Book Review: The Diddakoi

Pic courtesy flipkart

The Diddakoi
Written by Rumer Godden
Cover illustration by Christian Birmingham
Published by Macmillan Children's Books
Ages 8-12 yrs

I've learned a lot about adoption and attachment from Sangi's posts, and there are many nuances to the whole issue that I would not have otherwise being sensitised to. Thanks, Sangi!

So it was hardly a surprising thing that I unwittingly picked up quite a few books that deal with that on different levels. A few are books for children, and here is one of them. A complex, well written book that draws one into it.

A spirited, half-gypsy, half-Irish girl. An orphan. A misfit at school, targeted with some serious bullying for being different. The fact that 'normal, nice' children can, in fact, be very cruel, especially if they reflect the prejudices of their elders. The fact that prejudices can lead to fear of a situation/ person, and that it can become difficult to overcome.

An ordinary 'Miss Marple-ish' British village in the 1960s where everyone knows everybody. A legal care system where the best interests of a child is decided by the letter of the law, and not by what the child would want, or what might be truly best for the child. Some well meaning going wrong. Others unaware of their own ability to give and heal.

'It's good of you, Edna,' Miss Brooke repeated, but it might spoil your holiday. Besides, I don't think Kizzy would go.'
'Heavens, you don't have to ask her.'
'I think I do. People should always be asked before being disposed of.'
'A child?'
'Children are people, Edna,' said Miss Brooke as she had said it to Mrs Blount.
'Well, please yourself,' said Mrs Cuthbert. 'But I tell you, Olivia, that child's too much on your mind.'
'Isn't that what she came for?'
'For what?'
'To be on my mind.'

An ordinary children's story of extraordinary meanings, the book takes one on a roller coaster ride of emotions, which nevertheless unfold very gently at times and with the dramatic quality of a tempest at others. That brings home to us the fact that the human spirit is more resilient than one can imagine, and that we all that the light with the dark in all of us. That patience, love and care can wrought wonders.

Rumer Godden herself was very difficult, and different in many ways as a child, and in this book she writes from  her own memories of it. Kizzy Lovell, our central girl character, the 'diddakoi'=half-gypsy, who is picked on by the other children for being different, and who is in the centre of a controversy over who should foster her, and how, is a throwback to that childhood. In some ways Kizzy reminded me of some of Enid Blyton's similar characters- Carlotta from the St. Clare series, and Lotta from her Circus books.

This is her best known book for children, which got the Whitbread Award in 1972. It has been called "the sort of book children had to fight for to get it from adults". The book should be read in the context of the period in which it is set, as there is much that can be considered 'politically incorrect'. And inspite of the many negatives, the many questions it raises, especially in young minds, it is an incredibly uplifting book, with a happy ending. A loved it!

Crossposted at Saffrontree.   

Of Spies and Writers

Just finished reading HARRIET THE SPY. The first time I heard of the book was in a discussion with a friend. I liked the name, and it stuck. As usual, I took to scanning shelves at the library and bookstores for it, but soon realised that it was not available anywhere but at Flipkart. I was seriously considering buying it, as it had become like the proverbial itch that had to be scratched. Then the same friend told me that she had borrowed it from their library, Hippocampus. Since we already had plans of changing over our membership to Hippocampus, I decided to be patient and hold on. And hold on we did, for many impatient weeks.

In the meantime, we found out that the book had been made into a film. The film features Michelle Tractenberg in the central role, and was made in 1996. There was a screening on TV which we missed. Now this eminently watchable actress had last been seen by us in a Disney movie called Ice Princess.  Another one of those "makeover" stories, made in 2005. She was wonderful in this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone for its strong female characters, wonderful acting, feel-good factor and some breathtaking ice-skating sequences. So Michelle Tractenberg would have been in her early teens when she made "Harriet the Spy." Just the right age for our 11year old Harriet. Now all I had to do was to read the book, and then search out the movie and Watch it.

Let me digress here a bit. There have been a lot of books that have been made into movies over the whole of movie history. Most people prefer to sit through a few hours of the movie and enjoy it rather than read the book. I know of many of A's friends who have watched the whole Harry Potter series on screen, but not held a single one of the books in their hand, leave alone read any. If that is not blasphemeous, (in my view) what is?  J.K.Rowling's work has revived most children's interest in the printed word. Her book releases have had all the hysteria of a sold-out rock concert, and she has enchanted children and adults alike. Her work and its aftermath deserves a whole post on its own. Shall do it some other time.

I feel that reading a book unfetters one's imagination. You are free to imagine the characters in any way you want. A movie, on the other hand, has its limits as everything has been pre-digested and characterised. There is also the limitation of the time in which the whole story has to be told. Going back to the Harry Potter series, it is my opinion that the movies do not do complete justice to the books. There is so much more in the books that has to be edited out, and sometimes there are additions out of context which completely alter the original flavour of the books. Maybe I'm being a purist here, but Rowling's work is so complete in itself that it shouldn't be tampered with. It is just wonderful how all her dots connect perfectly.

OK. Point well made. Read the book before you watch the movie. Wherever possible. Let me come back to the topic at at hand before I go off on a complete tangent. Which is the book we are reviewing.

HARRIET THE SPY.
Written and illustrated by Loise Fitzhugh.
Cover art by Michael Deas.
This edition published by HarperCollins.
Ages 8-13 yrs.

Image :Courtesy Amazon.

Harriet M. Welsch is a very smart 11 yr old. She has a way with words, and follows a "spy-route" everyday after school, complete with a notebook in which she jots down every little thing she observes. Even at school, she is ruthless about what she writes down about her classmates, her best friends Sport and Janie included. There is a raw truthfulness to her observations, the kind children indulge in when they are not used to guilding of any kind. She is amply encouraged by her nanny, "Old Golly," who has realised the potential in her charge. She encourages her to observe, analyse and write down about everything that she sees or hears. The first stepping stone to becoming a great writer. Harriet does not quite look at it in those terms, but does have "becoming a writer"  in her list of aspirations. Old Golly herself is an avid reader, and quotes often and at every possible occasion.

Then one day, she leaves to get married. Harriet is, in her opinion now old enough to take care of herself. Soon after that, disaster strikes, when Harriet loses her notebook in a game of tag. Her classmates read aloud all the uncomplimentary truths about themselves, and boycott her. Harriet reacts like a typical pre-teen by getting back at them by playing some nasty tricks, writing even more ugly things in another book, not going to school and behaving very badly at home with her worried parents, who do not understand how to handle their daughter. Her notebook is taken away at school, when the matter is noticed by the teachers. That really brings matters to a head.

"She didn't care anymore about signing her name, and she got no pleasure from the work she did, but she did it. Everything bored her. She found that when she didn't have a notebook it was hard for her to think. The thoughts came slowly, as though they had to squeeze through a tiny door to get to her, whereas when she wrote, they flowed out faster than she could put them down. She sat very stupidly with a blank mind until finally 'I feel different' came slowly into her head.''

Harriet rebels and blocks everyone out, including her parents. She is like a cornered animal, hitting out at anyone and anything. Her world has turned on its head and nothing makes sense anymore. All she wants is to get Old Golly back and cries for her in her sleep.

To their credit, her parents do the right thing and decide to get help before matters escalate. They set up an appointment with a psychologist, who tells them that nothing is actually wrong with Harriet, and that she is actually an extraordinarily intelligent and articulate young lady, whose talent for observation and penmanship is to be nurtured and channelised, and not quashed.

So what happens next? How does Harriet get back all that she has lost? Does she really get it all back or does something change? What happens vis-a-vis Old Golly? What about her friends and classmates? Does she make up for the hurtful things that she has said and done? What does she learn from the whole thing?

There are some wonderful things that are written to Harriet by Old Golly in a letter that she sends her. Knowing that Harriet can be painfully truthful, she writes, "Little lies that make people feel better are not bad, like thanking someone for a meal they made even if you hated it, or telling a sick person they look better when they don't,.....Remember that writing is to put love in the world, not to use against your friends. But to yourself you must always tell the truth."

Another aspect that the writer has dealt with, which is like a sub-plot is Harriet's puzzling over 'matters of the heart' after she realises that Old Golly has a boy-friend. She tries to speak to her mother about it..."what does it feel like when you meet the person you're going to marry?...I'm not worried." Harriet squirmed around. What am I? she wondered. Just curious. "I just wondered what it felt like," she said, sulking slightly.

That evening, after feeling that Old Golly was behaving very unlike herself, she wrote in her notebook, "There is more to this thing of love than meets the eye. I am going to have to think about this a great deal but I don't think it will get me anywhere. I think maybe they're all right when they say there are some things I won't know anything about until I'm older. But if it makes you like to eat all kinds of wurst (when you don't really like them) I'm not sure I'm going to like this." Very astute and very articulate for an eleven year old.

So now I am going to look out for the movie and enjoy Michelle Tractenberg's excellent acting. And what about A? She is next in line for the book. She will be done with it long before I can get the movie.

When the quality of mercy got a bit strained!

In her English class, A and her friends are being introduced to literature other than that in their textbook. They are doing "The Wizard of Oz" in the original, as also daily readings from one of the "Chicken Soup" books appropriate for their age. As an offshoot of this, they have been introduced to concepts like "Thought for the day" which the children themselves have to share with the others in assembly, and "A daily act of kindness" which is shared in class too. I think it is a very good thing, and makes the children think outside their curriculum. A sort of "literature project", if you please, other than the book review, biography and autobiography that they did last year. Also a great way of sensitising them to others' needs and thoughts.

So we have been having help at home as "acts of kindness". Discussions if something she reads in the current book qualifies as a suitable "thought for the day" and what it really means.

Yesterday, she came home a little thoughtful. When I asked her, she said, "Aai (mother in marathi), today in class Kn (a boy in her class) dropped the colour pencil box by mistake and all the pencils rolled around everywhere. When he was picking them up I got up and helped him to put them back. Is that an act of kindness?" 

"Yes," I said. "Did anybody else also help him?"

"No." She said. "The others kept sitting in their seats. The boys anyway do not help if anything like this happens. And the girls were all thinking 'why must we help a boy?' They were all looking at me and must be wondering why I was helping. Is it OK if I helped Kn?"

"Yes, it was nice of you." Now I do not know this child, but that didn't matter. A had been helpful to someone spontaneously, and was obviously feeling proud of her "act of kindness," and that was all that mattered to me. I was also glad that she was trying to internalise being kind.

She still seemed worried about something. "But aai, he did not say 'thank you' to me. And later in the bus he pushed me when he wanted to get down at his stop. That was not nice of him. It was rude."

Now my husband, who was listening quietly all this time, joined in. "Yes, it was rude of him. So don't be helpful to him next time. Do you think you should?"

"Yes!" Pat came the reply. "If he is rude, that is his problem. Why shouldn't I help him next time if I want to?"

Why indeed! I was proud of her attitude, but was a bit busy at that time to add my bit, and then the conversation moved to matters of homework. Today morning, while getting her ready for school, I had the time to speak to her.

The matter was still playing on her mind and she opened the topic herself. "Aai, was it OK what I said yesterday? I can help if I am someone's friend, can't I? Even if they are rude?" 

Now A has been reading "William Shakespeare and his Dramatic act" from the Dead Famous series for the past few days. This has been her first exposure to Shakespeare, and I am glad it is a fun one. So I decided to take advantage of the fact and told her at this point that Shakespeare has written a play called A merchant of Venice, in which there are some famous lines...and I quoted the first few relevant lines to her. 

"The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."

She was enchanted and was listening with her whole being. It was simple enough for her to understand, although I had to repeat it two times with stress on some words and some action.

"So even if he is rude to me, I should still help him?"

"You have to decide, A. What do you think?"

"Aai, that poem says that we should forgive."

"See, A. Just as it is important for you to tell the truth, or to not hit anybody, or be kind, it is also important to be able to forgive. See, that poem says it is good for both the person who is forgiven and for the person who forgives." I could sense that she was paying close attention. "Just like when you do something that I don't like."

Here she supplied her own example. "Like that time when I broke the thermometer?" Not a very good example as it was not something major that needed forgiving, but it would do for the sake of the discussion.

"Yes,"  I said. "At that time I scolded you for playing with it but have I kept scolding you for it? Everytime you do something you shouldn't, you sometimes get scolded. But do I keep going back to whatever you have done earlier and scold you for that or anything else every time? No. Just imagine if I keep doing that. Won't it be very bad? It does not mean that I have forgotten about it. But what you did can be forgiven."

I still had her attention. "So if somebody is rude to you, you don't have to keep on tolerating it, if it happens every time. Just pay no attention to such people. But you can certainly forgive them and not hold it against them. And if then they do ask for help, you can be kind and help them. It will certainly make you feel better about yourself . You felt nice helping him, didn't you?"

"Yes!" Big grin on her face. Forgiveness as a concept that she could handle without feeling weak was introduced. I thought the rest of it- what if someone had done something by mistake or deliberately...how to handle being forgiving then- could wait for a later date.

She came back home from school today with another big grin. "Aai, you know today Kk(another boy) knocked down some books and asked if someone can please help him pick them up? I went immediately and helped him. You know, nobody else came to help."

"So did he thank you for it?" Me.

"Yes. He took the books and said thanks." A.

"So did that feel good?" Me.

"Yes!" Big smile and a hug.

Bless her!