Ganesha's Sweet Tooth (review)

In this original tale based loosely on a legend from Hindu mythology, elephant-headed and sweets-loving god Ganesha breaks his tusk on a "super jumbo jawbreaker laddoo." Throwing the broken tusk away in frustration, Ganesha accidentally hits the poet Vyasa, who happens to be composing a very long poem, the Mahabharata: "It's so long that no man could ever write the whole thing—all the pens in the world would break before it was done." Ganesha puts his broken tusk to work as a writing implement and proceeds to transcribe Vyasa's poem in its entirety. While this tale is amusing, its blithely irreverent take may leave many kids who aren't familiar with Hinduism with some misconceptions about the religion's mythology, despite clarifications in the ending author's note. The writing is crisp and sometimes funny ("Ganesha is a Hindu god. He's very important and powerful. And a tad chubby"), though, and those who don't mind the liberties being taken with the subject matter may well find this diverting. Patel's detailed digital illustrations are jam-packed with intricate geometric patterns and mandalas, sometimes leading to compositions that are eye-achingly busy. An attractive color palette of muted blues, turquoises, creams, and golds is enlivened by pops of fuschia and bright white, and Ganesha himself is rendered in shades of pink as a cute little guy with enormous eyes in his big elephantine head. Adults willing to supplement this with more faithful sources might use this as a lively introduction to Hindu lore; it could also be used as a prompt for an art activity involving pattern and color.