{"id":1454,"date":"2022-06-14T18:40:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T08:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/?p=1454"},"modified":"2022-06-14T18:47:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T08:47:07","slug":"the-boy-who-tried-to-shrink-his-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/?p=1454","title":{"rendered":"The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/The-Boy-Who-Tried-To-Shrink-His-Name-cover-xxx.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/The-Boy-Who-Tried-To-Shrink-His-Name-cover-xxx.jpg 900w, https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/The-Boy-Who-Tried-To-Shrink-His-Name-cover-xxx-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/The-Boy-Who-Tried-To-Shrink-His-Name-cover-xxx-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/The-Boy-Who-Tried-To-Shrink-His-Name-cover-xxx-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Boy Who Tried To Shrink His Name <\/em>by Sandhya Parappukkaran, illustrated by Michelle Pereira and published by Bright Light an imprint of Hardie Grant Children\u2019s Publishing, is a 2022 CBCA Notable and is also shortlisted for the 2022 CBCA Award for New Illustrator. This is an uplifting and beautiful story, told from the perspective of a young South East Asian boy and is about celebrating cultural heritage and individuality. This book is about not shrinking down in an attempt to fit in and appreciating the beauty in difference as well as the power of a person\u2019s name which connects people not only to their identity, but family and cultural heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The young boy in this story, Zimdalamashkermishkada, is on the precipice of change as he is about to start at a new school. This new beginning heightens his anxiousness about his extremely long name, that no one can seem to pronounce and which he is often asked to repeat. It draws unwanted attention and this causes all sorts of knots and twists to slither around and unravel in his tummy. He wishes he could shrink his name and try as he does, this quest to do so eludes him as his name \u201csprings back to life like a scared pufferfish at sea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Zimdalamashkermishkada finds a friend in Elly. They practise tricks on their skate boards after school and Elly enjoys spending time with Zimdalamashkermishkada and his mother in their home where she helps to create sumptuous dishes, including soft ada where Elly and Zimdalamashkermishkada appreciate picking banana leaves from the family tree to use to hold parcels of rice flour dough, sprinkled with a coconut and crumbled palm sugar mixture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>After much practise at the skate park Zimdalamashkermishkada proudly masters a trick he has been working on and with this he also learns the lesson that with practise what once seems unachievable can be accomplished. As their friendship blossoms, Zimdalamashkermishkada\u2019s pride in his name grows and he no longer feels the need to shrink his name as he proudly and confidently embraces his full and long name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:38px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Sandhya Parappukkaran\u2019s writing is a joy to read. Her lyrical writing is brimming with poetic turns of phrase with metaphors and similes used to engage the reader. These graphic descriptions help the reader to develop empathy for how Zimdalamashkermishkada feels about his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:46px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Michelle Pereira\u2019s engaging and evocative illustrations have a retro quality to them. They have been created with a limited colour palette and enrich the text as well as stimulate the senses. The aromas of the curry almost feel like they waft from the page. The orange ball of string first seen on the cover and then throughout the book is a graphic metaphor to represent Zimdalamashkermishkada\u2019s feelings, concerns and doubts about his name. This string takes on different forms throughout the story that are highly symbolic of Zimdalamashkermishkada\u2019s journey and reflect his feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Zimdalamashkermishkada takes the reader on a journey of discovery, acceptance, self-love and belonging. Along the way there are feasts to be enjoyed, lessons to be learnt and epiphanous moments to be had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Sandhya and Michelle have joined forces again to create a second picture book, <em>Amma\u2019s Sari<\/em>. A review for <em>Amma&#8217;s Sari<\/em> can be found on the Reading Opens Doors blog <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/?p=1432\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Boy Who Tried To Shrink His Name by Sandhya Parappukkaran, illustrated by Michelle Pereira and published by Bright Light an imprint of Hardie Grant Children\u2019s Publishing, is a 2022 CBCA Notable and is also shortlisted for the 2022 CBCA Award for New Illustrator. This is an uplifting and beautiful story, told from the perspective [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13,88,38,22],"book-category":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name - Blog - Reading Opens Doors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.readingopensdoors.com.au\/?p=1454\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name - Blog - Reading Opens Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Boy Who Tried To Shrink His Name by Sandhya Parappukkaran, illustrated by Michelle Pereira and published by Bright Light an imprint of Hardie Grant Children\u2019s Publishing, is a 2022 CBCA Notable and is also shortlisted for the 2022 CBCA Award for New Illustrator. 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