2014
The clever use of white and black colours for the kid and the wolf symbolically counterpose the good and innocent against the bad and evil. Animal characters are also used to mediate other issues such as friendship between people (here animals) who look different in Girija Rani Asthana’s We are Friends—any school going child can relate to issues of self image and peer acceptance.
2016
This is again a children’s story book with animal characters. The book caters to the age group of 5–7 years. This is a story about a little puppy named Silky who lives with Mini the cat. The puppy likes to walk on the streets with Mini the cat. But the story doesn’t delve deeper into the relationship between the little puppy and cat, but the friendship is unique and unconventional. The illustrations depict the caring nature of the cat towards the puppy. The narrative presents an interesting account of various animal characters who teach the little puppy the basic traffic rules and how to cross the road following the zebra crossing using the theme ‘Wait and watch’.
Raghu and the Fish by Neera Jain contains a small blurb and draws the attention of the readers to a new vocabulary, beaching of fish! Based on a true event the story revolves around the life of a young boy Raghu whose presence of mind helped the shark to regain its breath and to be rescued by the beach police. They were able to send the shark back to the ocean. The reader is invited to the life and the thoughts of people who live close to the sea. There is a symbiotic relationship between the lives inside and outside the world of sea.
2016
Three Idols by Manorama Jafa is about the discretion and wisdom of a young prince who solves the puzzle and helps his father in choosing the right idol presented to him by the neighbouring king. The story however, deals with the larger theme of choosing right, trustworthy companions based on their ability to be a good listener and a good keeper of secrets. The book is well illustrated and carries apt cultural references.
2016
Nita Berry’s excellent book Two Clouds depicts an interesting story of a little cloud named Chumki and her day’s adventure with her friend Badal. The story would definitely add wings to a reader who is just like me, a cloud dreamer! The characters Chumki and Badal are personified as two young jovial friends who love to roam around and play over fields. The story presents the carefree Chumki, a little white cloud who lives high up in the sky. As Chumki and Badal float across the sky over the brown and yellow fields they grow thirsty. The thirst leads them to gulp down the water from a nearby lake.
Folktales, since time immemorial have been a source of knowledge, cultural beliefs and practices and most importantly, entertainment. Leaving an indelible mark on people’s memories and consciousness, folktales have played the role of a teacher before books, television, internet and other modern technological inventions took the human race by storm. Brief, secular in nature and a repository of knowledge and culture, folktales have had a strong appeal for the masses. The cover page consists of a montage of illustrations from different stories in the anthology with the title written on the silhouette of the leaf of a Peepal tree, symbolizing antiquity and eternity, very much like these folktales.
The play Children of the Magic Pen is an AWIC (Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children) production collectively written by the authors was completed under the guidance of Feisal Alkazi, the eminent theatre personality. This play was conceptualized and performed as part of a three day Conference on Children’s Libraries: Building a Book Culture. The play depicts the meaningful quest and the journey in itself as its major narrative for both the readers and the characters. When we read the play, we are not just introduced to myriad characters across time and space, but we also see them come alive and relive once again in our memories.
In the collection titled Rangbhari Kahaniyan the themes and content of the stories are organized to generate interest and motivate the readers to explore the books. Characters are depicted in enabling and varied roles. As illustrations, there are characters such as Ambrish and Pooja, siblings who take a lot of interest in playing and working together. In ‘Kouli Aur Ouli’, two friends Kouli and Ouli think of an imaginative way of doing something and helping each other.
2016
Kaua Aur Hans, which revolves around the question ‘Who is more beautiful’, has a simple plot, meant for early readers and all bird lovers.
2016
Another beautiful story, based on the theme of inclusion is Pahiyon Ka Jadoo. Values have been woven in the story in a subtle manner through the characters of Sahil, Priya and her friends. It gives an opportunity to and encourages positive thinking towards our friends.
Stories like Chutaku Aur Mutuku, Kaua Aur Hans and Golu And Deepu revolve around a small event, a happening or an object which small children would find very interesting. Events have been explored from children’s perspective. With familiar contexts and character names the stories are situated in contexts that children can relate and identify with.
Golamgol Golmatol which is a relatively long story revolves around a monkey, bear, cat and other animals. There are four to six sentences on each page of the book and the number of words increases in comparison to the other stories. The pictures in the books are vivid and detailed. synchrony between the pictures and the text is established well so that when a reader may attempt to guess/predict what is written the pictures can prove to be a facilitative medium. It is also helpful as it adds to language exploration and enhancement of vocabulary. All the sentences in the books are built out of words that are a part of everyday language use. Spaces between pictures and other language material seem to be allotted liberally. The font of letters and spaces between letters, words and lines are suitable, the quality of the paper used is very good.
2016
Golu Aur Deepu is a small story with simple language and short sentences. The organization of the text is also conducive to reading young ones as there is one sentence on the first two pages of the book and gradually the number of sentences and words increase from the next page. The illustrations in the story help readers, who are beginners, to comprehend the events in the text.
2016
Gulab Pari conveys the value of care and sensitivity towards plants. It is a relatively long story with two sisters, Rina and Annu as its protagonists. This story showcases an important idea.
Twitt-er On A Saddle is a book of little tales with big messages. It is a collection of very short inspirational stories which are centred on the adventures of a globe-trotting sparrow called Twitt-er. Having escaped from his heavy burden of carrying messages on Social Media because computers round the world have crashed, Twitt-er is now ready for some vacations. This little sparrow has adventures which take him to various places across the world, and he sees everything from The Great Wall of China to Singapore. During his travels throughout the book, Twitt-er witnesses incidents through which he discovers the power of timeless values. The stories are well written—they have simple and easily understandable text, and buoyant and ebullient pictures with a dash of humour.
Just who Am I! And Other Stories is a sweet book with imaginative stories where the various characters, from little black cats to sprightly angels, navigate their way through one of the most important questions in life—who are they really? The book has four short stories with hidden messages on values and emotions such as love, compassion and forgiveness amidst the confusing backdrop of fear, doubt, and anger. The stories are suitable for young children, ages 5 to 9, to help them learn to identify their inner strengths and natures. The tales are of: Neel, a little cat trying to prove that there is more to him than being just a miniaturized feline, who has the adventure of a lifetime which makes him realize that, just like the chameleon and the worm he is ‘life and love’. Sparkles is an angel whose desire for her own halo brings her to Earth. Her story is on the joy of giving, as she realizes that the more light she gives out, the greater her own light becomes.
Arvind Gupta, an IITian has written many interactive science books for children. He has won many awards and prizes in this field; He tries to make science easy for children to understand. In this book he has traced the history of energy since the beginning of civilization. The first source of energy that humans used was wood. After wood they used coal and then oil. With the help of oil electricity began to be generated. Scientists have for long been looking for other sources of energy like wind and sun. These sources are best because they are going to last for a long time and are pollution free.
This collection of poems, translated from Japanese, touches your heart. The author was born and brought up and educated in the United States of America. All his life he was told that dropping of the Atom Bomb on Hiroshima was necessary and there was nothing wrong in it. He was used to words like Atomic Bomb and nuclear weapons. After finishing his studies in the US he went to Japan and studied the Japanese language. He visited the Peace Museum at Hiroshima. He met people there and talked to them. He learnt that the Japanese people gave the name PIKADON to Atom bomb. Arthur was influenced a lot by his visits to the Peace Museum.
This is a very interesting activity book, a puzzle to be solved with the illustrations and words. On the left side of the page is a line illustration, the right page is blank except for three or four words at the left top corner of the page. All the words start with the same alphabet. These words are quite uncommon. At the bottom right corner is one single word spelt backwards. Otherwise the whole page is blank. The child is required to find out as many words as possible from the line illustration on the left side, starting with the same alphabet as the words on the left top corner.
Based in a Ladakhi village Bumbu is a true story told to tourists by the Ladakhi guide who took them around. Padama loves Bambu like her little brother. She takes him grazing along with other animals of the farm. She sees to it that he is comfortable in the barn during the night where the other animals are kept. One day Padama notices that Bumbu is behaving strangely during the night. She finds that Bumbu stands at the same place the whole night. He refuses to take a single step once it is dark.