Bumoni’s big backyard, just outside the Kaziranga National Park, is bursting with banana trees. Then one night a herd of wild elephants crosses the river, discovers the trees, and gorges on them. Bumoni’s family is very upset – how do they keep the elephants away? Bumoni has an idea! But then, what will the elephants eat now? Spare but dramatic pictures...
Gulab’s classmates call her ‘Stinky Gulab’, and it’s not because she smells. Her father is a manual scavenger, made to clean drains and gutters with his bare hands, even today! “Why do you do it?!” asks Gulab angrily. With determination and a little help from science, she takes the first bold step towards change. Addressing a deep-rooted social evil, the...
One day, when Prime Minister Nehru opened his overstuffed mail bag, out tumbled hundreds of colourfully decorated letters — from children in Japan! “We have never seen a live elephant,” they said. “Could you kindly send us one from India?” This exuberant picture book takes readers across land and sea to tell how Indira, Ambika, Murugan and others became...
Whose colour is GREEN? asked the little boy.“It’s mine!” preened the parrot. “It’s mine! It’s mine!” babbled the bitter gourd.Whose colour is RED, YELLOW, BLUE…? The little boy doesn’t stop, and award-winning illustrator Nancy Raj creates for little readers a wild, whimsical world of colours! As bright hues jump and dance across the pages in this little...
Squiggles and swirls, loops and curls, diamonds and dots... and a small surprise! The little girl watches as her mother traces the cool, moist patterns on her palm. Then comes the waiting. The henna must dry, nothing must touch it – and she can be patient no longer! The art of drawing with henna takes on a little girl’s infectious thrill as decorative...
“What will happen if I add up all the numbers in the world?” “Is there a last number?” A toddler captivated by patterns... A little boy filling his slate with numbers, rubbing them out with his elbow and starting again... A teenager solving complex maths problems... A young man matching the best minds in Cambridge... Bringing the story of brilliant...
Ammi weaves the most beautiful sarees, but never gets to wear any of them. Her two little daughters decide to do something about it – break their piggy bank! But is there enough in it to buy Ammi her very own saree? This gentle story goes into the home of a weaver’s family, and lets warmth and affection add colour to their lives. Engaging visual details...
The wheels of a cycle, a merry-go-round, a spinning top… Kayu lives in his own quiet world filled only with circles and the patterns they make. One day, he sees a cricket ball spin and curve and jump before it strikes the bat, and he is onto something – a magical bowling spell with two hat-tricks! Inspired by a child with autism, the story makes the...
The gular, or cluster fig, flower is very very beautiful, everyone says. But what does it look like? When does it bloom? There are many stories, and only the really lucky get to see it. As she goes about her day picking waste, Renchu is obsessed with just one thought – will she too see it? The author’s own wonder at discovering the secret of the gular...
Can you taste with your toes? Or see with your ears? Or, at least, smell with your hair? No? Well, there are creatures around you that can! Take a peek into an intriguing world to discover the different ways in which animals do things that are ‘normal’. And look out for the funny bits in the pictures.
All the children in Lila’s class are beginning to lose their teeth and have exciting stories to tell. One buried it in the ground for the mouse to take, another got a shiny coin from the tooth fairy. Lila waits impatiently for her tooth to wiggle… Action-filled pictures bring out her eager wait in a story that every child with jiggly teeth will love!...
Trisha is counting the number of beautiful peacocks on her mother’s saree when one curious peacock jumps off to explore the world. Trisha follows on his tail. What we get is a high-speed chase through a bustling market, onto an umbrella, onto a tree... and find out where else! Detailed pictures create vibrant scenarios where children will have fun...
Rain can be fun. But sometimes, “lots and lots and lots of rain” is frightening — when water comes into homes and washes everything away. Floods and other natural calamities do happen, children do get caught in them, and other children see it all on television. How do they make sense of it? The book talks to children through rhythmic, repetitive text and...
The first chaang, the first elephant, once had big eyes, Which the animals thought looked beautiful and wise. Then, along came a bird, a wagtail, and… Told in verse, this folktale from the Tai Phake people of India’s northeast is gentle and funny. It is one among their many animal stories about why and how something came to be – why the sun comes out when...
Mati pesters her grandmother and father for her own plot of land. When she does get it, she works hard. And then she hears that a company wants to make a coal mine in their village – the enormous black pit that will eat up all their lands, like it has in the next village… As always, Rinchin powers her questions through irresistible storytelling. The...
Playtime on the terrace takes a turn when a strong wind sweeps Chhotu off his feet and carries him up and away to the clouds and the birds! The light and lively illustrations whirl us to the sky and back.
On a trip to the Taj Mahal, Minnie secretly brings Pooni along though animals aren’t allowed in. But wait – the naughty cat slips off on her own adventure! After Where’s That Cat? Manjula Padmanabhan takes us on another Pooni chase, the drama this time set against the magnificent backdrop of the Taj Mahal. Enjoy a lively tour!
Lined up on a street are noisy motorbikes, honking cars, crowded buses, impatient autos... In their midst sits a queenly Maharani! At the heart of this funny little vignette is a cool-as-a-cucumber cow, an all too familiar character of an Indian streetscape. Nancy Raj’s full-of-life pictures bustle with detail and drama, capturing the bovine and the...
When Sun was out people did things, but when Moon appeared all they did was sleep! Moon isn’t happy – she too wants to be noticed. So from where the three seas meet at the tip of India she goes up to the mountains, ruffling up waters to announce her presence. But nothing helps. She then follows the advice of her ocean friends and works at what she is good...
Nani has gone. Forever. WHERE? asks Nina. Her mother grapples with answers but Nina won’t stop asking. Finally, she finds her own answers, through the warmth of memories, the comfort of imagination – and a little bit of natural science! The light touch and tone of the story along with the quietly reflective pictures treat the difficult subject of the loss...
A hot summer day, an old man in dusty clothes who calls himself a maharaja, a little boy Munna who believes him, and a teashop full of people who don’t… With the familiar feel of a folktale, this delightful story keeps the reader guessing till the end! Going with the flavour, Deepa Balsavar chooses an illustrative style that’s “part folksy, part whimsy”,...
Graa-aaa-aaa-ooo-oon! Every time Beni Ram tries to sell his camel, Bholu promptly trots back. “The villagers use vans now instead of camel-carts. Nobody wants to give your old man a job anymore,” says a gloomy Beni Ram. But fate has surprising plans for the out-of-luck Beni Ram and his beloved camel... The warm and vivid illustrations beautifully capture...
"Come in for a haircut! You choose... We cut!" says the sign outside a hair cutting saloon, so a lion walks in to do just that. But where is everyone? And who are these other lions staring at him? Well, by the end of the story we know why lions DON’T have haircuts – in spite of the alluring array of mane makeovers the illustrator offers!
A boy who doesn’t stop talking, furry cats and clacking needles... Shobha has a dream every night, but she always wakes up before they end. How do these dreams end? She really has to know. “Write them down,” says English Miss. And that’s what Shobha does. “The more she wrote, the more she wrote, and the more she wrote. She wrote and wrote.” The interplay...
