Chulbul's Tail
Author: 
Savitri
Illustrator: 
Sanjay Sarkar
age group: 
5+ yrs
Number of pages: 
20
Publisher: 
Pratham Books
Themes:
tails squirrel self esteem
Genre:
picture book, fiction
 

Chulbul is not happy with her tail. She feels that she would be better off with a different one. So, off she goes to the doctor who attaches one that she chooses, but, of course, it just did not seem right and so, she returns it and gets another, only to realize that her own tail was the best one, after all!

On the surface whilst the book is a sweet little story of a restless squirrel, at a deeper level, it is one that can help many youngsters struggling with low self image and self-esteem, "I am too fat, too thin, don't have the prefect nose, lips," and so on. Only to realize much later, that it wasn't their body parts that was the problem, but something deeper down - their lack of self esteem and low self image.

Hopefully a book such as this embeds the seeds of realization deep within and will surface much later to help kids understand that it is not how they look but who they are is important.  

Reviewed by Shamim Padamsee