Vatsala Menon was a professor of microbiology and botany for over 35 years. She now likes to travel, read and write.
Nikoo loves to paint. One day he reads an adventure story about the big blue sea and, as usual, picks up his paintbrush. Suddenly, he falls into his own painting! Watercolour illustrations swirl us into Nikoo's imaginary world.
Little Nonnu's world revolves around her goat, Appaka. Soft as cotton, Appaka loves to munch on jackfruit leaves and play with Nonnu and her friends. One day, Nonnu returns home from school to find Appaka missing! What will she do without her best friend? Set in Kerala, the story is full of evocative glimpses of a child's everyday life. The uplifting...
Irfaan has a story in his head. So do Thanh, Suzanne, Wang and others. They write them down on white sand and yellow sand, pebbly and clayey sand... and then what happens to them? They are washed away by waves, churned in the oceans and left on other sands, where other children listen to them. Sandhya Rao lyrically evokes the ebb and flow of tales across...
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
Little Satya lives by the River Ganga in Banaras and longs to row her own boat, just like her father. But he says she's not old enough or strong enough. But Satya can't wait… One day, she makes a little paper boat and that night, she dreams and drifts into a watery world. As the story unfolds, the finely detailed illustrations and their colours heighten...
When rock bees build a bee colony in Gowri's balcony, her mother decides to ask Mr Ramaiah, an expert on bees, for help. They don't have to be killed, the bee master tells Gowri and her mother. Just moved to a safer place, safe for us and for them. The little girl watches fascinated… And as she learns about bees and the environment, we too are drawn into...
It is hard not to notice Nabiya in English story classes. She listens so hard that she hardly blinks! Slowly, she begins to explore stories, delight in their words, pictures and funny moments. This story about a spirited young girl, who likes football as much as she likes storybooks that she is determined to learn to read. Using a collage of colours,...
There’s once again a buzz in Birdywood – it is time for the great Games! Birds that fly and those that don’t are coming in from all over the world. Who flies fastest? Who dives deepest? While the best are tested, the rest have loads of fun! Amid much ruffling of feathers, tweeting and chirping, old records are smashed and new champions emerge, crowned by...
Who should get more rotis — Ookamma or Ookaiah? A folktale about a quarrelling old couple is woven into another story about the lives of children in a village, growing up, playing, going to a government school, watching adults squabble, feeling hunger, understanding friendship and, most importantly, sitting under a neem tree and listening to stories from...
Mr Moochvaala and his mechanical monsters are going to cut down Bargad chawl, and its residents are worried. They are in danger of losing their homes – their nooks and crannies, shelters and perches in the big banyan tree. It is left to Ali the monkey to find a way out. He swings, jumps and leaps into action, and comes up with a monkey trick that gives a...
Gulab works happily from dawn to dusk in the garden at the house on top of the hill. One evening he takes back a big bunch of magnolias for his wife – “those flowers that look like the moon”. But on the way, he gives away a flower to Raju Ghodawala with the horse, one to Tsering and her baby who have come from Tibet, another to Lachhami going back to her...
Sky monkeys like nothing better than to float for hours. Then one day, a naughty little sky monkey does something most unskymonkeylike and there is a huge hullabaloo up above. What does she do that upsets everybody so much? Whimsical pictures add just the mood to this gently happy story that was inspired by light white clouds in a blue sky.
A thrilling book based on a true story of an encounter with the endangered cat in the Western Ghats of India. Perched on a treetop at a waterhole in a reserve forest in Kerala, the author and his friend, Natarajan, an Irula tribesman, were waiting to sight a tiger. This was when Natarajan told him the story of his first encounter with a black panther in...
There was a donkey who felt so happy that he sang through the night in the cucumber field. The problem was that the cucumbers couldn't bear it. What did they do? Earthy illustrations in the patachitra style from Odisha energise this droll new bilingual retelling of a well-known Panchatantra story where the focus shifts to the plight of the cucumbers! CBSE...
Yak yak yak... the tortoise loves to talk – and learns the hard way that keeping his mouth shut is sometimes very necessary! The clipped narrative style pares the original fable from the Panchatantra down to its essence with dramatic effect in this bilingual retelling. It is offset by decorative, detailed illustrations in the style of kalamkari textiles...
When a herd of elephants creates trouble in the jungle, do the little rabbits run away in fear? No! From Aztec to Chinese, there are many versions of the story about the rabbit in the moon. The illustrations for this bilingual retelling are based on the pithora folk style of central India, which derives from cave art. CBSE recommended
The old snake is punished – the frogs will now ride on him. The frogs jump for joy – but they had better watch out! This unusual bilingual retelling of a Panchatantra favourite swings sympathy in favour of the snake. Stunning pictures are based on wooden folk toys from Channapatna in Karnataka, a craft style that came centuries ago from Persia.
The smart lion thinks he can use the fox to bring him food every day. But the fox is smarter! A familiar Panchatantra fable with innovative twists and a whole new environmental angle. The rich, energetic illustrations draw from the art of the Gond people from central India who live closely connected with nature. CBSE recommended
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...
From a sorrowful Sita to a resolute Razia, little Nina has played them all. Everyone calls her a fine actress. But Nina is at a loss when she’s given the role of Kasturba – after all Kasturba was only Gandhiji’s wife. Wasn’t she? Confused, she starts preparing for the play, and soon discovers that an ‘ordinary’ wife can be quite an extraordinary person.
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...
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...
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...
What happens when a grouchy giant decides to scoop all colour out of the world – from the trees and flowers, from the birds and animals, the fish and the waters? A quaint, fairytale-like story, set amidst magnificent mountains, leafy forests, swirling seas and skies. Sandhya Prabhat’s pictures play with the ebb and flow of colour, startling the reader...
