The Bearded Prince made me feel like watching Disney's animation movies. Those movie stories were age old, short and simple, but they always stick you till end. Rajesh Talwar has tried to create similar short stories in fantasy land of Fadidad.
Blurb of the book goes like this
After much persuasion, Princess Roopali, ‘the beautiful one’, agrees to have a swayamvara. This is an ancient Indian ceremony in which an unmarried girl who has come of age chooses a husband from among several suitors. According to the tradition, at the end of the ceremony, the princess is required to place a marigold garland around the neck of the prince she has decided to marry. She is happy to meet with all the princes who will attend the ceremony, and are keen to be chosen by her. She explains to her parents, the king and queen that she does not, however, wish to meet anyone with a beard. Over the past few years there have been a string of armed robberies by a gang of tough-looking bearded thugs. The princess has come to dislike beards. Her father, the king, explains to her that it would be discourteous for them not to extend an invitation to any eligible prince, but he would be surprised if any of them still sported a beard. Will Princess Roopali find the prince of her dreams? A delightful tale set in Ancient India the story provides a window into an exotic culture and will appeal to children from all age groups – particularly those from the ages of five to one hundred.
As blurb mentioned, a beautiful princess Roopali. She was artist by nature. She likes to paint portrait which shows positivity. She lives with limited staff and with her dog 'Jhumroo'. Her parents convince her to marry to provide heir to kingdom as she was the only child of the king. Grand 'Swayamvara' was arranged for the same. Princess has thought about the qualities of gonna-be husband, the must thing she wanted in his partner was he should should not have beard. (As per story, few bearded looters have spread violence and chaos in her and neighbouring kingdoms. Everyone was staying away from bearded person.) During Swayamvara, Roopali met with 15 different princes and at the end decided to marry a bearded prince.
One can gift this book to kids for some moral learning. Only thing I didn't like was the name author used for characters and kingdoms. Names were very childish and make you feel like someone have just made out without thinking twice. Overall, I would say its a good night time story for kids.
Talking about ratings:
- Cover - 3 / 5
- Language - 2 / 5 (Easy for kids as well)
- Story Line - 3 / 5
- Characters - 3 / 5
- Overall - 3 / 5
Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads
I won a review copy from The Tales Pensieve as part of Reviewers Programme. Register on #TTP for lots of #book fun and activities.
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