Eleven-year-old Veer Prann runs away from his posh boarding school, where he was bullied, to Suryanagar, where his father is a forest officer. At Suryanagar, he makes friends with the forest guides and learns about the jungle. It’s a different world from boarding school, but nothing prepares Veer for the naked red-eyed girl he sees in a tree one day. The girl, whom Veer calls Medha, is a mystery, an intelligent and intuitive being who communicates with Veer through the psychic transmission of images. Afraid that she will become Suryanagar’s next tourist attraction, Veer must figure out whom to trust and how to save Medha from being caught.
This book was the first runner-up for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2018. The award honours the best of Asian writing in English.
Reviews
Book review by Samiksha (Treasury)
It’s got emotion, it’s got suspense, it’s got thrill, it’s got a forest and it’s got a boy who has run away from boarding school. […]
I absolutely love how the book deals with the theme of wildness. Right from a glimpse into man-eating tigers, to a standoff between a porcupine and tiger cubs and finally to the wildest animal of all, the humans. The book explores power and greed at the expense of nature and its harmony and man’s dangerous obsession of encroaching upon the forbidden, all in the name of science and money. The cruelty of man is well brought out in this book, not only by conspiracy and thirst for power but also by the instances of bullying in Veer’s school.
Book review by papermessandinksplash (Instagram)
Red Eyes gave me an imagination of a time where things were simpler such as the rural landscape, the lush and dense greenery as well as the tourist feeling. In that imagination, there was a stark reality of what we are facing in the 21st century in the name of global warming and climate change. Like Veer says in the first paragraph of my review, many of us carry these questions in our stride. Where and when do we draw the line, before it is too late…
Book review by adibah’s library life (Instagram)
Running from a fancy boarding school, Veer Prann did not expect his decision could be the best thing he ever made. When his parents agreed to his decision, Veer started to explore Suryanagar and learned its own beauty. When one day he unexpectedly met a red-eyed girl whom he called Medha, Veer realized the forest was in danger and began to discover everything as he found a way to save Medha and other habitants in the forest.
Set in Suryanagar, Red Eyes brought two different creatures, human and animal on a journey to escape from being captured to display for the tourist attraction. Red Eyes is much more powerful than I thought. Its own scenery transported me to the rural forest in Central India, giving me a chance to explore the animals’ life as they moved through the forest in their gentle way. The author’s writing captured my heart, from the moment she mentioned the rich brown earthen hues of the forest to the sweetness of the blue-white skies.
Red Eyes has its own way to educate people about what truly happens to the forest when everything was taken away and used to satisfy human needs without really care about the impact one day. For an eleven year old kid, Veer amazed me with his words and his actions and how he began to question who he can trust to save Medha and the forest. If there were more people like Veer, this world would be a better place to live. Besides that, there was some uniqueness to this story that captured my heart, especially the part where the author describes Medha as an intelligent creature who communicates using transitions of images. Other than that, Red Eyes starts to make me believe there’s magic in the jungle and it is hidden away for a reason. Although I was hoping for more, I’m glad this book did not fail me. This was an entertaining, informative and quick read.
Photos by whatdibsread and levairereads
Book review by Valerie (Instagram)
Bullied at an elite boarding school, 11-year-old Veer Prann runs away to the jungles of Suryanagar, where his father works as a forest officer. Making friends with the forest guides and wildlife scientists, Veer suddenly spots a mysterious naked red-eyed girl amongst the trees whom he later names Medha. She is intelligent and communicates with Veer via telepathic images that appear in his mind. Then a tiger gets killed, more go missing and all the adults seem to be involved in something serious. Afraid for Medha’s safety, Veer must try his best so that she doesn’t get caught and become a tourist attraction or a lab specimen.
Appropriate for ages 9 and up, “Red Eyes” is a jungle adventure that is a finalist in the 2018 Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA), and wow, there is so much to unpack in this middle grade read.
Veer ran away from his posh boarding school because of bullying, and we later learn that the adult figures at school were of no help at all. This really brings home the point of how sometimes people take the easier way out to cover things up to maintain a beautiful facade (the prestige of the school) rather than to do what is truly right to tackle the issue of bullying.
This story also talks about the greed of humans – the hunger for power to climb the bureaucratic ladder, or the desire to bring in more money even through underhanded means – and how this greed comes at the expense of nature and wildlife.
The characters are pretty well fleshed out for a middle grade book, each with their own background, thoughts, values, and struggles. I liked how Veer stayed true to his values even as the adults around him were running their own schemes, and how Medha remained kind to Veer even in the face of human cruelty.
I was a little surprised by what I felt was an abrupt ending, but ultimately found peace with it. I appreciated the more serious messages found in this story about the environment and human greed.
Book Trailer