One of the country’s finest illustrators and a winner of the Big Little Book Award for children’s book illustration, Proiti Roy graduated in fine arts in Shantiniketan, Bengal. Her nuanced sense of form and colour evoke many emotions. Among her acclaimed books with Tulika are Ismat’s Eid, The Snow King’s Daughter, In Bon Bibi’s Forest, Bulbuli’s Bamboo, Unhappy Moon and A Walk with Thambi. She now lives in Shantiniketan with her many rescued dogs and cats.
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! 2024: Tata Trust's...
Bulbuli lives in a bamboo house in a bamboo grove, and is busy in her little bamboo world from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep. Just following Bulbuli around, this story told in a rhythmic, cumulative style spotlights bamboo to make a simple green statement. Words and pictures communicate a very real sense of the versatility of bamboo...
The quiet villages of Sundarban are terrorised by a monster with wild eyes, sharp teeth, striped skin and pointed nails — Dokkhin Rai! Until finally, Bon Bibi, protector of the forests and people, asks him a simple question: Why do you do this? The answer to this question is central to the age-old theme of human-animal harmony. Set in the lush and...
Keshav's favourite game is to hide in a rolled up mat and pretend he is travelling to all the places he has marked in his atlas. And he is delighted when he discovers that his friend, Lobsang, is really from a place that he has marked in his map – Tibet! A charmingly imagined story that explores the reality of exile and the longing for home. Charm and...
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...
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...
Roll it, pat it, poke in eyes, stick on nose and ears — and a ball of chapati dough can turn into almost anything! The endearing illustrations follow the quirks of a child's imagination. 2010: Outstanding International Book, United States Board for Books for Young People, USA
Putul lives by the Ganga in a fishing village in Bengal. In the torrential monsoons one year, the mighty river swells over the banks and into the huts and two friendly dolphins come leaping in the water right through Putul's window. Worried that someone might kill them, Putul leads them back into the river. But the strong currents begin to sweep her away…...
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...
“We were late. We were running in the street. We had played in the river, and we had climbed trees...” Everything Amma had said NOT to do! Proiti Roy’s joyous pictures light up the bond between a boy and a dog. Woven into this story of everyday fun are sensory descriptions, and visual details like a walking stick in the boy’s hand or pocket, the dog...
Tiji and Cheenu like to eat different things, do different things… and they are best friends! Warm, exuberant pictures from one of the country's finest illustrators build up this universal story of friendship.
Big Hunter catches poor Deer in a net. Can Deer's friends help him escape? One of the more popular stories from the Panchatantra about friendship and resourcefulness, in a bilingual retelling. The illustrations have the strong lines and vivid colours of Bengal’s patachitra folk paintings used by storytellers as backdrops.
“Help! Help!” calls the big black ant when the little black ant falls into the water. But the only answers it gets are “crokk”, “isspiss”, “aaaanh”, “cheek”, “miyawwwwn” and ‘”woaw”. Who will save the baby? Unusual sounds add excitement to a familiar pattern in this folktale based story. The sometimes onomatopoeic, sometimes alliterative, sometimes...
What could Caesar's general have in common with multiplication and weights? Or a Russian waiter with factorials? Or a temple in Hanoi with transposition? A Chinese emperor with Benjamin Franklin? This collection of stories from different countries sets the brain ticking, encourages problem-solving skills, and has a high quotient of fun! Each story is...
Every child may not grow up to be a writer or an artist, but learning to understand the arts is essential to education. Backed by the versatile genius and vast volume of work of poet, novelist, dramatist, artist and thinker Rabindranath Tagore, educationist Feisal Alkazi sets out to introduce literature and art appreciation in the classroom. His is a...
A space adventure! One of Jupiter’s moons is going off orbit and calls out to Siril. So, with some help from the scientific genius of the Techno Sage, Aditi and friends build a spaceship, fix on anti-gravity pads, and zoom off to see what they can do to correct its path. A gripping sci-fi fantasy with some unusual insights. Are impossible friendships...
Danger! That’s what the digital butterflies seem to spell out. There is a little boy, Otto, who has been snatching up words and making them disappear. Armed with Siril and Gardy’s own word-hoards and Monkeyji’s mind power, the adventurers go to Hong Kong – the city of dragons – to stop Otto and his platoon of crows from destroying the city. Does...
Holiday plans for the adventurers go off track when a runaway computer programme, the naughty Mistress i, decides to hide with them. Hot on her heels is the scientist who created her, who threatens to put them in jail for kidnapping. And in the middle of all the commotion, Beautiful the Elephant is determined to become rational and logical. What do you do...
A unique collection of stories from Kashmir that invites readers into the everyday lives of people. Their homes nestle amid jagged rocks and flowering valleys that inspire fear, love, and closeness with and respect for nature. It is a world filled with giving spirits, powerful snakes, enchanted saarangs… drawn from mythology, folklore and lived...
The environment is at risk! Gobby, the naughty little hobgoblin, is practising his magic and running amuck in Antarctica – turning the white snow black, giving stripes and spots to the penguins, and scrawling pink graffiti on the mountainsides. As Aditi and gang hasten to stop him, they find that the world is warming up dangerously, the snow is melting....
Gardy isn’t sure if he is the lost lion cub prince who will save the ‘City of Lions’, Singapore. But he rushes there with his friends, all the same. They find that the city is indeed under threat – from its very own haughty, crotchety, bickering guardians, Sir Leon and the Old Woman under the Sea. What is seeing clearly all about – guessing the future,...
