Abanabanaa: Sabu Bayasara Pilanka Paeen Mazaa Kabita | JP Das

Review by Ketaki Books

Children’s poetry is often judged by how easily it entertains. The finest examples, however, achieve something more enduring: they awaken curiosity, invite participation, and transform language itself into a source of delight. Abanabanaa: Sabu Bayasara Pilanka Paeen Mazaa Kabita by Jagannath Prasad Das belongs to that rare category. Written with wit, musicality, and imaginative freedom, the collection celebrates the joy of words while speaking to readers across generations.

One of the book’s most engaging qualities is its playful relationship with language. Rhymes, repetitions, surprising sounds, and whimsical images appear throughout the collection, creating poems that seem to invite recitation as much as reading. The pleasure lies not only in what the poems mean but also in how they sound. JP Das understands that for children, language is first experienced as music, rhythm, and play.

Among the most memorable sections are the poet’s inventive verses built around the Odia alphabet. Each letter becomes an occasion for humour and imagination, transforming a familiar learning exercise into a playful literary adventure. Elsewhere, brief poems capture entire worlds in just a few words. A delightful poem about an old pond and a frog leaping into it evokes movement, sound, and atmosphere with remarkable economy, demonstrating how even the shortest verse can leave a lasting impression.

What distinguishes Abanabanaa is its refusal to underestimate its readers. These poems entertain, certainly, but they also encourage children to listen closely, imagine freely, and delight in the possibilities of language. Beneath the laughter and playfulness lies the hand of a poet who understands both literature and childhood with equal sensitivity.

Like the best nursery rhymes and folk verses, Abanabanaa is meant to be spoken, shared, remembered, and enjoyed together. With warmth, wit, and remarkable inventiveness, Jagannath Prasad Das reminds us that poetry often begins in wonder. The result is a collection that will charm young readers while offering older ones the pleasure of rediscovering the magic hidden within words.

 

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