The Adventures of Stoob, Testing Times by Samit Basu
How does a ten year old live with a name like Subroto Bandhopadhyay ? A name so long that he won’t be able to get into a partnership with Barcelona’s Messi simply because his name won’t fit in the football jersey ? He becomes Stoob.
In this first book in the series, Stoob is waiting to get done with grade 5 so he can go into middle school. The school year has not been a great one and suddenly his life gets even more topsy turvy .The school announces that class test marks have been canceled, and there will be one giant exam to get to the middle school.
Not only are Stoob’s friends Ishani and Rehan studying hard, but his best friend Prithvi seems to be up to no good. Stoob has a choice to make – to join Prithvi in his Top Secret Plan for the exams or to walk away.
Adding to Stoob’s chaotic life are Crowldemort , T-Rex, Nalinisaurus, Caveman Kaushik, super villainous monkeys and other characters at school.
It may seem like it at first glance, but Stoob is no character from the hugely popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Instead, he felt a lot like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes to me, with his imaginary Robotics Tool of Death that he would use to set things right in his world, and in the way he processes the world around him.
Samit Basu is a well read author, and uses contemporary references in a manner that children would recognise and love immediately. What Stoob ‘thinks’ is what most children think – about parents, friends, teachers, school and the conflict between right and wrong. Stoob is not a goody goody boy, even though his heart is in the right place. One of my favorite parts in the book was when Stoob has to pay up for something
“‘Just forget about the money, it doesn’t matter. Or just give me your allowance for a year.’
‘That’s fine,’ I say. ‘You can have my allowance for the next five years.’
I cunningly don’t tell Prithvi my allowance is exactly Zero Rupees. Suddenly not having any money doesn’t seem so bad either.”
A nice read for the young ones..
4/5
About Preeti Singh
the good book corner 
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