Bin Chicken lights up the night by Kate and Jol Temple. Illus. by Ronojoy Ghosh

A wonderfully brilliant look at Divali through the eyes of a bin chicken will raise lots of laughs from readers and listeners alike.

Flying high, the ibis is tired out, but is suddenly revived when she smells the most wonderful of scents. She can smell curries and rice, and spices and lassi, but in deciding to drink the lassi, turns it upside down on the customer’s head. Not a good way to start. She lunges at the bandar laddu, made up of an array of colourful sweets, then spots the tikka masala, making a mess of someone’s dinner, but by then she is ejected from the festival. Outside she dances to the music she hears from inside, but is startled when the fireworks start. Suddenly her skinny legs are wrapped around some of the lights and as she flies skyward she tips over a bowl of vindaloo. She lands on the stage and sees a group of dancers, and joins in still trying to get the lights from her legs. Instead of being cross with the ibis for all the  problems she has caused, people are thrilled with her dancing, cheering her on. She has certainly lit up the night sky and celebrated divali with pleasure.

This wonderfully bright, colourful picture book will have kids follow the misadventures of the ibis as she causes havoc amongst the guests at the festival. Each page shows the problems she causes, and younger readers will love predicting the mayhem she initiates. The Indian festival is wonderfully shown with all of its colour and costumes, dances and fireworks, food and celebrations.

I love the way words for Indian food are included, prompting the reader to find out for themselves, and the customs included as part of the story, again prompting readers to talk about what they mean, and how Divali is celebrated.

The story unfolds in rhyming stanzas, again, prompting readers to use their imaginations in predicting the rhyming words.

A wholly pleasing look at the festival of Divali through the eyes of the much maligned bin chicken, here doing something positive for the community.

Themes: Bin chicken, Ibis, Divali, Humour, Celebrations, Indian food.

Fran Knight