Review of Honeycomb, Part I
BOOK REVIEW OF HONEYCOMB
- 1.NAME OF BOOK - HONEYCOMB,ENGLISH TEXTBOOK OF CLASS VII
- 2.PUBLISHER - NCERT
- 3.ISBN - 81 7450 676 4
- 4.PRICE - Rs 30
- 5.NUMBER OF PAGES - 152
- 6.BINDING - Paperback
- 7.DATE OF PUBLICATION - February 2007
- 8.TOTAL NUMBER OF CHAPTERS - 19
- 9.PROSE - 10
- 10.POEMS - 9
Book review of HONEYCOMB
As cited above the book ‘Honeycomb’ is the English textbook of Class VII. A book published by the NCERT, the ‘Honeycomb’ is a pretty good book except for some very hard poems and stories which are very difficult to understand and to learn. The book ‘Honeycomb’ has 19 chapters- 10 of which are stories and the remaining 9 are poems.
POEMS/STORIES I LIKED
- 1.THE REBEL[poem]POET - D.J.ENRIGHT
- 2.DAD AND THE CAT AND THE TREE[poem]POET - KIT WRIGHT
- 3.MYSTERY OF THE TALKING FAN[poem]POET - MAUDE RUBIN
- 4.THREE QUESTIONS[story]WRITER - LEO TOLSTOY
- 5.GOPAL AND HILSA FISH[comic strip]
- 6.THE ASHES THAT MADE TREES BLOOM[story]WRITER - WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS
- 7.THE INVENTION OF VITA WONK[story]WRITER - ROALD DAHL
- 8.FIRE:FRIEND AND FOE[article]
- 9.THE STORY OF CRICKET[article]WRITER - RAMCHANDRA GUHA
- 10.QUALITY[story]WRITER - JOHN GALSWORTHY
THE POEMS I LIKED
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THE REBEL
This a very funny poem which tells us about a rebel. A rebel is a person who always disagrees with others. This poem also tells us about a rebel and the ways he disagrees with others. A poem written by D. J. Enright, The Rebel is a very interesting poem telling us that we need a dissenter to give us an opposite point of view and make this world a more balanced place.So we can also say that Mr DJ Enright surely wants to make this world of ours a balanced and wonderful place which is full of joy.
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DAD AND THE CAT AND THE TREE
Dad and the Cat and the Tree is one of the most interesting poems I have ever read. This tells us about a dad and a cat. The cat gets stuck upon a tree and then dad tries different ways to bring him down but unfortunately all his plans fail, but in the end one of his ideas goes well and the cat comes down but guess what?The dad himself gets stuck on the tree. So Kit Wright did a very good job in writing a very humorous poem. The poem teaches us the moral that we should plan well before we act.Heads off to you.
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MYSTERY OF THE TALKING FAN
This is a purely imaginative poem. This poem tells us about a fan which can talk. Infact, the fan is a machine and when the parts are not greased properly, the moving parts because of friction produce some sound which may feel like its mysterious chatter. So this poem written by Maude Rubin brings to light the moral that when grease is applied to the moving parts of the fan, the fan stops speaking. On the whole this is a very nice poem because it tells us in a very human way about a machine and friction.It will get a big WOW from me.
THE PROSE I LIKED
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THREE QUESTIONS
I liked the first chapter ‘Three Questions..A story written by the famous writer Leo Tolstoy,‘Three Questions’ is a very good story dealing with morals and many other things.This story is about a king and how he got the answer to the three questions which he thought would help him to become a better ruler.This story is about ones’s adventure,friendship etc.The morals the jewels of this story.The way the story has been written is worth-reading.Unlike other stories,this story has 3 morals.The first one,‘Now is the only time we have any power to act’ is commendable.The second one‘The most important person is the one with whom we are at a particular momemt’is also very good.The last one which is,not the least ‘We are born to help others’is also one of the bests.So,for me it was one of the most interesting story I have ever read.
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GOPAL AND THE HILSA FISH
This is a comic strip which,as like other comics,is very funny.And this comic is about the famous Bengali jester Gopal Barh and the king Krishna Chandra and how king Krishna Chandra challenges Gopal and Gopal cleverly outwits him.This story underlines the fact that 'Brain is better than brawn, and 'laughter is the best medicine'.So this is a very marvelous and funny comic.
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THE ASHES THAT MADE TREES BLOOM
I also liked ‘The Ashes That Made Trees Bloom’.This is a story about an honest and hardworking old couple and their pet dog.The neighbours are troublesome,and the dog dies a sad death.But the spirit of the dog gives solace and support to his master in unexpected ways and thus repays the kindness given to him by his master.This is a story which teaches us to be kind to every living creature whether he is a poor or a rich.This is a very nice story written by the one and only writer William Elliot Griffis.So for me it was a very interesting story.
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THE INVENTION OF VITA WONK
This is a story written by Roald Dahl. This is a very funny story which tells us about the famous imaginary character Mr Willy Wonka who is a scientist and his desire to make something new which would make people older. Adapted from the famous book‘Charlie And The Great Glass Elevator’,this story is very good. This story tells us that a nothing is impossible without hardwork. It hasinspired me to write a short poem which is as follows:- What is absurd, can be true, if the scientist wants it to!
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FIRE: FRIEND AND FOE
Fire:Friend Or Foe is a informative chapter related to science.This chapter tells us about fire and its various useful and dangerous uses.This chapter is a very essential chapter and should be carefully listened and understanded.This informative chapter is trying to teach us that prevention is better than cure.For me it was a very good chapter which teached me to handle fire carefully.
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THE STORY OF CRICKET
As we all know that sport is a importantpart of a healthy life.It is one of the ways through which we compete with each other and stay fit.Among the various team sports such as hockey,football and cricket,cricket appears to be the most appealing national entertainment today.Likewise,this is a story which tells us about the game cricket.Earlier cricket was a colonial game only played by the britishers but now india is dominating.For example,IPl.This chapter is giving us a teaching that India can be best country in all fields only if we contribute ourselves to our country.And thus this story will be liked by many book readers including me also.
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QUALITY
This chapter asks a very simple question that can a shoemaker be called a artist?And the answer is‘Yes’ if he has the same skill and pride in his trade as any other artist,and the same respect for it too.This story is about Mr Gessler,a German shoemaker setteledcin London,is a perfect artist.This story teaches us to do our work with great devotion.For me it was a chapter of great morals.Mr John Galsworthy has written a very beautiful story about professional integrity and exemplary business ethics.
THE LESSON I DIDN'T LIKE
As written in the heading it does not mean that I hated a particular story but it just means that I liked it less. The story is “Expert Detectives”. This story is about a boy named Nishad and his sister Maya and their mysterious neighbour Mr Nath. This story is about how Nishad and Maya grow suspicious about their neighbour Mr Nath and start thinking that Mr Nath is a criminal hiding from the police. Then they become detectives but a sudden feeling grows in Nishad that Mr Nath is a poor man who has no friends and this Nishad tries to prove to Maya. For me it was a good story but the end was not so good may be because it is just an extract from The Broken Flute, written by Sharada Dwivedi. I failed to get any moral from this story. May be its about brother sister relationship or about the fact that we should not jump to conclusions without knowing the facts.
REVIEW OF THE BOOK[EXCLUDING CHAPTERS]
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COVER PAGE DESIGN
The cover page design is superb. The design is made in relation with the name of the book which is ‘Honeycomb’. There is the picture of a beehive and we can also see a bee family, the mother and dad on the front cover and the daughter on the back cover. But there should also be a son. The heading ‘Honeycomb’ is written in a comic style which looks nice. The colour choice is also very yummy. . So, the cover page design is cool.
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PAGE QUALITY
The page quality is quite nice. The book which is printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT watermark is very good. There are a total of 152 pages in this book. So, on the whole the quality of the page was nice.
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Asked about illustrations of this book I would say that the editor has done a very good job. They are awesome but the only thing I didn’t like about the illustrations was that the comic strip ‘Gopal And The Hilsa Fish’ was given in a black and white colour .Otherwise the illustrations are perfect.
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The PREAMBLE section
If asked whether it was necessary to give the Preamble of the Constitution of India, I would say ‘YES’. This makes the children aware of the Constitution. This is a very important section and I should say to all those who have read this book or want to read that they should look at the Preamble page because it tells us about what our country is and what it should be.
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RELATION WITH OTHER SUBJECTS
There are two chapters directly related with other subjects-the first one ‘Fire: Friend and Foe’ is related to science and the second one ‘The Story Of Cricket’ is related to sports history. For more information about these chapters you can look at the ‘The Story of Cricket’ and ‘Fire: Friend Or Foe' Section.
Feedback
On the whole the book was good but some improvements could have been made with the illustrations of the lesson'Gopal mAnd The Hilsa Fish' as I had said earlier and some stories.There could have also have been more blank pages which are actually meant to write notes.Otherwise,NCERT has done a wonderful job and has surely gaind praise.So this book would also get a 3/5 rating from me.
27 Apr, 2009