Readers are transported to a zany primary school classroom in India, with The Homework telling a story of a class assignment that makes its way to an unforeseen conclusion.

With each frame set against the blue-lined paper of the ubiquitous school notebook, the book hits a cheeky note from the get-go, with its opening lines:

Bhattu and Kittu had to write an illustrated essay about a big mammal.

Kittu decided to write about his Uncle Gopi, but their mother said it had to be a wild animal.

They had never seen one. What were they to do?

Both boys decide to ask their sister Meena who would much rather read her book than respond to pesky questions. She suggests that they write about a rhinoceros. Bhattu and Kittu are stumped as they have never seen this creature, nor do they have any way to access what it might look like, apart from Meena’s description and their imagination.

She tells them that it’s a big animal with a horn on its nose, as big as a van, and a herbivore that comes in shades of grey, white, and black. Meena adds that the rhinoceros has skin that’s as thick as armour, is myopic and can’t see very far – “like you two” (directed at Bhattu and Kittu), and that it has a tail and charges a lot.

Both boys manage to finish their homework with Kittu stringing together the text, and Bhattu drawing a picture. The resultant image, however, is hilarious, with the depiction staying true to the sentences but the visuals of each component taking on a life of their own.

With its mix of hand-lettered text that children themselves may have written in Hindi and English, as well as doodles such as those of a mango tree in the background, as well as the teacher’s corrections in red ink, The Homework is a story that’s bound to appeal to parents and students alike. For parents, because of the nostalgia that it may evoke for their own school days. For children, because of the possibilities that it creates for a mundane school day to turn unexpectedly exciting.

The Homework
Written by Ashwin Guha
Illustrated by Vaibhav Kumaresh
ISBN: 9788194407126
Publisher: Karadi Tales

You can buy a copy here* or find it at a library.

Karthika Gopalakrishnan is the Head of Reading at Neev Academy, Bangalore, and the Director of the Neev Literature Festival. In the past, she has worked as a children’s book writer, editor, and content curator at Multistory Learning which ran a reading program for schools across south India. Prior to this, Karthika was a full-time print journalist with two national dailies. Her Twitter handle is g_karthika.