Book by Ruskin Bond, Review by Shlok Palekar
Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He has written many short stories and novels for children. The room on the roof was his first book.
The Rusty series is a semi-autobiography of himself and is one of his successful series. ‘Cricket for the Crocodile’ is a fictional story by Ruskin Bond. It written in 1986. It truly satisfies his famous quote mentioned alongside.
“He had a long snout, a row of ugly-looking teeth, and a powerful scaly tail.” It was Nakoo the crocodile.
He was a regular spectator of the cricket matches played by the local boys. He did not like that, as it scared away the birds required for an interesting menu for him. It was also alarming to have boys thrashing about in the river, searching for a lost ball. The local team had an upcoming match with the village team the next Sunday. On the day of the match, they had an unwelcome surprise – Nakoo the crocodile was lazing about on the cricket pitch. What happens next? Do the boys get eaten by the crocodile or do they play the match? And what does Nakoo decide the do? Eat up the boys? Sulk in the river? Or find another river? Read the book to find out.
I think that the most important aspect of this book is humour.
The way Ruskin Bond describes Nakoo’s feelings of revenge, sadness and process of thought makes the book very interesting and fun to read. It is extremely engaging, has a good flow, and is written in simple language. One can read it over and over again.
I would recommend this book to people who have read other Ruskin Bond books and liked them. It is also a good read for people who like humorous stories and for first time readers.
Happy Reading!
