A few weeks back, my daughter took the book with her to the Kahaani Karnival held in Mumbai and got it signed by the author. One happy kid! 🙂
What really got me interested in Wisha Wozzariter by Payal Kapadia was the premise. It was a very ‘realistic’ setting, especially as my daughter is a voracious reader herself and reads day in and day out, including most part of the night when she is awake. Also the fact that she wants to be a writer when she grows up and is already writing her own little stories.
If you don’t know what the book is about, here is a look:
10 year old Wisha loves to read day in and day out. She feels that reading is the best thing that could ever happen, and she can never read enough. She loves books so much that with every book she reads, she wishes she had written it. Thus is born the thought of writing her own book, and it is here that she begins her journey of collecting ideas that will help her writer her own book one day. There are various characters in the story that help her in her quest of getting ideas and putting them into a story. Wisha also has some favourite books and characters that children, who are avid readers, will immediately identify with. My 6 year old was especially happy when she learnt that her favourite books and authors were Wisha’s favourite books and authors too!
My daughter’s views on the book (she is 6 years):
She absolutely loved it, especially from the starting itself. The story is very real, and the main character of the girl Wisha could be your very own kid, or a child you know of. 10 year old Wisha lives in a world of books and loves nothing more than to read and read, and that is exactly what my 6 year old is like. So she could immediately identify with the character.
She found it really interesting and was quite eager to know what happens next. It was fun and quick and filled with beautiful and funny illustrations, courtesy Roger Dahl, a renowned illustrator.
My take on the book:
As a children’s book, Wisha Wozzariter hits the mark instantly. It is a super fun and relatable book, and kids will immediately identify with the situations that are shown in the book. Of course there are lots of interesting, fun and not-so-real things that happen in the story, but that is the charm of a good story book; it manages to weave in reality and magic wonderfully.
The book is super easy to read and my daughter read it on her own without any help from me. The writing style is engaging and fast, and kids will love to read on and know what happens next. Also, the book is not filled with tough words, and children won’t have to constantly take help to understand difficult words. The characters are fun and entertaining and the illustrations are beautiful, adding much more life to the story.
I found that it is a really easy and fun read and my daughter read the book in a day.
The book has won the Crossword Best Book Award in the Children’s Book Category and I can definitely see why.
As a parent, I would suggest you let your child read this one. This is especially lovely for those kids who love to read and write, and can also be an interesting setting for those kids who aren’t that interested in books.
Interestingly, the book happened while Payal was on maternity leave. While going through the usual pangs of mommyhood, she came upon the idea of writing a book herself. In many ways, Payal admits that the book is semi-autobiographical, with Wisha’s quest for ideas mirroring her own search for ideas and thoughts. The reason for wanting to write a children’s book was obvious – she had earlier worked at a newspaper as an art director and had started a children’s book review column. She firmly believes that a children’s book should be ‘real’, honest and interesting, and should present facts to children like it is, instead of pretending to be something other than what it truly is.
Maybe this is the reason why this book received such appreciation and acclaim!
This is definitely a great book to bring home to your own kid and will make a great gift too…I definitely recommend this for children between the ages of 6-12……
http://debolinasbooks.blogspot.in/2014/02/wisha-wozzariter-by-payal-kapadia-review.html