Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Book Review : Not Just For Breakfast Anymore


Title : Not Just for Breakfast Anymore
Author : PV Lundqvist

It’s a story of a boy, Benny, who desperately yearns for a pet - a regular pet (a dog or a cat) who could be his companion and a buddy. To make his preference known to his parents, the cues that Benny drops are definitely not subtle. But he is bewildered when he is introduced to his special birthday present - a pet of course, but definitely not what he had imagined even in his dreams - a Pig. For Benny, a pig could just be an option for breakfast. Like any kid of his age, he makes his displeasure apparent to his parents after having received his unique birthday present - a unique pet. He even refuses to give his pet any name and after a lot of coaxing, very reluctantly begins learning about taking care and training the pig. But everything changes when the endearing pet makes his way to Benny's heart.

Gradually a loving bond is established between Benny and his pet, who is now christened by him as 'Fletcher'. When some of their pesky neighbors try to involve 'Board of Health' to make a point that a pig cannot be a pet and hence the family cannot live in the neighborhood with the farm animal, Benny takes it upon him to do every bit to save Fletcher. While completely involved in the challenge that is being thrown to him, he starts appreciating the support of family and what it means to stand together as a unit against any odds in life.

Lessons learnt in one situation can be applied in many other diverse situations too - that is what Benny realized while fighting for his rights in securing a position for himself in the school baseball team, he could use the confidence that he attained while putting up a fight in order to save his pet Fletcher.

Besides being a very engaging and fun story, readers of 9-11 age group will get to learn some incredible life lessons - getting comfortable with the heterogeneity and uniqueness of people, self-belief and standing up for what one believes in, no matter how conventional or unconventional it might be - are some among many. The way Benny learns to deal with bullies conveys the message that nothing is impossible if the mind is made up for it. The part where the whole family works together as a team to save Fletcher is very inspiring and this exercise gets Benny acquainted to the inner side and strengths of his parents which had remained unrevealed to him so far. Very gripping and motivating story and tickles the funny bone on many occasions too. Would be a huge hit among fourth to seventh graders.
{Image courtesy : Amazon}

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