Manjir Ghosh loves to interact with children, talk to them and get into their world. She weaves stories and rhymes taking flavor and fragrances of their world experiences. She is the Senior Academic Advisor for Usha Martin Schools. She is also the founder facilitator of a ten year-old child activity centre Bondhu.
Boondi is a little drop of water who rolls and tumbles in the river. One hot day he feels himself being lifted up, up, up into the sky into a big, heavy cloud. What now? This is one of five First Look Science books, perfect for a child’s first introduction to basic concepts about the world around because they were conceived visually. The stunning...
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...
Pouting and shouting – that’s what Anya has been doing ever since her baby brother came along. Because he is a “special child”, her mother says, and needs special care all the time. And Anya is fed up. Then along comes a butterfly – no, a butterbeing! – who takes her up into the clouds, where she sees how a bit of this and a bit of that is mixed together...
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.
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...
Everyone tells Laali that she's too little to do the things she wants to do. What if I really was very little, wonders Laali. She dreams, shrinks and steps into a little big world, where there's a new adventure round every corner! Bright and playful illustrations match the little girl's happy imagination.
A bird's nest? A cow with two horns? No, it's Minu's hair and she does NOT like it. Her mother, her father, her grandmother try hard to tame it. But her grandfather is unconcerned… The illustrations of this charming story give Minu's hair a truly wild, tactile feel as it spills exuberantly through the pages. Best of Indian Children's Writing: Contemporary
Murali is being chased by a parrot that keeps repeating what he says and doing what he does. What kind of a bothersome bird is this that has Murali in a flap?!
One morning, a mother and child go in search of the sun. Their journey comes alive in a vast dotted landscape where lively birds, quick-footed animals and busy humans meet and share the forest, the river and the mountain… The book is a vibrant collaboration between a master Warli artist, a design student and the publishers, inspired by the incredible...
Dhooli, a tiny speck of dust, flits and floats in the air with her friends. She flies past clouds and birds and aeroplanes. She watches rainbows in the sky. What else does she do in the air? This is one of five First Look Science books, perfect for a child’s first introduction to basic concepts about the world around because they were conceived visually....
Gitti the rock is very old. After a long, long journey that started from the boiling hot centre of the earth, he now sits quietly on a mountain, watching the sun rise and set. What is his story? This is one of five First Look Science books, perfect for a child’s first introduction to basic concepts about the world around because they were conceived...
Super-seed Beeji is off on a super-ride! Zooming over icy lands and hot deserts, swooshing down a river… she's a tough little seed who loves adventure but is happy to be back on soft soil. A Beeji-eye view of different landforms. This is one of five First Look Science books, perfect for a child’s first introduction to basic concepts about the world...
Bhoomi the planet plays games with her friend, Moon, traces star patterns, and watches blazing comets whizz by. It's exciting to live in Space! This is one of five First Look Science books, perfect for a child’s first introduction to basic concepts about the world around because they were conceived visually. The stunning pictures convey the beauty,...
A majestic elephant protects the forests from timber traders, tree-cutters and poachers. The animal becomes such a legend that his photograph adorns the walls of local homes. But one day, the Forest Department receives strict orders to hunt the elephant down… After the gripping Black Panther, Aravind Krish Bala returns to the Western Ghats. This riveting...
How did people many, many years ago have clothes that were red, orange, purple, pink...? Where did colour come from? Here's a story that goes back over a thousand years to a time when dyers and weavers made colours out of flowers, leaves and roots, to create beautiful shades of cloth. It is the story of Kunku and her pigeon friend, Chandrakali, who want...
Ali did not know how to really see until he looked closely at a spider's web through his father's camera... The nature of relationships in the human and natural world are subtly presented through warm illustrations and revealing photographs.
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...
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...
A dog suddenly appears on a street one day and decides to stay. So now he needs to be given a name. But he is too scrawny to be Laddoo, not furry enough to be Fluffy, and too much of a scaredy-dog to be Rambo... What do they call this dog? A warm and funny vignette of a typical Indian street with assorted people – and a friendly stray!
