Neelu and her Miru Mashi go out to explore the city and come across sick horses pulling carriages, which gives Miru Mashi a reason to explain how prosthetics and artificial limbs work. Neelu and the Phenomenal Printer explains the complicated technology of three dimensional printing in a very simple and easy to understand manner.
Level 3 books are an inquisitive mind’s delight with engaging tales of discovery which teaches one and all to appreciate the little wonders of life. These thought-provoking books make a simple blend of events for the tender feet to look at things in a different light.
2019
Ranjan is very weak in maths and fails to clear the examinations for two consecutive years. He gets rebukes from his father and punishment from teachers, because of which he develops a hatred for school.
Balachandran, a student of seventh standard, is poor, and has lost his father at a young age. He and his siblings live in a village. Father Chinnappan, a priest, visits them and persuades his mother to allow him to join the seminary. His mother gives permission and Balachandran’s name is changed to Brother Freetus.
Meri Pahadi Va Anya Kahaniyan is a collection of eight stories in Hindi for teenagers. All the stories deal with the heroic, exemplary deeds of the protagonists that would certainly enthuse young readers to do similar things if chance arises. The authors have kept the language simple and made contemporary issues interesting for the readers.
21 Growing Up Stories is a collection of short stories that tracks the trials and tribulations of young adults, as they navigate a world teeming with uncertainties and new dynamics. Under the radar are a variety of issues, from self-worth to belonging, from bullying to self-preservation, from coping with loss and grief to adapting to change…
Omar has moved to a new town with his family of super-genius parents, tantrum-throwing sister and a little brother who ‘has ants in his pants’. Moving entails a number of changes—new school, new friends, new neighbours, leaving behind some old toys and Omar doesn’t seem to like it. He gets woken up by nightmares of a teacher…
Taking place deep within the rustic and breath-taking bounds of the Bhutanese hills and valleys, Karma Fights a Monster by Evan Purcell is nothing short of an intriguing and hilarious read. The book revolves around the protagonist Karma, a boy of twelve who, as it appears immediately, is quite brave.
Set in 403 CE in the prosperous town of Nandivardhana (located in modern day Nagpur, Maharashtra), Harini Srinivasan’s The Curse of Anuganga is a historical thriller that carves a niche for itself by being the first historical murder-mystery I have ever read! Srinivasan cleverly perceives her story’s timeframe and weaves a plot around it that is riveting till the turn of the last page.
Adventures of a Pre-teen by Shaha Ghosh is a collection of ten short stories that deals with the adventures of a twelve-year old American girl of Indian origin. Gia, lives with her parents in Berkeley Heights, a neighbourhood situated amidst rolling green lawns interspersed with whitewashed houses.
Take a deep breath and open this book and journey into a country you have never visited before. If your only knowledge of Afghanistan has been through news clippings, Hollywood and Disney films, or books written by American soldiers, journalists and writers, then you are in for a treat.
As a teenager, one of the innumerable books that I read was The Diary of Anne Frank which made an indelible impression on my mind. Six decades later, to come across the Hindi translation of Hana’s Suitcase by Karen Levine, and reading it in one sitting, gave me goose pimples.
The latest book about Mayil Ganesan darts at you with upper cuts and feints that land strong but leave you warmed for having met her. Surer than ever of being Mayil as the title suggests, Mayil writes her diary in prose, in verse, in art, in every way that leaves you in no doubt about where she stands.
To read Ruskin Bond’s fiction is to feel the transforming Indian society post-Independence, combined with the inimitable knack of storytelling with which Bond characterizes daily life in a small town. An astute observer, Bond paints a vivid picture of the overlooked sections of the society, while maintaining a leisurely pace with attention to minute details, which reminds the reader of RK Narayan.
Stories express experiences. Experiences are lived memories. Memories, beautiful or dull, when read back, contain the power of unleashing umpteen emotions. These emotions when expressed well become stories for keeps. However, short stories are always quite tricky.
Gender-based violence has taken many forms. One of the worst depredations has been reserved for the transgender community. Awareness about varying gender identities have increased, but mistreatment has not necessarily reduced. Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom is a bold and raw novel that brings the tragedy of marginalization of the transgender community, particularly of trans women, to light.
2019
Blessed is the fascinating story of Selentra, the fourth child of a poor village weaver who possesses an extraordinary gift—she can read the ancient ‘forgotten tongue’, the Nor-dorok language. ‘Selentra found she could decipher the letters and the strange white shapes just by looking at them.’
Since the l960s, children’s books in the West have tended to ‘critically address tendencies to assume that the world is white, male and middle class’ (John Stephens). Those children’s stories in Bangla that reproduce real life situations, too, have been peopled by the middle class, espoused its values and focalized on the ubiquitously urban and urbane male child protagonist.
2019
Reaching adulthood by overcoming a challenging situation is the predominant theme in Young Adult fiction. This is exactly what the protagonist, seventeen-year-old Irfan Ahmed accomplishes in The Lies We Tell.
Apart from author Gita Wolf, the two books by Tara have little in common. One is a children’s introduction to Pithoro, a Rathva ritual art form; the other is a DIY book for children on traditional toys. Yet, such a reduction would be unfair to the two books. In the grand scheme of things, both the books are about the joy of creation, about our everyday reality and using material from quotidian life in the act of creation.