B. Vinayan

There was every reason to linger on her swift passage from tree to bush to rock through the forest. A universe of dark green light and darker shade shimmered all around her. The world seemed to constantly explode and re-form in ever-changing colours and liquid forms. Everything demanded redefining, renaming…


Reviewed by: Mariam Karim-Ahlawat
Yash Pal

Random Curiosity, as the name suggests, is a compilation of the answers to almost three hundred random questions that Professor Yash Pal received. In partnership with his son, Dr. Rahul Pal, Yash Pal answers each of these questions in his own inimitable style. Most people will remember Yash Pal from the popular science programme of the eighties…


Reviewed by: Soma Banerjee
Dr. Raza H. Tehsin

Dr. Raza H. Tehsin is a well-known conserva-tionist and wildlife expert, and the book begins with high praise for his work on wildlife conservation in Southern Rajasthan and his vast experience as a naturalist. His love for nature is quite apparent when you read this collection of short stories based on wild animals and their interaction with humans…


Reviewed by: Mohua Bhattacharya
Anvita Abbi

‘This is a labor of love in more ways than one—deep love both for the scientific work that went into it and for the people whose language and knowledge are the object of this book.’…


Reviewed by: Mehran Zaidi
Nandita Haksar

Books about the history of the various ethnic groups of North East India may be found abundantly in libraries but those catering to the minds of young children are few and far between. That is why Who are the Nagas? in its attempt to reach out to children is a commendable effort. Haksar, a human rights lawyer…


Reviewed by: Shakeel Sobhan
Rikin Khamar

The Lotus Queen, the first novel by Dubai-based and London- educated Rikin Khamar, is set in 14th century Chittor, the capital of the Rajput kingdom of Mewar (most of modern-day Rajasthan). It falls in the genre of historical fiction, as Khamar spins a tragic tale of valour and sacrifice around the time when Mewar is threatened…


Reviewed by: Siddhesh Inamdar
Lila Majumdar

At the very start, in her introduction, Subhadra Sen Gupta puts you in the mood to read. There is that rather obvious positivity in the opening/introductory lines that pulls along even adults like me. Who would not like to escape from the chaos spread around, towards those long stretches of exciting distractions holding sway…


Reviewed by: Humra Quraishi
Samarpan

Perky and precocious, Tiya the parrot lives in the great big banyan tree which is home to thousands of creatures—feathered bipeds, quadrupeds, centi, deci and millipedes. Tiya’s is a secure and comfortable existence amidst his many neighbours in a place where nothing changes but the seasons. Indeed….


Reviewed by: Nita Berry
Manjula Padmanabhan

The Puffin Book of Classic Stories for Girls was first published in 2010. Its title is misleading and yet not, depending on what you understand by ‘stories.’ These are neither original stories nor all short stories nor all of them written originally for girls or even for children in general…


Reviewed by: Shobhana Bhattacharji
Anushka Ravishankar

The Storyteller: Tales from the Arabian Nights is a pretty good version of the Arabian Nights for children. It has some of the not so well-known stories in it such as ‘The King and the Physician Douban’ and ‘The Diamond Anklet,’ as well as well known ones, tailored for child readers. The familiar but very long story of Aladdin has been broken…


Reviewed by: Shobhana Bhattacharji
Musharraf Ali Farooqi

The Amazing Moustaches of Moochhandar the Iron Man and Other Stories has four terrific stories. ‘The Giant of the Bakery’ is about Molka the Giant, a fantastic baker. He comes to ‘a nice little town by the sea which is neither too noisy, nor too quite, and had neither too many people, nor too few,’ a perfect little town to start his own bakery…


Reviewed by: Shobhana Bhattacharji
Prasenjit Gupta

When Ritu goes shopping in an ordinary mall in an ordinary city on an ordinary day and takes a perfectly ordinary elevator to the lowest floor, the last thing she expects is to step out into the Underground Forest. Trapped in this gloomy Forest, Ritu meets the Resident Magician, Serendipitous, and his assistant, Blanc-Noir…


Reviewed by: Shobhana Bhattacharji
Ruskin Bond

Once again I have a bundle of books to review for the Children’s Special issue of TBR. Once more the books have nothing in common. There is no unifying theme, no single target group. When publishers are regressively dividing readers according to gender (pink books for girls; action books for boys), it’s great to have a bunch of books…


Reviewed by: Shobhana Bhattacharji
Ranjit Lal

Faces in the Water is a fascinating tale for young adults dealing with the subject of female infanticide. The author has dealt with this sensitive issue in a very gentle manner coated with humour which makes the book interesting. In about 200 pages Ranjit Lal weaves the story of an atrocious crime that has been existent…


Reviewed by: Indira Bagchi
Kavitha Mandana

Every schoolchild in India is familiar with the history of the great Emperor Akbar who had ruled our country with strength, compassion and understanding. Not just a conquering warrior, he was also known as a great statesman, thinker and humanist, who succeeded in maintaining peace and harmony throughout his vast empire…


Reviewed by: Nilima Sinha
Vicki Goldberg

When I was asked to write a review of a new book of photographs by Margaret Bourke White sheer excitement ran through my nerves. While Henri Cartier Bresson has been a much talked about figure in the photo communities here in India Margaret Bourke White has in comparison been quite invisible at least amongst the discussions that have gone on among my contemporaries…


Reviewed by: Sohrab Hura