Pedru and the Big Boom
Parag Honour List 2023
Longlisted for the JK-Times of India 'Best Author Award' (children's books), 2022
Longlisted for the Greenlitfest-WWF Honour Book Awards, 2022
Pedru is curious about life beyond his village. Even though he loves his father’s cashew trees and mother’s curries, his loyal friends and football fields, he desperately wants to be an ‘explorer’. But when his grand plan to escape turns topsy-turvy, he believes that he has set loose a chain of events, which will put his entire village in danger!
Who are these mysterious new people? Why are they blasting a big hole in the hills near their village? What can he do to make things right?
This story is an emotional rollercoaster that takes you through the struggle of one boy and his village, against a powerful opponent, to save their beloved land...
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For children 8+
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"Digging deep into adventure, courage and home: While we relish and explore the intricately woven flavors of paos and pois and mangoes and curry in the Goan village and imagine the lush landscape, author Nandita Da Cunha has highlighted a pertinent issue of mining and its environmental repercussions"
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"Fiction with love, friendship, adventure and struggles."
"The story gushes with faith, belief, accepting faults, courage and bravery"
Kids Book Cafe (February, 2022)
"The story is set in Goa and it took me there with Pedru in his adventure. What I loved most are the following:
1. He loved adventures just like I do
2. He was part of a khoji gang which is super cool (I have a group that we call secret six)
3. He loved good food exactly like me
4. He has a mom who is always worried just like my mom
5. The sketches are very beautiful and look so real"
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Deeku Story Squad (December, 2021)
"I was born in a city and I have never been to a village. But I was able to visualize Pedru playing in the fields, eating his curry, delicious ripe cashews hanging from the tree, and many such wonderful things. The author paints a vivid picture of the story’s setting which made me feel as though I was a part of the story"
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Parag Honour List (February 2023)
Big environmental issues like mining are not easy to make interesting for children. This book manages to do just that, because the reader identifies with the young protagonist who is not initially very aware or interested in such things, but when he is confronted with a stark reality he actually gets involved in a scheme for deflecting the impending environmental crisis in his home village and surroundings.
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