Samira Goes ShoppingAuthor: Bharati JagannathanIllustrator: Preeti Krishnamurthy

Amma had just begunto make some halwafor Samira’s birthdaywhen she found thatthere was no sooji. “Will you please rundown to that shop andbuy some sooji, dear?”said Amma pointing tothe shop at the cornerof the street, and gaveher some money.

2/14

“Here are twelve rupees. Ask for halfa kilo of sooji. Take Mouchak withyou, and don’t talk to any strangerson the way,” she said.“And don’t go climbing trees,” sheadded as Samira set out withMouchak to buy half a kilo of sooji. It was a pleasant February day.Samira sang, “Tra la la la la,” as sheskipped along. “Woof! Woof!” said Mouchak friskily.

3/14

They had just reached the corner when Samira saw a butterfly.“Oh! How lovely ! Let us try and catch it,” she said, and both of them ran after thebutterfly.

4/14

It went and sat on a baramasi flower, but away it flew exactly when Samira reached outto it. “Oh, oh !” she said sadly, then remembered that it wasn’t right to catch butterfliesanyway. They should be free.

5/14

A brown cat with grey stripes ran across and Mouchak began to chase it, saying, “Bowwow, bow wow wow !” And behind Mouchak ran Samira, breathless. The brown-and-grey cat leapt over a wall and disappeared. Mouchak and Samira stopped, looked ateach other and laughed.

6/14

Then Samira saw achandni bush. ‘Aren’tthe flowers like stars inthe night sky? Howhappy Amma will be tohave them,’ shethought, and plucked alot of chandni flowers.

7/14

Mouchak sniffed atthem and turnedaway. He had foundsomething moreexciting ahead! “Hey, where are youoff to?” asked Samira,but all she got was,“Woof, woof, woof,” asMouchak bounded offjoyfully. He had founda bone and he held itout proudly to Samira.Wasn’t that nice?

8/14

They had reached agreat simal tree a-twitter with parrotsand bulbuls. Theground below wascarpeted withhundreds of richscarlet flowers.Delighted, Samirafilled her pinafore withthe waxy blossoms.Her arms full offlowers, she looked upand realized that shedidn't know where shewas.

9/14

She looked right andshe looked left, shelooked ahead and sheturned on her heel,but everything wasnew. Samira was lost.She sat down on thepavement and beganto cry, “I want to gohome. I want Amma.” Mouchak ran up anddown and said, “Woof!Woof,” which meant,“Don’t worry,” butSamira didn’tunderstand and keptcrying.

10/14

Then Mouchak pulled at her dress saying, “Bow bow,” (which meant “Come, come,”) tillat last she looked up and dabbed her eyes. Off they both went then, Samira sniffing alittle and dropping half her flowers.

11/14

She ran behind Mouchak, turning left and turning right, up one street and downanother, and soon they were home. Amma was standing at the gate, looking up anddown anxiously. “Where have you been?” she asked, looking at Samira’s tear-stainedface.

12/14

And Samira told Amma how she had got lost and how Mouchak had brought her home.“Good dog,” said Amma, and gave him a nice big biscuit as Mouchak buried his bone inthe garden.

13/14

Just then, Samira remembered thatshe was clutching a bunch of flowersin her hand. “Oh, Amma, these arefor you,” she held out the chandniflowers. One simal blossom wassticking out of her pocket too. “These are lovely !” said Amma.“Thank you so much. But where isthe sooji?” Amma is going to make kheer now asthere is no sooji for the halwa.Samira loves kheer too. And isn’tMouchak lucky? He’ll have a hugebowl of kheer in the evening with hisjuicy bone.

14/14

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Story Attribution:This story: Samira Goes Shopping is written by Bharati Jagannathan . © Pratham Books , 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Other Credits:This book has been published on StoryWeaver by Pratham Books. Pratham Books is a not-for-profit organization that publishes books in multiple Indianlanguages to promote reading among children. www.prathambooks.org

Images Attributions:Cover page: Girl collecting flowers, by Preeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 2: Girltaking a long stride, by Preeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 3: Dog looking atButterfly, by Preeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 4: Girl taking a stride, Dog lookingat Butterfly, by Preeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 5: Butterfly hovering overflowers, by Preeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 6: Girl looks on as Dog chases Cat,by Preeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 7: Girl plucking flowers, by PreetiKrishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 8: Dog chewing a bone near a bush, by PreetiKrishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 9: Girl collecting flowers near a tree, by PreetiKrishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 10: Girl sitting on the pavement and crying, by PreetiKrishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 11: Dog tugging at girl's dress, by PreetiKrishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under CreativeCommons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories ‐provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more aboutthis, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link.

Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC -BY -4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify,distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without askingpermission. For full terms of use and attribution,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Images Attributions:Page 12: Girl running with dog, by Preeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 13: Dogburying a bone, by Preeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 14: Girl giving a flower, byPreeti Krishnamurthy © Pratham Books, 2009. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

This is a Level 2 book for children who recognize familiar words and can read new words with help.

(English)Samira Goes Shopping

Join Samira and Mouchak on their unusual shopping trip!

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