Hi, Sparky here.
Ø
It’s
been a nice week. Weather wise, mostly
summer because it’s still summer but with glimpse of what’s to come next. We
had a few pre-monsoon showers a few evenings, with the sound and light
accompaniments as well – the thunder and lighting.
Ø Remember the 2 Smooth Coated
Otters who joined us on the Island last week? I am now wondering how the Island
ever existed without them. This might be a bit of an exaggeration but not very
far from truth. They have brought an entire new life to the Island with their
collection of books which they are more than happy to lend to anyone who’s
interested in reading. They also love talking about books, every evening as the
Sun begins to go down, many birds and animals gather on their favourite perches
and places around the Otters’ den and there begins a lively discussion of a
book or a character. It’s been just a week and it’s enriched all our lives. No
more gossip, no more squabbles, no one has any time for that now.
Ø As someone who writes a
magazine, you might think I would be reading a lot, but the Otters have made me
realise, I was barely reading. Now, where I was loitering, I read, where I was
giving into unnecessary, negative thoughts, I read instead.
Ø The magical world of books that
takes one to far off, unknown places; giving us an insight of how others live
and have lived their lives; into the distant past at the turn of a page, into
the future just by picking up another book. It’s all there hidden in between
the covers of books - imagination, fiction that’s more real than reality, facts
that seem like a figment of someone’s imagination, words with the power to
teach and words that reach across space and time.
Ø Papa Pelican says he always
wondered if they were related to the Storks as they have always lived so
amicably with each other. The pelicans and storks have forgotten all about last
week’s row and are busy going through the encyclopedia that they have borrowed
from the Otters. They are figuring out if they are related to one another. Soon
they will find out that they are not related but having done something together
will melt away their lack of a relationship and bring them closer.
Ø Mr. Drongo, who is a Black
Drongo has borrowed books on Ornithology from the Otters and is trying to
figure out if he can grow a long tail like that of his cousin, Greater
Racket-tailed Drongo.
If you are reading a book this
week like most of us on Banyan Island, here are a few puzzles for you in
between your reading.
- Solve the below riddles to get the names of some great writers. With the literary atmosphere that surrounds me these days, it’s hardly my fault that these riddles are related to books and authors.
From a tale of
two cities to expectations that are great,
From Scrooge
in a Christmas Carol to orphan boy
Twist,
This author’s
books are read and enjoyed till date.
|
|
Jeeves, Bertie,
Psmith with a P and characters numerous,
For something
light and something humorous,
Pick up this
and your choice won’t be erroneous.
|
|
If it’s
mystery you are craving for,
Buy one with
Poirot or a Maple from the bookstore.
|
|
Characters for
all times - Tom Sawyer and Huck
Finn,
You will know no
boredom, If you start reading him.
|
|
Mesmerized
millions with a theme almost illogical,
A boy born
with magic and a series that’s just magical.
|
- Sequence words are words that are used to indicate the order in which the events happened. First, next, then, in the end, lastly…are sequencing words. Use words like these to fill in the blanks in the story:
______thing
early in the morning, Gumphu monkey likes to go to the river for a swim. Be it
summer or winter, Gumphu keeps to her morning routine. _____, she heads
back home for a light breakfast of fruits and nuts. ______ when she’s had her breakfast, she settles down for reading a
book for a good half an hour _____she joins her family wherever they are
on the island. _____ their lunch, the monkeys head back to the Banyan
for their afternoon nap. The monkeys yet again head out for another snack ______
returning to the Banyan for the day. ______, as the day begins to fade
the mothers groom their babies first, and ______when they groom each
other, the babies gather around Gumphu who tells them stories with lessons
hidden in them, like why one needs to be within sight of their family at all
times, why one should not chew more than one can bite and so on. She also tells
them poems on which food is available in which season, where those trees are
located on the island, how earthworms are important to keep trees healthy and
such useful survival lessons. ______, as the baby monkeys go back to their
mothers, Gumphu settles down to read a book _______ she falls asleep.
- What comes next in the sequence:
Blue
|
Green
|
Yellow
|
Orange
|
Triangle
|
Square
|
Rhombus
|
|
Mercury
|
Venus
|
Earth
|
|
Seed
|
Sprout
|
Sapling
|
|
Egg
|
Caterpillar
|
Pupa
|
|
Stone
|
Secrets
|
Azkaban
|
|
Twilight
|
New
Moon
|
Eclipse
|
- Match the books with the characters:
Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn
|
The
White Rabbit
|
Harry
Potter
|
Laurie
|
The
Jungle Book
|
Bertie
Wooster
|
The
Hobbit
|
Tom
Sawyer
|
Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland
|
Gandalf
|
The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
|
Bagira
|
The
Jeeves stories by P.G. Wodehouse
|
Dr.
Watson
|
Little
Women
|
Dolores
Umbridge
|
- The Otters set this puzzle for the baby monkeys the other day, let’s see if you can crack it.
The
Otters regularly go to the bookstore to ‘trade’ books. They sell the books they
don’t want anymore and buy books that they want. The books that they sell are
bought by the shopkeeper at 60% of the book’s original selling price and the
books that they buy are offered to them at a 10% discount. They can also buy
‘used books’, which are books that have been sold back to the bookstore by
readers. These used books carry a discount of 40% on the actual price. Here’s the list of books with its actual
price that they bought and sold on their last visit to the bookstore.
Books sold by
the Otters
|
Books bought
by the Otters
|
||
Pride
& Prejudice – Jane Austen
|
10
|
North
& South – Elizabeth Gaskell
|
15
|
The
Mayor of Casterbridge –Thomas Hardy
|
15
|
Anne
of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery (Used book)
|
12
|
The
Mill on the Floss - George Elliot
|
12
|
One
hundred years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
|
20
|
Kings
Solomon’s Mines - H. Rider Haggard
|
8
|
Siddhartha
- Hermann Hesse
|
15
|
Could you calculate the amount
that the Otters had to pay the bookstore owner?
·
Here’s
a little something for my ‘little’ readers:
See you all next week with
more news, activities and answers to this week’s puzzles.
In the meanwhile, if you
would like to write to me, email me at Sparkyatbanyan@gmail.com
Answers to last
week’s puzzles:
- Solve the below riddles, all of them are related to summer time activities.
Cycling
|
Fun to get on
this and go around,
It will keep
both the body and mind, sound.
|
Walking
|
Let your feet
take you far and wide,
By your house
or by the lakeside,
Don’t get
lazy, get up and take that stride.
|
Swimming
|
It’s fun to
cool off in water,
You get some
exercise and also beat the hot weather.
Now, what
could be better?
|
Ice cream
|
I am best
enjoyed frozen,
In hot
weather, I feel like a soothing potion.
|
Reading
|
Time for me,
you will have to make.
Else you will
miss out on the magic of words.
And that would
be a mistake.
|
- Complete the Crossword below. There are more than one meaning to all the words but to make it easy for you all the words end with the letters ‘ell’
- Analogical reasoning questions:
1
|
2
|
a
|
b
|
c
|
d
|
Mango : Tree
|
Rose :
Bush
|
Flower
|
Climber
|
Bush
|
Weed
|
Light : Heavy
|
Strong : Weak
|
Tiny
|
Weak
|
Little
|
Easy
|
Hope : Despair
|
Happy : Sad
|
Elated
|
Sad
|
Lucky
|
Delighted
|
Piano : Music
|
Paint : Art
|
Art
|
Skill
|
Artist
|
Painting
|
Goldsmith : Gold
|
Blacksmith : Iron
|
Coal
|
Iron
|
Silver
|
Wood
|
Triangle : 3
|
Rhombus : 4
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
10
|
Parrot : Bird
|
Bat : Mammal
|
Mammal
|
Reptile
|
Bird
|
Amphibian
|
Economy: Thrift
|
Extravagance:
Improvident
|
Expensive
|
Provident
|
Costly
|
Improvident
|
- Identify all the creatures
in Rakshita’s ‘Serene Scene’ drawing:
1
|
Earthworm
|
6
|
Parrot
|
11
|
Ladybird
|
16
|
Butterfly
|
2
|
Squirrel
|
7
|
Snake
|
12
|
Dragonfly
|
17
|
Frog
|
3
|
Hornbill
|
8
|
Koel
|
13
|
Honey
Bee
|
18
|
Chameleon
|
4
|
Ants
|
9
|
Drongo
|
14
|
Hornet’s
nest
|
19
|
Grasshopper
|
5
|
Owl
|
10
|
Snail
|
15
|
Monkey
|
20
|
Beatle
|
v
Now,
you could and should wonder as to what an earthworm is doing on the tree –
well, this is the same earthworm which Gumphu monkey had taken up the tree to
show the baby monkeys.
v
The
drongo in the drawing is a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, the one whose tail our
Mr. Drongo covets. That’s indeed a beautiful tail.
Sparky’s Note: A reminder to my readers – June
10, 2020 is the last date to send across your paintings of this drawing to sparkyatbanyan@gmail.com
The drawing to paint is in this link:
Don’t
forget to include your name, class and school’s name with the painting.
- Match the eyes to the animals, and also identify the animals:
