4 out of 4 stars
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The Next Door Raghu is a children's book written by Biju Vasudevan. The story centers around a five-year-old Raghu (commonly called little Raghu), who was born and raised in Rourkela. As the book opens, Raghu and his father, Gopal, are on their way to "Public School of Rourkela", where Raghu will take an admission test. While at this school, Raghu made a lot of friends, such as Rahul, Asit, Raunak, Manoj and Rajiv. Being a nature lover, little Raghu wanted to view the paradise beyond the school wall. However, this was not possible as students were not allowed to wander out of the school premises. How will he ever be able to get through the wall?
Meanwhile, Raghu's mother, Shanti, was on the mission of revenge against the neighbourhood ladies, who thought that her son was the incompetent nincompoop and a good for nothing child who deserved no other name than "The Next Door Raghu." The question is, what triggered the women to have these kinds of thoughts for a mere five-year-old child? What kind of revenge will Shanti deliver to these women?
Raghu was not just an ordinary little man. He had a rare and unique talent. It was because of this talent that Raghu knew his results the same day he took an entrance examination. It was also because of this talent that he represented the state of Odisha and the nation of India.' And, it was, yet again, this talent that made him a national hero, an international celebrity and the brand ambassador for institutions like UNESCO and UNICEF.
Although The Next Door Raghu is classified as a children's book, it is not written in a simple language that children can read on their own. For example, "Raghu had gone to the school, fully prepared to be subjugated by a tyrannical regime, consisting of hordes of psychopathic teachers in preponderous classrooms." Some children will not be able to spell some of the words in this sentence, let alone to understand the meaning. I found the terms unfavourable for a story of a five-year-old boy with children as the target audience. Even though young adults might enjoy the book, and parents might be readers for children to do the same, the visit to the dictionary will be inevitable.
I have learned a lot through this book. Though Raghu's family was praying to as many as seven Gods, with one of them being Goddess of wealth, they were still very poor. The story taught me one of the ways out of poverty. The book also contains lessons for children. For example, it effortlessly teaches boys good manners and gentlemanly conduct. When reading the book, I was able to connect well with the characters. Raghu's pain was described in the manner that made me flinch every time he had to get in the child basket. For example, "The steel rods pried further into his flesh, presumably in the search of a few pelvic bones of Raghu."
Like the blurb had promised, this children's book was indeed a fun read. The conversations between children were hilarious. What made me laugh out loud was the one between Raghu and Rahul on page 57. The book cannot only be enjoyed by children but also everyone with a good sense of humour. As a result, I rate The Next Door Raghu 4 out of 4 stars. It is a well-written book free of visible grammar errors.
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The Next Door Raghu
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