Creative collection of retellings for kids – Midaash And Maitreyi’s Magical Mayhem by Shobhita Narayan 

Midaash And Maitreyi’s Magical Mayhem is delightful, fun and creative collection of retellings for kids with many messages and interesting magical world.

Synopsis

There is no magic in the village of Gol Gumbad or that is what everyone believes. That is until an old mage appears and grants magical wishes to little children. Midaash falls for the words of the mage and sets off a chain of events which change the lives of all the children in Gol Gumbad. Together with his sister, Maitreyi, and friend, Chittaa, Midaash sets out to make things right. But magic is never so simple, is it? A delightful read with six magical stories and lively characters inspired from your favourite fairytales.

Review

Midaash And Maitreyi’s Magical Mayhem is a charming and creative collection of retellings of Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Pied Piper, Three Little Pigs, and Snow Queen.

Each story takes place around Taluka and Saluka- Kingdoms ruled by kind and powerful witch and evil selfish wizard, respectively- and villages of these kingdoms and also a village between these kingdoms called, Gol Gumbad.

I loved the setting of this quint magical world. We are introduced to it and also little details about people, magic, and culture story by story. What I loved most is how each story features children and they have magic instead of adults. Only a few adults mentioned have magic.

Though each story features a different retelling they are interconnected with each other so I suggest reading them in order. The timeline of stories is also different it makes more sense when you read the last story of the collection.

Along with the fun each story has a strong bond of friendship and messages of kindness, courage, bravery, finding the magic within you (not literally), being your own friend first, sacrifice, it’s okay to not want to follow everyone around you, and how practice is important for all skills.

All illustrations are beautiful and lively. The best part is there is map at the end that would interest kids to locate the places of stories they are reading and there is also a quiz to make it more fun.

My favorite stories were first and last one –

1) Snow White, Not Quite – I loved the beginning of the book with travelling circus that brought mages and witches to Golgumbad village that has no magic. An old witch gifted a healer three magical seeds for healing her who could wish upon a child using them that birthed Chittaa but she wasn’t as her mother wished for, she had spots like leopards on her face. Though her mother loved her, Chitta hated the witch for duping her mother and she wanted to be normal like other kids.

When an old eccentric mage came with the circus gives her a magical mirror that speaks in riddles and grants what her heart desires it sets off series of events that not just change lives of villagers but also of Chitta. In an attempt to be normal and solving the riddles of the mirror, she discovers her mother was right all along and though she isn’t normal looking she too is special like all kids in the village, and above all she made new friends.

2) Snow Queen, Never To Be Seen

I enjoyed this story about caution while using power and message of keep practicing your skill no matter how best you’re at it. I liked there was repercussion of too much use of magic and burning out until healed. As I said I also loved how this circles back to the first story and connecting the dots with all the stories.

Overall, Midaash And Maitreyi’s Magical Mayhem is delightful, fun and creative collection of retellings for kids with many messages and interesting magical world.

Book Links

Amazon.in

About Author

Shobhita Narayan is a marketer, writer and painter. She has worked in the Indian book publishing space for several years and has marketed the Harry Potter series, and books by Sachin Tendulkar, Neil Gaiman and Gabrielle Zevin, among others.
She was the first runner-up in the Reader’s Digest Asia 100 Word Short Story Competition (2013). Shobhita loves playing Pokemon Go and is always on the lookout for a shiny, round-headed Charmander.

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