Book Review : Dinosaur-Long-As-127-Kids

Title : Dinosaur-Long-As-127-Kids
Author : Geeta Dharamraj
Illustrator : Rajiv Eipe

This book is the Grand Prize Winner of the 'Katha Chitrakala 2009'

As I read more children's books, I get more convinced that Dinosaurs do possess some kind of magical attraction for the little children. Interestingly, these are the exceptional creatures who have been kept alive even millions of years after they (un)naturally exited this earth, thanks to our lovely books and the tons of stories weaved around them.

You might have enjoyed a camel ride or a horse ride or an elephant ride or even a donkey's ride. But have you ever wondered, how it would be to ride a dinosaur? There is no chance to make this dream a reality, but we can be a part of this wonderful magical story brought to us by Katha about a particular dinosaur, "Dinosaur-long-as-127-kids". This very looooooong dinosaur just loves to take children for rides and one fine day he comes knocking at a little girl's window inviting her for a ride on his back. But there is one problem, Dinosaur-long-as-127-kids is cursed by a demon. And what a strange curse - the dinosaur can only carry 127 kids on his back, NOT ONE LESS and NOT ONE MORE!!! The little girl manages to find 126 friends of hers, which makes total 127 kids but the story doesn't end here, the girl's Amma also wants to ride the dinosaur and ride she must, so now that makes a total of …?? oh no! This makes the Dinosaur-long-as-127-kids tremble in fear of the demon.
What happens next and how can children enjoy the thrill of a dinosaur ride and how can Dinosaur-long-as-127-kids experience the pleasure of taking little children on his back. You must read it to find out.

The illustrations by Rajiv Eipe brilliantly convey the happiness, the fear and the distress of dinosaur and his little friends. The dinosaur narrating his sad story of being cursed, to the little children is beautifully depicted through the lovely drawings. The extra long dinosaur is just poured onto two big pages with tail not fitting in, aptly giving the feel of how long the dinosaur is. The attractive drawings look very classy and very stylish, just the perfect kind for this sweet little story.