Writing for children is no child’s play. Author Khyrunnisa A. is an expert in the genre and her fourth title in the Butterfingers series has just been released.
Khyrunnisa A Image courtesy: Priya Bala
Fans of Amar Kishen, the 8th grader nicknamed Butterfingers on account of his clumsiness, are bound to love The Misadventures of Butterfingers. In this one, the fun and disaster continues at Green Park Higher Secondary School, the setting for all the crazy, rip-roaring action Amar and his mischievous classmates Kiran, Ajay, Jayaram and Minu get up to.
While there’s a sense of familiarity with this lovable bunch, principal Jagmohan, the various teachers and, of course, Green Park, The Misadventures of Butterfingers adopts a style slightly different from the previous books – Howzzat Butterfingers!, Goal, Butterfingers! And Clean Bowled, Butterfingers. These were all centred around sport and were full-length stories of Amar and his zany escapades. The Misadventures… is a collection of short stories, and Amar and Gang are in top form as they tumble from one exciting, not to mention intriguing, situation to another.
In the opening story, Ghosts at Greenpark School, Amar and friends are convinced apparitions are afoot even as they prepare to stage a theatre production that combines three Shakespearean plays, plus a little Sherlock Holmes. To this particular story, the author brings her own literary flair with the lightest touch.
The Misadventures… comprises 14 delightful stories – one in which art classes go awry, roller-skating the Butterfingers way, a prickly story about principal Jagmohan and a cactus, a lost kitten and more.
This engaging collection of stories is bound to please every school-going child, and everyone who’s a child at heart.
The Misadventures of Butterfingers is published by Puffin Books.
