An elephant with nail polish? Ranganna is captivated by the brightly coloured nails of his friends and wants to paint his toes too – all 18 of them! Illustrations that are a riot of colour zestfully capture the happy spirit of Ranganna.
Little Satya lives by the River Ganga in Banaras and longs to row her own boat, just like her father. But he says she's not old enough or strong enough. But Satya can't wait… One day, she makes a little paper boat and that night, she dreams and drifts into a watery world. As the story unfolds, the finely detailed illustrations and their colours heighten...
There was a time when happiness began to leak out of the world. Everything dried up. No colour, no food, no smiles – only hunger, sadness and quarrels. One old woman decided that something had to be done, and she heard from the wind about a magical fish that lived in a green-green lake... Told by a Gond storyteller and illustrated by a Gond artist, this...
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...
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...
The Ningthou and Leima, king and queen of Manipur, rule well over their meeyam, their people. As the years roll by, it is time to decide who will succeed to the throne. The Ningthou and Leima desire that the throne go, not to the eldest son, but to the wisest, most able child. And so they hold a competition. Who wins the bout? This folktale from Manipur...
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...
Soda is a dog who feels like a dog. Bonda is a cat who feels like a...? Dog! A quirky tale about two friends, which makes us think about who we are and how we see ourselves. Expressions, colours and textures work in perfect balance with the seemingly simple text to create a joyful portrait of a friendship that goes beyond appearances. 2019: Publishing...
Phumtopchen – meaning ‘Giant Girl’ in Tibetan – is a happy child who loves to blow passing clouds into different shapes and eat them up too. So when people are threatened by some big, black clouds, it is Phumtopchen to the rescue for she knows exactly what to do! A charming old-world folk-style story in verse about a big little special girl who stomps...
Guthli is a happy child, everyone’s favourite. Then one day she is told not to wear her sister’s frilly frock, but her ‘own’ boy’s clothes. And things erupt. “Why do you keep saying I’m a boy when I’m a girl?” she asks her mother. In that simple question lies all the bewilderment that children like Guthli feel, who don’t seem to others what they know they...
Flashing swords, firing guns, charging on horseback, planning strategies and talking peace… These women did it all, and how! Sweeping aside the myth that it takes a man to fight and rule and protect, they led from the front, went fearlessly into battle, fought against injustice, and took care of their people. Some were royalty, some ordinary – but all had...
Aren’t sex and gender the same thing? Either male or female, right? Of course men and women are equal – but who calls the shots at home? Does what you wear ‘invite trouble’? Do women need to be ‘controlled for their own good’? Why is being different from the majority such a problem? With gender issues hitting news hotspots, there are more and more...
From oppressive loneliness, Sonabai Rajawar 'makes' her way into a world of beauty and joy! This sensitive telling of her story follows her artistic journey from her first creations in clay, experiments with colours and light, play with pattern and design, to being embraced by the art world. Rich photographs make for a fascinating introduction to the life...
Meet Mayil Ganeshan, 12 going on spirited 13, who finally has her chance to say all she wants – in her diary. But this is also an important step towards becoming 'Mayilwriter', to make up for all the stories she hasn't completed and the novel that didn't know where it was going. What she gives is a spontaneous, sensitive, honest, intimate and often...
Enter a world of boys. Writers and sportsmen, princes and cooks — scared, brave, bully, bullied, rich, poor, gentle, rough, in the gang and out of it... With different childhoods, challenges and choices, they come together in strength to take on the notion that 'boys will be boys'. Here is a collection which has a story for every boy. With contributions...
Move over, petrified princesses in towers. Stand back, sword bucklers. These audacious girls are their own saviours! What do you think happens when Snow White, Cinderella and gang meet an author who wonders: "Now what would any red-blooded girl with brains do in such a situation?" Six leading ladies decide not to stick to the script, and take us instead...
Mayil is now perceptibly older, and wiser to a lot more things that make up teens. We see her as one of the Fake-inas friend-ing a cute senior on Facebook, as a superpowered Liyam Lonewolf, a Cinderella tripping over her ghagra at Pumpkin VS's party, and of course, as a further evolved Mayilwriter who wouldn't mind rapping too. In this second book of the...
A space adventure! One of Jupiter’s moons is going off orbit and calls out to Siril. So, with some help from the scientific genius of the Techno Sage, Aditi and friends build a spaceship, fix on anti-gravity pads, and zoom off to see what they can do to correct its path. A gripping sci-fi fantasy with some unusual insights. Are impossible friendships...
Danger! That’s what the digital butterflies seem to spell out. There is a little boy, Otto, who has been snatching up words and making them disappear. Armed with Siril and Gardy’s own word-hoards and Monkeyji’s mind power, the adventurers go to Hong Kong – the city of dragons – to stop Otto and his platoon of crows from destroying the city. Does...
Holiday plans for the adventurers go off track when a runaway computer programme, the naughty Mistress i, decides to hide with them. Hot on her heels is the scientist who created her, who threatens to put them in jail for kidnapping. And in the middle of all the commotion, Beautiful the Elephant is determined to become rational and logical. What do you do...
Three days to go before a killer asteroid will end life on Earth! Everyone is in a panic. Everyone, that is, but Vanita, who has things to do. Such as saving the planet. She has a plan drawn up to the minutest detail. All pure science. With just a little help from fridge magnets, a little puppy – and a special ‘shrinking’ gift that she has. Manjula...
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 environment is at risk! Gobby, the naughty little hobgoblin, is practising his magic and running amuck in Antarctica – turning the white snow black, giving stripes and spots to the penguins, and scrawling pink graffiti on the mountainsides. As Aditi and gang hasten to stop him, they find that the world is warming up dangerously, the snow is melting....
Gardy isn’t sure if he is the lost lion cub prince who will save the ‘City of Lions’, Singapore. But he rushes there with his friends, all the same. They find that the city is indeed under threat – from its very own haughty, crotchety, bickering guardians, Sir Leon and the Old Woman under the Sea. What is seeing clearly all about – guessing the future,...
