On a visit to Australia, there is much excitement with hi-tech gadgets and journeys underwater and on dragonback. Only the elephant is worried — will she finally find her name?
The Chola ruler King Parthiban has a dream… he wants to make his empire the most powerful in the region. However, before he can do this, he is killed in battle. With the rising might of the Pallavas, how is his young son to fulfil this dream? A dramatic moment in history is recreated in this racy thriller by a master raconteur! With heart-stopping twists...
How was everyday life for children long ago? Did they have pets? What sort of games did they play? In this book, imagination takes off from carefully researched fact to create ten fascinating stories of children from times past, spanning India's history from around 3500 BCE onward. Alongside are bits of interesting information, finely-etched collages, and...
Sonabai lives beside a tree that bears delicious red berries. Every day she picks the berries and makes sweets to sell in the market. She is very content... until Kolaba the fox sneaks into her life. Ranjan De's papercuts add to the mystery and fun of this well-loved Marathi folktale.
The famous storyteller, Gorannagaru, is in the village to recite the Ramayana. Bangaramma forces her husband, Penchilayya, to attend. Tired and sleepy, he goes quite unwillingly – and finds the stories sweet one night, salty another! Bangaramma is intrigued... A gentle folktale from Andhra Pradesh about the magic of stories, with pictures in the style of...
Big, burly Tarlochan is a champion wrestler, eager for a real challenge. So when he hears of Paramjit, reputed to be unbeatable, he sets off across the Sutlej river to take him on. The two begin their bout with gusto and become so absorbed in it that they literally get 'carried away'! The pictures for this folk fantasy from Punjab imbibe the spirit of its...
Moyna lives in a little tribal village. She cannot go to school because she has to tend goats, collect firewood, fetch water… But she is so full of questions that the postmaster calls her the ‘why-why girl'! In this inspiring and delightful story, her first picture book, acclaimed Jnanpith award-winning writer Mahasweta Devi tells us how she meets Moyna...
Vibrant colours, delicate motifs, evocative pictures, sharp sayings, freewheeling songs... These are the spices that brew in India's folk tradition and flavour its stories. The telling of these timeless stories is an ideal way of engaging comfortably with contemporary concerns, diverse subjects and curriculum workloads in schools today. This 'how to' of...
Bhikhubhai's mouth waters for some coconut... fresh, juicy, grated, with a dash of sugar. But there aren't any in the house and he must go to the market for one. The problem is that he'd rather not pay for it! This hilarious folktale from Gujarat has pictures based on the stylised painted paper scrolls used by Garoda storytellers in northern Gujarat.
Nazneen carefully cooks some fragrant marzwangan kurma for a special family dinner. But just when it is all ready, guests arrive — unwanted guests, who cleverly sniff out a good free meal. A warm, amusing folktale from Kashmir which captures life in a simple Kashmiri household. The illustrations use traditional Kashmiri embroidery motifs to provide...
The postal parrot brings a cryptic letter with a British stamp addressed to ‘Aditi and Friends' — an urgent plea for help. The four friends rush to London, and find themselves on prime time news!
When disaster struck on the night of 3 December 1984, it took a sleeping Bhopal by surprise — it woke thousands to their death, maimed thousands more for life. But the poison gas that poured out of the Union Carbide factory was also a wake-up call to the world. This book examines the causes, gives a background and traces the fallout — scientific, medical,...
Sunu-sunu the snail is playing with his friends, the ants. Suddenly there is a storm. He ‘hurries' home to his mother and tells her all he saw and heard. With repetitive sound words creating the mood, eloquent illustrations evoke a snail's-eye view of the storm in his world – the garden! Available in Mundari. For more details, please contact us.
On a holiday in the jungles of Kalagarh, Gitanjali and her cousins experience elephant encounters of a very strange kind! A spine-tingling tale that is taut with mystery and tinged with Ranjit Lal's trademark humour.
Kali hates school. And school hates him, he thinks, for he has no friends. His classmates find him strange. He wishes his father were an ‘ordinary' bus-conductor or postman instead of a snake-catcher, even if one of the most celebrated in the Irula tribe. He worries that others will see him eating fried termites (his favourite snack!) and laugh. And then...
Muchu the merchant has to work with numbers all the time – but without ‘zero’ it is so very difficult! Arising from an animation film, the story is a well-researched fictional take on how zero came to be used in mathematical calculations. It goes centuries back to Takshashila in northwestern India, where the concept is said to have originated. The people...
A dragon is scorching the countryside, and will stop only if young Aditi is given to him. So go she must. But a one-eyed monkey, an ant and an elephant decide to accompany her. Armed only with a cloak of invisibility, a ball of magic clay and a Sword of Courage, the four friends set off to look for this fierce dragon. Is it fair to slay a sleeping dragon?...
Playful little Malu is in trouble! The adorable little polar bear growing up in the North Pole can’t resist running off to “where the sunbeams danced”. And then what happens? As the tale unfolds through her adventures, the lilting cadence of the writing draws another, larger, picture — about girls, what they can do too. Enchanting illustrations evoke the...
Most people are confused about how to react to those with disabilities. Their questions, misconceptions, doubts and fears are answered here – simply and straight from the heart – by a child with cerebral palsy. Sheila Dhir's childlike line drawings are just as simple and powerful as the short verses. As a differently-abled child's dialogue with society,...
Kalia, a poor cobbler, lives with his wife in Patna. He makes beautiful shoes with fine curling points. One day, tired of being poor, he seeks the help of a holy man who appoints him a ghost, Bhootram, who will earn Kalia a lot of money. The only problem is that Bhootram must always be kept busy – or he will eat them up! What will they do? The...
In the beginning, the Bhilalas believed, there was only water. The harassed and wet subjects beg their lazy god to create land so that they can get dry and stay that way. The poor god is put to all sorts of trouble before this wish can be granted. With a fantasy element that reflects the unfettered nature of the oral tradition, this zany folktale from...
Tired of life in Mumbai with his Chacha and Chachi, Arif runs away. He hops onto a train to Chennai, then smuggles himself onto a boat going to… the Andaman islands! Rich with adventure and humour, full of the wonders of nature, this book is also filled with details about the unique, misunderstood world of the Jarawa, a tribe in the Andamans whose very...
How do children cope with the pressures of divisive and contradictory forces at play in the world today? This book provides thought-provoking perspectives on peace and belonging, encouraging discussion around difficult subjects. Affirmative pieces, original and translated, by contemporary writers introduce different forms of writing – fiction, nonfiction,...
