May 7, 2018
Richly textured, vividly hued digital collages illustrate this playful depiction of a boyâs imagination through a seemingly ordinary day. âHello Nimesh, is school over?â an unseen narrator asks a boy surrounded by classmates. âThis is not a school,â answers the boy cheerfully. âItâs an ancient cave, and shhhh! Or youâll wake... the dragon!â The following image reveals Nimeshâs imagined scenario: an endearing dragon in party shoes snoozes peacefully at a desk. On subsequent spreads, the question-and-answer format alternates everyday scenes with his wild, creative adventures: a school hallway becomes a shark-infested sea; an elderly neighbor on a park bench is actually a princess in a garden. In a final reversal, Nimesh responds with a happy dose of reality: this door doesnât lead to a cave full of gold; it leads to home, where heâs greeted by his mother, dressed in a sari, and his father, in kurta pajamas. Featuring diverse characters, this debut offering from Singh and award-winning illustrator Amini (Yo Soy Muslim: A Fatherâs Letter to His Daughter) is a vibrant invitation to creative play. Ages 4â8.
April 1, 2018
PreS-Gr 2-Nimesh is a young boy with a huge imagination. He takes readers through what appears to be a normal day: going to school, walking home, and gazing into the shop windows. But Nimesh's day is anything but normal. His walk down the hall at school turns into an underwater adventure swimming with sharks. His classroom teacher is a snoozing dragon wearing great little red Mary Jane shoes. Nimesh continues his stroll through his day; at every turn, readers experience a world of color, vivid images, and fun. Amini's mixed-media illustrations are wonderful works of art that make Nimesh's imaginary visions come to life with great attention to detail. VERDICT Readers will love the brilliant visuals that accompany Nimesh on his imaginary trek. A fun choice for one-on-one and small group read-alouds.-Erin Olsen, The Brearley School, NY
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 15, 2018
Written in the form of a dialogue, this British import traces the (imaginary!) adventures of a young South Asian boy, Nimesh, on his way home from school. A voice, presumably an adult's, asks Nimesh generic questions about school and about his walk home. Nimesh, however, constantly corrects the voice's (and consequently readers') assumptions about where he is and what he's doing. For instance, in the very first double-page spread, a group of children crowd around a book named How to Tame a Dragon in 7 Days. The interrogative text reads, "Hello Nimesh, is school over?"--to which Nimesh responds, "School? My friend, this is not a school! It's an ancient cave, and shhhh! Or you'll wake... // ...the DRAGON!" Turning the page reveals a dragon wearing Mary Jane pumps, face down and fast asleep atop a book at the teacher's desk. A bottle of mineral water on the desk simultaneously acknowledges the hilarity of Nimesh's imagination and allows readers to interpret Nimesh's exhausted teacher reimagined as a dragon. Amini's collagelike images depicting Nimesh's numerous adventures--swimming with sharks, fighting pirates aboard a pirate ship, and skating across the ice at the North Pole, to name a few--complement both Singh's tongue-in-cheek narrative and Nimesh's far-reaching imagination. This fun, fast-paced narrative will have readers eager to turn the page and imagine their own fanciful scenarios. (Picture book. 4-8)
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