In Bhalu ka Nakhoon, Rishi Sahany writes and paints with rare honesty. Unburdened by what children’s books should be, he lets words and images arrive as they will. His plain yet memorable lines and fresh, free illustrations carry the rhythm of a fireside storyteller, drawing us into five distinct tales— tender, mysterious, and full of wonder. In one of the stories, we see a shepherd’s world guided by a whistle’s music until a stranger’s haunting tune replaces it with silence. It’s a meditation on presence and absence. In another, the finding of a bear’s nail turns a simple trek into a tale tinged with dread, balancing the real with the mythical. In the third, a playful young monk’s journey to disciplined devotion culminates in a tree of light and life—a parable of patience. The fourth becomes a fable of transformation and acceptance, where a child’s metamorphosis is met with love, not fear. And in the last, a boy’s longing for friendship finds wonder in a classmate’s tales of prehistoric giants, where the true discovery is friendship. In the end, these stories offer children not just lessons, but the rare gift of wonder and wisdom.
November 2025, volume 49, No 11