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Stories have long served as vehicles of moral instruction by adults and some of the stories in the series also focus on teaching children good habits such as requesting to pass food at the table and avoiding talk while eating. At times the learning is shown to be instantaneously imbibed by the child such as Aman in Nilima Sinha’s, Okay Mom! who learns to keep his things in their proper places once he trips and falls over his shoes, resulting in injuring himself and missing playing with his friend.

The clever use of white and black colours for the kid and the wolf symbolically counterpose the good and innocent against the bad and evil. Animal characters are also used to mediate other issues such as friendship between people (here animals) who look different in Girija Rani Asthana’s We are Friends—any school going child can relate to issues of self image and peer acceptance.

This is again a children’s story book with animal characters. The book caters to the age group of 5–7 years. This is a story about a little puppy named Silky who lives with Mini the cat. The puppy likes to walk on the streets with Mini the cat. But the story doesn’t delve deeper into the relationship between the little puppy and cat, but the friendship is unique and unconventional. The illustrations depict the caring nature of the cat towards the puppy. The narrative presents an interesting account of various animal characters who teach the little puppy the basic traffic rules and how to cross the road following the zebra crossing using the theme ‘Wait and watch’.

Raghu and the Fish by Neera Jain contains a small blurb and draws the attention of the readers to a new vocabulary, beaching of fish! Based on a true event the story revolves around the life of a young boy Raghu whose presence of mind helped the shark to regain its breath and to be rescued by the beach police. They were able to send the shark back to the ocean. The reader is invited to the life and the thoughts of people who live close to the sea. There is a symbiotic relationship between the lives inside and outside the world of sea.

Three Idols by Manorama Jafa is about the discretion and wisdom of a young prince who solves the puzzle and helps his father in choosing the right idol presented to him by the neighbouring king. The story however, deals with the larger theme of choosing right, trustworthy companions based on their ability to be a good listener and a good keeper of secrets. The book is well illustrated and carries apt cultural references.

Nita Berry’s excellent book Two Clouds depicts an interesting story of a little cloud named Chumki and her day’s adventure with her friend Badal. The story would definitely add wings to a reader who is just like me, a cloud dreamer! The characters Chumki and Badal are personified as two young jovial friends who love to roam around and play over fields. The story presents the carefree Chumki, a little white cloud who lives high up in the sky. As Chumki and Badal float across the sky over the brown and yellow fields they grow thirsty. The thirst leads them to gulp down the water from a nearby lake.