Sandhya Rao

Sandhya Rao is one of the finest writers for children in India. Her books have won awards and accolades: My Friend the Sea won the Ambitious Children’s Book Project award at the Berlin Children and Youth Literature Festival, 2005. My Mother’s Sari was chosen as an Outstanding International Book, 2007, by the United States Board for Books for Young People (USBBY) and the Children’s Book Council. Rights to the book have been sold for USA, Canada, Australia and the U.K. In 1996, she joined Radhika Menon to create multilingual books for children at a time when independent children’s publishing in India was nascent. She has written over 20 books. Chennai-based Sandhya has an eclectic taste in books, music and films and loves listening to stories, especially real stories. She works at The Hindu

per page
  • Rs. 150.00

    Grab that thought, hold on to that idea, write it down – and it could be the start of your very own book! Acclaimed children’s author Sandhya Rao draws children into the exciting world of words and writing with a string of activities that stir the imagination, stoke the mind, and spur on creativity. All you have to do is... jump in and play the game!

  • Rs. 75.00

    There is only one girl in the world who can do just what she likes, and that is Pippi Longstocking. Lovable, crazy and completely self-sufficient, nine-year-old Pippi lives all alone with her monkey and horse. Tommy and Annika from next door are fascinated by her, and the threesome have a great time together... A translation of the great children’s...

  • Rs. 175.00
    4 Review(s)

    The very first words Zakir hears from his famous father, Allarakha, are bols — rhythms played out on tablas! From then on, bols sing and dance in his head, on Amma’s cheeks, on the pots and pans in the kitchen… Sandhya Rao follows these beats, stringing together little vignettes from his life. From a childhood around music to the highs of a performer who...

  • Rs. 150.00
    2 Review(s)

    A boy who doesn’t stop talking, furry cats and clacking needles... Shobha has a dream every night, but she always wakes up before they end. How do these dreams end? She really has to know. “Write them down,” says English Miss. And that’s what Shobha does. “The more she wrote, the more she wrote, and the more she wrote. She wrote and wrote.” The interplay...

  • Rs. 150.00
    1 Review(s)

    Irfaan has a story in his head. So do Thanh, Suzanne, Wang and others. They write them down on white sand and yellow sand, pebbly and clayey sand... and then what happens to them? They are washed away by waves, churned in the oceans and left on other sands, where other children listen to them. Sandhya Rao lyrically evokes the ebb and flow of tales across...

  • Rs. 135.00
    1 Review(s)

    The quiet villages of Sundarban are terrorised by a monster with wild eyes, sharp teeth, striped skin and pointed nails — Dokkhin Rai! Until finally, Bon Bibi, protector of the forests and people, asks him a simple question: Why do you do this? The answer to this question is central to the age-old theme of human-animal harmony. Set in the lush and...

  • Rs. 70.00
    1 Review(s)

    A number book with a twist at the end. What are Thambi and 45 others waiting for? This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant visuals make entry into reading easy and exciting. At the end is a page for...

  • Rs. 70.00

    The faces in the mirror just won't go away. Not the frog, not the lion, not the monkey. They won't even get scared. Then Thangi has an idea! This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant visuals make entry...

  • Rs. 70.00

    Thambi finds a flower, he picks it up, smells it. Mmmmm! But there's someone sitting inside... oh! This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant visuals make entry into reading easy and exciting. At the end...

  • Rs. 70.00
    1 Review(s)

    Hello says the sun to the bud. Hello says the rain, the bees, the butterflies, the birds, and Thambi. Hello the flower replies showing off its lovely petals. This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant...

  • Rs. 70.00

    Where is Thangi, Thambi asks the blackbeetle, the butterfly... Nobody seems to know. Where can she be? This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant visuals make entry into reading easy and exciting. At the...

  • Rs. 70.00
    1 Review(s)

    Shh, Thangi is sleeping. The caterpillar crawls, the cat yawns... then a plate clatters to the ground. Thangi wakes up. Oh no! This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant visuals make entry into reading...

  • Rs. 70.00
    1 Review(s)

    The lights go off and Thangi can't find Thambi. He's not in the cupboard, he's not behind the door, he's not under the bed. Where could he be? This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant visuals make entry...

  • Rs. 70.00

    Thambi takes a piece of paper, tears it into a square, pastes two sticks on it, ties a string and then flies it high in the sky. It's a kite! This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant visuals make entry...

  • Rs. 70.00
    1 Review(s)

    If Thambi had a tail, he would wag it to show he was happy, he would swish away flies, he would even swim. What else would he do? This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and vibrant visuals make entry into reading...

  • Rs. 70.00

    One day, Thangi gets into the mood and begins to sing. Immediately the cats mewl, the dogs howl and the donkeys bray. But when the peacocks join in, what does Thangi do? This beginner reader is part of the Thumb Thumb Books series, created around the common thumbprint and featuring Thumb Thumb Thangi and Thumb Thumb Thambi. Short sentences, bold type and...

  • Rs. 125.00
    1 Review(s)

    Where is Crocodile? This warm story explores the thoughts, feelings and imagined fears shared by friends when one of them suddenly goes missing. Delicate and complex emotions are handled with simplicity, while the pictures capture mood, motion and confusion with a light touch and a lot of heart. The book came out of a workshop in which writers and...

  • Rs. 190.00
    1 Review(s)

    Who was this man who so mesmerised the world, born over a century ago but whose words and wisdom are still so current, so compelling? Films, plays, books, media images and news stories bring Mahatma Gandhi regularly into our homes. His birthday, 2 October, is the International Day for Non-violence. But how do we relate this familiar yet distant icon to a...

  • Rs. 70.00

    When the clouds begin to rumble, out tumbles the naughty wind Jhakkad. Oooo... he blows looking for mischief. The rich, evocative illustrations sweep the reader through this one stormy night.

  • Rs. 175.00
    2 Review(s)

    The sari Mother wears every day is sometimes a train, sometimes a river, or a swing, or a hiding place… Children have a way of seeing things differently! The pictures too break away from conventional depictions of both saris and children, combining photographs and acrylic in dramatic, original ways, with spare text that weaves and winds. 2007: Outstanding...

  • Rs. 135.00
    1 Review(s)

    This zippy zestful grand-ant has travelled the world, and how! This smart ‘travel quiz' comes in crisp, cheery verse that jogs the mind even as it swings the imagination. Clues come through words and pictures, taking children on a whirlwind journey from New Zealand to Japan, China, Nepal... But how does grand-ant travel?

  • Rs. 135.00
    1 Review(s)

    An ant's curiosity leads to adventure in this chain story of repetition and cumulative images. The illustrations within illustrations drawn in stark white on brown are adapted from the art of the Warli storytellers. The stories are illustrated in a flowing river-like fashion, capturing the pattern of the cumulative tale visually as well.

  • Rs. 65.00
    1 Review(s)

    Gadagada gudugudu... the marble rolls from one child's hand to another in exchange each time for something exciting. The story moves in a straightforward childlike way as, one after the other, it reintroduces simple street games endlessly popular with children. Trundling alongside is the rhythmic refrain that fascinatingly echoes the circular movement of...

  • Rs. 100.00
    1 Review(s)

    A fictional story of a boy caught in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami offers a way for children to come to terms with natural calamities. Warm photographs reinforce images of bonding. 2005: Ambitious Children’s Book Project, Berliner Kinder und Jugendbuchpreis, Germany (English)