Bhupinder Singh has written the book "Fish Eat Fish World" which is inspired from the quote "Nanak chinthaa math karahu chi(n)thaa this hee haee", which means "Nanak says do not worry; the Lord will take care of us all". As this book is meant for children, I want to praise the author for choosing colourful and animated pictures which are appealing for children. The language is also easy and understandable and is formed like a conversation between different characters. The conversation format makes the reader feel involved in the conversation - it's like the conversation is happening in front of you. Throughout the book a lot of emotions are conveyed - sorrow, excitement, surprisement, curiousness - which makes the book more alive.
The main message of this book is that God is taking care of us and that we don't need to worry about our needs. I feel the author conveys this message beautifully with easy and appealing examples, like: "When you have a pet at home, you take care of its needs. Have you seen a cat or a dog worry about it? We are all God's creations, He takes care of us all." This message is very important for the children growing up now. Today children and society are focused on being perfect in everything - we want good education, good results in our exams, good figure, good style, and health and wealth. The society is focusing on being perfect which is building up stress, pressure and worries. We keep on worrying about what will happen if we fail. This prolonged stress is having a negative impact on our mental health.
This is why this quote in Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji is an important message that should reach to the children growing up today. The message becomes more essential for young children that they feel safe and remember that God is there to protect us, to help us with our needs. However this does not mean that they don't need to work hard to improve themselves. The author balances very nicely how we should do our best, and that we don't need to worry about the consequences: "It means trusting God, and believing that He will take care of our needs. Having faith and doing our best is what God expects of us."
This book gives other messages too along with the main message. I liked how the main character Aman consults his grandfather when he is feeling low. Through this book the children get to know the value of our elders. They understand that our elders have a lot of wisdom and that we can turn to them whenever we need comfort. In the world today where we are devaluing our grandparents more and more and growing our ego thinking that we can manage things alone, this is an important reminder of the value of our grandparents.
The only thing missing in this book is that the author uses the pronoun "He" when referring to God. Personally I am against this usage as in Sikhi we don't limit God to any gender. I would prefer to call God just for God or use the qualities God has, like Creator.
I would recommend this book for parents as I believe this is an important reminder to children that they don't need to worry about failing. If they fail in something, life is not over. God is there for supporting them and providing nourishment. This book suggests how to reduce stress and pressure children are experiencing today.
Harveen Kaur
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Photo: Copyright: makc76 / 123RF Stock Photo
