THE first in the Zain & Ana series of adventures, 'At Least a Fish' by Anushka Ravishankar is delightfully quirky and unpredictable. What begins with an innocuous request by Ana for a pet, "At least a fish", results in wild set of events with a mythical dragon, a very real turtle and finally, the dog that she originally wanted; except this dog thinks it is a fish!
To begin with, Ana's plaintive plea is momentarily granted. Three goldfish arrive swimming in a fish bowl, certainly a far cry from cuddly, playful dogs. As pets, there isn't much they can do, and imagination is all you've got to play with. So, Ana, along with her best friend, Zain, decide that the fish constantly opening and closing their mouths could only mean they aren't getting enough food. They venture out into the dreaded "swimming pool" in the neighbourhood for some weeds, a neglected, dirty pool, filled over time with murky legends.
And thus the stone is cast and, from here on, the ripples take over. The cast now includes twins, Meena and Beena, Zain's sister, Sameera, and a distraught Dr Nirmala, desperate to find a home for the last of her puppies from a stray litter.
Where the book scores is in its natural understanding and portrayal of children. There is always a sense of upright innocence that outlines every chapter, making the sequence of events believable, and the story accessible. Even the adults, somehow, are painted with the caricaturist's brush, giving them exaggerated, identifiable personalities.
Anushka's narrative and illustrations feed each other, giving both the space it needs - sometimes two pages for an illustration, sometimes two to three pages without. It's a delicate balance she achieves, highlighting only those aspects that will appeal to the child, leaving the rest to his/her imagination. The only negative is the layout of some pages, where the text is a little difficult to read against a watermarked grey background.
If you have read Anushka's previous books, then this is one more to add to your collection. If not, this would be a good place to start. Here's looking forward to more of Zain & Ana's adventures!
Comments
Review submitted for LRSI - '14
AT LEAST A FISH’ WRITTEN BY ANUSHKA RAVISHANKAR IS A FASINATING ACOUNT OF ANIMALS,ESPECIALY A FISH.THE AUTHOR HAS USED AL L OF HER IMAGINATION AND COMPOSED THIS STORY OF HUMOUR,MYSTERY,EXICTMENT AND MUCHMORE.IT’S ACTION PACKED AND MANY THINGS ARE HAPPENING SAME TIME SO ONCE YOU START READING YOU CAN NOT STOP.
THE STORY I FEEL IS BASED ON THE PROVERB, “THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE”.IT FEATURES A GIRL NAMED ANANAYA BOPANNA WHO LONGS FOR A PET DOG BUT HER PARENTS DON’T ALLOW HER AND INSTEAD OF A DOG THEY GET HER THREE FISHES.OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE STORY ARE ZAIN WHO IS HER FRIEND,SAMEERA IS ZAIN’S SISTER,MEENA AND BEENA-THE TWINS ARE ALSO HER FRIENDS,MRS.NIRMALA JOSHI WHO IS THE HEAD OF ‘ADOPT A PET’,HER FISHES-ARISTOTLE,PLATO AND SOCRATES. AND IN THE END HER PET DOG ‘FISH’.
AFTER GETTING FISHES AS PETS ANANAYA(NICK NAMED AS ANA) AND ZAIN TRY TO MAKE THE FISHES DO ALL SORTS OF TRICKS AND TRY TO MAKE THEM ACT LIKE DOGS.DURING THIS THEY COME ACROSS A POOL WHICH WAS ABANDONED MANY YEARS AGO.AFTER THIS POINT,THINGS GET VERY INTERESTING.THEY BOTH START FEELING THAT THERE IS A DRAGON LIVING IN THE POOL.AFTER THAT,EVENTS HAPPEN AT A VERY FAST PACE.AFTER EVERY VISIT TO THE POOL THEIR SUSPECION ABOUT THE DRAGON INCREASES.MEANWHILE ANA ,ZAIN AND THE TWINS WRITE A LETTER TO, ‘ADOPT A PET’ FOR ADOPTING A HOMELESS PUP.IN THE END A PUP CALED ‘BUDDHU’ IS BROUGHT BY NIRMALA JOSHI TO THE POOL WHERE ZAIN,ANA AND SAMEERA ARE WAITING, NOT FOR BUDDHU BUT FOR THE DRAGON TO COME OUT.NIRMALA JOSHI TELLS THEM BUDDHU ACTS LIKE A FISH AND DOES NOT BARK. THOUGH BUDDHU ACTS LIKE A FISH ANA LIKES HIM.SOON AN ACTION SCENE TAKES PLACE WHEN BUDDHU TRIES TO SWIM LIKE A FISH BUT FAILS AND DROWNS.JUST THEN NIRMALA JOSHI WADES INTO THE POOL TO RESCUE HIM BUT TO
THEIR SURPRISE THEY FIND THAT THERE IS NODRAGON INSTEAD THERE IS A TURTLE LIVING IN THE POOL.BUDDHU IS SAVED AND ANA NAMES HIM ‘FISH’.ANA’S PARENTS FINALY AGREE TO ADOPT A DOG AND THEY ALL LIVE HAPPILY.
THE CHARACTERS WHICH I LIKED THE MOST WERE THE TWINS MEENA AND BEENA BECAUSE THEY BOTH ARE HILAROUS AND MOST OF THE HUMOROUS SCENES ARE DONE BY THEM.I EVEN LIKED THE SIDE ROLE OF THE BULLY GANPAT.THE AUTHOR HAS USED LIVID ENGLISH IN THE STORY AND I LIKED IT.
AMOGH VINAY RANADE
Arya Vidya Mandir
Bandra (E)
Mumbai
Review submitted for LRSI - '14
Ana wants a dog but her parents bring her three fish. At first she compares her fish with dogs but later learns to take care of them. She names those three fish Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Her mother leaves her at Zain’s house to babysit and Zain’s mother treats her very nicely. She and her best friend Zain make the fish’s lives more exciting and adventurous.
Then the story continues becoming more and more interesting. One thing leads to another and then follows a mad romp lecturing a mysterious dragon, nosy twins, irate mothers, a tragic queen and a perfume called Natasha.
This book is very exciting to the extent of a reader being unable to stop reading mid-chapter. Anushka Ravishankar has written a fabulous and delightful book.
I hope she continues writing books that are part of this series
Vedant Singh
Arya Vidya Mandir
Bandra (E)
Mumbai
Review submitted for LRSI '14
This is a book review on the book “Atleast A Fish” written by Anushka Ravi Shankar .This is an interesting adventurous book.story of 10 year old Anna and her friends- Zain , Meena , Beena
Anna (AnanyaBopanna)desperately wants a pet dog.Anna along with her best friend Zain follows the 'Young Readers' section of the newspaper for the information on homeless pups for adoption. But to her dismay she gets three fish instead of one adorable pup who could have been 'her faithful friend for life' .What happens in the end whether Ana gets puppy one has to read the book. for an adventure .
Anna names her three fish as - Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, however, Annas mother has her choice of names for the fish. Both Anna and Zainobserve the fish closely, and decide that just a marble sized food cannot be enough for the fish. So in order to save them from starving to death Anna and Zian serve the fish a variety of food such as spinach or coriander ,since seaweeds are inaccessible and the fish look pretty dumb to understand variation in their staple diet.During the many situations one of Anna’s fish [Aristotle] dies and when they go to bury him they find dragon eggs.
This is just the beginning of adventures for Anna and Zain. They land right into many hilarious situations while dealing with nosy twins—Meena and Beena, annoyed mother, mysterious dragon in the pool and Dr. Nirmala Joshi who is worried about finding a suitable owner for her adorable pup Buddhu - 'a dog like no other !'
All the characters in this book are very real to life, be it Anna –the main character-- a dog lover, Zain who feels irritated when Ana uses difficult words like 'ridiculous' etc, the twins Meena and Beena, Ana's mother, Samera---Zian's sister—a bookworm, Dr. Joshi --the tragedy queen of P.K. Medical College—who can fake tears in no time andBuddhu the pup - who thinks he is a fish!
Will Ana and Buddhu be together? Can Zian survive his sister's awful perfume and Beena the mysterious dragon of the swimming pool? You are sure to get the answers to these questions and much more in this book.
AnushkaRavishankar has created a hilarious, free spirited and delightful book. The wacky illustrations by Shilo Shiv Suleman highlights the overall impact of the story.The book tells us that in the world of chidren imagination, fantasy and reality are not very different. I would recommend all myfriends to read this book .
Aarna Bhatia
Class-IV C
Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu
Mumbai
Review of Atleast a fish
ATLEAST A FISH
I am Shree Shravya of IV-F studying in PSBB Millennium School, Coimbatore. It is the review of the book “Atleast a fish” by Anushka Ravishankar. This book is about the story of Ana and her friends Zain, Meena, Beena and Zain’s sister Sameera.
Ana desperately is in need of a pet dog. She along with her friend Zain, follows “a young readers” section of the news paper for adorable pups who will be her faithful friend for life. Her parents refused to tame a pup. At last Ana gets three fishes. Her mother allows her to name as per her wish. Ana named as Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. Ana and Zain closely observe and find out pellets are not enough for her fishes. So they try out various things like spinach, coriander, etc as fish food, but in vain. So they decide to make a way to dirty pool to get some weeds as food for fish.
Ana and Zain go to the pool to collect some weeds. Here their adventurous journey starts, they find out lots of animals like dragon, frog, etc. After few days, one of the golden fish named Aristotle dies by eating the weeds. They find the dragon eggs where they buried the fish. They feel that the dragon is living in abandoned pool. Ana and her friends come across many things after visiting the pool. They keep visiting the pool frequently.
At last Ana writes a letter to Mrs. Nirmala Joshi, who is the head of ‘Adopt a pet’ to adopt a pup. Mrs.Nirmala comes with a pup named ‘Buddhu’ to the pool where Ana her friends are waiting. On that day they find small creature moving from the turtle's nest to the water's edge and finally realise that it is not a dragon egg.. The author in this book clearly depicts the fantasy world of children through Ana and her friends. She clearly speaks about the awareness of children, their skills in exaggerating the things what they see. It is really a good fiction for children to read and to be cherished.