Title: Baba in the Park (Part 1)
Author: Baldev Singh Sandhu
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-5246-7369-7
Pages: 38
Genre: Juvenile Fiction / Stories in Verse
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
With a repetitive sing-song style of word lyrics telling of love and respect adorning the galley text, the kindness and wisdom of Baba are drilled into youngsters being read this beautifully illustrated children’s book titled Baba in the Park by author Baldev Singh Sandhu. Detailed illustrations by Vidvatam Productions provide the eye-candy of a storyboard of boys and girls learning the lessons of acceptance of others with different skin tones and names; as everyone has the same red blood and eats the same bread. In the world of bullying, as it has become nowadays a crisis level, it is important to teach this morality in a fable genre of bedtime storytelling.
Baba in the Park achieves what it set out to do. This is a well-balanced story in which the wisdom of an elderly person is listened to by a bunch of children playing in a park. Baba has only kindness to tell the children about acceptance of others which may have differences, and rejoice in the diversity of having a variety of friends. Kindness begets kindness, and love is the most powerful good personality trait you can have. The drawings can be described as having a saturation of details depicting something for every little one’s mind to gleam over and over while listening to the prose, finding nuances each and every time they are read the book. This book would be best for the youngest of children as the comforting voice of an adult would play the role of Baba in a vicarious way, offering a script for parents to teach their children.
As this book is “Part-1,” undoubtedly more will follow, making the series of Baba becoming a collection for all family libraries. This would be a book most often reached for by toddlers wanting to hear the lovely poetic rhymes with names and morals over and over at bedtime. The illustrations in Baba in the Park shows the kindness and wisdom, combining a perfect synergy of words and pictures.
I look forward to future publications by this talented author and artistic illustrator. Baba in the Park is easy to read and will help your child gain a better understanding about what it means to show respect and not bully people.
