Books For Beginners
Anirudh Devendra Prabhu
DREAMS ON FIRE by Shyamala S. Children’s Book Trust, 2018, 104 pp., 70
November 2018, volume 42, No 11

First things first, this book is written for teenagers but is not well thought out and plotted. The story is quite good where one friend gets kidnapped and the other saves her.

The story is a dystopic reflection of today’s world. It is set in south Bombay which is another way of being told that such events take place in the real world itself. In the story, Jazz, the main protagonist considers herself to be the centre of the world. She is a spoilt brat incapable of understanding life’s virtues. With her recklessness, she winds up in a very bad situation. She does not fear the antagonist.

She has a fully charged mobile which she could have used to send messages to anyone. However, she gives away the phone and then sends messages to her friend, Shelly, in a coded language. After a wild-goose chase, the police track Jazz by the codes deciphered by Shelly.

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