Mother is Mother
Author: 
Shankar
Illustrator: 
Pulak Biswas
age group: 
7+ yrs
Number of pages: 
24
Publisher: 
CBT
Themes:
value education squirrels nature and wildlife mothers
Genre:
picture book, realistic fiction
 

A story first published in 1968 that is relevant even today.

Ravi hurls a stone at two squirrels eating a mango in a tree and brings the young one down. He wants it as a pet and puts in a cage. That night the mother squirrel enters through the window and calls softly to her baby.  "The baby answers her with a little cry."  The boy shoos the mother away.  However, the mother manages to sneak in, over and over again.

At first, Ravi is angry at the persistence of the squirrel.  Finally, he realises the trauma that the mother and baby are going through and decides to set the baby free.

A simple story, well written.  It teaches a valuable lesson that interfering with nature, capturing wild animals and birds, and caging them is cruel.

The story highlights the point that animals are best left alone in the wild - their rightful home!

Reviewed by Shamim Padamsee