{"id":1182,"date":"2022-11-14T10:44:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T10:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/?p=1182"},"modified":"2022-11-14T10:44:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T10:44:00","slug":"the-ghost-of-malabar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/the-ghost-of-malabar\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ghost of Malabar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>The Ghost of Malabar<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nby Soumya Ayer<br \/>\n<strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Harper Children&#8217;s (2022)<\/p>\n<p>Wow!!! I found the book quite intriguing. In the beginning I felt the vocabulary is of a higher level considering this is from the children\u2019s section, but today\u2019s generation is different from ours. Slowly the story gets interesting  and one cannot keep this book aside till last page. It becomes very engaging, and the writer has  done a wonderful job of keeping a grip on the reader till the very end. I loved how Soumya Ayer references historical events that  happened in 1502. The massacre of fishermen is a heartbreaking event and taking this  reference for a children&#8217;s book storyline is commendable. <\/p>\n<p>This book starts with twelve-year-old Edwin seeing Velu in the boat. But Velu is a ghost.The protagonist\u2019s emotions after seeing a ghost felt quite realistic. He tries to avoid him at all costs, but the ghost  seems to appear everywhere he goes. The story has many humorous elements because of Velu as  only Edwin can see &#038; hear him. His fear turns into irritation as Edwin realizes the ghost is not harmful at all, but problematic. When Velu steals a crown from the museum and keeps it in Edwin\u2019s bag, the plot gets more enthralling. Overall, the character building and development is excellent. The story takes place in Kochi  and references Malabar parotta, appam, Madhalam, Puttu, kanji and more to give its readers a true image of the culture. The glossary at the end is a practical detail for younger readers.  <\/p>\n<p>This book is illustrated by Isha Nagar. This helps children understand what they are reading,  allowing readers to analyze the story. The inclusion of illustrations in this book will certainly help to  inspire visual thinking of young minds and increase their comprehension. Kudos for that! Brilliant  work in making the story captivating! <\/p>\n<p>There are morals hidden in every chapter&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cLook at these waves, Edwin. They come and go, but  still the ocean remains. Just like that even if people in your life come and go the memories remain\u201d<\/em>  is my one of the favorites. Others include- <em>\u201cAppreciate the good times and learn from the  challenging ones\u201d, \u201cIf you plant beans, you cannot expect peas to sprout\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This book teaches us  how important it is in life to forgive, forget and to move on. It shows how wrong it is to steal and how the truth always comes out if we lie. Rather than giving these lessons orally when a child learns it  via story, they remember and can apply it in a better way. <\/p>\n<p>In the book we see Edwin blaming his father  for almost everything that has gone wrong in his life. Here the writer wants to tell us how we need to stop  blaming others and start taking responsibility for our own actions. It is vital to read such books at  an early stage as they play a key role in the person, we are becoming day by day. They keep our  interest intact, give us entertainment and teach us crucial life lessons. Books like these motivate  children to read more and grow brighter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ghost of Malabar by Soumya Ayer Publisher: Harper Children&#8217;s (2022) Wow!!! I found the book quite intriguing. In the beginning I felt the vocabulary is of a higher level considering this is from the children\u2019s section, but today\u2019s generation is different from ours. Slowly the story gets interesting and one cannot keep this book [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":1183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[303,278,374,373,241,175,370,371,372,369,375],"class_list":{"0":"post-1182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-childrens-books","8":"tag-ag-blf-childrens-fiction","9":"tag-ag-blf-prize-2022","10":"tag-children","11":"tag-ghosts","12":"tag-harper-collins","13":"tag-illustrated","14":"tag-isha-sagar","15":"tag-kerala","16":"tag-malabar","17":"tag-soumya-ayer","18":"tag-young-readers"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1185,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions\/1185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}