In the first read, The Giggling Girl felt like a simple story with 6-year-old Gargi giggling through various happenings around her, through the seasons, through the year. Over a day or two, the story stayed and kept gnawing at me. I wondered if these giggles could or should be taken so innocently. I decided to take the story to a group of children who were in the age of 7 to 12 years old and see their response.
Every year, as I see the big black ants in my kitchen and garden, it is a signal that it is going to rain. I feel happy about the heralding monsoon. I enjoy watching them walking silently one behind the other gathering food or dragging a dead insect from one place to another. At the same time, I shudder at the thought of scores of them gathering on my kitchen platform.
The title of the book is interesting in the sense that it gives you a chance to guess who is Number 5. Is it an animal? A bird? The illustration of little children on the cover page and their expressions tell us that they are looking for something. The trees around them suggest that they are in a forest.
A bunch of children who are travelling to see a performance are the focus of the narrative in Pankaj Saikia’s The Theatre of Ghosts. It starts with two young girls leaving their house with their pet dog. The girls and their dog think they glimpse a ghost on their route and are scared by it. Later on, we discover that the ghost was only a little child wearing a mask.
2022
This picture book tells a village story about a kind, prosperous family that helps a farmer protect his harvest by making a scarecrow. Bhola, a farmer, approaches the grandfather of the family he sells his harvest to every year. He cries out for help to prevent the crows from eating the harvest. How can crows ruin the crop? From grandfather to grandson, every family member marches up to Bhola’s farm to investigate the matter.
The cover of this book invites you to look deep. It feels as if you are standing in a well and looking above at all the people standing there! The people—young and old—are all staring down at you with surprise.The story revolves around a cat, but along with the cat, humans play an important role in it.
2022
Let’s begin by saying that the idea of this book is a ‘found’ one and that the content highlights one of the most common experiences of childhood. Almost all of us have childhood memories of being lost in a mela: letting go of a parent’s hand and running after one or another compelling game or toy can cost a child dear.
Anjeev Anjum spins an endearing story about a copycat Lion, King of the Jungle, who wishes to assert his lordship over his subjects in the jungle just like the King of the land does over his subjects.
2022
Alien visit, suspense, adventure and some life lessons… a cracker of a book that will enthral any youngster!The names of the characters in this beautifully illustrated, colourful book are as catchy as the story. Ma-Cluck and K-Chick are visiting Earth from their Galaxy ‘Scrambled’.
Let us talk about what big books are. These are large picture-books designed to be shared with young readers by adults around them. By and large they are for pre-primary and primary aged children who are just beginning to enter the world of written texts.How do we use big books? The recommended format is to conduct ‘shared reading’ with children.
Thirteen years ago, a friend brought to my attention a series of reading cards published by Pratham. ‘You must have these in your school library,’ he had insisted and proceeded to procure them for us. I must admit that I was not greatly impressed with these cards, or I should say, the idea of reading cards. I am an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction and wrinkled my nose at the cards as a substitute for books.
A richly illustrated children’s book written in simple, rhyming verses, A Rooster for a Pet is about a rambunctious rooster who turns the life of the author upside down. Bought by the author’s father, the cuddly ball of fluff soon grows to be a menace in the household, fluttering about the house, getting onto furniture and appliances,
2022
Reading aloud is one of the earliest means by which we share stories with young children and try to inculcate the habit of reading in them. Hearing a story which captures the imagination, provides enjoyment and introduces different emotions and situations and also creates a connection between the adult and the child being read to.
2021
टका सा जवाब देना, टके का सब खेल है, टका सा मुंह लेकर रह जाना, सौ टके की बात है—these are some of the instances where one experiences the use of the word ‘taka’ or ‘takey’. Children who are immersed in the English language may not even have used or heard this word before.
Shriprasad (1932-2012), one of the founders of children’s literature in Hindi, is known for writing the most musical and rhythmic poetry for children; his entire oeuvre being a veritable feast of sounds to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. In many of his poems, there’s also an element of ‘nonsense’ which in fact, at times, has layers of meaning and borders on the fantastic.
2022
When an author is also an illustrator, or an illustrator also writes stories, and she or he conceives a book that takes shape—then the magic that happens is what you can see in Rajiv Eipe’s Dugga!Dugga is a wordless picture book, or a pure picture storybook. The cover shows the image of a fox-like dog.
Shailaja Shrinivasan & Tultul Biswas: Your writing is prolific—for children, for adults and poetry. How do you keep in touch with the current generation that you write for when you write for children?Hans Sande: Apart from the impulses I get by visiting schools and kindergartens, I have no method or measure to keep in touch with the current generation.
Norwegian poet, novelist, psychiatrist, and illustrator, Hans Sande, pens two cavernous pieces of children’s literature. First, is the powerful, When I Came Home, the Horse was Gone and the unputdownable second, Frog. The texts come to us through NORLA, an initiative to promote the translation of Norwegian books and published by the Indian partner, Eklavya.
A sense of plain bliss pervades every page of the book—right from the beginning—right to the end. Little delights snuggle in nooks and corners of the drawings, and you may repent if you overlooked them when you turned the page in a hurry. You should not. This happy boy, Mattie, draws the sun in the sky (in which can be seen a cricket ball) and turns to grin at the puppy who licks his feet.
2021
There is a country in the Eastern end of what is known as the Mideast in the West. Iran—Persia of history and what we used to call Faaras, has given us wonderful works of cinema, poetry and other forms of art. Who can forget the amazing film ‘Becchha-ye Aasmaan (Children of Heaven)’ by Majid Majidi! Irani imagination stands out as a unique contribution to the repository of aesthetics that the human mind has produced. The same is true of children’s literature.