Ganesha's Sweet Tooth (Ganesha #1)

A sugarcoated but hardly saccharine introduction to one Hindu myth.

Blending computer graphics with traditional images, the intricate, stylized illustrations may be best suited for grade-schoolers, who will enjoy the story’s turnarounds and focus on luscious sweets, and many will be ready for the classic Hindu myth.

"Ganesha is a Hindu god. He's very important and powerful. And a tad chubby," begins this stylish take on a classic tale from Indian mythology. Patel's artwork has a candy-colored palette that befits the subject matter, and he merges traditional Hindu iconography with decidedly contemporary influences: the book's eye-popping jewel tones, dots, and geometric patterns nod to the graphic design work of Saul Bass and Maurice Binder's title sequences for films like Charade and Dr. No. As a young god, Ganesha enjoys dancing, playing cricket, skipping rope, and--most of all--sweets. When Ganesha spies a tempting "super jumbo jawbreaker laddoo," his best friend, Mr. Mouse, warns him that it will surely break his tusk. "But I'm a god," Ganesha replies. "I'm invincible." Sure enough, his tusk breaks, leading to an encounter with the poet Vyasa, who persuades Ganesha to write the 100,000-verse long Mahabharata using his tusk as a pen. Though the story's ending fizzles, Patel and Hynes have created a fresh and comedic introduction to a Hindu legend, with a winning combination of both eye candy and actual candy. Ages 4-8. Agent: Tina Wexler, ICM. (Oct.)

Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 1-3--Two traditional events in the life of the Hindu god Ganesha are imaginatively recast as though happening during his childhood: "he was just like every other kid except that he had an elephant's head and cruised around on a magical mouse collecting fruit, rice, sweets, and other gifts from the temples in his neighborhood." Drawn in Adobe Illustrator, comical Ganesha is a pink elephant/boy, his large head dominated by enormous round eyes. His love of sweets becomes his undoing when he ignores Mr. Mouse's advice and bites down on a super jumbo jawbreaker, breaking off one of his small tusks. As in the myth, Ganesha laments the loss of his tusk, but soon puts it to good use as a writing implement when he encounters the poet Vyasa, who is looking for Ganesha to be his scribe. Young Ganesha is soon hard at work writing one hundred thousand verses of the Mahabharata-"the great epic of Hindu literature." There's a pleasant color palette of pink, aquamarine, gold, cream, and black, and busy patterns of swirling graphic elements add energy to the boldly designed pages. The cheerful elephant/boy and his mouse and the sweet tooth episode all suggest a far younger audience than seems likely to follow the whole second half of the story. Libraries owning Amy Novesky's more richly rendered Elephant Prince: The Story of Ganesha (Mandala, 2004) and others may like to add this one. Storytellers wishing to introduce the intriguing figure of Ganesha will be best served by Uma Krishnaswami's The Broken Tusk (Linnet Bks., 1996).--Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"A classic Hindu tale gets an artful interpretation in this piece of eye candy." - Daily Candy Kids