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The Village
Fair
With excellent illustrations that depict the
vivacity of rural life. This book is a celebration of the colours and sounds
of a fast-vanishing rural India.
- May 2007, WOW! Hyderabad
Help! Help!
Sandhya Rao writes of the escapades
of an ant that has fallen into a pond, with sounds and noises that little
children, especially four-year-olds would love. Unusual sounds add
excitement to the reading aloud of the story….in both languages
simultaneously to add fun to the experience. And what better way of
introducing the young ones to their mother tongue? The visual drama is
enhanced by the simple cut-outs by talented Shantiniketan artist Proiti Roy.
- May 2007, WOW! Hyderabad
Thumb Thumb
Books
Most toddlers have one use for
their thumb – sucking. Tulika’s latest offering finds better uses for the
digit... The moment we saw the Thumb Thumb Book series, our thumbs
itched to be dipped in paint and pressed against paper. Butterflies, cats,
flowers, Thumb Thumb Thambi and Thumb Thumb Thangi are characters created
out of thumb impressions in the latest offering from Tulika Books. Tiny
fingerprints line up to form pigtails, a caterpillar’s wriggly body and a
peacock’s turquoise tail. The short sentences and large fonts make it easy
for tiny tots. The series is available in English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada,
Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali. Every time a toddler
finishes a story, the last page proudly proclaims, “I can read this book.”
The short stories familiarise children with concepts like animal sounds,
nature and facial expressions. There is a blank page at the back of the book
on which children can put their own thumbprints. They are sure to have a
good time doing that. After all thumb painting is messy, enjoyable and
wildly imaginative. Best of all, children can now use their thumbs to read.
- Bijal Vachharajani in a review titled Thumb rule in TimeOut
Mumbai,
September 4-17, 2009
Published by Tulika, the Thumb
Thumb Books series uses everyday contexts and everyday vocabulary to lend
confidence to a child beginning to read. These beginner readers are a set of
ten colorful books meant to capture the imagination of four year olds (and
up), and satisfy their urge to be able to read. The series is created with
thumbprint characters.
Developmentally speaking, a child first listens
to narrations and then moves on to see pictures of the narrations. Then
comes the stage where simple correlation of picture to word is transcended
and the child wants to read to get the nuances of the narration. Learning to
read hence has to first make the child feel that he or she has fluency of
language and understands the situation as well. It is here that the
thumbprint characters Thambi and Thangi, exploring their world, enter the
arena.
The informal style of narration in these books wherein everyday experiences
are talked about invite a child to read. Most reading books have repetitive
words that make a child read without even looking at the word. But in this
series, Tulika seems to have largely kept the repetitive sentence structure
out and kept it closer to the spoken, so that the reading is more
spontaneous. Each time a child picks up a book, he/she discovers the joy of
reading
'9 to l' by Niveditha Subramanian, the first book
in the series, goes backwards in numbers and finally brings in Thambi to
welcome the rain. All the characters in the book built around the thumbprint
are captivating. Making faces is an explorative fascination that all
children go through. In 'Mirror', Sandhya Rao brings this through
charmingly. The interest in reading is sure to hold as the illustrations are
dynamic. In 'Flower' the exploration is around making words of sounds-indeed
a thoroughly enjoyable experience for four-year-olds. It's the surprises
that come from exploration that forms the storyline. Ashok Rajagopalan's
illustrations are like enacting it to an audience. 'Hello' is a story about
the wonderful world of trees and bees, butterflies and birds and Thambi of
course greeting the flower with a 'Hello'. In 'Where is Thangi?', Thangi
keeps the suspense, even if Thambi's anxiety to find Thangi increases page
after page. When, she declares in the end 'Here I am', Thambi is overjoyed.
The illustration on the last page is a delight. 'Shhhhh!' goes the wakeful
world as Thangi sleeps. When a plate clatters, Thangi merely turns around to
go back to sleep!!! It's Thangi searching for Thambi in 'Dark'. Radhika
Menon and Biswajit Balasubramanian take you on a moonlight walk. 'Tail' is a
book that will take a child beyond the text. What can't you do if a tail
were a part of you!! Deepa Balsavar and her excellent illustrations have you
flipping the pages again and again.
'Up Up' is a simple narration of a simple activity, fascinating nonetheless.
There is excellent body language in the illustrations. Ashok Rajagopalan
supports Jeeva Raghunath's narration. In 'Song' by Sandhya Rao, an orchestra
builds which arrests Thangi's attention and song turns naturally and
spontaneously to dance.
In all the books a unique feature is that when
the story is done, the child is invited to make his or her own
illustrations!!! Allowing a child to read inspired by her/his own
illustrations is an imaginative way to encourage reading. The dynamic
illustrations dance and sing and children will love this. What's even better
is that it is available in other Indian languages as well (Hindi, Tamil,
Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Bangla, Telugu, Malayalam). Head for the store
to get rich fare.
And while on you're way there, let me tell you
how my class of tiny international students (for many of whom English is a
second language) reacted when I shared a couple of Thumb Thumb books with
them. First I read in English, slowly, showing them the pictures, pausing.
They listened attentively, following every detail. Then I read in Tamil, and
in Hindi, slowly, showing them the pictures. They were riveted, because
although they did not know either language, they knew the story and were
familiar with the context. They were listening to the music the words in
these unfamiliar languages were making. What an experience that was, and
what a wonderful way to take books in different languages to children in
multilingual India.
- Padma Srinath who teaches little ones at the American International
School, Chennai, in a review titled Rich Fare for Little Ones in the November 2009 issue of The Book Review
Ju's Story
The latest in Tulika's picture book series in multiple languages..., is
well-known Malayalam novelist and columnist Paul Zacharia's warm tale that
captures the hidden riches that gild the life of a schoolgirl in an
undescribed corner in Kerala. Asma Menon's lush illustrations that accompany
the story reveal a setting vivid with colourful layers of meaning.
The girl at the centre of the story has a name
with no identifiable religious or cultural markers. Ju's tailor-father dies
when she is a year old leaving her mother, a domestic worker, to her own
devices. Any single parent household brings with it tentative moments that
arise from the absence of a loved parent and therefore, particularly in this
case, curtailed material possibilities. The inventive mother embellishes her
daughter's life by providing her discarded and unwanted keepsakes from the
homes she visits. These became valuable gifts, almost like treasured secrets
from someone else's life, and imbue Ju's hand-me-down routine with a dash of
glory.
Once in Ju's possession, the keepsakes become
something more than discarded objects. From being old and unwanted, they
become new and cherished. Ju is nothing less than an alchemist in her
ability to transform them into revered and special belongings. In the hands
of a sensitive writer like Zacharia, the story of simple discovery becomes a
moving experience. Menon's strong and vibrant colours suggest empowerment.
The theme of loss and possession, the joy of
exploration and the anguish of uncertainty, the finiteness of experience and
the ambiguity of choice are seamlessly woven into the story of a girl who is
obviously deprived by circumstance but hopelessly rich in spirit and
imagination. The image that stays with the reader, who is enabled by the
illustrator's intuitive visual reinforcement, is that of courage unshackled
by victimhood.
Neither the author nor the illustrator is
singularly associated with children's writing and while this enhances the
subtext in subtle ways, deft editing keeps the charming essentials in focus.
The book is more than just a story about losses,
possessions and the lessons in between. It is a part of 'Different Tales', a
project undertaken by Anveshi Research Centre for Women's Studies in
Hyderabad, to present life-worlds seldom reflected in children's books.
Tulika has always been an active agent in collaborative approaches to enrich
children's literature and its social agenda.
Radhika Menon, Publisher, Tulika, was part of the
Anveshi advisory committee. From the discussions, she understood that though
there were a few books about children from marginalised communities which
addressed issues of community and gender, they still reflected an outsider's
view. This would change if the stories were woven around non-normative
families or communities and if their everyday experiences and activities
were seen as the context in which questions of marginalization and
discrimination were addressed. In the Anveshi stories the strong narrative
voices of the writers shift the centre of consciousness and alter the
norrmative assumptions about childhood.
Radhika Menon writes in the Tulika blog: 'We have
always made a conscious effort to move away from a middle and upper class
sensibility and have tried to make sure that all children can relate
comfortably to the stories and pictures. If our publishing had been
restricted to English, it would almost certainly have had an urban middle
class bias. But we publish in eight Indian languages and often the bulk of
our books in regional languages reach the less privileged children. This
strongly influences the choice of the stories and illustrations in our
books.'
Publishing in so many languages and making the books accessible to all
children is a challenging task and Tulika's 13-year journey on this road has
seen a cross-national and cross-cultural series of milestones.
Ju’s Story is available in English,
Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali through Tulika.
A Malayalam version will be released by the Kerala State Institute of
Children's Literature.
The first in a series of stories from Anveshi
that Tulika plans to publish as picture books, Ju's Story is a telling
example of why these stories matter. By making the experience of a girl from
a marginalized group central, it links the neglected periphery to the
self-absorbed elite. Through the medium of a simple story, the message of
sensitivity reaches out to the imagination of young readers everywhere.
- Bindu Bhaskar, senior faculty at the Asian College of Journalism,
Chennai. in a review titled, Picture Book in Multiple Languages, in
the November 2009 issue of
The Book Review |
