OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile
Deepti Gupta’s warm, expressive voice lends authenticity to this third volume of lively trickster stories inspired by traditional Indian folktales. As in MANGOES, MISCHIEF, AND TALES OF FRIENDSHIP, these new adventures feature the two young protagonists Prince Veera and his best friend, Suku. This time, while on a visit to the Prince’s great-uncle during the summer festival, the pair are challenged to solve mysteries and find clever answers to the tricky puzzles they love. Gupta’s enhancement of the narrative comes through in the individual characters’ voices; she is especially engaging in her delivery of the boys’ youthful enthusiasm and boisterous humor. Essential truths about good versus evil and right versus wrong promote acts of fairness, compassion, and honesty in an entertaining and thought-provoking listen. S.A.A. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
The writing flows, the boys are wisecracking, and the tales celebrate shrewdness, friendship despite differences in social status, Solomonic insight, and fairness. . . . Lighthearted, brief tales of common sense, virtue, and valor, perfect for reading aloud.
—Kirkus Reviews
Fairness, patience, honesty, and goodness prevail in all situations. An entertaining, expressive read-aloud.
—Booklist
This clever book presents a collection of short stories woven together into one longer narrative. . . Elementary aged readers will love these two quick-thinking friends and enjoy reading about their escapades. The book is broken down into four chapters with small black-and-white illustrations scattered throughout. These attributes, coupled with the fast pace and generous text spacing, combine to make this book a good choice.
—School Library Connection
The spirited problem-solvers Prince Veera and his friend Suku return in a second collection of short tales from India, ‘A Sliver of Moon and a Shard of Truth,’ a slender volume written by Chitra Soundar and ornamented with charming black-and-white pictures by Uma Krishnaswamy. . . . a brisk and entertaining read.
—The Wall Street Journal
OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile
Deepti Gupta’s warm, expressive voice lends authenticity to this third volume of lively trickster stories inspired by traditional Indian folktales. As in MANGOES, MISCHIEF, AND TALES OF FRIENDSHIP, these new adventures feature the two young protagonists Prince Veera and his best friend, Suku. This time, while on a visit to the Prince’s great-uncle during the summer festival, the pair are challenged to solve mysteries and find clever answers to the tricky puzzles they love. Gupta’s enhancement of the narrative comes through in the individual characters’ voices; she is especially engaging in her delivery of the boys’ youthful enthusiasm and boisterous humor. Essential truths about good versus evil and right versus wrong promote acts of fairness, compassion, and honesty in an entertaining and thought-provoking listen. S.A.A. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-10-12
India’s lively wisdom tales retold, starring two quick-witted boys.
As in Soundar and Krishnaswamy’s Mangoes, Mischief, and Tales of Friendship (2018), these linked stories feature a down-to-earth prince, Veera, and his best friend, Suku, a farmer’s son. Visiting Prince Veera’s rash granduncle’s kingdom, they solve mysteries, decode puzzles, expose charlatans, and defeat wickedness with ingenuity. The writing flows, the boys are wisecracking, and the tales celebrate shrewdness, friendship despite differences in social status, Solomonic insight, and fairness. It helps that the adversaries are given to excess and not too bright. Black-and-white vignettes flavor the pages in a naïve style appropriate to the stories, which, though they borrow heavily from folk tradition, are likely to be new to many readers. Names and some details—e.g., the game kabaddi—may be unfamiliar, but most things need no translation, like the adage, “Hasty elephants fall into the pit.” A good prince, Veera knows that justice must be “based on truth and fact,” and these reimagined trickster tales offer more than a shard of the former.
Lighthearted, brief tales of common sense, virtue, and valor, perfect for reading aloud. (author’s note) (Fiction. 6-12)
