Reviews- Picture Books: Tulika Books Publishers India  

 PICTURE books    reviews

 

Dancing on Walls
Deewaro Par Nritya (Hindi edition, Dancing on Walls)...is an imaginative, fanciful story woven around the origin of Warli paintings... The resolution of the story is delightful. The illustrations are colorful, vivid and magical, especially when the little creatures begin to dance in celebration. An author’s note about Warli paintings would help inform young readers and add a dimension to the book.
- September 16 2009, Varsha Bajaj, author of children's books

Birdywood Buzz: the vulture returns
Shamim Padamsee’s kid-friendly book... targeted at children in the age group of five to seven... aims to create awareness about the Indian bird species while using Bollywood as the medium.
Birdywood Buzz narrates the story of jungle birds trying to bag a role in a ‘Birdywood’ movie. The lead character, Mor Khan, searching for actors to cast in his film. Physical and behavioural aspects of various birds have been used to shape the characters... an attempt to “sensitise kids towards birds so they can grow to protect them,”... She has also attempted to see the other side of the scavenger vulture:... so that children sit up and take notice
of this magnificent bird.”

- DNA, Dipti Nagpaul-D’Souza

The King and the Kiang
“The unrestrained beauty of nature in the wilderness is very well presented in the lovely illustrations that run through the entire book as well as in the magical story. The colour of the rhododendrons is there all over – almost to hypnotise you. Kids are going to love this fantasy tale.”
- Parenting, November 2007

Mystical tale with a message
“The story is a mystical tale set in Sikkim about a little girl called Kunzang with hair as red as rhododendrons and crimson eyes, and her pet Kiang (wild ass). But embedded in the tale is a deeper environmental message, with the little girl roaming free in the mountains representing Nature. “
- August 30, 2007, The Hindu, Metro Plus

Sameer's House
...it addresses directly the fascinating concept of how we are all interwoven into this universe, and how there is so much more beyond the extent of our direct vision in this world. And it feels like a great starting point to whet a child's curiosity about how this world came into being, what makes it tick every single minute and day, and are there any other worlds like ours, out there? Pretty heavy ammunition to offload into a tiny mind, no doubt...but a start is made very simply in this book.
– Oct 2007, saffrontree.org

What Shall I Make?
Flour Power
The book is more than a book - a down-to-earth culinary project for small children; the making of a chapati, a favorite that has withstood the wrath of time in the Indian household. Ample scope for turning kitchen interference from small children into wholesome fun! Needless to say, a playdoh equivalent, the dough is like a blank canvas. It triggers creativity in little minds and acts as medium to help them give shape and life to their favorite objects and scenes. For those who have not yet had a chance to discover the hidden power of chapati dough, the idea is fresh, hot and totally Indian!
– Sep 2007, saffrontree.org

"What a joy to find such an appealing picture book which sincerely and accurately represents a cultural heritage other than white middle class English. This book depicts a child's imagination as each animal that Neeraj makes 'comes alive ' in his hands... Here there is an element of repetition which makes a story so much more accessible to young children... The illustrations are simple and pleasing and there is a different font type used for the animals... thus drawing attention to the text as well as the pictures. At the back of the book there are step by step instructions for making chapattis - the perfect follow up activity to such a lovely book.
- www.writeaway.org.uk

"There are far too few books on the shelves of children’s bookshops of this pedigree... there are thousands of children in nurseries in the UK who will be able to identify with this story immediately – the mother is making dough and gives a piece to her child. Neeraj starts by making a snake, then a mouse, a cat and a lion before the round dough ball is rolled out by him into a chapatti. His mother puts on the stove and it puffs up!... it will be a delight to find a book on the shelves of their setting which tells a story so familiar to them. For those children who do not know about chapatti, they will learn about them in a fun way, being reminded of the many things they have tried to make out of dough or pastry when their mothers were baking. They will also have an opportunity to try to make chapatti as the book has both a pictorial and word recipe on how to make them...a must for every nursery, the clear text and appealing illustrations are an ideal introduction to India cooking as well as Indian culture.
-
Barbara Isaacs, Academic Director, MCI, London

It's Only A Story
It has the prodigious element of simple repetition, which gives the child a sense of mastery with it and boosts their involvement multifold...the unique illustrations tell the story on their own, making the words a mere formality. And they serve the added purpose of jumpstarting your memory should ever the chain be broken. Not to forget the feeling of giving your child a slice of history in the form of these folk paintings.
– July 2007, saffrontree.org

Sunu-sunu snail: Storm in the Garden
I read Storm in the Garden for the kids on Friday and  they LOVED it, they enjoyed the Hee Hees and the Sitta Pittas as lot. They actually have for homework to  translate part of it this week...  It's a beautiful book!
– March 2005, Mette Ottosson, teacher and photographer, Sweden

Simply written, the book is a wonderful tale to read out to children of age three and above. The sounds that Sunu-sunu relates to his mother is a joy for children to listen to and makes for interesting reading even for parents... The story is simple yet captivating.
– January 2002, The New Indian Express

How does one introduce the very young to books and how early can one begin? Perhaps, one answer is to be found in the Sunu-sunu Snail books from Tulika books. Storm in the Garden is available in five languages – English, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada – and the basic story by Sandhya Rao is straightforward... The illustrations by Ashok Rajagopalan are eye-catching and colourful, especially as they seem to be from the snail's eye-view... The availability of these books in regional languages is a plus since rarely does one find books for toddlers in languages other than English.
– July 2002, The Hindu

I'm So Sleepy
This is a cute little story about baby elephant Bahadur who has forgotten  how to sleep... The book also has colourful illustrations to satisfy the kids curiosity and get their imaginations working. And the style in which the story is written is also simple and lucid...
November 2004, The New Indian Express

Illustrations are precisely what makes I'm So  Sleepy's charm too: colourful and gay, most enjoyable for young children who will relish delightful  depictions of wild animals.
November 2004, The Book Review

Priya Kuriyan's illustrations are appealing, especially the one of Bahadur getting sleepier by the minute. Simple and easy to  draw, they fill  the pages with bright shades and make following the story a delight.
– February 2005, The Hindu

If you are the kind who thinks that a story should have educative value besides having fun, this one fits the bill. While the endearing little elephant is trying to figure out how it should fall asleep, the children also learn the sleeping habits of various other animals in the jungle...
Priya Kuriyan's illustrations...are radiant and so full of life.
– January 2005, The Hindu, Bangalore

   


picture books - bilingual picture books - wordbird books -  in verse - under the banyan 
paperback fiction
- classics in translation - think about - gandhi books - fact + fiction - read + colour  green books -  where I live - looking at art -  in focus - your companion - resource books


Home