I am a Cat!

This book, published by Eklavya, Bhopal, is sure to appeal to children of all ages. Rinchin’s story is simple and reflects the twists and turns of a child’s logic. The exchange between Tinti and her mother is good-natured and teasing, and will remind many parents of their interactions with their own children.  Jitendra Thakur has used a palette of serious colours to paint Tinti and the contours of her world. The colours are in keeping with Tinti’s background. The illustrations present Tinti’s little world in all its bare simplicity, without any hint of patronization. This, along with the simplicity of the prose, creates a realistic book that is also a fun read.

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Reviews:

Review from http://www.youngindiabooks.com

An urban Indian child might wonder, 'What's the life of a little girl living in a make-shift home in a slum? One whose family ekes a living by rag-picking.
Surprisingly, it is not at all dull and miserable, as we see in this book.
Tinti, a little girl wakes up one day in her little house in which her roof is merely a sheet of plastic.
She is in a playful mood, ‘I am a cat,’ she tells her mother and her mother happily plays along.

Tinti says that she cannot wash her face, because she is a cat.
‘Then lick your face and body clean. That’s what cats do, says mother.
Tinti tried licking, but her hand tasted of salt and dust.
Ooonh…I can’t.
Then you are only 3/4th a cat.
And the game goes on, until when a really hungry Tinti asks for food and is told to eat a rat, she decides that being a human is much better after all!

Humour, love, imagination and play-acting all mingle together in this book to create an enchanted world of childhood – never mind that that childhood is being spent in a slum instead of in a sophisticated apartment.

 Reviewed by Shamim Padamsee