill at sewing shirts our shy young sister Susie shows, some soldiers send epistles, say they’d sooner sleep in thistles, than the saucy, soft, short shirts for soldiers sister Susie sews’ or ‘There’s no need to light a night-light on a light night like tonight for a night-light’s a slight light for a night like tonight.’ If you have doubts on reading this, I’d ask you not to have them. It isn’t a boring encyclopedia, I can promise you that. Reading this will be filled with a lot of laughs and odd facts, full of fun knowledge.[link]


George Adventures, by Lucy and Stephen Hawking

 These series of adventures revolve around two kids George and Annie. They both are constantly having adventures in space, visiting different galaxies and what not. I know this sounds a bit farfetched but the truth was that they had a supercomputer named Cosmos. Cosmos was an amazing computer that could create a space portal that could take them anywhere in the Universe. He had been created by Eric who was Annie's dad, his old tutor and Graham Reeper. It once took them on a cosmic treasure hunt all over the Universe, got Eric trapped in a black hole, etc. This series of books were written by Stephen and Lucy Hawking. The books have lot of information in the books on space stuff.  There are small snippets and paragraphs in between. You get to learn a lot through them (even though I hardly look at it). It is a bit like the Magic Tree House series because both the books have information in the books through which you learn a lot and at the same time you don't get bored because of the story given. My dad had bought the first book for my sister. At first I found it boring and didn't understand it but as I grew older I got interested and enjoyed it a lot. I found out that there were two other books in the series and got them as e-books. Both were as good as the first. I loved the series and it was very enjoyable to read. [link]

HOT OR NOT
This section talks about books that we think are not too good, but not too bad at the same time, they’re just fine, and cannot decide. The section only contains one book, Sheltie in Danger. This is my opinion on the books, so it depends on your taste – you might like it or not.

SHELTIE IN DANGER
Sheltie in Danger is yet another book given to me by my cousin. It revolves around a brave, tough and strong Shetland pony named Sheltie, who is owned by a young girl named Emma and her family. One day during winter, when Emma is skating on a part of a frozen lake which she thinks is completely frozen, the ice cracks and Emma falls in. Sheltie rescues her but his legs get stuck in the sticky, gooey mud at the bottom of the lake, and cannot escape. Sheltie is rescued, but has very little chances of surviving. This is the storyline. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have, but it was fine. It was not as good as I thought it would be. Usually I like reading animal stories, and half the time the books turn out to be good. Maybe I didn’t enjoy it as I didn’t read it at the right age. Peter Clover has written this book, and many other books, mainly ones that include animals, but he is best known for his series of books with Emma and Sheltie. Children of ages 8 to 10 might particularly enjoy these books.[link]

FORMIDABLE FANTASY
I’m sure everyone loves dragons, fairies, gnomes, pixies, elves, and all those lovely and wondrous creatures. For lovers of these creatures, I present to you, FORMIDABLE FANTASY. Allow this section to delight you with its wondrous creatures. This time, you get to decide between two of them- dragons and witches. So, which one do you choose?

The Worst Witch Series

This hilarious series of books written by Jill Murphy is interesting and enjoyable to read. The main character is Mildred Hubble also known as the ‘Worst Witch’. She is constantly getting into trouble and messing up things at Miss Cackle’s Academy for witches. However hard she tries she ends up making a dramatic entrance every year at her school. Her two best friends Maud and Enid stand by her side every time whereas her arch-enemy Ethel does not. Ethel is the teachers favorite and a brilliant at about everything. She tries her very best to make sure she gets Mildred into trouble and look bad in front of the teachers while she, Ethel shines. I know this sounds exactly like a scene between you and your enemy at school! She mostly did it in front H. B otherwise known as Miss Hardbroom. Miss Hardbroom was the unofficial and stern second in command after Miss Cackle, the Headmistress. The author Jill Murphy used to picture herself as Mildred Hubble as she too was constantly getting into trouble herself! I know this for a fact as I once had an English chapter on her when I was in second grade. The Worst Witch series is known to be her first series of books and was an enormous success. She has written many more books but is more commonly known by the Worst Witch series. I have read two of the books in the series and enjoyed them a lot. I love the series and am looking forward to reading a few more books too.[link]

The Dragon Slayers Academy

This is the first time I’ve read this book, and I really liked it. This is the first book in the series of four books, which is why the story is not completed at the end. It is written by Kate McMullan. It is a good book, and will be ideal for ambitious people, who love anything to do with dragons and knights, and all those creatures. I read it just yesterday, curious to know about the book I’d been avoiding for a long time. It is not a very long book, so I finished it in an hour. It talks about a young lad called Wiglaf, who is the runt of his family of fifteen, including himself, twelve brothers and his parents Fergus and Molwena. Though Wiglaf is the runt of the family, he has a kind heart, and dreams that he is born to be a hero. One day a poor minstrel tells Wiglaf that he is born to be a hero, after the minstrel reads Wiglaf’s fortune. The next day, Wiglaf sees a sign asking for admission to the DSA (Dragon Slayer’s Academy). Excited, he decides to seek his fortune there, with his parent’s approval (they are more than happy to get rid of him). I liked it a lot. It was funny at the same time it was adventurous. It doesn’t end the story, so I really want to read all the books to know the rest of it. [link]

PAW PAGES
Animals...cute, cute, animals. Everyone loves them. This section I dedicate to all dog lovers. After all, I quote, ‘Dog is the Man’s best friend’. Enjoy this series, and feel the pain our friendly friends, dogs feel. Happy Doggylicious reading!


The Call of the Wild
This is a book on a wolfhound named Buck. He lives in America, and is owned by a rich family, who fulfill all his whims and fancies. One day, he is kidnapped and sold somewhere in the Far North as a work dog. From that day, onwards, Buck starts to experience pain and misery, which he has never experienced before. Buck must live with courage, and not give up hope, to live with his new life. The Far North is full of greedy people wanting money, so he finds it difficult to obtain the affection he had before. I loved this classic. I was so touched, that I felt slightly emotional as I came to the end of the book. I was dumbfounded at the immense courage that Buck showed, and his condition at the start when he was not used to doing so much work. As I went through the book, I could experience all the emotions going through Buck throughout the book. It was a beautifully written book. Jack London wrote many books, and ‘Call of the Wild’, was one of them. Even though I felt it to be too sad at times, I couldn’t stop reading it, hoping something good might happen to Buck. This book has many good values hidden in it, courage, bravery, strength, and love are just a few of them. This was a recommendation by my father, as he said this classic was worth reading. I read it, as I know my father is correct most of the time, and because I’ve read a few classics like ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Oliver Twist’, A Christmas Carol’, ‘Little Women’, etc. I enjoyed all of them. I would really like people to read this book. It is a wonderful tale of courage. [link]

EPIC READING
For lovers of our rich culture, heritage, and especially our language. Two books under this section will be enjoyable to you lot of people. These two books talk a lot about our rich collection of books, or has snippets, and short stories from them. I personally enjoy these books, and I’m sure, so will you.

KARNA’S WIFE

This book talks about a character known to very few. She is rarely mentioned in most versions of the Mahabharata. Uruvi, the daughter of King Vahusha and Queen Shubhra, the princess of Pukeya and the wife of Karna. She is a playful, spirited young girl who grows up to and finds herself in love with Karna. Her parents disapprove of him due to his association with Duryodhana. in the end, she finally does get the man of her dreams but along with it she also gets a lot of criticism. Uruvi loved Karna and her new family was nice to her. Gradually she noticed that everyone around her had changed. They all treated her as a sutaputra's wife or an outcast between them. Would Uruvi learn to adapt to her surroundings and learn to live like that? This book is written by Kavita Kane and is fabulous. I have read two other books of hers and between the three and this one was the best. I found the other two to have a lot of romance included which I didn't like that much whereas Karna's wife was romance free. Everything was described through her eyes and based on her thoughts and feelings. It describes her worries before the Kurukshetra war, the shock of realization that Karna was destined to die and her repulsive feelings for Kunti on learning about Karna's birth. I read the first two books and learnt that there was a third. I found out that a library close to my house had the book and immediately borrowed it. There is a sort of magnetism in Kavita Kane's books that sort of makes you complete the whole book. [link]

The Culture Course

 

Weak in history? Well here's a way to learn history easily and in a fun way. Read the Culture Course to improve your learning. This set of books are a lot like the Purṇa Vidya series that were mentioned in the April edition. The Culture Course series narrate around 15 stories in each book. Based on each story there are 6-7 questions. There is only one difference between the Purṇa Vidya series and the Culture Course. Purna Vidya mostly talk about stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata whereas the Culture Course books narrate stories about folk tales, Mahabharata and Ramayana stories, stories about great rishis, the foundation of holy places, rituals, etc. These books talk a lot about the holy places in India and rituals performed there. I have finished the 4th book and am currently doing the sixth. These books teach you a lot about Hindu culture and at the same time they are very interesting. I enjoy reading and answering the questions in this series. [link]


NOTABLE BOOKS
Notable Books, is almost the same as Bookalicious, but here I really, really want you to read the books I mention her. Also, I am mentioning these books to you more formally, which means that even adults would love to read these books. The book I have picked for this section, suitably matches this section. Adults would love reading this, and can recommend the books under this section to others.

Ponniyin Selvan
History is full of names and dates, making it difficult to understand. This series of six books has taken the history of the Chozha empire and written it down in a fictional-fun way. It is extremely hilarious at times, and feels more like an interesting storybook than the history of the Chozha empire. It has been written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. The books name itself suggests that it will be on the Chozha empire, as Ponniyan Selvan is another name for the prince Arulmozhivarmar, popularly known as Raja Raja Chola. These books only go until the time Raja Raja Chola is coronated. The main characters are Vallavarayan Vandiyathevan, Azhwarkkadiyaan Nambi, Kundhavai Devi and a few more. It talks about the plots and plans to help overtake the Chozha empire. It is very interesting, and talks in detail about all the characters and plots. It was the first time I liked a book like this. It also talks about the true nature of some characters. The hilarious parts include the time when Azhwarkkadiyaan Nambi and a shaivite start fighting, insulting each other’s gods, making fun of them. It also starts to become hilarious when the great Vana warior Vallavarayan Vandiyathevan is brought into the picture. He usually tends to casually let go of funny sentences. I loved this book. I have all six of them at home, and have read only five of them. I am on my last one, and need to finish it.[link]

Thank you all for taking the time and patience to sit and read the newsletter that I have prepared for you. Hope you found it enjoyable, knowledgeable, and a good source of information.
You can download the original version of this newsletter, in PowerPoint form, here

-Anvita

© 2017, Anvita, Anika.