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.
Writing a non-fiction comic book for children on a rapidly developing area in science with many unknowns, is a major challenge. Charudatta Navare and Reshma Barve have done a remarkably good job of it. Andekhe Humsafar is a Hindi translation of the original A Germ of an Idea. While the author has used his biology background as a great strength, Barve’s contribution as an artist is equally important to convey the complex scientific concepts with the help of illustrations.
The crux of the story is that the sun is up in the sky and why is Amma still sleeping?From one stand-point, this is a very small, simple story that tries to capture a very small slice of time-frame and space. But if you read it again after a while, some hazy images start emerging in your mind.
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.