Being the mother of a mixed raced child, I will admit it gets me annoyed sometimes that all the books out there seem to be based on the same culture and colour. Little Big Town recently got in touch with me and asked me if I would like to review some books for them, included in the email was some recommendations, I quickly spotted Anisha's Adventures In Bangladesh and read a short description, I instantly wanted to have the book that minute. Three out of the four words really stood out in the book's title; Anisha's, Adventures and Bangladesh. Anisha is a unique name, typically not British, which you soon gather from the last word Bangladesh and then you have adventures in the middle. I got the impression just from the book, that this book was about a girl traveling in Bangladesh.
Anisha's Adventures In Bangladesh quickly arrived on my doorstep with 4 other books from Little Big Town, in time I will be reviewing each of the 5 books, first up is this great book written by the author Moinul Islam - Anisha's Adventures In Bangladesh, the book is beautifully illustrated by Calvin Innes.
The book starts off by introducing you to Anisha, a little girl with a unknown age, who has a friend in her pet pony Chloe. Anisha's Birthday is soon approaching and she wishes for her Birthday to be able to fly to any place she would like too. Anisha's Birthday soon reaches and her Dadda (known as Grandpa in Bangla - the language spoken in Bangladesh) and Dadde (known as Grandma in Bangla - the language spoken in Bangladesh) buys her two magical heart shaped pendants. The pendants, one for Chloe (the pony) and one for Anisha are magical, transforming Chloe into a flying pony with wings and giving Anisha a backpack containing a magical lunchbox and flask that never empties and a magical camera that also prints important facts about the pictures Anisha has taken.
With the magical pendants Anisha and Chloe fly off into the sky discovering just some of Bangladesh's beautiful sights, the book teaches its young readers:
- Language
- Culture
- Education
- Nature
- National Games and much more.
Just some of the facts you learn in the book are:
Bangladesh was established on 26th March 1971, before that it was known as East Pakistan.
Jamuna Bridge - crossing the river Jamuna, it is one of the longest bridges in the world at 4.8km long, the bridge was opened in June 1998
Water Lilly - also known as Shapla is the national symbol of Bangladesh, found wherever there is water.
When Anisha returns from her magical adventure, she is amazed to discover the time is still the same as when she had left, her grandpa tells Anisha that time stops when she is on her adventures meaning she will not miss school and other events.
In my opinion the book is too hard for Spud to read alone, but I don't think the book's age recommendation of 5+ should be higher, the book appeals to Spud and he really enjoyed me reading it to him over a few days, the book's pages are each filled with words and it does have quite a few pages so I decided to read it over two days. I really do recommend this book to everyone, its nice for a child to read something different and this is the perfect book to introduce children to different cultures. The beautiful illustrations really does draw the reader into the story, with myself even studying the illustrations to get a real feel of what the book talks about.
Anisha's Adventures In Bangladesh is recommended for the ages of 5+ , with a RRP of £7.99 it is available to buy from My Little Big Town, Amazon, Waterstones, The Book Depository, Sainsburys and many more places.
To find out more about Little Big Town publishers check out the official website.
Until next time,
Jade
