The Blue Jackal

Title

en_US The Blue Jackal

Description

en_US This is a hardbound book (hard cover)

en_US This book has a dust jacket (book cover)

en_US Written and illustrated by Rashmi Sharma

Creator

en_US Sharma, Rashmi See all items with this value

Contributor

en_US Written and illustrated by Rashmi Sharma

Date

2016-01-25T19:53:46Z

en_US 2008-04

en_US 1992

Date Available

2016-01-25T19:53:46Z

Date Issued

en_US 1992

Abstract

en_US How surprising that I lived in Berkeley for four years and never ran across this book or this publisher while I was there! A Google search shows that Vidya Books still exists in Berkeley, though apparently with a post office box number, not a street address. This twenty-two page large-format children's book often combines text and colored illustrations on its paired pages. Sharma narrates the traditional story as an expanded fable, with pleasing development of the situation (drought and heat), scene (a small village near the jungle), and time of day (siesta). About the middle of the story, a has needs to be a had in the phrase He has finished dyeing a load of muslin blue that morning. Perhaps the strongest illustration in the book is that of the blue jackal after he emerges from the tub. This same illustration is used on the book's dust-jacket and cover. The dust jacket is pasted down on this library-owned copy, with clear plastic covering added. In this telling, the jackal goes too far when he tells the other animals Lord Krishna has made me blue in his image. He has also given me some of his special powers. This version then nicely brings the story to its climax with the long-awaited monsoon rains, which of course wash off the jackal's blue dye. The free ride was over. When the other animals pursue the fleeing jackal, he lets out the yowl that is the usual give-away as to his true identity. There is an afterword on Punchtuntra stories. To my surprise, Sharma dates Dabshalim to the fourth century BCE; she says that Dabshalim defeated the Greek Governor left behind by Alexander. There is also this statement to consider: Some scholars connect these tales to the African Aesop…. She comments pointedly on the meaning of this story: The story of The Blue Jackal is told in India to instill the idea of a color-blind society, as opposed to superiority of one race based on skin color. Discontinued sometime after 1994 from the Main Childrens Room of the Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library, presumably in Ohio.

Identifier

en_US 9781878099518 (pbk.)

en_US 6292 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/81623

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US Vidya Books

en_US Berkeley, Calif.

Subject

en_US PZ8.1.S525 Blu 1992 See all items with this value

Type

en_US Book, Whole