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The Blue Umbrella - A Book Review

The Blue Umbrella

by Ruskin Bond


The Blue Umbrella written by Ruskin Bond is a short and simple read. It is humorous and enriched with values for children. This is a story about ten year old Binyadevi, a mountain girl in the village named Garhwal. She is very courageous and possesses good character strength for her age.


Binya is in charge of fetching cows in the evening. One such day she happened to see a pretty blue umbrella among the rich picnickers and fell in love with it. Fortunately for her, the woman who owned the blue umbrella coveted leopard’s claw Binya was wearing on her neck to ward off evil and asked her the same in exchange of the blue umbrella. The pretty blue umbrella became the talk of the village and she went everywhere with it. Some became envious and one man Ram Bharosa, the tea seller coveted it so badly that he made his worker boy to steal it from her. The boy stole it from her, but together along with her brother Bijju managed to get it back from him.

The news spread in the village and people stopped going to Ram Bharosa’s tea shop, who was by then nicknamed as ‘Trusty Umbrella Thief’ by the local children. His business and reputation got affected and Ram fell into depression; He realised what his greed has done for him. Seeing his long face and the sad plight of his business, Binya did the most courageous and the beautiful thing. She offered her dearest possession, the blue umbrella to him. Surprised Ram returned her kindness by gifting her a bear’s claw pendant encased in silver.


The part where she tried to retrieve her umbrella in spite of all hardships, even by climbing down a treacherous ravine and risking her life balancing on the cherry tree to get her blue umbrella that was carried away from her by a strong wind, shows how determined and courageous this ten year old is. Her presence of mind during the encounter with a snake and when she chased away her umbrella thief is praiseworthy.

The story The Blue Umbrella teaches a wonderful lesson for both adults and children. There is nothing compared to the happiness we feel in making everyone happy. The part where she teaches Ram that happiness of someone is above material things has in fact opened his eyes. The smile after she receives bear’s claw from Ram definitely lingers your mind.

Ruskin Bond, as usual has done a good job in describing the life and nature of the mountain people in a very simple way. His style of writing stories about childhood and village life is extraordinary.

Age Group: 7 Yrs and Above


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