Strange and Mysterious Places the World Forgot - Arthy Muthanna Singh & Mamta Nainy - ★★★.¼

-
AUTHORS: Arthy Muthanna Singh & Mamta Nainy
GENRE: Children's Nonfiction
PUBLICATION DATE: November 1, 2019
RATING: 3.25 stars.


The title of the book isn't exactly accurate. Not all the places mentioned are strange or mysterious. Some are just interesting.


Pros:
* Fabulous information about some really great unknown places of India. Anytime interested in history or fun facts will find a treasure trove of information in this book.


Cons:
* Pictures of the places would have been so helpful. The book contains only a couple of crude illustrations in every chapter. Considering the fact that this is a children's book, this problem is greater. Especially after the cover so cutely illustrates many of the places mentioned.

* The content has no logical flow in many places. It looks like it has been haphazardly put together. Better organising and editing of the content was really required.


Overall, a decent read if you are looking for knowledge. But not interesting enough for kids.

Comments

Post a Comment

Explore more posts from this blog:

Mighty Thankful - Daniel Georges - ★★★★.¼

-
Image
AUTHOR: Daniel Georges GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: September 15, 2025 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A lovely picture book teaching a much-needed lesson in today’s world. Great story, quirky illustrations, excellent life lessons. A standalone new entrant to the ‘My Crazy Stories’ universe. Recommended. Plot Preview: When Jimmy’s parents are going out for the evening, they leave him in the hands of a new babysitter named Ms. Cherry. Jimmy behaves wonderfully until his parents leave, and then unleashes his hidden side. With him flexing his speed and fearlessness and temper, Ms. Cherry has a tough time keeping up. But then, something happens and Jimmy is forced to question his attitude. The story is written in Jimmy’s first-person perspective. We are living in a material world, and we are raising a material generation because of our short-term thinking. Giving so many things to children – at times, even if they don’t need anything new – trains children to take...
Read More»

Norma and the Blue Hour - Chris Delyani - ★★★.¾

-
Image
AUTHOR: Chris Delyani GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: November 13, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary family drama about an old woman looking for her estranged son. Interesting complex characters, good plot development, steady pacing. Character-oriented. Slightly unsatisfying ending, though this is more about expectations than about writing issues. Recommended. Plot Preview: When ex-fashion designer Norma McKinsey, nearly eighty years of age, crashes her car and lands up in hospital, she realises that she needs to get going on the one task she has been avoiding for many years: looking for her younger son Kevin. He is still with her but only in her thoughts, constantly speaking to her. As Kevin left home twenty-five years ago and hasn’t been in touch since, it is high time Norma sets things right. Her elder son Charlie wishes to move her to a nursing home, but she is adamant that she can manage on her own even in her huge house. Her younger sister Julie...
Read More»

Seven: Distracted Detective - Rachel Pattinson - ★★★★

-
Image
AUTHOR: Rachel Pattinson GENRE: Teen Mystery PUBLICATION DATE: November 13, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A teen mystery with some intriguing young characters, good mystery and investigation, and an action-packed ending. Also has a parallel track on alcoholism, which is brilliantly handled. A great option for the target audience. Recommended. Plot Preview: Seven is a thirteen-year-old with an unusual name and uncommon problems. Living with her overworked dad and worried about her alcoholic mom, Seven tries hard to concentrate on lessons, but her mind keeps getting distracted. All changes one day when Mr. O, the caretaker of Riverside Academy who is very kind to the young girl, goes missing. Seven is the last person to see him. And she has his keys. Can she find out what happened to him? The story comes to us in Seven’s first-person perspective. I think the last time I read a detective story featuring a teenager was in my own early teens, when I used to read Nancy Drew and Hardy ...
Read More»

Grimms' Fairy Tales - Sandra Dieckmann - ★★★.¾

-
Image
ORIGINAL COMPILERS: Brothers Grimm AUTHOR: Sandra Dieckmann GENRE: Fairy Tale Collection PUBLICATION DATE: September 23, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A collection of some of the best-known and not-so-known fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm works. Many tales updated, some mostly the same. Some are light, some dark. Good for fairytale-loving kids. Parental guidance advised. This collection has twenty fairy tales from the compilations of the Brothers Grimm. Most of the tales are popular ones such as ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’, but there are also a couple of relatively uncommon tales such as ‘Sweet Porridge’ and ‘Jorinda and Joringel’. A few of the tales were known to me under other names. For instance, ‘The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces’ always appeared as ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’ in my fairytale story books. Now you might wonder if we really need yet another fairytale collection based on the Grimm compilations. Aren’t there too many of them in the mark...
Read More»

The Edge of a Knife and Other Stories - Beka Gremikova - ★★★★

-
Image
AUTHOR: Beka Gremikova GENRE: Fantasy Short Story Collection. PUBLICATION DATE: November 30, 2025 RATING: 3.95 stars. In a Nutshell: A sci-fi fantasy story collection about dealing with various kinds of ‘monsters’ – external and internal. Original premises, even as a couple of the stories pay homage to classic fairy tales. Interesting characters, atmospheric writing, reflective plots. Slow-paced. Recommended to young adults and adults. This is the author’s second story collection in the Unexpected Encounters series. I had read the first collection, Unexpected Encounters of a Draconic Kind  in October 2023 and was blown away by the creativity of the storylines. As such, this sophomore collection was a highly anticipated one. To a great extent, it lived up to my expectations. The key phrase in both collections is the series title: Unexpected Encounters. Every story contains some kind of an unexpected encounter, whether fulfilling or risky or adventurous or uncertain. The meet-ups cou...
Read More»