Red (English)

Author : Sagar Kolwankar
Illustrator : Sagar Kolwankar

A strong, poignant story about how armed conflict ravages a child’s everyday, how the devastation is not just of homes and lives but also of spirit. “I came across a photo of a boy who had survived a bombing … Red is my attempt at imagining the feelings of children in war-torn parts of the world,” says the author, who uses the power of colour to evoke two very different emotions in the course of the narrative. Equally effective is the startling use of ripped paper, seeming to suggest the torn innocence of childhood.

2019: Publishing Next Industry Awards - Printed Children's Book of the Year, Ages 0-8 (shortlisted)

2019: Neev Book Award (shortlisted)

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Rs. 200.00

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    EnglishRs. 200.00$10.50

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Age 6+
Specifications 28 pages, 9" x 9", full colour, soft cover
ISBN 978-93-5046-993-4
First Published 2018
Tags war, peace, child in a war zone, book about feelings, book about fear, colour, hope

Need of the hour

Using striking colours and the outline of a little boy with a head full of curly hair, Sagar Kolwankar takes us back to our childhood when we were fascinated by all things that could fly... In light of the terrible violence taking place around the world, if you ever want to introduce the concept of war in a gentle, yet emphatic way, then this is the book for you. Multistory.in

An emotional ode to children

The story uses the colour palette beautifully as the book starts with a boy running alone on a muddy road with a beautiful yellow background followed by him finding a bright RED kite. He flies the kite up high in the strikingly blue sky which in the next few pages turn into dark shades of blue and the beautiful bright kite named RED is replaced by dark red war planes. The use of similar tone of colours for depicting war and peace is innovative. The Book Review Journal

quite a feat

"RED is an attractive picture book about the terrible times we live in. That’s quite a feat: to produce pictures about the horror of war and a child’s perception of devastating violence, without the pictures themselves being frightening or ugly. I would expect children to relate well to RED, whether they've experienced conflict or not." -- Manjula Padmanabhan, Award winning writer for adults and children

an astonishing achievement

"How do you tell a child about war? Red does just that through imagery that works as powerfully in this picture book as it would in a poem. And yet the book is both direct and unassuming – an astonishing achievement." -- Suniti Namjoshi, Fabulist, Poet and Children's Writer

a memorable and heart wrenching book.

"It is truly a memorable and heart wrenching book. That it can have this impact on a reader in just the few pages it has - is something unimaginable.There is so much unsaid and yet no need for anything to be said." -- Usha Mukunda, Librarian and Library Educator

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Red (English)

Red (English)

A strong, poignant story about how armed conflict ravages a child’s everyday, how the devastation is not just of homes and lives but also of spirit. “I came across a photo of a boy who had survived a bombing … Red is my attempt at imagining the feelings of children in war-torn parts of the world,” says the author, who uses the power of colour to evoke two very different emotions in the course of the narrative. Equally effective is the startling use of ripped paper, seeming to suggest the torn innocence of childhood.

2019: Publishing Next Industry Awards - Printed Children's Book of the Year, Ages 0-8 (shortlisted)

2019: Neev Book Award (shortlisted)

Write a review