Children’s Book Review: The Land Of The Setting Sun & Other Nature Tales

If you want to experience nature and dive into the world of wildlife, then Arefa Tehsin and Raza H Tehsin offer you an engaging compilation of various short stories in their magical book “The Land Of The Setting Sun & Other Nature Tales”.

Simple language, charming stories and fascinating facts make the book a must read for all young readers. Far from preachy lessons on the environment, the stories effortlessly take you to a different world and teach you a lot about many creatures which share the planet with us.

This compilation of eight stories of roughly 20 pages each, talks about various creatures and living beings like hyena, dung beetle, cheetah, wild owl, and more. Each story shares some interesting, scientific facts about these creatures through emotions like love, jealousy, compassion, etc., expressed through the human and animal characters.

The book is not just stories of wildlife but a journey of emotions. In the first story, when the dung beetle Scarab loses his mother we can feel the pain in his heart and his misery when he was boycotted by other creatures of the jungle. The story shows how every creature is important, no matter how small it is. ‘Six Riddles’ is an amazing combination of story and puzzles. Ayaan is on a mission to solve six riddles and find his late father’s treasure and he does that with the help of many interesting riddles and quizzes.

Often we see people complaining of bad luck when a black cat crosses their way or referring to an an owl as a bad omen. The story titled ‘The Owl-Man Coin’ talks about this issue and gives us an insight on superstitions involving animals. Along with an interesting storyline, many facts about owls are revealed, which are quite informative and useful for young minds and old.

Gloaty goat has an interesting story to tell in ‘The Best Kept Secret’. You have to read the book to know what the secret is!

Foreword of the book is written by well known children’s book author Anushka Ravishankar and environmentalist Dr. R.K. Pachauri. Arefa Tehsin, a writer, traveler, columnist, and the Wildlife Warden of Udaipur, and her father Dr. Raza H. Tehsin, the well known conservationist, have managed to string together an amazing turn of events and simple stories in an extra ordinary way.

The book which is about environment and wildlife is of course expected to teach children, but The Land Of The Setting Sun & Other Nature Tales entertains as it teaches. The only grouse we might have is that we would have loved to see more illustrations and graphics to hold children’s attention.

Suitable for readers above age six, this book will surely bring kids one step closer to nature. We recommend this book for all, not just to know interesting facts about various creatures but also to have a fun read over the weekend.

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