Book Review

“The Magic Moonlight Flower and Other Enchanting Stories” by Satyajit Ray features various stories that kids would enjoy because they all involve some form of adventure. The original novel was written in Bengali the version I read was translated by Arunava Sinha. The novel is composed of four stories, “Sujan Harbola, the Boy Who Spoke to Birds”, “Gangaram’s Lucky Stone”, “The Ogre and the Princess”, and “The Magic Moonlight Flower”.

The first story, “Sujan Harbola, the Boy Who Spoke to Birds”, is about a young restless boy who enjoys speaking to birds. His father sent him to the school teacher’s pathshala to receive some help because he had no interest in school. However, his father wanted his son to be educated despite the fact eve the teacher said his son was a lost cause. Sujan ignored his father’s request to take school seriously,

however, he did devote his time to learning more about bird’s and their calling. As he grew older his father then wanted him to focus on working, yet again, he was disappointed. Sujan was rejected by the local harbola (bird caller) and forced to find his own job. On his journey he ran into a king who he helped find a tiger by mimicking it’s roar. This encounter led to him receiving a job at the king’s daughter’s wedding as a harbola. The story ended with him being a hero and marrying the king’s daughter.

The second story is called, “Gangaram’s Lucky Stone”. As you can imagine, it is about a magical stone. Gangaram was very loved in his village and people though highly of him. Gangaram was on his way home one day when a bad hail storm began and multiple people were killed and everyone took shelter except him and he was never touched. Thus, the stone was lucky.

The third story was about “The Ogre and the Princess”. There was a young man who was not seen as special yet he slayed the ogre and save the entire village which resulted in him receiving half the kingdom and marrying the king’s daughter.

The final story, “The Magic Moonlight Flower” was about a sick man who was in need of a specific flower to save him. Naturally, his son set out to find it and return home with it to save his father. Kania, the son, arrived to where he thought the flower would be but somebody else had already taken it. However, he met an old man who told him his father would be well again because the flower was just in another kingdom. In the end he saved his father after many trials and tribulations.

This book had various stories that all had completely different plots, however, I believe that had some valuable lessons. The first story taught that you should always stay true to yourself and continue perfecting your craft to follow your dreams because hard work pays off. The second story showed how you should always count your blessings and see the positives in everything. The third story showed that you should never give up on your self because if you remain good-spirited you will reap the benefits in the end. The last story showed how far a son’s love for his father will take him. These are all simple messages but Satyajit Ray managed to tell them in very creative ways that will entertain a child while still forcing them to read some vocabulary they may not be familiar with. It is crucial to challenge kids while reading because that is the only way to improve their reading comprehension. However, the story but still be entertaining enough to really capture their attention and motivate them to follow along with the plot. Ray also did a great job of breaking up a novel into smaller portions to make it an easier read. Some kids may get bored reading one long plot but this was four different plots that were all actin packed so there was never a dull moment. Ray wrote in great detail that allowed you to picture everything that was happening which is crucial in children’s literature because it gives the story life.

Sources:

Ray, Satyajit, and Arunava Sinha. The Magic Moonlight Flower and Other Enchanting Stories. Red Turtle, 2014.