Thank you to everyone who entered. The results were as follows:

1^st Sadhuvasi

2^nd Soma Rasa

3^rd Radha Raman

Highly recommended:   Karuna Sindhu

1^st Nadia Priya

2^nd Kanjanetra

3^rd Madhavi

Highly recommended Vibhu Caitanya

1^st Bhakta Vatsalah

2^nd Divya Shakti

3^rd Gopalprasad

Highly recommended Tamal Krishna and Jagannath

Author: Urmila Devi Dasi

What is the book about? The twins are always fighting.

What was the most interesting thing you found out from the book? At the end they are sharing.

Who do you think might like to read this book? My mother.

 

Title: The Fish got Bigger

Author: Retold by Urmila Devi

What is the book about? The book was about musy fish got bigger and bigger and bigger.

What was the most interesting thing you found out from the book? Krishna was the big fish but he was called Matsya.

Who do you think might like to read this book? Rasikananda.

 

Hanuman the Mighty God

If you like adventures, fights and love, you will like this book. It has many books in it and sounds fantastic. You will enjoy this book.

I liked it. It was very interesting. However there was little writing. But I understood a lot.

The book and bright pictures and they were beautiful and colourful. Some characters were smart, some wicked and some beautiful.

 

I am doing a book review on the stories of Arjuna. These stories come from the Mahabharata. Vyasadeva wrote Mahabharata. It is a cool book. You will like it!

I like the stories because Arjuna is powerful and he beats the Kauravas. There are so many stories. I can read different story everyday. You will like it because the pictures are very colourful. You can understand the stories by the pictures.

Krishna is great. The Kauravas are mean. The Pandavas are powerful. Arjuna is my friend.

Buy the book and read it. You will like it.

 

The name of the book is Arjuna. The book of Arjuna is a good story for young devotees who want to know the book of Mahabharata.

This book is about the Pandavas and the Kauravas. They have a war between each other. Arjuna is afraid to fight the Kauravas. Just then Krishna suddenly comes and says to him not to be afraid to fight the Kauravas. After some days, the Pandavas capture Drupada and hand him over to Drona.

My favourite part is when Arjuna married Chitrangada. My favourite character was Karna. The interesting part was the Song of God.

I would recommend this book to Kanja. I think he is a devotee who wants to really read the book of Mahabharata.

 

I read a book which is called Sadhu goes to Govardhan. The main characters are Sadhu and a frog. Kalinidi and Vrindavan Devi Dasi wrote this book. My favourite part is when Sadhu and the frog tell stories to each other about Lord Krishna. This book tells us about the Govardhan hill and a lots of pastimes of the supreme personality of Godhead. This story reminds me of going to Govardhan Parikrama in Vrindavan. I recommend some children to read because its interesting to read and it helps you to learn of Lord Krishna. Sadhu and the frog are very good friends and they always walk together. Sadhu and the frog made a house of Govardhan rocks and went inside. They didn’t see each other because it was very dark. They slowly slowly came out and made a better house finally. They went inside and slept in the night. Sadhu and the frog are great devotees of the Lord.

 

Title of book: Lord Krishna lifts Govardhan

Name of reviewer: Kanjanetra, Grade 3

Lord Krishna lifts Govardhan is a wonderful book for small children who are proud because it teaches us not to be proud.

This book is about Krishna’s pastime of lifting Govardhan hill. In the beginning, Krishna is inquisitive about what his father Nanda Maharaja is doing. When his father replies that the fire sacrifice is for Indra, Krishna becomes shocked. He convinces his father to worship Govardhan instead.

Indra heard it and became furious. His eyes wee deep red and his hands trembled. He sent his fearsome cloud Samvartaka, rain, thunder and lightening to demolish the village of Vrindavan.

After seven days of storm, Indra stopped the rain. He felt ashamed for his rude behavior and asked mother Surabhi to request Krishna to forgive him.

My favourite part was when Indra sent the massive storm. The lightning and the thunder sounded terrific. The illustrations in the book are very colourful and well designed.

I would like to read it to my father because I want him to see how strong and amazing Krishna is. Krishna is so merciful and He protects His devotees when they are in trouble. Overall, I think the book is very interesting.

 

My favourite book is The Great Heroes of Mahabharata. I got this book on my birthday as a gift. On the cover of the book I saw pictures of Kunti and Draupadi. So I was curious to read it to know how they became heroes. When everyone went out, I started reading.

Kunti

I was fascinated to see just by chanting a mantra she could get babies. Kunti never forgot Krishna – neither in good times nor bad times. She was always serving elders and was respectful too. She never disobeyed her elders. One day, Durvasa Muni came she served him so nicely that gave her some mantra. He said, “If you chant one mantra a devata must come and give you blessing.”

Draupadi

I did not know that Draupadi went to heaven and resumed as Lakshmi. She was totally surrendered to Krishana. So when Dushassan started to pull her sari, she prayed to Krishna and He helped her.

I learnt that when we are a good devotee we are also hero. I hope I will follow the footsteps of Draupadi and Kunti.

 

My book review is about a book called Bhagavat Gita at a glance. It was illustrated by Narayani Devi Dasi and retold by Satadharma Dasa. I like this book because it is a smaller version of the Bhagavat Gita and it is easier for children to understand. This book has made me realize that before we instruct other people to follow the orders of the Lord, we should follow the instructions of the Lord. . This book says that a person who knows the value of life is not tinged by impurity, which made me learn that I should not bully or be bullied. This book has made me realize that I should not be afraid of death because only our present body dies and not our soul. My favourite chapter of this book is chapter 13 because it shows that a person practicing humility can go all the way to self realization. There are 2 extras in this book. One is a map showing the 18 chapters in the forms of lotuses showing the summary of each chapter and a CD to understand better.

 

The title of my favourite book is Sri Hanuman Leela. The author of this exciting book of Hanuman is Dr. Mahendra Mittaal. The eye catching pictures on the cover grabbed y attention.

Sri Hanuman’s parents were Anjana and Pavan, the wind God. As a child, he enjoyed leaping from tree to tree, swinging, hanging and somersaulting. One morning he was hungry and thought that the orange sun was a ripe fruit. He flew towards the sun to eat it but Lord Indra stopped him. It was so adventurous that I could not put the book down for one day.

When Ravana kidnapped Sita, Hanuman took Lord Ram’s ring to give to Sita and bring back news about Sita. Hanuman vanquished Ram’s distress about Sita. Hanuman was a dedicated devotee to Lord ra. He helped to build the bridge to Lank and risked his life by fighting in the battle with Ravana to win back Sita. So I have learnt in this pastime that we should all risk our life for Srila Prabhupada’s movement and make the whole world devotees and also make them chant the names of the Lord Hare Krishna HAre Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.Even though Hanuman was a great devotee, he still played pranks on mother Sita and Lord Rama. For example, he saw mother Sita putting vermillion powder in her hair. After excusing himself, he found some vermillion powder and mixed it with oil. Then he smeared it all over his body and went to Lord Ram. He said, “Mother Sita told me that vermillion powder makes your life longer, so I did it. So fgrom this we can see that it is OK ay to make jokes as long as we are not offensive.

There are many other pastimes performed by Sri Hanuman and many other great devotees namely Bheema, Arjuna, Angad, Jambahvan, Sugriva, Lava, Kusha and his son Makardwaja. Hanuman is a perfect example of how one should serve the Lord and His devotees with love, sincerity and devotion. I pray that one day I too can serve with love, sincerity and devotion.

I would give this book to a friend who likes the amazing pastimes of the great devotee of Lord Ram, Sri Hanumanji. Sri Hanuman Leela has 145 pages and it took me one month to read it.

 

The Demoncraft, part of the Master of Mystics series , published by the Cultural Institute for the Vedic Arts, is a book about Lord Krishna, original superhero who is beyond all material conception.

The story comes from the ancient book of spiritual wisdom, the Srimad Bhagavatam. It is about the kidnapping of the beautiful princess Rukmini, the battle of Krishna and Shalva and others within it.

The illustrations by Jadurani are vivid and in attractive colours. This book will capture your mind and you will not be able to put it down. If you like action and adventure, then this is the book for you!

 

The Journey Home

Autobiography of an American Swami

By: Radhanath Swami

This is the most amazing book I have ever read. It is about one American boy. He is travelling all over the world searching for the Lord. He is very brave. He looks for the Lord in many temples and countries. There are many interesting stories in this book. For example, in Delhi, a man made his snake, turn around the boy’s neck and almost killed him. Once he covered his body with ashes to go to shiva temple. It was a big risk since he would be killed if they found out who he was – a foreigner.

He meets many Gurus and Sadhus like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation Programs. He is struggling without food, money and warm clothes. But he is eager to find the truth. He meets Srila Prabhupada and joins the ISKCON. When he just saw Srila Prabhupada, he realized that he is his Guru. You can see that he made 1 step front and Krishna made thousand steps towards him.

I recommend this book to my friends because it is helpful for spiritual life. I love this book about real life of a pure devotee – the American Swami!

Radhanath Swami ki Jay!

Your Servant,

Divya Shakti

 

Hare Krishna dear Maharajas, Prabhujis and Matajis! Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!

One of my favourite books is Srimad Bhagavatam, Sixth Canto – part 2. This (Srimad Bhagavatam) means “Beautiful song about God” This book’s twist starts when Tvasta pronounces the mantra wrongly. This was one of my first impressions.

I was very im[presses when vritasura spoke very wisely ad devotionally to Indra even while he was dying. He died in a very heroic way and went back to home- back to Godhead. In his previous birth he was a great devotee of the Lord. He had seen the Lord face to face. He was called Chitraketu.

I like reading books that are long like this one. It took 4 or 5 days for read it.

One of the morals I really like is, “Even if one is a demon/demoness, he/she can be a devotee of the Lord.”

I would recommend this book for one who likes legendary action stories.

Your Servant,

Bhakta Vatsalah Das

 

The judges were:  

1.       Leela mataji, Head of English, who has over 30 years teaching experience in primary and high schools as well as a master’s degree in English.

2.       Rachel mataji, who has taught in primary school all over the world and she has a degree in Early Childhood Education.