Author Archives: Thebookreviewindia

All published by Jugnu Prakashan, an imprint of Takshashila Education Society, Bhopal

Children are often seen as insulated from the world’s worries and continue to live in a world of make-believe and fantasy. This world is far removed from life’s realities that can be harsh and damaging for the child. Print and electronic media developed.

I must admit that as a reader of adult Marathi books and as a translator I was really looking forward to reading children’s stories from Marathi literature. I was also wondering how the distinctive flavour of Marathi humour, turn of phrase, and cultural references would be communicated to a young Hindi reader.

The Piano is an unusual book. A graphic novel that draws you in immediately, it tells the story of a young girl Meera who is alone and wants nothing more than a friend in her life. It begins with her writing a letter to God, asking for a friend. And then.

Sanjeev Jaiswal’s Red Sun Ke Alien is a science-fiction (sci-fi) mystery drama novella. Sci-fi is one of the popular genres of  literature whose content is imaginative, but based on science. It relies heavily on scientific facts, theories, and principles as support.

This book was like revisiting my childhood and the boys’ all at once. The story is set in Deolali (Maharashtra) and echoes the memories of our childhood. The excitement of being in a new place, the thrill and apprehension of meeting new people and having to make new

Shadows in the Snow is an intriguing book filled with a certain air of mystery, even though there is no suspense on the surface as such. The atmosphere of Darjeeling created by the author captures the essence of those hills perfectly. The descriptions of waterfalls.

‘For most, school begins with crayons, satchels and tears. But for Ananya, it began with smiles and a lipstick.’

This delightful children’s novel recounting a young girl’s adventures in a private boarding school opens by describing the delight of its protagonist Ananya Patel.

Here is a complete package of real life conflict, love and hope attractively coloured by gloom of darkness to sparkle of Light. The unusual title—Darkless–invokes curiosity because there is no such word in the dictionary, still it manages to convey a whole depth of meaning as the story completes.

‘Long, long ago there was a kingdom called the Golden Valley, nestling amidst evergreen forests.’ Manoj Das’s book opens in the manner the best fairy tales do–by evoking an idyllic sylvan world where ‘everyone lives happily’.  However, he says, even in Golden Valley,..

‘History tells us what people do. Historical fiction helps us imagine how they felt.’ Jean M Auel

Queen of Earth is a gender bending narrative of a spunky queen, appropriate to our times.

Kalinga of the seventh century is a vast land ruled by two adversaries, the Somavamsha and the Bhaumakaras.

The fate of a young princess caught in their crossfire is expertly depicted by Devika Rangachari in Queen of Earth.

A doption is not an alien concept to Indians…

Sisters at New Dawn by Varsha Seshan is a coming-of-age story of two sisters, Padma and Kannagi Shankar. Most of the action of the story takes place at New Dawn, a high school that is committed to fostering values of ‘honesty, integrity, justice’ in the students enrolled there.

A cardboard box appears on the beach, a wet wriggling cardboard box. What does it contain?

Woof! Adventures by the Sea narrates the life of Mumbai’s homeless dogs on the beach. A new puppy is discovered and helped by the pack of resident dogs and large-hearted humans, given a name and a sense of belonging.

Some of South Asian literature’s most lauded works belong to the fascinating category of Sci-fi/Dystopian Fiction. It already existed even before its so-called definitions came to the forefront. Resurgence and increasing acclaim of western sci-fi fiction.

Bengali Renaissance had contributed significantly to the literary works and the cultural resurgence in India between the nineteenth and twentieth century. Even before the movements like ‘Prakalpana’ and the Little Magazine Movement gained momentum in twentieth-century Bengal.

Itihaas ki Atmayein is a collection of two stories from English into Hindi, namely, Badshah, Mera Dost (My Friend, The Emperor) by Shefali Jha and Pyaari Atmayein (Beloved Spirits), by Rekharaj. The former narrates the story of a young boy Adil who is disinterested in the subject history.

What is a solitary, hastily drawn line capable of? Could this line impact millions of lives, and, ultimately, generations to come?

Nayanika Mahtani’s Across The Line dwells on such a topic, and is inarguably my best fortuitous read in a long time. A tour-de-force in its own right.

Joseph Srinivas wakes up one day to find that things aren’t quite right. He hasn’t jumped through a closet door, nor got a special letter—he just happens to find himself in a strange new place. He is greeted by Mishi, a fellow transitioner who guides him through Gravepyres.

Perumal Murugan is one of the foremost of Tamil writers today. Poonachi: Lost in the Forest is apparently extracted from a novel,  Poonachi: Or the Story of a Black Goat, which I haven’t read, was short-listed for the JCB Prize for Literature.  I have no doubt that it.

As The Book Review went into press for its children’s issue in November last year, Nabaneeta Dev Sen lay dying, and breathed her last on November 7, 2019 after a prolonged battle with cancer. It was too late to include an obituary, but a children’s writer as.