Talking is big at Bookworm and context often determines our choices of books. Barkha who works at Bookworm and talks too, brings bits of Kolkata to us every few months on her trips home.So, slowly our space has terracotta artefacts, we all own exquisite ’tant’ sarees, have gorged on ‘mishti doi’, got a group of children to make ’puchka’ which we all slurped our way through and have heard about New market, Durga Puga, Salt Lake, Trams, traffic and even celebrated Bengali New Year and I am one syllable short of being called Sujata-di and so The Talking Bird by Swati Sengupta and illustrated by Sayan Mukherjee flew in when the climate was just right.
খুব ভালো – khuba bhalo !
We have talked with The Talking Bird at multiple read alouds last week. What has stood out through out the planning, reading and reflections on this book is the humour. Readers has enjoyed the tensions that arose from the mechanical bird in ma’s bag and the consternation and frustration of Naaru and Bulu on the bus. The illustrations were delightful in transporting us all to Dalhousie street where the contexts of working ma and thoughts of Totai were familiar to all the children however diverse their own home experiences.
As often happens with a good book like this, we arrived at multiple threads of thoughts that for me demonstrate how books and reading both shape our thinking and are shaped by our experiences.
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Should Ma have bought another talking bird?
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Are hawkers different from shop sellers?
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Do all hawkers lie and shop sellers tell the truth ?
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Is it worth spending Rs. 250/- on a talking bird?
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Would Tokai have liked a real parrot or a toy parrot ?
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Should parrots ( real ones) be caged ?
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Why and how do parrots mimic and talk ?
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Did the police man have to take the bird to the station or did he have other plans with the bird?
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Why were Naru and Bulu so upset that they caused a traffic jam ?
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Is all repetition irritating ? Are there some things worth repeating ?
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Do we learn from repetition ?
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How would you describe ma as a character or the hawker or the bus conductor or the policeman. What was similar and what was unique about each one.
We are STILL talking about the bird, our batteries have not run out yet and we feel this is a book worth talking about. In our Chimbel site, in response to things worth repeating, the group came up with the decision to use the symbol of the bird to remind us all about library rules as we gather together for summer readings in the library. This is what our birds are talking about…
