“Move over “Old MacDonald Had A Farm”. Natasha Sharma’s new picture book Rooster Raga is a much more fun way to get children to understand animal sounds. Ruru is gearing up for Rooster Day, but all his efforts come to naught because he still can’t emit the right rooster call of “kukaroo kuroo”. He sets off to meet different animals like the cow, the cat and the donkey to see how they talk. What follows is a delightful rooster raga song and dance. Beautifully illustrated by Priya Kuriyan, the book is a riot of colours – Ruru himself is resplendent in red, purple and yellow.“

” … Concluding in a heart-warming affirmation of selfhood, and celebrating not only heterogeneity but also the ability to learn new things, albeit in one’s own special way, Rooster Raga reminds its readers that life, like music, is entirely about community; and belonging to a community is not about being a clone Au contraire, communities are made of several little bits of differences and belonging is an amalgam of inconsistencies, something that Priya Kuriyan captures very beautifully in her final illustration of the rooster and hen community- replete with hens, chicks and roosters of every description. Her art work is clean and expressive, complementing the simplicity of the story in just the right ways.

… the single most important thing that many of us realize too late, the pretty wish that Natasha Sharma makes in the last page of Rooster Raga, for two children- “May you always discover what makes your heart sing”. An easy story, with familiar animal companions and plenty of new animal songs to try out- Rooster Raga is definitely a cute addition to the shopping cart.”