Gulab works happily from dawn to dusk in the garden at the house on top of the hill. One evening he takes back a big bunch of magnolias for his wife – “those flowers that look like the moon”. But on the way, he gives away a flower to Raju Ghodawala with the horse, one to Tsering and her baby who have come from Tibet, another to Lachhami going back to her...
An owl drops a purple feather in a forest. A little girl picks it up and begins a journey into magical lands... The story emerged out of a unique 3D character that Roma Singh crafted out of an old book. She made wild hair from its pages and cut out eyes like moons. Its playfulness demanded a story and Roma soon found one. The touch-and-feel visuals...
Somewhere in the universe, little children in butterfly-shaped time machines eat scrumptious star-rock salad from Galaxy Stellar 5689, and a volcano erupts fruit juice that freezes into ice-cream! Padma is sure of that — because that's what it says in her book. How books give wing to imagination, how flights of fantasy can be as real as the world around…...
A thrilling book based on a true story of an encounter with the endangered cat in the Western Ghats of India. Perched on a treetop at a waterhole in a reserve forest in Kerala, the author and his friend, Natarajan, an Irula tribesman, were waiting to sight a tiger. This was when Natarajan told him the story of his first encounter with a black panther in...
Hiss! Boo! Muahahaha! Mala creeps up from behind and scares everyone. Then her mother gives her a pair of pretty silver anklets... The pictures of this charming and very popular story have the exuberance and freshness typical of Nancy Raj's work.
How did people many, many years ago have clothes that were red, orange, purple, pink...? Where did colour come from? Here's a story that goes back over a thousand years to a time when dyers and weavers made colours out of flowers, leaves and roots, to create beautiful shades of cloth. It is the story of Kunku and her pigeon friend, Chandrakali, who want...
Little Siri slips away from home one day and goes around asking whomsoever she meets to smile. Find out why in the pages of this bright and cheerful book that evokes a world of colour and things to discover.
Mr Moochvaala and his mechanical monsters are going to cut down Bargad chawl, and its residents are worried. They are in danger of losing their homes – their nooks and crannies, shelters and perches in the big banyan tree. It is left to Ali the monkey to find a way out. He swings, jumps and leaps into action, and comes up with a monkey trick that gives a...
After the much-admired Let's Plant Trees, the author is now chasing and playing with big monsoon clouds! This time, too, the message is clear and simple. Rainwater is free, pure and precious. Let us save it – in buckets and wells and coconut shells…
A lonely king and queen hear a voice calling out to them. They look inside their home, in the garden and beyond, searching in vain, while all the time it grows louder... Written like a bedtime story and illustrated with gentle humour, this book leads the reader to discover what 'family' really means without mystifying the fact of adoption. Moreover, it...
"Are you there, Amma?" "Are you inside, Amma?" Kiran looks everywhere for his mother – in the kitchen, in the balcony, and even in the unlikeliest of places! Charming watercolours make this book one warm and irresistible hide-and-seek story. 2018: Best of Indian Children's Writing: Contemporary
Pintoo walks home from school one evening, all alone. He is not afraid until the sun begins to set rapidly. Suddenly, he feels himself being lifted up, up, up... by a giant! Now, what? This spin on a common fairytale figure effortlessly captures the spirit of a little boy's vivid imagination and curious nature. Warm watercolour tones bring to life the...
Dr C.V. Raman loved the universe, loved science, loved speaking to children. In this extraordinary book conceived by two creative minds, the eminent scientist and Nobel Prize winner urges readers to look around, observe nature and ask questions. The text is extracted from a famous lecture, and the photographs were taken while he was talking about why the...
It's time to get ready for school and the little girl in this book is still in a world of dreams – of tigers, elephants, the sea... And as she tries to hurry up, her grandmother tells her the secret of what made her father go to school. Inspired by the author’s father's experience at a government-aided school, the text and pictures capture the child's...
Small noses catch small colds. Big noses catch big colds. Gajapati Kulapati the elephant has a big nose and catches a great, big, mighty cold! And what happens when he sneezes – Aaaaachoooo….? With repetitive sounds and words that roll rhythmically through the pages, this bestselling series about the adorable elephant puts the zing back into storytelling...
There was once a prince who hated food. One day the royal cook gives him something new to eat – a hot golden ball, crisp outside, soft inside... a bonda! After that there is no stopping either the prince or this mad tale that rolls its jolly way to an inevitably happy, bondaful end. The jaunty illustrations pick up all the comic clues along the way, to...
A dusty path runs through a village where people and animals keep walking up and down, up and down. Others, on faster feet and wheels, shout “Out of the way, out of the way.” In a simple lyrical way, the author subverts commonly held views on environment and development by showing simultaneously the growth of a wide-spreading tree and a busy winding road,...
Suddenly the lights go off and the house is plunged into darkness. There’s a power cut! Mother lights a candle, and there begins a game of elephant, cat, deer, snake and more. Then the power comes back. Where do the animals go?
Keshav's favourite game is to hide in a rolled up mat and pretend he is travelling to all the places he has marked in his atlas. And he is delighted when he discovers that his friend, Lobsang, is really from a place that he has marked in his map – Tibet! A charmingly imagined story that explores the reality of exile and the longing for home. Charm and...
After a school trip to the zoo, Amma is surprised that Meera has seen no animals – not a monkey, a lion, or even a giraffe... But why did Meera see no animals there? Her lively mother forgets to ask! Zestful pictures capture the hilarious inversion of role play.
Ju’s mother brings her hand-me-downs from the homes in which she works and Ju welcomes them like new friends. She especially loves the well-used textbooks and the treasures sometimes hidden among their pages: pressed flowers, poems, even a dead butterfly. Then one day Ju discovers a sealed envelope in a maths book, which has a stamp but no address... In...
One naughty little cat with an orange tail and pointy ears is lost! Minnie goes looking for her Pooni, and steps onto a busy city street filled with people to talk to and things to look at. Writer-artist-cartoonist Manjula Padmanabhan’s humour-filled pictures with delightful details invite us to join in the search – for the cat who is always just one step...
Ali did not know how to really see until he looked closely at a spider's web through his father's camera... The nature of relationships in the human and natural world are subtly presented through warm illustrations and revealing photographs.
When living happily together becomes difficult, the creatures of the world decide that the largest group among them should rule the world. In the race for numbers, it looks as though one shy creature is going to make the difference. Based loosely on an Australian Aboriginal tale and with elements of Indian and Aboriginal art, this story demonstrates a...
