A Tangle of Brungles

by Shobha Viswanath, Culpeo Fox (Illustrator)

Overview

To conjure up the charming Mr. Brungles, a coven of witches stir up the Great Brungle Brew. For this they toss in a parliament of owls, a cloud of bats and a quiver of cobras among many others. Do they succeed? The book is a hilarious twist on collective nouns.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788181903600
Publisher:	Karadi Tales
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Pages:	34
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Co-founder and Publishing Director of Karadi Tales Company, Shobha Viswanath has been responsible for steering the direction of the publishing house. An author herself, she has published books with Puffin and Scholastic. Shobha’s efforts are focused towards reclaiming a place for Indian literature for children in the picture book format.

Culpeo Fox is an artist and illustrator with a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design. Fox is best known for the self-defining concept of Method Art. Currently living and working in Germany and having a deep love for wildlife, Fox's work focuses on wildlife and animal art, portrayed in a way that can be described best as “culpeo-esque”.

Editorial Reviews

"With clever wordplay and bold illustrations brimming with personality, A Tangle of Brungles is a hilarious, educational picture book that deserves a place on your shelf. Writer Shobha Viswanath works magic with the story, which follows a coven of witches brewing up a love potion to summon Brungle, the object of the oldest witch’s affection...illustrations are brilliant and hilarious and give me something new to marvel over each time I read the book...the phenomenal illustrations add new dimensions to the already brilliant text. The two artists work together perfectly, creating a picture book that is hilarious, fun, and an absolute joy to read."

Spooky Kid Lit

"The book is most delightful for the way in which it uses words. The nonsense verse-style narration, filled with silly rhymes and fun words, is rhythmic and great to read aloud. The text manages to highlight the interesting collective nouns cleverly and effortlessly, ensuring that they are woven into the plot and do not seem incongruous. Almost every page of the book contains a charming new phrase: “a parliament of owls,” “a bind of eels” and of course, “a tangle of Brungles”!"
- GoodBooks

GoodBooks

A children’s tale of a witch who cooks up a potion to summon a dastardly count she pines for only to be surprised by the results. Fox’s vivid, fiery images illuminate every page. Will appeal to kids who love horror and enchantment

Seattle International Examiner

…and just like that, it’s October… When other people start stocking up Halloween candy, it’s our time to read season-inspired stories. Over the years, “Room on the broom” has become our favorite. Besides from a story about a skeleton here and a book about pumpkins there, no Halloween book was funny enough, lyrical enough and scary enough to live up to Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s classic. Until now…
In “A Tangle of Brungles”, a coven of mighty scary looking witches decides to summon the Brungle for one of them to marry. To conjure the dark, wicked and grotesque creature, they first must brew a special brew. The ingredients: A quiver of cobras, a lounge of lizard, a mischief of mice, a mess of iguanas and a knot of toads are just a few examples of the twisted ingredients the witches have to collect. Soon, the brew is bubbling, a bevy of swans and a banner of knights appear – but where is the Brungle?
Children will love discovering the different ingredients of the witch’s brew and learn some new collective nouns on the go. This definitely was a learning experience for me as a non-native-speaker, too!
The story by author Shobha Viswanath was published by Karadi Tales, an independent children’s publishing house based in Chennai, India. The autumnal illustrations by Culpeo Fox are a perfect mix of scary, autumnal and inspired by Indian culture. The character faces of the witches and the almost human appearance of different animals support the comical direction of the story. According to the publishing house, “A Tangle of Brungles” is perfect for children age 7-9. Depending on the child, I would recommend it for age 4 and up.

“A Tangle of Brungles” is a fun Halloween story, that also familiarizes children with new collective nouns and can be a starting point for a discussion about India. This exciting book will definitely find a permanent place in our book shelf!

The Reading Castle

With Halloween almost upon us one might be wondering what the witches are planning to brew up for a stew this year in one of their big, black kettles. In A Tangle of
Brungles by Shobha Viswanath and illustrated by Culpeo
S. Fox ($15.95. Karadi Tales Co. www.karaditales.com) one meets a coven of witches who are creating a terrible broth to capture their heart’s desire, the wickedly evil and horribly handsome Brungle. Included in the stew are a Quiver of Cobras,
A Mess of Iguanas, A Clew of
Worms, Mischief of Mice, and “For a bit of color, A Glint of Goldfi sh,
A Kaleidoscope of Butterfl ies will complete the dish.” Owls, buzzards,
crows and bats approvingly watch the cook-off.
Charmingly scary drawings portray the event with a shockingly
12-headed Brungle emerging from the pot! The story told in rhymes includes the fi nale when “Brungle,
declining to be wed, gathers his tails, turned around and fl ed.” A
horror story? Yes, but for Halloween,
perfect!
The author, Shobha Viswanath,
is co-founder and publishing director of Karadi Tales Co. and lives in
Chennai, India. The superb illustrations are by Culpeo S.
Fox, a Thai-German artist who lives in Germany. Her deep love for wildlife informs her focus on nature and animal art

Vermont Country Sampler

An old witch aims to marry the dashing but dastardly Brungle, and decides to stir up an appealing stew to capture him. But is the stew appealing to him, or only to other witches? Fun wordplays and whimsical, especially colorful drawings enhance a tale that is narrated in a rollicking rhyme to maximum appeal to kids interested in a refreshingly original tale of love and witchcraft.

Midwest Book Review

A coven of creepy witches summons a prospective bridegroom named Brungle by brewing a witchy stew. I like that the rhyming text employs many collective nouns. The witches are comically scary looking, with giant round eyes, so young listeners are unlikely to be overly spooked.

Youth Services Book Review

07/04/2016
Typically, the names of fairy tale princesses suit them—Snow White with her pale complexion, Thumbelina's tiny stature, etc. Not so for Sharma and Kuriyan's modern-day royal, Princess Easy Pleasy, who complains mightily that her family's vacation destinations have none of the comforts of home. (Indeed, her family does little besides hop from one vacation to the next on their private jet.) The princess's endlessly accommodating parents keep the "royal packer" up to date on their daughter's needs: after she complains that the milk in Hong Kong isn't like what they have at home (the family appears to be Indian, though their nationality is unspecified), "for their spring vacation to China along went the cow." As the family travels to Singapore, Cambodia, and elsewhere, the royal jet gets increasingly crowded with a chef, bedding, and pets until the plane bursts at the seams, sending elephants, vegetables, and royals flying. Princess Easy Peasy's attitudinal shift comes too late and too easily to carry much weight, but Sharma's playful use of repetition and Kuriyan's slapstick cartooning will keep readers entertained. Ages 5–up. (July)

Publishers Weekly

A coven of witches stirs up the Great Brungle Stew with a variety of collective nouns to summon Mr. Brungle, the "wickedly vile" heartthrob of "the witch with a wart," in this offering from India. "A QUIVER OF COBRAS, / Shoot them in straight. / From A LOUNGE OF LIZARDS / Add exactly eight! // Make sure to toss in / A MISCHIEF OF MICE. / Or just one big rat / Is sure to suffice." Interesting and unusual collective nouns for different animals are written in uppercase type, while the rest of the text is set in standard fashion. The rhymes of the quatrains as well as the meter are occasionally inconsistent. Illustrations are darkly colorful, with the many animals represented fairly realistically, while the witches, with brown skin and white hair, sport long, pointy noses and sparse teeth. Their charm delights (though it may need some practice before reading aloud): "Tremple Gemple Fever Sticks / Pimple Poxile Psittacosis / Frungle Brungle, Where Are You? / Appear Now! Shimshamshoo!" When the spell does not work, one of the witch sisters adds the last essential ingredient at midnight, and what appears? The titular tangle of brungles! The collective nouns range far and wide, as the witches toss in a kaleidoscope of butterflies, a clew of worms, a paddle of ducks, and many more. An offbeat blend of education and mayhem, themed just right for Halloween.

From the Publisher

2016-05-18
A comically misnamed Indian princess ruins a series of family vacations.In Hong Kong the milk's not right, in China the noodles are too bland, in Singapore the bed's too hard, and the menagerie in Cambodia doesn't measure up to the one back home. "Our delicate darling," fret the princess's royal parents—ordering the Royal Packer to add a cow, the cook, bedding, and lots of pets to the official baggage list. But when the princess's demand for a personal elephant causes the overstuffed jetliner to burst, the queen puts her foot down: "NO MORE VACATIONS!" Kuriyan depicts the tantrum-prone princess and her comically dismayed entourage with a range of skin colors nearly as individual as the styles of their brightly patterned traditional dress. Along with such universal funny business as a dog lifting its leg in one chaotic scene and an elephant delivering a massive mound of poop in another, her rollicking cartoons feature sights from each locale. These range from glimpses of the Merlion fountain in Singapore harbor to one of the humorous cautionary road signs ("Don't be a gama in the land of lama") placed along the Ladakh region's northern border. Impelled by boredom, the princess at last agrees to behave like "locals" in future outings and discovers that vacationing in Tibet is "actually quite fun!"A lighthearted suggestion that "When in Rome…" is a salutary approach anywhere in the world. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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