Author Archives: Thebookreviewindia

Pichki is happy to push her way out of the ground into the fresh air only to find that as she grows into a neem tree she is rejected again and again, as smelly, bitten by flies, mosquitoes, caterpillars and even birds. Hurt, she however finds redemption when her healing powers.

Only Fools Go To School by Chatura Rao is based on a beautiful story that deals with the adventures of a little boy named Sambha, who is initially very reluctant to go to school. He feels that the school is for fools and hence spends most of his time outside.

All the books reviewed below from Eklavya have easy concepts and plots, with simple sentences, easy for children in primary classes to read and understand. Illustrations are good and relate with the story. They capture the ambience of the different environs that the stories are set in.

A child’s universe, where the bird and animal kingdom is as much a part of existence as the reassuring  presence of Mummy-Papa.

Author Saumyak Ghoshal has beautifully evoked Piku’s mental landscape populated by sparrows and squirrels, cats and lizards, moths and mosquitos.  The shadow-play of daylight and darkness impacts Piku, like any other child, at a deeper level.

Chuchu Manthu’s Jar of Toffees, which first appeared on Pratham Books’ digital platform ‘Story Weaver’, is a cute story with an intriguing title which will  at once attract children  and motivate them to pick up the book and  read it.

Stories that connect a child to mother-nature are precious indeed.The Goolar Flower is one such story-book.

Renchu a little rag-picker girl is set off in search of a mythical ‘flower’–Goolar,  by her elder sibling Pirku and her pal Saanish.

As an editor of Indian books for children and young adults…

In the lockdown, I read the entire Keeper of the Lost Cities series, written by Shannon Messenger.  There are eight books in total in the series. I was encouraged to read it by my dear friend
Shriya Kothari, and since we have similar tastes in books, I decided.

Eklavya, as we all know, is a non-profit NGO engaged in the creation and dissemination of educational resources among children who need them most. In partnership with Parag, an initiative of Tata Trusts, they have been creating books suitable for use by children in India’s.

The book under review consists of seven stories, based on rural backgrounds. The people’s struggle to save their small landholdings from the sharks from the urban areas form the basis of the stories. ‘Chudail ka Nashta’, ‘Me Mor Jamin Bachawat Hun.

Mera Khachchar Danda Hai is a collection of 40 poems and pictures by children, written over a period of thirty-four years  and published in various issues of Chakmak, a children’s magazine. One page in every issue has been devoted to children’s writings and illustrations, the column titled  ‘Mera Panna’.

‘Are all girls alike? Should all girls be alike? It would be boring if they were!’Satrangi Ladkiyaan/Satrangi Ladke, an illustrated flip (picture) book for young children, written by feminist activist, poet and author Kamla Bhasin and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan, through its simple narrative.

Samina Mishra’s Hina in Purani Dilli  takes the reader on a fantastic journey through the by-lanes of the old city of Delhi. The book weaves together, with a documentary lens, history, geography and sociology as it goes from Hina’s school housed in a medieval haveli.

Anya and her Baby Brother is a tiny book which narrates a story much heavier than it feels like. Anya is a young girl who is miffed with her mother because ever since her special younger brother came along, his needs have taken priority over her. But how do the readers know this? Because Anya is sharing.

It seemed a strange idea to begin with…

As I was leafing through the pages of this book, I was struck by how they reminded me of the fairy-tales I used to read as a child. The contents of this work are, of course, diametrically different from those of an ordinary fairy tale. Teeming with caricatures.

This middle-grade novel on zombies is actually a fun read and is suitable for 8-12 year-olds. It is the second book in a series that stars Karma Tandin, Monster Hunter and is set in a village in Bhutan. Twelve-year-old Karma is ‘not the bravest or the smartest kid’ but has decided.

Fly is short for Blow-fly–the name given by her employer Black Bill when he got her as a baby from the workhouse. Born a maggot, and grown up into a dirty fly is what he tells her. Scrawny, spunky Fly lives up to her name as she shinnies up and down the chimneys Bill makes her clean to earn a living.

Lying on the terrace under the starry night sky, my lockdown companion recounted her childhood days in a small town of the then Andhra Pradesh. She was nostalgic about sleeping under the open sky listening to mythical tales told by her grandfather.

Pirate-fan Oop (Upendra) is irritated at having to look…