An Uncle From Far Away shows little Amiya’s class a storybook with beautiful pictures. Now they must build a library, he says. But how? “In Gurez, there are no storybooks. Only lots and lots of snow!” Well, Amiya knows that her Deidi has many stories in her old-old eyes. And over steaming cups of pink noon chai, Deidi begins, Amiya writes, her sister...
Renchu prods her grandmother for a story. But her Daadi’s stories are never told straight. She is “sometimes in the story and sometimes out of it”. And as she moves in an out, we see two worlds – one of a time when they were people of the forest, and one of now when they have been forced into cities as ragpickers. The illustrations too flit between the...
From the hills of Meghalaya, adventurous Ka Iew looks down at the sun-drenched plains of Sylhet and challenges her sister Ka Ngot to a race. In an instant, Ka Iew becomes a river ready to rush downhill, and Ka Ngot has no choice but to join her. Who reaches first? A Khasi folktale filled with local flavour and luminous illustrations that evoke the...
Raw, green, sour and crunchy. Or ripe, golden, plump and soft. Summer time is mango time, a time children wait for – blazing sun, sticky mango juice ringing their mouths and dripping down their fingers. The sweet, simple story and luscious pictures evoke delicious flavours of hot days, warm friendships and the smell of mango in the air. CBSE recommended...
Sabri draws wherever she can. On the floor of the hut with rough chalk, or with her one and only pencil on paper from old notebooks. She draws her world – the sun coming up from behind the hills, the chicken, the goats... Then one day in school she sees long colour pencils, and paint that comes out of bottles. After that it isn't enough for her to draw –...
When he takes his sheep and goats to the mountains, Gulla is always careful – of bears and leopards, the terrible Banbudhiya, and the men with guns. But one day, rushing to save a little hangul from wild dogs, he goes deep into the forest. This story from Kashmir, where the hangul is a protected animal, carries many shades of the region – the quiet life...
The tiger, a popular character in Korean art and folktales, is a villain in this origin tale which has illustrations inspired by kamishibai, Japanese paper theatre. Having gobbled up the rice cake-seller and all her rice cakes, the tiger chases her two small children. But they escape. And the tiger? Although in the traditional ending the tiger too dies,...
Ismat the shoemaker decides to buy his family special gifts for Eid. He is persuaded by the shopkeeper to buy a pair of trousers for himself. However, there is only one last pair and it's too long. But long trousers can always be shortened, can't they? Eid arrives, and with it comes a shock and a surprise. This crisp adaptation of a delightful Turkish...
Amminikutty Amma picks out the last peppercorn from her spice box to make some tasty onion chutney. But little Kurumolagu has no intention of being ground and eaten just yet. With a desperate Amminikutty Amma hot on his heels, he hops, jumps, skids, brakes, revs and races his way away. This “beautifully told and very charming story” was chosen for an...
Moyna lives in a little tribal village. She cannot go to school because she has to tend goats, collect firewood, fetch water… But she is so full of questions that the postmaster calls her the ‘why-why girl'! In this inspiring and delightful story, her first picture book, acclaimed Jnanpith award-winning writer Mahasweta Devi tells us how she meets Moyna...
Sonabai lives beside a tree that bears delicious red berries. Every day she picks the berries and makes sweets to sell in the market. She is very content... until Kolaba the fox sneaks into her life. Ranjan De's papercuts add to the mystery and fun of this well-loved Marathi folktale.
Kali hates school. And school hates him, he thinks, for he has no friends. His classmates find him strange. He wishes his father were an ‘ordinary' bus-conductor or postman instead of a snake-catcher, even if one of the most celebrated in the Irula tribe. He worries that others will see him eating fried termites (his favourite snack!) and laugh. And then...
Muchu the merchant has to work with numbers all the time – but without ‘zero’ it is so very difficult! Arising from an animation film, the story is a well-researched fictional take on how zero came to be used in mathematical calculations. It goes centuries back to Takshashila in northwestern India, where the concept is said to have originated. The people...
The Ningthou and Leima, king and queen of Manipur, rule well over their meeyam, their people. As the years roll by, it is time to decide who will succeed to the throne. The Ningthou and Leima desire that the throne go, not to the eldest son, but to the wisest, most able child. And so they hold a competition. Who wins the bout? This folktale from Manipur...
In the beginning, the Bhilalas believed, there was only water. The harassed and wet subjects beg their lazy god to create land so that they can get dry and stay that way. The poor god is put to all sorts of trouble before this wish can be granted. With a fantasy element that reflects the unfettered nature of the oral tradition, this zany folktale from...
An endearing Marathi folktale about two sisters. Ekkesvali has one hair on her head. Dhonkesvali has two and thinks she's great. What happens when they meet an old woman who lives alone in a clearing right in the middle of the forest? This folktale takes on a special joyousness with Ranjan De's stylised representations and is full of interesting details...
An endlessly entertaining tale from Kerala with repetitive text and animated pictures. Eecha the practical fly and her friend Poocha the greedy cat make delicious rice soup. While Eecha flies off to fetch a jackfruit leaf with which to spoon out the soup, Poocha watches over the pot. But Poocha is hungry, so hungry…
