There was once a prince who hated food. One day the royal cook gives him something new to eat – a hot golden ball, crisp outside, soft inside... a bonda! After that there is no stopping either the prince or this mad tale that rolls its jolly way to an inevitably happy, bondaful end. The jaunty illustrations pick up all the comic clues along the way, to...
Pintoo walks home from school one evening, all alone. He is not afraid until the sun begins to set rapidly. Suddenly, he feels himself being lifted up, up, up... by a giant! Now, what? This spin on a common fairytale figure effortlessly captures the spirit of a little boy's vivid imagination and curious nature. Warm watercolour tones bring to life the...
A dusty path runs through a village where people and animals keep walking up and down, up and down. Others, on faster feet and wheels, shout “Out of the way, out of the way.” In a simple lyrical way, the author subverts commonly held views on environment and development by showing simultaneously the growth of a wide-spreading tree and a busy winding road,...
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.
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...
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...
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
“There was once a mountain made of bare stone…” It stands cold and alone until one day a small bird appears and changes its life. This well-loved story by American writer Alice McLerran, shared all over the world in many languages, draws from universal truths that go beyond boundaries of language and culture. The illustrations are as lyrical, evoking the...
Gadagada gudugudu... the marble rolls from one child's hand to another in exchange each time for something exciting. The story moves in a straightforward childlike way as, one after the other, it reintroduces simple street games endlessly popular with children. Trundling alongside is the rhythmic refrain that fascinatingly echoes the circular movement of...
Every day, Basava goes to the forest to collect firewood for his mother. But one day it grows dark and he can't find his way home. That is when Basava sees the glowing dots of fire that light up the forest... A gentle story with a touch of magic and dramatic illustrations.
Did you know that bees make a real song and dance over honey? And delicate butterflies can frighten fearsome birds? Superbly comic pictures exaggerate funny but true facts about the mad, mad world of creepy crawlies.
Sunu-sunu the snail is playing with his friends, the ants. Suddenly there is a storm. He ‘hurries' home to his mother and tells her all he saw and heard. With repetitive sound words creating the mood, eloquent illustrations evoke a snail's-eye view of the storm in his world – the garden!
Pranav says he is drawing a picture. But his mother sees nothing on the page! What is Pranav drawing? The narrative and freewheeling illustrations follow the simple, spontaneous logic of a child's mind. CBSE recommended
A little girl spills, drops, breaks, trips on things. She is called Clumsy, Slowcoach, Careless... words that scare away all other words. But in her head, words become stories and stories, pictures – and with a box of paints and a brush, she sweeps herself away from the names people call her! Vivid watercolours lift her from her everyday milieu into a...
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.
Ten bunches of bananas, a bundle of sugarcane, coconut, jaggery and a big ball of rice. A rather heavy meal, even for an elephant, as Gajapati Kulapati finds out! Bringing together all that’s familiar – the cast of characters, words that repeat, sounds that roll, a gentle tone and sprightly pictures, the third book about this endearing elephant, makes for...
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...
"Come in for a haircut! You choose... We cut!" says the sign outside a hair cutting saloon, so a lion walks in to do just that. But where is everyone? And who are these other lions staring at him? Well, by the end of the story we know why lions DON’T have haircuts – in spite of the alluring array of mane makeovers the illustrator offers!
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...
A hot summer day, an old man in dusty clothes who calls himself a maharaja, a little boy Munna who believes him, and a teashop full of people who don’t… With the familiar feel of a folktale, this delightful story keeps the reader guessing till the end! Going with the flavour, Deepa Balsavar chooses an illustrative style that’s “part folksy, part whimsy”,...
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...
