Farah Loves Mangos
Sarthak Sinha
Flying Eye Books

Having just returned from a visit to India during which my mango loving partner announced that he wants to establish a mango orchard in the grounds of our friend’s Rajasthan country hotel, I was immediately attracted to this book that features a mango-loving little girl.

Farah’s Grandpa has a mango tree in his large backyard and every year she enjoys collecting the fruits, aided by Mali the dog. Then comes a summer when the tree doesn’t produce a single mango and unsurprisingly Farah wants to know why. Dismayed, she asks Grandpa but he’s too busy with a piece of wood to respond so Farah’s questions so she takes matters into her own hands, trying out all manner of remedies to make the tree produce fruit. She sings to it, gives it milk,

adds manure, ties a red scarf around its trunk and waters it with her profuse tears, all to no avail. The tree is useless, decides an angry Farah.

Along comes Grandpa hand outstretched, puts his granddaughter on the swing he’s been making all the while and gives the swing a push.

As Farah swings up into the tree’s canopy she discovers a world of wonder far beyond anything she might have imagined. This new way of seeing brings a vital realisation: a tree is SO much more than its fruit bearing function.

Sinha’s richly hued illustrations are bursting with humour, emotion and movement extending his story far beyond the words. A fun book to share with an important lesson about ways of seeing and appreciating natural things in their entirety.