Paradise of the Animals book review by Yu Yu Kyaw

Title of the book-Paradise of the Animals

Author-VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO

Year of the publication- 2010

Publisher- Adarna House, Inc.

Illustrations by Joanne de Le

For children ages 8-9

The essence of Peace

I have recently read the Paradise of the Animals which is story book for children ages 8 - 9. The book is about the different kinds of animals who once lived together in the Paradise happily before their war started. The Paradise where they lived was so peaceful because there was no fighting against each other at that time. Even though they are different each other, speak differently, and think differently, they loved each other, respected to each other, and shared the food together without any fighting. They tolerated one another’s likes and dislikes. It did not matter whether they are the same or different. Thus, the paradise was so peaceful at that time.

One day, their friendship became rough and they started to fight against each other when the parrot arrived in paradise. The parrot is very talkative and enjoys telling story which is not true. However, the animals in the paradise loved to listen to its story because it was funny. As the parrot tells the untrue story between the animals, the Dog and the Cat had a fight one day although they love each other. Then, the Chicken and the Eagle started fighting.  Besides, the Carabao and the horse started quarreled. Those were happened because the animals in the paradise believed in the parrot’s untrue story. It distorted them to start the war in the paradise.

After all that happened, all the animals started to keep secrets from one another by making use of  new dialects that the parrot could not understand because parrot always tells the untruth. They started to discriminate each other according to their appearance. They didn't believe each other and tried to hide food from others. One day, the elephant tries to intervene and meet his relatives in order to stop the fighting. Some of the animals attended the meeting and they agreed that. Again, the parrots spread the untrue news and tell the rest of the animals that the elephant wanted to become a king of the paradise. Thus, the lion and tiger are furious and gathered other animals and fight the elephant including his relatives and others. Since that time, the wars never stop and the paradise cannot be peaceful and bring them happiness for them.

In this story I think the author want to say about how the lives of the animals are perfect with peace.  They did not fear anything when they are tolerant of one another and keep peace. They don’t have the enemies as long as they live in peace.  Thus the author’s stand is the value of the peace is important. In addition, the point what the author wants to describe is about the friendship as well. He tried to show the life of the animal to see obviously in human form. Sometimes, people are jealous of others who have a perfect friendship and if their lives are so peaceful. They want to destroy it. So, we need to be careful not to be deceived by others too much. It can harm our lives seriously.  So, the author stand is to encourage the people to live peacefully and tolerate each other by giving examples of the animal’s lives.

The gist of this book is about to show us how the value of peace is essential in the human life in order to be enjoyable life. Without peace, we realize that we cannot possess the enjoyable life. I think the theme of the story helps the people become more aware of the consequences of the wars about how it is harmful if there is no peace, love and tolerance as well.

I could analyse that the story displays the particular memorable highlights that appeal to the emotion. In the part of the parrot said the untruth to the animals of the paradise, it shows the dirty mind of the parrot obviously about how means the parrot is. The reader can clearly see the result when the animals came to believe the parrot and they started quarrel one another with the fake stories of the parrot.  Like human life, when we misunderstand each other without negotiation, our relationship cannot be recovered anymore. In the story, the war between the animals began because they cannot be tolerant each other and they are inclined to believe in other.

 In the story, the characters are displayed as the animals. However, they are definitely presented as a human form in our lives. There are many different kinds of animal in the story which are described as a character. Even though they are different, eat differently and speak differently, they love each other in the nature. As long as they can be tolerant one another and love each other, they can keep the peace. To compare with human form, of course, when people cannot be tolerant one another, as a result, our world cannot be peaceful anymore. Consequently, we will encounter difficulties and have to be afraid of each other because they don’t love one other anymore. To live in peace, people should live harmoniously not only with us but also with others. We need to love and respect our neighbor in spite of our culture, religion, countries so on. So, this story definitely shows the human forms of what we are experiencing and interacting in social live in reality.

I think in the illustration of the book, it can be very friendly with the view of the children because the design is simple with displaying the animals and the trees around them. So, the reader can clearly guess what the book is about. The front page of the book is already telling the reader what the author is going to say in the story. The design is appropriate for the children because it is colourful based on the different kinds of animals. As the back ground is used by green colour, it is nice to see the pictures for the readers.

The thing that I like to comment is to illustrate the picture exactly when choosing the colour based on the animals and plants. The area of the pictures of the characters in the story needs better execution. I noticed that some of the trees are painted by the purple and blue. It’d better if the trees are painted by green so that the children can clearly see what it is. In addition, some animals are also used by unusual colour which is not in reality in their nature. What I mean is that the design of the book is really appropriate for the children. Nevertheless, it would be better to choose the colour according to the nature of the animals in reality so that the children can identify clearly.

Nevertheless, I strongly agree the author’s stand about the story. I recommend the story absolutely. It is really worth reading for the children. I am inspired what the author created. Of course; the children need to read that book so that they can improve their friendship as well as social skill because they are also interacting with people in social life. They also will face any difficulties more and more when they get older. By reading that, they came to realize that how the value of peace is very important and are become aware of the consequences of wars and fighting. They will believe that war is just bad for the people and tend to love, tolerate and understand each other to have peaceful and enjoyable lives. Moreover, they will avoid discriminating each other and treat equally.