Written by Anita Nair
Illustrations by Habib Ali
Reviewed by Priya Naik and Howard Berlie
A contemporary story, set in an urban enclave, that attempts to touch on bullying, friendship, and intergenerational relationships through the bond forged between a grand-aunt and grand-nephew over a short holiday.
| Publishing Date: 2025
ISBN: 9780143474906 Page Count: 193 Publisher: Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Review Posted Online: June 2026 QBR Reviews Issue: Q2 2026 Categories: Friendships | Bullying | Intergenerational Bonding |
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Anita Nair is known for writing stories that explore relationships, emotions, identity, and everyday social realities in contemporary India. Many of her works focus on human relationships within changing urban and social spaces. In Sneaker Paati, she brings these concerns into children’s literature through the emotional world of Kittu and the unconventional character of Sneaker Paati. The novel reflects contemporary urban life, changing family structures, working parents, and the emotional loneliness that children may experience despite materially comfortable homes. This book continues Nair’s interest in layered characters and domestic relationships, though here those themes are simplified for younger readers. The focus on emotional care, intergenerational bonding, and everyday routines makes the novel feel closely connected to present-day middle- and upper-middle-class urban childhoods.
Sneaker Paati is set in a gated community in Bangalore. The story centres on Kittu (later revealed to be Madhav), an eight-year-old boy who has recently moved from Pune to Bangalore with his parents, Meera and Raghav. The story begins in the days leading up to Dasara and stretches into the school holidays, establishing that Kittu is experiencing emotional loneliness and fear. These childhood anxieties set the stage for the surprising bond he will form with his unusual grand-aunt, the titular Sneaker Paati.
The cover image was a little puzzling — the grand-aunt is shown standing on her head, while even the dog wears a bewildered expression. It also raised a question: why did the author choose this title? The answer lies in the character herself — a grand-aunt who is energetic, skilled, practises yoga and karate, knows Japanese, bakes, and performs cartwheels. In this way, the story offers a modern portrayal of old age, moving away from the familiar image of dependent grandparents and presenting instead a very active, capable, and emotionally strong woman.
Overall, the book feels more like a series of episodes than a tightly connected story; its focus on multiple themes simultaneously deprives it of depth. Most of what happens takes place within the gated community; only a few excursions — a visit to Church Street, the children’s short cycling trips — give the reader a glimpse of the world outside Springfield Apartments. This limited movement highlights the enclosed and somewhat isolated nature of life within the gated community, where interactions, routines, and experiences are largely restricted to the same familiar space, creating a sense of separation from the wider world.
The story’s gradual unfolding helps us understand how Kittu and Sneaker Paati grow close. Kittu becomes comfortable with her and begins sharing his thoughts and fears. Sneaker Paati often says, “I can’t fix many things in the world, but I can fix this” — a line that models a very capable person. While the bond between Kittu and Sneaker Paati deepens, we are left wondering what the author intended for the relationship between Kittu and his parents — a thread that has neither a beginning nor an end, and remains yet another incomplete aspect of the plot. The writing tends toward the descriptive, and some passages feel unnecessary and inconsistent. A detailed account of Sneaker Paati’s appearance during a visit to Kittu’s school, for instance, is superfluous given that her qualities are already clearly established through her actions and personality. Similarly, the revelation of Kittu’s real name adds nothing to the story.
The language throughout the book is largely simple, though certain stylistic choices drew our attention for less positive reasons. The author uses nicknames — often unflattering — throughout: Sneaker Paati, “Simple Sarala,” B.B. Abby (Big, Bad Abby), As-if Rachi, Wuss Boys, Psycho Paati, among others. The purpose of these nicknames is unclear, and they reinforce stereotypes while seeming to endorse a form of bullying. This kind of careless language is absorbed and reproduced by children. Kittu picks up words like “idiot” and “dirty fellow” from the adults around him, reflecting the casual normalisation of such expressions in everyday dialogue — expressions that go uncontested in the writing. The use of these terms highlights how adult language shapes children’s behaviour and vocabulary, possibly unintentionally, but it does not reflect well on the adults in the story.
Similarly, the repeated use of “nitwit maid” to refer to Jayanthi Akka, the household help, by Kittu’s father reflects a sociocultural practice common in certain contexts. Addressing her as “Akka” — meaning “elder sister” — while simultaneously calling her a nitwit lays bare the power dynamic at play. The term appears repeatedly, each time with increasing malice, and left us wondering why the author chose to return to it so often. Jayanthi’s marginalisation is complete when she quietly disappears from the plot midway through the story.
Some parts of the book may confuse younger readers due to unexplained references, uneven pacing, and adult language choices. The use of acronyms like DINK without explanation, and the repeated name-calling, make the book feel better suited to older readers despite being written as a children’s novel. In one instance, Shikha — B.B. Abby’s sister — references the quote associated with Ginger Rogers, that she could do everything Fred Astaire could, but backwards and in high heels. One wonders whether children today would catch this reference at all.
The story does capture emotions of loneliness, fear, bullying, and comfort in ways many children may relate to, particularly readers growing up in urban apartment settings. Kittu’s fears, his attachment to his loft space, and his growing trust in Sneaker Paati create moments that feel emotionally believable. Their conversations, the trust that builds between them, and the emotional support she offers form the heart of the novel and give readers moments of genuine warmth and reassurance.
The book captures different facets of modern childhood — particularly how a child can have everything they need in material terms and still feel lonely. Kittu has every comfort, yet he remains distant and fearful, preferring to stay indoors, avoiding the outside world, and finding solace in reading within the small refuge he has made for himself in the loft. This emotional isolation is subtly but powerfully conveyed. However, the storyline is uneven in places. For example, Kittu is seen calling his father “the bestest appa in the whole world” after he helps rig a bucket for Kittu’s loft corner — yet just two pages earlier, the same father left Kittu in that very corner saying, “Dirty fellow; this is where naughty boys belong.” This rapid oscillation of moods within the family gives the reader whiplash, to say nothing of the emotional trauma being visited on Kittu within the space of two pages.
Though set in Bangalore, the book pays little attention to the local population. Children are assigned cosmopolitan-sounding names, and there is scant reference to the local culture of Bangalore or Karnataka. When the local population does appear — through the characters of Jayanthi Akka and the children from the nearby playground — it is portrayed in a poor light.
Urban pressures surface through the parents’ preoccupation with work: they spend little time with Kittu and express irritation when his childhood behaviour disrupts their schedules, deepening his loneliness. When Sneaker Paati asks about extracurricular activities, they defensively mention badminton and Zumba classes. Sadly, the book does not invite scrutiny of their parenting. They are consistently too busy to be properly present. It is the Dasara holidays, yet both parents have meetings scheduled and neither considers rescheduling or prioritising time with their child. The transactional manner in which they seek help with parenting — first from Jayanthi Akka, then from Sneaker Paati herself, despite reservations in both cases — raises the question of whether children reading this would come to see adults as calculating and self-serving.
Kittu is shy, socially withdrawn, and has allergies that restrict his food choices, often leaving him with only curd and rice at school, even as he eats junk food like chips at home. This characterisation sits uneasily in the story. Food items like Maggi, French toast, bread, and banana milkshakes appear frequently, while traditional foods like dosa, aloo puri receive less attention. Non-vegetarian food barely features — mentioned once during a meal out, and once to note that Kittu’s mother does not make egg fried rice because she dislikes it. This reflects an urban lifestyle, but it also leaves the story feeling culturally lopsided.
Kittu’s fears — of robbers, kidnappers, even spiders — are never clearly accounted for. Is this meant to reflect the effect of poor parenting, or simply to emphasise his lonely and timid nature? He has only one friend, Bunty. Later in the story, we learn that his fear stems partly from B.B. Abby, the neighbourhood bully who dominates children in their building complex. Yet before encountering B.B. Abby, Kittu was apparently quite brave — trying to help and solve problems for the children in the complex. This inconsistency is never satisfactorily addressed.
B.B. Abby’s character is presented unidimensionally. He is a bully, but also a strong swimmer with a devoted family whose secrets he sometimes keeps. The reason he has turned to bullying is revealed at the book’s close — a revelation that feels incongruous with the severity of his actions and leaves the explanation feeling incomplete.
Bullying appears to be one of the book’s central themes, yet its treatment is muddled. While B.B. Abby’s behaviour can clearly be classified as childhood bullying, other forms of bullying are mishandled. Name-calling — a key feature of bullying — is casually normalised by adults and children alike throughout the book. The fact that adults can be bullies too, especially when a power imbalance exists, is conveniently glossed over. Even Sneaker Paati, in her very first interaction with B.B. Abby, comes across as a bully, and it makes for uncomfortable reading to see an adult intimidate a child. We appreciated the author’s attempt to contextualise B.B. Abby’s behaviour and bring that storyline to a more considered conclusion. However, while B.B. Abby’s actions are explained through past trauma, no such context is provided for Nandish, despite his being of a similar age and displaying similar behaviour — simply from a different social background. This furthers one of the book’s more troubling undercurrents: children and adults who “belong” to the gated community are extended grace and developed into full characters, while peripheral figures — Jayanthi Akka, the security guards, the boys from the local playground (Nandish and Lokesh) — are neglected and cast in a poor light. This is perhaps most starkly captured near the end, when Sneaker Paati advises Lokesh: “Don’t hang out with the riff-raff; if you roll with pigs in filth, some of it will stick to you as well.”
The book’s quick pace comes to a jarring halt with an incident involving the neighbourhood boys and the community dog, Jupiter. The story ends on a positive note for the Springfield Apartments children, but many loose threads remain: Kittu is pushed into the background towards the end; characters like his parents and Jayanthi Akka make no reappearance; and the question of whether Sneaker Paati will remain in Kittu’s life is left unresolved.
Habib Ali’s illustrations support the playful and energetic personality of Sneaker Paati. The cover image creates immediate curiosity — the grand-aunt stands on her head while the dog looks on, bewildered — signalling from the outset that this grandmother figure will be unlike any other. The illustrations work well with the urban apartment setting and help younger readers visualise the gated community, its characters, and the everyday events that shape the story. However, they also represent a missed opportunity to advance the narrative or deepen the moments captured in the text. Given the book’s abundance of descriptive writing, one is left wondering what the illustrations ultimately add.
Child X shared that she liked the gentle nature of Sneaker Paati and how she handled situations with politeness — even helping B.B. Abby when he went missing, despite his bullying. One thing Child X was unclear about was why Sneaker Paati was called by that name, feeling it was never directly addressed. She was also pleasantly surprised to discover recipes for the dishes mentioned in the chapters tucked into the book’s final pages.
Child Y shared that they also enjoyed the book for its fun pace, relatability, and positive ending. They admired Sneaker Paati’s energy and warmth. When probed on the theme of bullying, Child Y felt that Sneaker Paati’s interaction with B.B. Abby could not strictly be called bullying, and they did not experience the name-calling as malicious. Child Y also suggested that Nandish may have had circumstances that led to his behaviour, even if the book did not capture them.
Sneaker Paati is a poorly written book with little literary merit. It reinforces negative stereotypes and confines children to a narrow middle-class urban worldview. Its messages on bullying, parenting, and emotional loneliness are inconsistent and largely overshadowed by the figure of Sneaker Paati, while supporting characters are repeatedly belittled and children from outside the gated community are unfairly marginalised. Rather than addressing these issues, the author deepens them — making the book ill-suited for its intended young audience.
Further Recommendations
- Left Out Paro by Bijal Vachharajani and Rajiv Eipe, Duckbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2025
- Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah, Scholastic Paperbacks, 2008
- The Dugong and the Barracudas by Ranjit Lal, Zubaan, 2015
- Big Bully and M-Me by Arthii Sonthalia, Duckbill Books, an imprint of Penguin, 2015
- Talking of Muskaan by Himanjali Sankar, Duckbill Books, an imprint of Penguin, 2014