Blowing Hot, Blowing Cold
Author: 
Zakir Hussain
Illustrator: 
Pooja Pottenkulam
age group: 
5+ yrs
Number of pages: 
16
Publisher: 
Young Zubaan
Themes:
humour
Genre:
picture book, realistic fiction
 

A charming story, narrated in the manner of the oral tradition by Zakir Hussain, former President of India, this book will delight children with its quirky observation.

A woodcutter is cold in the deep forest and blows on his hands.

He is watched by Little Mian Balishtiye, who unable to bear his curiosity, asks the woodcutter his reasons for doing so, “...I blow on them to warm them up,” explains the woodcutter.

A little later, the woodcutter cooks a potato for himself and blows on it to cool it down.   The little man is perplexed.  “...the potato is already hot. Why do you want to make it hotter?”  The woodcutter informs him that he was blowing on it to cool it down.

Blow hot, blow cold – with the same breath? Impossible!  Little Mian Balishtiye pales and begins to tremble with fear, thinking that the woodcutter was either a ghost or a djinn.

 

Reviewed by Shamim Padamsee