The first story My best Friend’s Secret by Jayaprakash Satyamurthy tells the story of two boys. While Bala gets into a couple of scraps – like almost falling down a cliff face and being snatched away just in time from the jaws of a tiger. But doubts begin to arise when he sees Aditya’s performance on the playground, in the classroom…He towers over his classmates. Could he be a hero? Or a super hero?
Then there is a touching story about Rehan, who is asthmatic and Nisha who is visually challenged in beautiful Lonavla, where he is recuperating. A friendship that came about with a thoughtless remark by Rehan. And then it’s time to go back to Mumbai. Initially, he is happy and then he realises… “that after a few days, Nisha would not be there...”
Find a friend
Radhika Meganathan’s The Beast That Wasn’t is almost true to life. A story of two best friends who audition for a school play, Beauty and the Beast. While one auditions for the role of Beauty the other tries for the role of Beast. But trouble starts when Beauty lands her role and Beast does not. Will they remain friends?
New Blue by Paro Anand is a hilarious story about an Indian girl who goes to study in a school in Malaysia. Everything is strange – beginning with the name of the school – The Convent of Bukit Nanas which means ‘the convent on the hill of pineapples’! Predictably her name Parvati Chopra is difficult for the Chinese nun. And she is introduced to the class as Poverty! But her embarrassments for the day do not stop with just one. There is more in store and it only gets funnier.
Tiger-Hunting, Hasan and the Missing Pigeons, A Caterpillar called Mathew and all the other stories are interesting and well written.
Don’t miss out the Friendship Rap by Sampurna Chattarji. Its fast, it’s snappy and it’s fun.
There is also a poem by Jerry Pinto titled I Could Be Your Friend If… which lists the reasons why I cannot be your friend. But the last three lines explain how frienship truly works.
The fun part of this is the book that accompanies – a book of games and puzzles and things to do with, well…your friend!
The cover design by Vinayak Varma is eye catching and trendy.
FRIENDS FOREVER, Stories and Poems About Friends/50 Fun Things To Do With Your Friends, Hachette India, Rs. 195
An excerpt:
Bio Poem
Everybody wants to be a poet, more so when it comes to writing about your friends. Never mind if you’r not Wordsworth, you can still write this poem.
Write it : See the example as you write the poem following these simple rules.
Line 1 : Your friend’s first name
Line 2 : Two adjectives describing him/her
Line 3 : Sibling of …(brother or sister)
Line 4 : Who loves…(name two things)
Line 5 : Who fears…(name two things)
Line 6 : Who would like to see… (name two things)
Line 7 : Resident of… (the city he or she lives in)
Line 8 : His or her last name
