Written by: Purnima Singh
International Dickens Medal winner for his book of fiction Six Feet Distance, Ratan Bhattacharjee’s Putu Shona is much more than a collection of stories about a little girl named Renee. It is an autobiographical narrative that documents the emotional, intellectual, and moral development of a child through everyday experiences shared with her family. Comprising over sixty episodes divided into two sections, the book presents childhood as a journey of discovery, learning, affection, and cultural inheritance.
The stories move effortlessly across continents—from Glen Allen and New Jersey in the United States to Toronto in Canada and Kolkata in India—offering readers a portrait of a child growing up in a multicultural world without losing sight of her roots. Rich in humour, warmth, and gentle life lessons, Putu Shona becomes both a celebration of childhood and a handbook on value-based parenting.
The title Putu Shona immediately establishes the emotional tone of the book. In Bengali, the expression is a tender term of endearment, signifying love, affection, and belonging. Rather than choosing a formal English title, Bhattacharjee consciously retains this intimate Bengali phrase, signalling that the emotional landscape of the book is rooted in family relationships and cultural memory. The title itself becomes a metaphor for unconditional love, reminding readers that childhood flourishes in an atmosphere of affection, encouragement, and emotional security.
At the centre of the narrative is Renee, an imaginative and compassionate child whose world is filled with grandparents, parents, cousins, festivals, pets, toys, books, music, and travel. Renee is not portrayed as an extraordinary child possessing exceptional talents; instead, she represents the emotional richness hidden within ordinary childhood. Her questions, fears, dreams, laughter, and acts of kindness reveal a child who is constantly learning from her surroundings. Every experience, however small, becomes an opportunity for reflection. Whether she is preparing for Christmas, gardening with her family, learning yoga, swimming, playing chess, writing a diary, helping street beggars, or discovering drones and technology, each episode contributes to her intellectual and emotional growth.
One of the most remarkable features of the book is its understanding of child psychology. Bhattacharjee recognises that children are active observers rather than passive recipients of adult instruction. Renee is curious about the world around her and interprets ordinary experiences through imagination and empathy.
In stories such as Renee Feels Lonely, readers encounter a child who experiences an emotional solitude despite being deeply loved by her family. This loneliness is not born of neglect or isolation but of heightened sensitivity. Renee notices suffering, injustice, and loneliness in others, and these observations gradually shape her moral consciousness. The author reminds us that children often carry emotional burdens that adults fail to recognise because they express them differently—through questions, drawings, poems, games, or quiet reflection.
The family occupies the heart of Putu Shona. Parents, grandparents, cousins, and extended relatives are not peripheral figures but active participants in Renee’s education. They teach not through sermons but through shared experiences. The stories illustrate a parenting philosophy that prioritises experiential learning over material indulgence.
Rather than simply buying expensive gifts, Renee’s family creates opportunities for exploration and discovery. Gardening teaches patience; yoga develops discipline and mindfulness; chess nurtures concentration and strategic thinking; swimming builds confidence; music encourages creativity; travel cultivates adaptability; and festivals strengthen cultural identity. Every chapter demonstrates that meaningful childhood memories are created not by possessions but by experiences shared with loved ones.
This philosophy becomes particularly evident in Renee’s travels. Her visits to Toronto and Lake Ontario are not presented merely as family vacations but as educational journeys. Canada becomes a classroom without walls. She observes new landscapes, different lifestyles, lakes, wildlife, and multicultural communities.
Through these experiences she learns that the world is larger than her immediate surroundings and that diversity is something to appreciate rather than fear. Her journey encourages curiosity about geography, culture, and humanity itself. The narrative subtly teaches that travel is one of the finest forms of education because it transforms unfamiliar places into spaces of understanding and respect.
Similarly, Renee’s repeated visits to Kolkata reconnect her with her ancestral heritage. Here she encounters grandparents, neighbourhood friends, street vendors, monsoon rains, local food, festivals, stray dogs, and everyday Indian life. The stories lovingly recreate Kolkata not simply as a city but as a repository of memory and belonging. Renee’s relationships with Gublai Dada, Gol Dada, and Bhuvo Didi reinforce the importance of extended family in shaping a child’s emotional identity. Learning drawing from Bhuvo Didi or observing everyday life in Kolkata becomes as significant as formal education. Through these experiences, Bhattacharjee demonstrates that cultural identity is inherited through relationships, rituals, language, and shared memories.
One of the strongest dimensions of Putu Shona is its portrayal of empathy as a learned social value. Stories such as Renee Helps the Street Beggars, Renee’s Empathy Express, Renee and Her Garden of Kindness, and Counting Blessings Together show that compassion is cultivated through example rather than instruction. Renee does not merely sympathise with the poor; she wishes to understand their lives and contribute in whatever way she can.
Her concern extends beyond people to animals and the environment. Street dogs, kittens, gardens, trees, composting, and environmental conservation become recurring symbols of responsible citizenship. These episodes encourage children to recognise that kindness towards people, animals, and nature are interconnected values.Environmental awareness forms another important strand of the collection. Stories such as Renee as the Compost Crusader, Eco Explorer, and Garden of Kindness present ecological responsibility in simple, engaging ways.
Rather than presenting environmentalism as an abstract concept, the author integrates it into everyday life through gardening, recycling, caring for plants, and respecting nature. Such narratives encourage young readers to see environmental stewardship as part of daily living rather than an occasional social campaign.
The educational dimension of the book deserves special attention. Chapters like Capitalization Castle, Accountability Aquarium, Golden Rule Retreat, and Firewall Fortress creatively transform academic concepts into imaginative adventures. Learning becomes playful rather than burdensome. The blending of storytelling with educational objectives reflects contemporary pedagogical approaches that emphasise experiential and interdisciplinary learning. Children absorb language, ethics, science, technology, and social values through narratives rather than formal lectures.
Humour is another distinctive quality of the book. Playful poems, amusing incidents, talking animals, magical adventures, toy parades, unicorn brigades, drones, magic on the iPad, and imaginative conversations preserve the spontaneity of childhood. The humour never undermines the seriousness of the themes; instead, it provides emotional balance. Even when discussing loneliness or social inequality, the narrative maintains optimism and hope. This tonal balance makes the book appealing to both children and adults.
The autobiographical nature of Putu Shona further enhances its authenticity. While many stories possess fictional embellishments, they are rooted in lived experience. Bhattacharjee transforms ordinary family memories into literature, demonstrating that everyday life contains profound emotional significance. Gifts exchanged between family members, shared meals, birthday celebrations, simple conversations, festivals, and travels become literary symbols of love and continuity. In doing so, the author reminds readers that the most meaningful stories often emerge from the ordinary rather than the extraordinary.
The book also contributes significantly to diasporic literature. Bhattacharjee writes as an Indian living abroad, yet his narratives resist simplistic binaries between East and West. America, Canada, and India are not competing cultural spaces but complementary worlds that together shape Renee’s identity. She celebrates Christmas with enthusiasm while cherishing Indian festivals, enjoys life in Glen Allen while eagerly anticipating her visits to Kolkata, and learns to appreciate both global modernity and traditional family values.
Such representations challenge the notion that diasporic identity requires abandoning one’s cultural roots. Instead, the book advocates a model of global citizenship grounded in cultural confidence and mutual respect. The language of Putu Shona is intentionally simple, making it accessible to young readers while retaining sufficient emotional depth for adults. The short episodic structure allows each story to function independently, yet together they create a coherent narrative of childhood development. Parents, teachers, and educators will find the book particularly valuable because it demonstrates how storytelling can become a medium for teaching empathy, responsibility, gratitude, environmental consciousness, and intercultural understanding.
Ultimately, Putu Shona is a book about raising not merely successful children but responsible human beings. Renee’s family consistently prioritises experiences over possessions, relationships over materialism, and values over achievement. They encourage her to travel, observe, question, create, help others, appreciate nature, respect elders, and embrace cultural diversity. As a result, Renee gradually develops into a compassionate, curious, resilient, and socially conscious child who dreams not only of personal happiness but also of making the world a better place.
In an era increasingly dominated by technology, consumerism, and hurried lifestyles, Putu Shona offers an important reminder that childhood is shaped by shared experiences, meaningful conversations, family traditions, and acts of kindness. Ratan Bhattacharjee has created a work that functions simultaneously as memoir, children’s literature, parenting guide, and diasporic narrative. Through Renee’s eyes, readers rediscover the beauty of ordinary life and recognise that the greatest gifts we can offer children are love, values, curiosity, and opportunities to experience the world with open hearts. The result is a deeply moving and educational work that celebrates childhood while offering timeless lessons for readers of every generation.
Purnima Singh is a poet and an Associate Professor of English at Vasant Kanya College of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. She can be reached at [email protected]