LitPick Review
Chatur the Laundry Man is a simple story that teaches a lesson about taking things one step at a time and not being greedy.
Cute and colorful illustrations take the reader on Chatur's journey of building his laundry business.
The seemingly lazy donkey, Gadhu, and the hard-working elephant, Atal, are complete opposites, but Chatur learns they are both helpful to his business in their own way.
Chatur gets upset at Gadhu for wanting to take it easy and not work all the time. He is thrilled when he comes across Atal, who loves to work and is willing to do anything Chatur asks. Since he wants to quickly grow his business, Chatur hires Atal.
But when an important job goes very wrong, Chatur finds out that biting off more than you can chew can end up in disaster!
Opinion:
This was a cute story, and Gadhu's advice to Chatur about enjoying life helped to teach a subtle lesson.
In the front of the book there is a glossary of Hindi terms, which is inviting to the reader. It gives you a glimpse of the cultural differences in this story over a traditional storybook. The cultural references and colorful illustrations are what made this story unique and charming. The phonetic key in the glossary is a little confusing, but I found it interesting. I love the introduction to the Hindi terms.
The story uses an uncommon font that is a little distracting. I wonder if this font is somehow linked to Hindi writing, but there was nothing in the book that indicated why this font was chosen. If there is a connection, I think mentioning that would be a nice addition to the book.
This is an enjoyable story for all ages.
