Babu's Song Book

I thought that this was a wonderfully heart warming story for children. This is the story of a boy and his grandfather in what I am thinking is a town in Africa, but the setting is never verified. The grandfather is a mute toy maker who cares of his grandson. The two lead a very simple life in a simple little town. In the story Babu makes his grandson, Bernardi, a small music box that plays a tune that he use to sing to the young boy. One day when the boy is selling the toys to make money for them to live off of, a lady offers the boy a large sum of money for the music box. Bernardi takes the money so that he can buy a brand new soccer ball that he wanted. Later, he tells his grandfather of his mistake and gives him the money. In the end the grandfather is not mad and uses the money to get Bernardi into school.

I think that the best element of craft used in this story is the story itself. Fletcher calls this a significant subject. While the story is very, very simple it still holds all the features of a great well written story. The characters are very simple human beings. Children can relate to Bernardi's actions and adults can relate to Babu's actions. The two of them live a simple life where they do the best that they can. However, by the end of the story readers know just how much the two care about and for one another. Also children (and adult) readers can learn that we all make mistakes or do things that we regret, but at the end of the day all be forgivable when we are with people that we love. In this story children can learn these lessons without any traumatic consequences in the ending as well. Yes, mistakes will be made, but life will go on and we wont make the same mistakes again. These are all very valuable lessons for children and they are taught in such a simple and sweet form. When reading this book to children I can teach them that the subject does not always have to be so fantastical that the writing loses its purpose. Sometimes the best stories are the simplest ones like one about a grandpa, a boy, and a music box.