VOLUME XLVI Number 11 November 2022

In most countries, philosophy as a subject of study is open to students only at the undergraduate level. However, in the last four decades or so, many have argued that there is a dire need to introduce philosophy to students at a much earlier stage, preferably from middle school years onward. According to the proponents of this view, introducing philosophy at this age enables students to critically engage with what they learn and experience, both in school and outside.

Better safe than sorry.’ A quote told to all in their childhood and one that stays relevant to this date. As the title suggests, the premise of the book revolves around this quote. Comprising 240 pages and ten sections, the book covers various topics from fire to the internet. A type of instructional book, it gives a guide to staying safe in daily life.

Picture books, as a genre, are helpful in the early stages of reading. True to its genre, the book, I Love Grey, with its full page and sometimes double-spread illustrations and short sentences, gives ample space for imagination and reading practice. The text is simple, with some repetition—the phrase, ‘I love’—appears on each page, qualifying it further for a beginner’s reading book.

Duster is about a dog who is not really a dog. Or is he a dog but no one believes so? Duster likes things that a cat likes and he dislikes things that a dog is supposed to like. His human is disappointed in him for not behaving like a dog.

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.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

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.

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.

Grief and loss are never easy to talk about, more so with children. In fact, death and children feel like opposites. Children are full of life, laughter, energy and hope. Death is silent, dark, still and hopeless.Can you write a children’s book about death and not make it dark? In the hands of master storyteller Hans Sande, this is possible.

When I chose this book based on its title, Beauty Is Missing, I had imagined the book. And when I received it and held it in my hands and read the book, the story was far removed from my imagination!The story begins at a police station, where a woman has come to report her loving buffalo who has gone missing. The story then brings in humour, adventure, and also some filmy twists. Eventually, the thief is caught, and the story reaches its climax at the reunion of the old woman and her buffalo.

A storyline where the main character has an episode of hiccups makes for an amusing read. Each character comes in to offer solutions to the protagonist, and eventually one of the solutions works out in the end. The theme of a recurring plot helps one stay engaged as the story goes along.

It’s been a while since I have been exploring alternative forms of companionship and family. The main intention behind this exploration is to navigate the potential that these two words carry. And then Reva and Prisha’s family grabbed my attention.

Ghost stories have always had a fascination for children and adults alike. This story uses an Assamese folktale—of the Jokhini—and gives it some interesting twists. The Jokhini is a demon who lives in the forests of Assam. In traditional folklore, she is a demon who likes to lure grown men. Here, while she is the scariest of all the demons, she is lonely and friendless. Her ability to be scary gives her the only identity that she is proud of.

We all make mistakes. It’s impossible to not make any mistakes. Then why do we instill so much fear of making mistakes in children? Is it necessary to give them punishment for unwilling mistakes? Can’t we accept their mistakes gently? I think Roy’s Noisy Secret conveys this message subtly, but effectively.

It was a normal usual day; I was working on a project and here comes my brother—loud as ever—into my room—turns off the light and fan—and leaves. He is very annoying. I was reminded repeatedly of this incident as I read this book, which is about a girl whose world is turned upside down by her big brother.

The book comprises three short stories featuring tigers, two of them apparently true, and all where tigers and humans share a symbiotic relationship. All the stories are narrated by ‘Dadubhai’ to his grandson, Rohan. The ‘Tiger which Came to the Cricket Match’ is a true story, recorded in the archives of the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club, one of the earliest clubs set up by the British.

All summer long, Mannu the monkey has been dreaming of jamun. How he loves the ‘Juicy-shoocy jamun! Pulpy-shulpy jamun!’ When will they ever ripen on his favourite tree? He can remember how they tingle on his tongue with their sweet-sour taste. And best of all, how they make his tongue turn so purple-black!

This children’s book is a pleasant surprise and a quick paced, easy read. It begins innocuously with Khalid running after their black-eyed kitten, Gupshup, who characteristically is fast on her feet, is soon lost within the walls of the Sanganer Open Prison. The rest of the story is about Khalid’s attempts to find his missing cat Gupshup

This story is about a girl named Aadya, and how her life changed after her mother was diagnosed with cancer. When Aadya’s mother leaves her with her grandmother and the dog called Nimki to get her treatment, Aadya feels lonely and sad. She misses her mother all the time.

There is an interesting quote that John Keating, a character played by actor Robin Williams says in the movie, Dead Poet’s Society about literature, ‘We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is filled with passion and medicine, law, engineering, these are noble pursuits to sustain life.

Colours are not only spread all around us, but they also bear an impact on our minds and influence the way we think. This book presents for its readers the rich diversity in terms of nature, culture and food habits around us.Although Lavanya has tried to weave it into the shape of a story where a small bird has to select a colour for itself, this is predominantly a thematic and informative book.

The book is an absolute treasure with a most graceful rendering to help children discover their connect with the sand and sea and all life in between. It starts with a preface where the author, a naturalist, talks about how his interest in coastal biodiversity grew and how he learnt and drew inspiration from the wisdom of a skilled fisherfolk.

Tales passed down from one generation to the next have been the mainstay of all cultures, countries and families. The act of sharing these stories is such a crucial aspect of a child’s growth that almost all forms of media, be it movies or television shows, make it a point to highlight the tradition of bedtime stories shared between parents, grandparents and children.

The picture book by Shruti Rao and Sahitya Rani is wholly disappointing. The grandfather here, ‘Thatha’, is the young narrator’s best friend, and they go off on imaginary adventures every day.

This is a story about a kingdom called ‘Moochhapur’. Bankim, a traveller on his way comes across this unique name for a place and wishes to go and see the same. The story is narrated by Bankim. When he enters the kingdom, he sees men with all types of moustaches—big, small, curled, and more. People appear busy with their work with large moustaches.

This is a story about Sachit, a boy studying in Class III who joins the Wunderkind Academy and has recently shifted to the city of Bangalore and his adjustment perils thereon.In Sachit’s mind, escaping this new school seems like the opportunity for adventure and a gateway to freedom.

Question: You are a film-maker by training and profession. What brings you to children’s books?Samina Mishra: I came to children’s books via a film that I was hoping to make but didn’t. That turned into Hina in the Old City (that Eklavya has now republished as Hina in Purani Dilli), my first book for children.

These six books provide a glimpse into what is being written for children in Hindi today. Three of the writers—Sushil Shukla, Prabhat and Manoj Jha have already made their place in contemporary Hindi literature (for adults).

Naram Garam Dosti is a gentle children’s picture book. The story doesn’t follow a traditional pattern of introduction—problem—crescendo—resolution (or any other common pattern, for that matter). It is a slice-of-life story, highlighting the life and experiences of the main characters, and making several important points along the way—but never hitting you over the head with them.

Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena and his poems have long overwhelmed generations of children and adults alike. This fresh compilation of his most twisted yet savoury poems, with the title set to be pondered over Kitaabon Mein Billi Ne Bachhe Diye Hain, is a literary treat for all.

The illustrative children’s book by Gulzar and Shaw opens a pandora’s box of curious questions and intriguing/thought-provoking responses. The book is a collection of Gulzar’s column ‘Agar-magar’ in Chakmak (the monthly children’s magazine published by Eklavya) and is enriched by illustrations by Allen Shaw. The dialogic writing style combines poetic overtones, opening up new avenues to fuel children’s curiosity to know more, to know better.

In life, we stumble upon stories of many kinds — stories that terrify us, stories that entertain us, stories that make us cry, stories that make us love. The entire world is just an amalgamation of stories, in the form of books, art, people, music. Some stories, however, leave an indelible mark on us. They inflict an emotion so profound upon us that we may spend our entire lives attempting to describe their impact and only fail.

As parents and teachers we often wonder how to initiate children into environmental awareness and of the fragile world they have been born to inhabit. We often wonder if we can talk about climate change with small children, or if there’s a way of letting them in on the wise use of resources to lessen its impact.

These five endearing books published by Muskaan, Bhopal break new ground in more ways than one. For one, all of them are written by tribal and Dalit girls and women. Secondly, three out of the five—Taalaab ke Kinare, School Mein Seekha aur Sikhaya, Jungle Kiska are written by young girls in their teens. Mitti is a story written by Madhu Dhurve as a young adult, about her childhood.

Jiske Paas Chali Gai Meri Zameen is a book with a vibrant cover and a heavy title. The book introduces us to a family of farmers (wife, husband, daughter and son) who are enjoying the rains. After the rains, the family can be seen involved in the farming work.

This beautiful book presents a collection of 66 poems by the noted Hindi poet Prabhat. It doesn’t rain as much in the whole of Rajasthan as it does in the book Pedon ki Amma, neither do the winds blow as much as it blows in Pedon ki Amma. You never see as many clouds floating as you see in the book, and nor are there so many animals anywhere as are in Pedon ki Amma.

Pheriwale is a poem by Sushil Shukla written for young ones and published by Eklavya, Bhopal. The book has very nice illustrations on each page by Nilesh Gehlot. When children see these pictures while reading each verse, they will be able to relate to and understand the poem better.

Gulzar is an artist who has worked in many mediums, and is yet always searching for his own medium. Apart from being an experienced script and dialogue writer, he has been writing some fine literature for children. When you read the book under review, Boli Rangoli, you get to experience a Gulzar of a very different mood. One that stops to listen to children, and learn from them, as much or more than what he has to offer to them.

As you all may be aware, Chakmak is a children’s monthly magazine published by Eklavya regularly since 1985. It has a column named ‘Mera Panna’ (My pages) that carries stories, poems, articles and drawings by children. We can see the myriad abilities of children in this column, and children too can find themselves in these pages. This set of 8 cards is a selection from this vast treasure, and have been presented as one special card each.

Here’s another collection of poems by Nirankardev Sevak —poems that you will find many a child singing along while doing chores or playing with odds and ends in the rural stretches of north India. The poems have been read and sung since ages—in school, at home and out in the playgrounds with rhythm and joy. In today’s fast-moving times of modernity where even children are often closeted within four walls, poems like these bring back the fragrance of the soil.

Chal Mere Matke Tammak Tu is a folktale that Virendra Dubey has reconstructed for young readers. At some stage in our childhood, I am sure many of us might have heard the story, maybe different versions of it, from parents or grandparents. It is an interesting tale of how an old lady outwits the wild animals who want to eat her while she is crossing the forest to go and visit her daughter who lives in a far-off town.

The book Duniya Meri is an emotional journey of the love that a father and daughter cherish. A timeless tale that has been described with both words and illustrations, it aims to address how, for a father, the daughter is his world. It portrays how little things, little moments shared between them are everything that matters for their happiness.

Akeli Cheenti is a picture book exploring the journey of an ant, a bit different from what we have observed all ants doing.This ant is a rebellious one and wants to explore the world and so begins her lone journey where she experiences life threatening and dangerous ordeals. The sweet taste of freedom and new experiences start with the giving up of the temptation of her favourite food!

This is a short story by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan about the friendship between Afghan traders and the local buyers. This reminds us of ‘Kabuliwala’, a story by Rabindranath Tagore. In an era gone by individual traders from Afghanistan would come to India to sell their goods from house to house. In this case, it is heeng. These traders or hawkers miss their home and children, whom they had left behind.

In Misfit Madhu, Anand has narrated the tale of a grade 7 student, Madhu, who has a penchant for coding. She develops an app that helps school students swap their belongings. The story goes on to talk about the mini adventures of Madhu in the ensuing months. In narrating this tale, the storyline covers many dimensions of the psychosocial world of contemporary pre-teens.

Ammu’s Bottle Boat follows a plastic bottle boat on its way from Ammu’s hands to the sea, and the guts of various animals. Written in rhyme by Niveditha Subramaiam, the story narrates the grim reality of how plastic is ubiquitous and harmful to the world.

As soon as I read the title of the book, I felt a certain excitement about the story. The title clarified that I was picking up a challenging and unconventional theme. There exists a significant dearth of stories about LGBTQI+ characters in children’s literature as it is left off as an uncomfortable topic

Mountains have been shrouded in mystique since time immemorial. They are loved for their beauty and revered for being bountiful providers of water, food and energy. The sheer physical challenge they present to those trying to scale them commands respect! In Up the Mountains of India, they come alive with Mala Kumar’s lucid writing!

That Year at Manikoil is part of a series named ‘Songs of Freedom’ launched by Duckbill Books in the year of India’s 75th year of Independence. It seeks to explore the lives of children across India during the struggle for Independence.

I cannot understand what they are fighting for–the MNF rebels. I am perfectly fine with the way things are; I cannot imagine what more freedom I need. Sometimes, I feel that people ask for too much.’When Blackbirds Fly starts off as a simple story seen through a child’s eyes

History lessons in school can be pretty boring for 10-year-olds, with their rigmarole of dates, names of battles and rulers to contend with. They can be quite confusing and meaningless as well, for history happened a long time ago! Even something like India’s freedom movement can become a part of the very hazy past. The same events seen in the form of a story become so much more memorable and interesting for young readers.

An interesting title, and on the face of it this book is all about a cooking club in Chowpatty, Mumbai. However, the title turns out to be rather misleading, for here is a story of India’s freedom movement as told by 10-year-old Sakina in the form of diary entries in 1942. Set in Mumbai within sprawling Parsi and Muslim households, the idea of fighting for freedom is fast gaining ground with Gandhiji’s Quit India movement.

I must begin by saying that I loved this book. Name Place Animal Thing is about growing up as a Khasi girl in the ever politically-charged Shillong. It is a book of connected stories rather than a novel or novella (as the inner cover describes it), the stories connected by the first-person narrator referred to as D. The stories are told by an adult narrator who is recollecting her past, her childhood and young adulthood.

The story takes off on the school terrace with a young student manipulating a surveillance drone that captures a deadly secret of missing children and a shadowy figure known only as the Dragon. Two teenagers, April, a resident of Imphal and Shalini from the mainland living there with her father, an army man, jump into the plot to unravel the secrets running below the surface of this land, confronted at the onset, with the disappearance of a bright young boy handling the drone

A story imagined in the backdrop of World War II and India’s Freedom Struggle. The protagonist of the story is a 16-year-old girl, Kayal. The story unravels as she maintains a journal to record her journey from her orthodox home in Madras to the war camp of Netaji’s Azad Hind Fauj in Burma and beyond. It is all about how the life of this school-going teen, with a patriotic fervour, takes a sudden turn when she leaves the traditional home of her parents who are all set to marry her off to 18-year-old Shiva.

Chatur Chanakya vs the World Wide Web is the sequel to Radhakrishnan Pillai’s first delightful book, Chatur Chanakya and the Himalayan Problem, which introduced readers to the Super Six gang of Ganesh colony including Chanakya, the pale, slender and rather unlikely hero.

Amma, Take Me to the Taj Mahal is the latest addition to the ‘Amma Take Me’ series written by Bhakti Mathur. In the earlier books Amma took her two sons to the Golden Temple, Tirupathi, Dargah of Salim Chishti and Shirdi. As the author, Bhakti Mathur, says in her introductory note, ‘The series is an attempt to introduce children to the places of historical interest and different faiths in India

Friendship isn’t dictated by logic or form—it just is.’  This powerful quote encapsulates the conundrum in Chitra Soundar’s delightful and adventurous tale that is inspired by her own childhood in Chennai and a young girl’s anxiety of moving countries and searching for a new friend.

An anthology of 12 teenage stories, this book covers topics like online dating, bullying, child marriage, and more. Each narrator shares a story that means something to them. Life lessons and experiences are compiled together and are easily immersible with illustrations by Ajanta Guhathakurta.

Abbu Khan ki Bakri is a timeless tale written by the third President of India Dr. Zakir Hussain, who has written many stories for children. Dr. Zakir Hussain was born in 1897. The story, reflecting those times, is about the situation of slavery, the pain of bondage and the frustration and struggles for freedom. The story takes us to a Himalayan village of Almora where Abbu Khan resides. He rears goats and sheep with care.

Around five-six years ago, it would have been easy to say that nothing was happening in the world of Marathi children’s literature. I would have simply left my comment at that. But since the situation today has changed, it needs a mention as well. It is high time that we acknowledge the bits and pieces of contributions and explorations, initiated and ongoing despite the odds.

This series of 30 early grade readers has been developed in Marathi by Pratham Books to support guided and independent reading in grades 1-3, when children are learning to read.It is now widely recognized by educationists (though not practiced in most of our schools) that textbooks alone are insufficient for teaching learning of language and literacy.

Children’s Literature in Telugu is said to have had a golden period during the decades of 1960s and 1970s when a monthly magazine Chandamama was very popular. It was published in more than ten Indian languages. It had a fairly common structure with two-three serials, a Vikram and Vetal story and other stories dealing with test of honesty, cleverness and spontaneity, finding a successor to the throne or a bride for the son.

A painting could be worth a thousand words but a picture book is worth much more, since the illustrations contribute much more to the story than the text. A series of ten Telugu picture books was published by Manchi Pustakam in association with Telugu Association of North America (TANA) in November 2021. Each of these books, adorned with colourful illustrations, is twenty-four pages long. Here is a sneak peek into what the books have in store for the readers.

If I recall my childhood, we grew up surrounded by books, books of all kinds. Many of them had beautiful illustrations. Children and books were as if integrated.There were many authors in Bangla who used to write for children and all were among the established ones such as Upendra Kishore Roy Choudhury, Leela Majumdar, Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, Tarasankar Bandopadhyay, Sukumar Ray, Sharad Chandra Chattopadhyay.

True to the genre of science fiction, this volume is teeming with aliens and spaceships, time travel, robots, the future world and amazing scientific inventions that tempt wrong-doers and children alike. A wonderful collection of sci-fi short stories that will tantalize young minds.The stories are told from the perspective of a child-hero who interacts with the adult world or even aliens on his own terms.

Konkani is spoken in four States—Goa and the coastal regions of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. There are 40 lakh speakers, of which about 16 lakhs are in Goa. There are five scripts used for writing Konkani—Malayalam, Kannada, Devnagari, Roman and Arabic. Recently, the Konkani community from Kerala decided to switch the script from Malayalam to Devnagari. With such diversity, an apparent challenge that one may encounter in Konkani literature is of transliteration.

To comment on the current status of literature in Gujarati, overall and on contemporary literary trends, would be a contentious matter. It would be pertinent, thus, to limit the scope of this write-up to sharing some contemplations on the current status of Children’s Literature (CL), based on our experiences and engagement.The scenario in Gujarati CL is not encouraging.

Language is not only a means of exchange of ideas, it is one of the most reliable mediums of expression. It is also an importance means for the development and social-cultural identity of a society. Without language, humans are incomplete and disjunct from their traditions.

The Children’s Literature sector in India has seen many positive shifts in the last two decades. The market has grown, the work of the existing not-for-profit and for-profit publishers has strengthened, new voices and publishers have emerged, and efforts to strengthen the sector like children’s book awards have increased.