Ma buys the perfect present for her little Tokai from a pavement hawker – a toy bird that repeats everything it hears. The problem starts when Ma can't make it stop! There is mayhem in the middle of busy, busy Dalhousie Square, with a stalled bus and an angry policeman. Will Tokai get his present after all? Bright, bold pictures set off this hilarious...
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...
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...
After a school trip to the zoo, Amma is surprised that Meera has seen no animals – not a monkey, a lion, or even a giraffe... But why did Meera see no animals there? Her lively mother forgets to ask! Zestful pictures capture the hilarious inversion of role play.
One naughty little cat with an orange tail and pointy ears is lost! Minnie goes looking for her Pooni, and steps onto a busy city street filled with people to talk to and things to look at. Writer-artist-cartoonist Manjula Padmanabhan’s humour-filled pictures with delightful details invite us to join in the search – for the cat who is always just one step...
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.
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...
Ju’s mother brings her hand-me-downs from the homes in which she works and Ju welcomes them like new friends. She especially loves the well-used textbooks and the treasures sometimes hidden among their pages: pressed flowers, poems, even a dead butterfly. Then one day Ju discovers a sealed envelope in a maths book, which has a stamp but no address... In...
A zippy parody of the movie world tells the story of how different birds look, well, different! Text and pictures combine realism with a dash of comedy to provide some filmy moments.
When living happily together becomes difficult, the creatures of the world decide that the largest group among them should rule the world. In the race for numbers, it looks as though one shy creature is going to make the difference. Based loosely on an Australian Aboriginal tale and with elements of Indian and Aboriginal art, this story demonstrates a...
Where is Crocodile? This warm story explores the thoughts, feelings and imagined fears shared by friends when one of them suddenly goes missing. Delicate and complex emotions are handled with simplicity, while the pictures capture mood, motion and confusion with a light touch and a lot of heart. The book came out of a workshop in which writers and...
A warm afternoon, a fruit-laden tamarind tree, four boys in search of something to do… Join them as they pick the fruit and climb the tree. Loving attention to little details about the self, other and environment make magical a child's experience of the everyday. A dynamic tranquility pervades the story, drawing the reading child into a contemplative...
When the clouds begin to rumble, out tumbles the naughty wind Jhakkad. Oooo... he blows looking for mischief. The rich, evocative illustrations sweep the reader through this one stormy night.
How did the Warlis first begin to paint their walls with shining, white images? The paintings of the Warli people of Maharashtra are famous worldwide for their simplicity as much as liveliness. Beginning with the story of little Shirvi who wants to give her parents a happy surprise, author Shamim Padamsee takes a whimsical journey into how the art may...
With great imagination, Brahma the creator has fashioned all things on earth, even the greedy caterpillar. One day, however, it chomps its way through his colourful garden and Brahma gets very angry. But then, it was Brahma himself who gave the caterpillar its huge hunger, wasn’t it? So what was the caterpillar to do? And now, what will Brahma do? An...
The story is set against the background of the 1947 Partition. But friendship between children knows no barbed wire fencing: all children play games, enjoy ice-cream and feel the loss of friends. This book is about every child's right to friendship and a home. Based on memories of her father, animator Nina Sabnani first made this as a film for the Big...
Kunzang is a strange child of nature, with hair as wild and red as the rhododendrons she lives among. People say that one look from her crimson eyes can make wishes come true. She rides untroubled on her graceful kiang through Sikkim's Yumthang valley. But then, along comes the powerful king, Bhu-pen, who sees the kiang and wants it... A lyrical story...
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. 2009: Outstanding International Book, United States Board for Books for Young People, USA CBSE recommended
Thom! It lands on Kuttan’s toes. Dheem! He kicks and up it goes. The pages of this book resound with the rhythm of dance as Abu's big red ball bounces in tune with the delightful illustrations. CBSE recommended
A little girl wants a story that never ends. Grandmother starts off a chain story typical of folktales the world over – an old man from Madikere comes to Bengaluru, the old man's wife, then her daughter, the daughter's doll, the doll's dog… And finally, in a clever twist, it fuses into another story and comes full circle – so it can never end! Bold,...
Sameer lives in a house on Saraswati Street in a city called Mumbai, which is in Maharashtra, which is in India, which is in... A popular idea re-presented in a new and appealing way to show how everyone is a small part of this universe. Strong illustrations take children on a visual journey of expanding horizons, from Sameer's house to the star-filled...
An ant's curiosity leads to adventure in this chain story of repetition and cumulative images. The illustrations within illustrations drawn in stark white on brown are adapted from the art of the Warli storytellers. The stories are illustrated in a flowing river-like fashion, capturing the pattern of the cumulative tale visually as well.
