Where is Baba? Why is he not back yet? Jhupli is restless as evening sets in. Her father has gone into the dense jungle to gather honey and she is afraid. Because there are tigers in the forest. Because people sometimes go inside and never come out. Must Baba go in danger every day? Jhupli has an idea – honey boxes!Mood-filled pictures and text weave...
When she sets her plastic bottle boat to bob from stream to sea, Ammu doesn’t know what danger she has set adrift – that it might end up in the belly of a whale. The light verse that follows the journey of the bottle boat evokes the casual carelessness with which we destroy the natural world, while illustrations underline that horror with a clever spin on...
Bumoni’s big backyard, just outside the Kaziranga National Park, is bursting with banana trees. Then one night a herd of wild elephants crosses the river, discovers the trees, and gorges on them. Bumoni’s family is very upset – how do they keep the elephants away? Bumoni has an idea! But then, what will the elephants eat now? Spare but dramatic pictures...
SPLASH! Ira does happy backflips in the calm waters of Odisha’s Chilika Lake. But she and the other friendly Irrawady dolphins must be mindful of the hidden dangers that lurk all around. The author, a well-known wildlife filmmaker and conservationist, spent many weeks observing these dolphins while making a film on Chilika Lake. Brilliant photographs...
When rock bees build a bee colony in Gowri's balcony, her mother decides to ask Mr Ramaiah, an expert on bees, for help. They don't have to be killed, the bee master tells Gowri and her mother. Just moved to a safer place, safe for us and for them. The little girl watches fascinated… And as she learns about bees and the environment, we too are drawn into...
One morning, a mother and child go in search of the sun. Their journey comes alive in a vast dotted landscape where lively birds, quick-footed animals and busy humans meet and share the forest, the river and the mountain… The book is a vibrant collaboration between a master Warli artist, a design student and the publishers, inspired by the incredible...
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…
Bulbuli lives in a bamboo house in a bamboo grove, and is busy in her little bamboo world from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep. Just following Bulbuli around, this story told in a rhythmic, cumulative style spotlights bamboo to make a simple green statement. Words and pictures communicate a very real sense of the versatility of bamboo...
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...
The Kite Tree changes... Its leaves fall, they grow back, flowers appear and it begins to hum with life. But that's not all. It comes up with unexpected surprises! Keen eyes and a busy imagination capture these changes, stir anticipation and raise a flurry of questions. Quiet pictures reflect the tree’s many moods to evoke the movement of the seasons.
Zesty, childlike visuals that play with the shape of the tree combine with crisp text to make this an imaginative little book that will inspire young readers to care for the environment. The single line that runs through the book connecting words and pictures celebrates the tree in its myriad roles.
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,...
Kunzang is a strange child of nature, with hair as wild and red as the rhododendrons she lives among. People say that one look from her crimson eyes can make wishes come true. She rides untroubled on her graceful kiang through Sikkim's Yumthang valley. But then, along comes the powerful king, Bhu-pen, who sees the kiang and wants it... A lyrical story...
“There was once a mountain made of bare stone…” It stands cold and alone until one day a small bird appears and changes its life. This well-loved story by American writer Alice McLerran, shared all over the world in many languages, draws from universal truths that go beyond boundaries of language and culture. The illustrations are as lyrical, evoking the...
A boy finds a little seed and plants it. What will grow out of it, he wonders — a tree, a butterfly, a mountain? Manjari Chakravarti’s evocative pictures soar with the child’s imagination, capturing the hope and anticipation and the small dose of reality! 2019: Jarul Book Award (shortlisted)
Mati pesters her grandmother and father for her own plot of land. When she does get it, she works hard. And then she hears that a company wants to make a coal mine in their village – the enormous black pit that will eat up all their lands, like it has in the next village… As always, Rinchin powers her questions through irresistible storytelling. The...
The smart lion thinks he can use the fox to bring him food every day. But the fox is smarter! A familiar Panchatantra fable with innovative twists and a whole new environmental angle. The rich, energetic illustrations draw from the art of the Gond people from central India who live closely connected with nature.
Based on a real friendship between the author’s niece and a tree, this heartwarming story reflects on the true relationship between human beings and nature. Rich colours set off against stark white give the illustrations a dramatic quality.
Through the window, a resplendent coral tree comes to life. One morning there is a burst of orange-crimson, and already the tree's many admirers have arrived: babblers, a langur, a rat snake... Evoking moods as varied as the creatures that inhabit the tree, the text pulsates with the energy and warmth of activity. Photographs beautifully capture the tree...
Small and significant aspects of life in Ura, a village nestling in a valley in central Bhutan, are captured through letters exchanged between ten-year-old Dorji who lives there, and Toto, a boy in Bengaluru, India. Photographs bring to life the small, mountainous country of Bhutan, sandwiched between India and China. Little items of information are...
The 'arribada' or arrival of thousands of olive ridley sea turtles for mass nesting on some beaches of Odisha is one of nature's amazing spectacles. Yet thousands of these gentle reptiles die every year due to callous fishing practices and human apathy. Through unique photographs, ridley facts, and a narrative born out of first-hand experience,...
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,...
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...
This powerful film-to-novel sits deep in the clash between adivasis, naxalites, the CRPF and a rapacious mining company. But at the heart is little Oonga. Desperate to see a performance of ‘Sitaharan’, he goes on an epic journey to the big city – to return as the blue adivasi prince of the forest, Rama himself! And, Rama-like, he takes on the gun-wielding...
