Pintoo and the Giant
Illustrator: 
Ashwin Chikerur
age group: 
5+ yrs
Number of pages: 
24
Publisher: 
Tulika
Themes:
value education humour giants
Genre:
fiction, picture book, fantasy
 

 

This story of childhood innocence will take you back to your childhood when
clouds were shapes and shadows had meaning. This is a charming tale, of the
world as seen through the eyes of eight-year-old Pintoo. He finds adventure
when instead of his usual route home, he decides to take short cut through
a maize field. It’s dark and scary inside the field and Pintoo loses his way. A
dejected Pintoo meets a “strictly non-vegetarian” giant. Enterprising Pintoo
convinces the giant that his friend’s dog, Bobby, would make a tastier meal than
him. But even as he leads the way home, Pintoo suffers qualms about Bobby.
Does he manage to outwit the giant and save himself and Bobby?

The book is well supported by Ashwin Chikerur’s watercolour illustrations. His
characterisation of both Pintoo, with his mop of hair and hawaii chappals, and
the ‘giant’, with his bushy eyebrows and moustache, is just right.

This is a book that will certainly appeal to young readers.

This book is also available in Hindi, Tamil, Malyalam.

Reviewed by Priya Bhasker