The Puffin Book of Folktales

The Puffin Book of Folktales
Illustrations - Poonam Athalye
Ages 4-8

What do you get when you throw together Paro Anand, Ruskin Bond, Kamala Das, Devdutt Patnaik and Shashi Deshpande, among others? You get the Puffin Book of folk tales, celebrating 10 years of Puffin in India.

Some original stories, some moving from the oral tradition to the written, and some retold, the compilation makes a nice mix. Admittedly I see no sense having Manjula Padmanabhan retell the story of the family who didn't appreciate their donkey, but hey, a lot of kids in this generation will probably not have encountered this fable before, and she does tell it well. I just wish we'd got something original from each of these stalwarts. But that's just me nitpicking.

Bhagirathi's pond, by Sudha Murthy is a poingnant fable from Karnataka, focusing on sacrifice. Paro Anand's Harshringar tells a lyrical tale of how the Harshringar flower came into being. Musharraf Ali Farooqi tells in verse, the story of Podna and Podni, from my childhood. The two little love birds are separated, and the brave Podna builds an army and rescues his love from a big, hairy king.  Devdutt Pattanaik works within his area of expertise and gives us the lesser known story of Renuka and Jamadagni in Renuka's Umbrella. My favourite though, was Shashi Deshpande's The Gardener's Son - romance, a feminist twist, lovely.

Beautiful, generous, full page and even *drool* double spread illustrations by Poonam Athalye tempt you to rip the pages out and frame them, sacrilegious though the notion might be. One really can't say enough about them. Rich colours, the feel of oil on canvas, and a stunning use of colour.

In the absence of grandparents telling the kiddies fables as they pat them to sleep, this is a good substitute. Do pick up for the artwork if nothing else.

Four Books for your Picky Eater

At some point, every mother has worried about what her kid is eating (or not). Over the years, mothers (and many fathers) build up a repertoire of tricks - expertly camouflaging vegetables in bhel puri and pizzas, rustling up Dino dosas... Nothing brings out one's innate creativity like parenthood does!

A guest post by Meera Nair, author of 'Maya Saves the Day' published by Duckbill Books. This Mother's Day, Meera has put together an elaborate four-course meal for our readers... four books for picky eaters. Enjoy your meal!


You know the type. You probably have one at home or, at the very least, have spotted one in a restaurant. The Picky Eater (omnious drum roll here). That little self-styled epicure who never fails to stick her tongue out at an innocent tomato or turn her nose up at a perfectly innocuous fried egg. My own daughter once took a look at my elegant roasted eggplant dish and declared, “It looks like a dead rat,” as a roomful of dinner guests looked on. Now that the Picky Eater has attained mythic status---the subject of so much analysis and hand-wringing---we wondered what books might convince our kids to eat what's put in front of them. Or, at the very least, be fun to read—maybe over a plate of something delicious, and unobjectionable. Oh, and Happy Mother’s Day!

Sylvia's Spinach

image source katherinepryor.com

by Katherine Raff
Illustrated by Anna Pryor
Readers to Eaters
Ages 4-10

"No spinach in my egg! No spinach in my soup! No spinach! Ever!"  Sylvia hates spinach, as you might have figured. Then her teacher gives her a packet of seeds to plant and Sylvia discovers the joy of growing one's own food. When she finally decides to try this new food and bites a “ leaf in half” her opinion of the veggie goes from“bleh” to “not bad.”

image source amazon.com

Gregory, the Terrible  Eater
by Mitchell Sharmat
Illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey
Scholastic Paperbacks
Ages 4-8

Little Gregory's got a big problem. He's picky.  He's a goat who loves “fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish, bread and butter.” But his  parents would rather he ate a shirt, “buttons and all.”  How dare he insist on eggs for breakfast, when there's “ a piece of rug and an old shoe” to enjoy?  Why, oh why, can't Gregory be like other goats? Dr.Ram tries to cure Gregory of his obsession with the “good stuff.”  by prescribing a little bit of junk slipped in with his food. So it's spaghetti with shoe lace in tomato sauce. And string beans with sliced tires. A few pages of behavior modification later, Gregory eats all the “junk food” in sight and ends up sick. Now he has to learn moderation in all things. This nutrition-turned-on-it's head story is funny and should spark some interesting conversations about food and choices round the dinner table.

image source amazon.com

The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets behind the Food you Eat, Young Readers Edition
Michael Pollan
Dial Press
Ages 10 and up

If you want to change the way your teen thinks about food, buy this book. This young people's version of the best-selling book is a great choice for any smart teen who wants to understand how and why we make particular food choices. Divided into chapters like “The Industrial Meal,” or the “Do -it-yourself meal,” the book is enhanced with photographs and easy-to-read graphs. It offers, among other things, compelling evidence of the damage done to our environment  by corporations that supply the fast-food chains and urges a closer look at industrial farms. Best of all, this book that might just convince your youngster to say no to that Big Mac burger the next time he's out with his friends.

Thunder Cake

image source eduplace.com

by Patricia Polacco
Puffin Books
Ages 4-8

Take one wise Babushka and add a frightened little girl. Mix in a farm, cups of cake flour, some sugar, chocolate, tomatoes and brilliantly colored comic-book like illustrations. Throw in a thunderstorm in the background and boom!- you have the charming tale of Thunder Cake.

A grandmom, in a master-stroke of distraction, convinces her scared granddaughter to venture outside and forage for ingredients while a thunderstorm rages. The little girl gathers milk from “Kick Cow” and eggs from mean old “Nelli Peck Hen” and strawberries from the “Tangleweed Woods,” and in the process discovers that she can ignore the storm and be “brave” deep down inside. The book advocates that eating is more fun if your little helper breaks eggs, mixes and puts the batter in the oven herself. There's even a recipe for Thunder Cake at the back, with a surprising secret ingredient—pureed tomatoes. If you do try it, you should encourage  your Picky Baker to make appropiate “voice of thunder” boom-crash sounds.

Three Green Books

Every day is Earth day if you ask me, but the formal occasion did serve as a reminder for us to revisit some old favourites.  Books on nature and nurturing nature-

image source Candlewick Press

The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone
By Timothy Basil Ering
Candlewick Press
Ages 4-7

Dark pages with text scrawled over, wacky illustrations, a boy with tons of attitude and a “monster” that he creates… Browsing through this book, I knew there were two possibilities – it would either be rejected outright on the grounds that it was scary, or it would be a big hit. I decided to take a chance. The book was being sold at a third of the marked price at the Strand book sale, after all. My gamble paid off. What I did not anticipate was the magnitude of the book’s success with the then five year-old.

The mock-scariness of the book gives it a special appeal. The fun quotient easily overrides the fear factor. Books with a message don’t have to be remotely preachy; they can even be highly entertaining. Timothy Basil Ering, illustrator of the Newbery award winning ‘The Tale of Despereaux’, shows us how in ‘The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone’.

In dull and grey Cementland lives a boy with “a singular wish” to find a treasure. Searching through piles of junk, all he finds is… well, junk. Just when he is about to give up, he finds a box with “wondrous riches”. Following the instructions, he puts the tiny “specks” into the earth. But nothing happens. The next day, when he finds the wondrous riches dug up by thieves, he comes up with a plan to protect the treasure. With smelly socks, used underwear and scraggly wires from the junk pile, he conjures a scarecrow-like creature that he calls Frog Belly Rat Bone. FBRB does more than just protect the treasure; he shows the boy what to do with the wondrous riches –
“One, two, three…
You must be patient
And then you will see!”

Want to know what happens in Cementland? One, two, three…  Read the book and you will see!

This book’s a keeper. Amusing words, an engaging story, quirky illustrations… very refreshing with none of the cuteness usually associated with kids’ books. The one drawback is that the dark font on dark pages can be a strain on the eyes. But it’s only a couple of pages that are hard to read, and even those are not bad in broad daylight. Otherwise, the book’s a treasure, full of wondrous riches!


Giving Thanks

image source Candlewick Press

By Jonathan London
Paintings by Gregory Manchess
Candlewick Press
Ages 3-7

A young boy tells us about something he has learnt from his father, who in turn has picked it up from his Indian (Native American) friends – That things of nature are a gift and in return, we must give something back. We must give thanks. The father-son duo walk along a creek, past trees, through the woods, till the hills, thanking quails and hawks, deer and foxes, the sun and the moon.

The lyrical prose and gentle oil paintings have the same soothing effect that nature does. A wonderful way to wind down at the end of the day – both the book, and the habit of expressing gratitude for one’s blessings.


Since we were on a roll, we went on to read some non-fiction - Katha’s ‘The Magical Web bridge’, ‘Walk the Rainforest with Niwupah’ and ‘Earth Song’ (featured earlier here and here) and 'The Coral Tree' - an interesting concept by Tulika.


The Coral Tree

image source Tulika Publishers

Text Mamata Pandya
Photographs Pankaj Gorana
Tulika Publishers
Ages 8+

Visitors to the coral tree include black drongos, tailorbirds, sunbirds, babblers, koels, parakeets, a dove, a rat snake, langurs, cats, bats, and the gardener! Lilting text and photographs take us through the day, and tidbits satisfy the curious reader seeking to know more. The book has a set of questions to help make a tree diary.

This is a book to sit outside in the balcony with (or garden, if you have one). We may not have a coral tree outside our window, but we do have the good old Gulmohar that is bursting with colour right now. We are making our own tree diary. Are you?

'Jobless, Clueless, Reckless' by Revathi Suresh

Jobless, Clueless, Reckless
by Revathi Suresh
Publisher: Duckbill
Ages : YA

Let me say at the outset that ‘Jobless, Clueless, Reckless’, Revathi Suresh’s debut novel  had me hooked at page one. Starring – and narrated by- possibly the surliest teenager to feature in Indian YA fiction in a while, ‘Jobless..’ examines the trials and tribulations of being fifteen, female and friendless in the age of Facebook, with wit, a great eye for detail and a sound ear for teenspeak . It also gives us a terrific narrator – articulate, foul-mouthed Kavya, Bengaluru’s own Holden Caulfield , hiding her insecurities behind her acerbic wit and mildly goth wardrobe.   Revathi writes well; she peoples her book with believable characters , slips in all kinds of clever literary references and ensures that the pace of the book  stays at a brisk canter .

Kavya , at first, second and third glance, sounds like your average teenager -  angst-ridden, perennially miserable, lovestruck, whiny , and wanting nothing more than  to “..scratch (her) life out and start over.”  She lives in a pretentious neighbourhood in Bangalore, endures emotionally distant parents and a precocious brother, and can’t seem to make any friends. It doesn’t help that she is homeschooled,  has a penchant for dressing in black and a reputation as a slayer of Barbies and, quite possibly, little kids as well.  But gradually, through the barrage of cuss words and sneering descriptions of the people around her,  the other Kavya emerges – the intelligent, sensitive and bewildered girl, struggling to find some structure in a life her self-absorbed mother seems determined to destroy.  She mirrors the rage and alienation of her literary icon, Holden Caulfield. And like him, she is also a bit of a hypocrite, desperate for the companionship  of the very people she claims to despise. These range from the uber-cool Lara and Niya to supposed “sad behenji” Indu, whose double life as an under dressed party girl is an open secret, thanks to Facebook and the neighbourhood drivers’ grapevine.  Ironically, Kavya resents being the subject of gossip, but has no trouble  treating Indu and her friend Kinky with much the same disdain her friends show her. This, however, doesn’t stop her from joining them at a local disco, with a little light shop- lifting thrown in on the side. Rescued by Kiran, her secret crush, she finds herself forced to reconsider her feelings for him when he asks her for ‘compensation’.

‘Jobless..’ ,makes for great reading, and Kavya, for all her grouchiness and attitude, is a character you can’t help rooting  for. I think it is a measure of how much I liked Kavya that I felt let down by the ending. I know I wanted this book to be about Kavya finding her place in the world on her own terms, facing up to the friends and authority figures she has issues with and finding some sort of closure on the tragic loss of her childhood friend.  The last does happen to some extent; the rest, however, seem hastily brushed away in favour of a romantic ending that is miles from the gritty realism the first half of the book sets us up for. In fact, the book touches on quite a number of issues - - the emotional disconnect between Kavya and her parents, an exceptionally troubled relationship with her mother, a yearning for some sense of structure and belonging, teen pregnancy, sexual harassment.  None of these are dealt with satisfactorily.   Not to sound like a fuddy duddy here, but surely at fifteen,  starting some sort of dialogue about these issues is a great deal more important than the prospect of finding undying love with the blue-eyed college boy next door . Especially one who gets away with saying things like "Girls often say 'no' when they mean 'yes'" as well as several other variations on the "She was asking for it" hypothesis?  After all, the a gazillion teenybopper romances already exist;  honest books about real problems - not exactly raining down from the skies, are they? And books that tell you to stand up for yourself, even if it means heartbreak - well, don't hold your breath, ok?

 I was also dismayed at the condescending treatment of two strong, if flawed, female characters in the book – Kavya’s mother and Indu. And I couldn’t help but notice that both these characters are replaced, in Kavya’s life, by patronizing, even sexist male characters that she has little trouble accepting. Strangely enough, the book does have a couple of very interesting - and positive - male characters. There is Dhritiman, Kavya's brother with his love for sewing and the colour pink. And there is Vinay, possibly the one member of Kavya's circle who treats her well. Sadly, neither of them gets much airtime.

I know this is a work of fiction, and not the next feminist manifesto.  Yes, teenagers have every right to escapist fare. And yes, writers have undisputed autonomy on the fates of their characters too. But surely a character as strong and distinctive - not to mention rare in Indian fiction - as Kavya deserved a more empowering finale than the one she receives here? This is, after all, a girl swearing allegiance to Scout Finch and Holden Caulfield – why abruptly abandon her in vintage Mills and Boon terrain?

Would I recommend 'Jobless...'? Certainly. it's fresh, funny and heartbreaking all at once, and definitely worth a read. If  romance is your poison, this book will not disappoint.

Beastly Tales from here and there

Beastly Tales from here and there - Vikram Seth
Illustrator - Prabha Mallya
Puffin Books
Age 5+

My first reaction to this book was a surge of envy. Envy that my children were privileged enough to read Vikram Seth in their childhood while I only first encountered him as an adult. I then chose to be more adult about it and began to read it myself , err, I mean to them.

They're not fables we haven't heard before - the monkey and the crocodile, the louse and the mosquito, the hare and the tortoise and more. The difference is that they're retold in verse. What can you say about Vikram Seth's writing, that hasn't already been said? Even in this, a book meant for children, I like that he engages with his readers without talking down to them. How many other writers do you know who will use words like carcass, glib, mangled, unpoliced, commemorate and capricious while addressing children of this age group? To say nothing of introducing them to concepts they might otherwise go through a lifetime, unacquainted with. Sample this line -
First they hugged, and then the cat
Played a prelude in E flat,
While the cock, concurrently,
Sang a serenade in D.

Fabulous!

The illustrations, as in every good children's book pull their fair share of weight and are very well done. What makes them brilliant is the fact that they could be from anywhere. They do not have anything typical that might trace them back to an Indian artist. Considering the stories come from lands as distant as Greece, China and Ukraine, this is wonderful. The attention to detail is thrilling. The king in the story of the louse and the mosquito slumbers peacefully (hugging a teddy bear) while a tattoo on his arm proclaims H.R.H. me, within a heart. The tortoise counting Uno, Dos, Tres has a number on his shell like sportspersons' tee shirts. Great stuff.

We only picked it up recently and the Brat and Bean have been thrilled by this combination of animal protagonists and verse. My only grouse is that he doesn't write for kids more often!

Bebeanchem Kazar - The Wedding of the Frogs

The Wedding of the Frogs

Bebeanchem Kazar - The Wedding of the Frogs
Illustrations - Shilpa Mayenkar Naik
Translation - John Carneiro
Published by Bookworm
Ages 4-8

This is a ballad by late Konkani poet, Dr Manoharrai Sardessai, also well versed in Marathi, Hindi, English and Portuguese. The poem opens with five frogs, brothers in the lotus pond at Paliem. Skilled, intelligent and everything nice, they had a good life and knew it. Everytime someone suggested it was time they get married they'd dismiss the suggestion. Why should they? They  wanted to come home from the bar slightly tipsy and not have a wife take them to task, they didn't want to spend all their savings on setting up a home.

But youth for all it's wit is still no match for age, and a wily old frog sends his beautiful daughters out to the pond to splash around and charm the brothers into changing their minds. Before you know it, the five brothers are head over heels in love and asking for the old frog's permission to court his daughters and walk them down the aisle.

It's interesting to see how our ideas of children's literature have changed over the years. Here's a ballad aimed at rather young children, talking about the male frogs wanting to come home tipsy and not spend their earnings on the upkeep of a home, you have seduction strategy with female frogs coming out to play and entice the male frogs while they 'wiggle and sway, swim and dive most gracefully.' But then most children's fiction and writing of a certain time talks of marriage, death, murder. Far more adult compared to contemporary children's writing that mostly focuses on children of their own age and their specific issues, like ragging, dealing with the loss of a friend, and mostly rather innocuous topics.

The Brat and Bean enjoyed this story, particularly because they've asked their father time and time again to tell them a Konkani story from his childhood and he's come up blank. John Carneiro's translation seems competent and as good as one can possibly get, while trying to maintain some form of rhyme. The entire poem is given in Devnagri script at the end of the book (Konkani is written in Devnagri script) and that makes it easy to read and achieve a certain rhythm, once you've figured out the meaning.

The hard cover book itself takes on the role of an almost heirloom thanks to the fabulous artisan's paper it is screen printed on. Goan artist Shilpa Mayenkar Naik's lovely illustrations are in shades of black, pink and green - an  interesting choice. A great book if you're interested in exposing kids to a variety of cultures at a deeper level. Ribbit, ribbit, we're off to read it again.

School Stories

The soon-to-be-six-year-old has bid goodbye to his Montessori environment. Come June, he will sit at a desk in a classroom for the first time. In preparation, he has been devouring school stories.

image source scholastic.com 

Marvin Redpost Class President
By Louis Sachar
Scholastic
Ages 6-9

Class President is one of a series of eight books by Louis Sachar. At around seventy pages, these are ideal early chapter books. The topics are relatable and the books beautifully written.

The main character, Marvin Redpost, is just your average third-grader, with all the doubts and anxieties of a kid of that age. In one of the books, he is scared to cycle down a steep slope. In another, he is quite sure he isn’t his parents’ son. Marvin battles his fears, with his parents and teachers helping him along. Along the way, young readers root for Marvin and probably pick up some tips too.

In ‘Class President’, the President of the United States makes a visit to Marvin’s school… and his class!

I thought the Q&A session between the kids and the President was a clever tool to discuss important topics without getting preachy or boring.

source  simonandschuster.com

Jake Drake Class Clown
By Andrew Clements
Simon & Schuster
Ages 7-10

Jake Drake is a boy with ideas. In this series of four books, he goes from being a Class Clown, to Teacher’s Pet, Bully Buster, Know-It-All… Every classroom adventure makes for an engrossing book. The teachers are likeable, and the problems very real. The books have been written with great sensitivity.

Every little kid will identify with Jake Drake’s buffoonery in ‘Class Clown’. At first, the teacher is amused - she even breaks the golden rule ‘never to smile before Christmas’. Then the class clown crosses the line… Andrew Clements gives the reader a peek into a typical classroom. For kids who’ve been wondering what goes on inside a teacher’s head, the book is sure to reveal some surprises.

image source bettybirney.com

Trouble According to Humphrey
By Betty G. Birney
Puffin Books
Ages 7-10

A school series with a difference – this one is a classroom hamster’s account of the goings on in ‘Room 26’! Refreshing and absolutely delightful!

With characters like Sit-Still-Seth, Stop-Giggling-Gail, Don’t-Complain-Mandy-Payne… (I love those names!) the books are great fun... and touching at times. There are some wise words too -

“You can learn a lot about yourself by taking care of other species”
“Everybody makes mistakes”

On weekends, the kids take turns taking the Humphrey the hamster home, providing ample scope to discuss the differing circumstances of families – an opportunity the author puts to good use.


The Gooney Bird Greene stories by Lois Lowry (reviewed here) are not to be missed either.

In a couple of years, I hope my boy will enjoy the wonderful books for a slightly older age group by these very authors. And then, when he grows up some more, there’s ‘School Ahead!’, a collection of short stories by Paro Anand. Some of those stories made me teary-eyed, others made me smile.

School can be fun, school stories even more so!

Bijoy and the Big River

pic credit tulika books

Bijoy and the Big River
Written by Meera Sriram and Praba Ram
Published by Tulika Books
Ages 10+

The Brahmaputra. Called Burha Luit by the Assamese. The lives of the locals are closely tied to the river. Both the good and the bad times - the Big River affects it all.

This is the story of Bijoy, a young boy from a farming community that produces the famed Eri Silk, or ahimsa silk - the silkworms aren't killed in the production unlike those that breed on mulberry - as it is also known. A quiet, verdant, idyllic place, on a farm where Bijoy stays with Ma and Deuta (father in Assamese). It is a good life, even if the river sometimes destroys everything in its path during floods.

On an average day, Bijoy helps his father to look after the silkworms feeding on the castor leaves. To gather the silk after the eri moths have flown away out of the open ended cocoon. And to transport the silk to the village of Sualkuchi by canoe with Deuta after his mother has spun and reeled out the threads. It is hard work, but there is adventure as well, as when the xihu (pronounced hihu, the now endangered Gangetic Dolphin, also found in the Brahmaputra) are sighted along the way on the river, in large groups sometimes. Or when he sees the big city sights of tourist boats at Guwahati, enroute to Saulkuchi.

After a similar book with Tulika, Dinaben and the Lions of Gir, where the the authors introduce us to the Maldhari commmunity of Gujarat, Meera Sriram and Praba Ram have come up with another winner. This time they write about a farming family from Assam, in the far north-east of India. Praba, the founder of our beloved Saffrontree, and Meera, who was a contributor until recently, are both champions of a good cause - sustainable living, closer to nature. This book is exactly what would be expected as their brain-child:  This is what they have to say about how the germ of an idea became this book.

Bijoy's story has illustrations by Koel Basu, bare sketches that are evocative of the villages of Assam, as well as photographs by various contributors. Along with the tidbits as marginalia, we learn a lot about life as a silk farmer in this far North-Eastern state. This book is a welcome addition by Tulika books, as this part of our country is vastly under-represented in children's literature. The book is part of their 'Where I Live' series that takes us through the ordinary lives of children from various parts of India.

An extra tidbit:  Burha=ancient, Luit=blood. The legend goes that Brahma had a son by the wife of a sage, who was then abandoned at a place between the hills. The child took the form of water, which became the Brahmakund. Parashuram, having killed his own mother after being ordered to by his father, had the bloodstained axe stuck to his hand. As penance, he was told to release the waters for the people living in the valleys and plains. He axed down the mountains holding the waters, which started flowing as the river Brahmaputra - literally, Brahma's son - that brought sustenance to the locals. This released the axe as well as washed the blood off it. Brahmaputra is thus the only river in India that is masculine; all others are feminine.

**************************************

Edited to add: This will be a five-day-long blog tour - with five different perspectives. Here are the dates and places where our readers can find Bijoy and the Big River.


March 18th - Saffron Tree. Sandhya Renukamba.
March 19th - Literary Sojourn. Vibha Sharma.
March 20th - The not-so artful dodger. Artnavy.
March 21st - Mamma of Twins. Itchingtowrite.
March 22nd - The Mad Momma. Lavanya D / Prateek.

Do visit!

Cross-posted.

In conversation with Asha Nehemiah

Asha Nehemiah

Asha Nehemiah’s books brought out by CBT - Mrs. Woolly’s Funny Sweaters, Wedding Clothes, Granny’s Sari, Surprise Gifts, The Runaway Wheel, and The Rajah’s Moustache – are sure to delight 3 to 6 year-olds, and discerning 30+ readers!

Her books for age 6 and above - The Mystery of the Secret Hair Oil Formula, The Mystery of the Silk Umbrella, Sir Lawley's Ghost & Other Stories (to be reissued as The Boy Whose Nose Was Rose & Other Stories), Zigzag and Other Stories - are full of fun, fantasy and adventure.  Most recently published are the Meddling Mooli books. Her book with Duckbill ‘Trouble with Magic’ will be out in April. Her stories also appear in anthologies like ‘Grandpa Fights an Ostrich’.

In 2013, Asha Nehemiah along with Aditi De, Poile Sengupta, Roopa Pai, Shyam Madhavan Sarada aka Greystroke, Vidya Mani, Vijayalakshmi Nagaraj and Vimala Malhotra, launched Bookalore, Bangalore's Big Little Book Club – an initiative to bring book related events to children in Bangalore.

ST-ers have greatly enjoyed Asha Nehemiah’s writing, feels wonderful to have her here with us. I came away with the thought that the people behind the books we love are as warm and welcoming as the books themselves.

ST - How did you begin writing for children?
Asha - I began by writing one-off stories for children’s magazines and children’s pages in the newspapers. I was also writing articles for adults and copy-editing manuscripts at that time. I discovered that in writing children’s fiction, I could experiment crazily with humour and fantasy in a way I just couldn’t in other types of writing, so naturally I started writing more for children and now I rarely write for adults.

Your stories published by CBT are simple yet inventive, touching (without being sad) yet fun, and appeal to both children and adults. You seem to have your hand on the pulse of the reader. What is the inspiration for your stories?
More than inspiration, I think it’s the desire to tell stories that capture the colourful, funny, crazy world we actually live in – in a way that children can enjoy.

Do you think books for children should not ignore the harsh realities of life?
Books for children should definitely not ignore the harsh realities of life. Children should be exposed to these but in terms that they can handle. Books should make children aware of these realities and get them to think about the issues raised, but not leave an aftertaste of despair. Even in the most fantastic and funny story – there can be glimpses of the real world and I really like introducing these glimpses in my books.

You have written books for the 3-6 age group and for older children too. How different is it writing for a slightly older audience?
Writing for every age-group or reading level comes with its own set of challenges. When I write for older children I can be more inventive with the plots, use multiple storylines in a single novel. In Mystery of the Silk Umbrella I had such fun weaving 3 different storylines into one exciting adventure. 3 different sets of people wanted the Silk umbrella – all for different reasons.  For younger children the story has to be engaging even if I’m allowed only 600 words – 600 simple words to do so. Most of my CBT books are just 600 words long.  This is challenging in a different way.

Do you think authors are now required to do more than write a good story? Do they have to be out there (and have an online presence), taking part in marketing and promotion? What do you think of this trend? Would you rather just write, or do you enjoy the interaction?
The most important thing for any author is to write a good story. That comes first. Sadly, the best story can languish unread if the publisher doesn’t invest some time, money, thought into promoting the book. Yes, authors have to be a part of the process. I love the interaction but it does eat into the time I should be writing. Ideally, I would like to spend about a quarter of my working schedule meeting my readers and promoting my books and rest of my working hours writing books.

Please tell us about Bookalore.
Bookalore is something many of us were thinking about independently and it was wonderful the way we all came together to make it a reality. It is an initiative by a group of authors and illustrators in Bangalore who decided that they must do their bit to bring books  and children together in  innovative and fun ways. We’ve just started and we’ve got lots of great ideas about different ways of introducing Indian children’s books, as well as international titles, to readers in engaging and activity-based events. We also hope to make authors and illustrators more visible.

What has the feedback been from young readers who have read your books? Any anecdotes you would like to share?

I visit schools regularly and interact with my readers. I’ve had such wonderful responses from them and every visit throws up a question or two that I’ve never encountered before. That’s how differently kids can think.  Questions like:  Why didn’t Granny use a clothes pin on the sari? Why does your story start in the middle of the night? You haven’t mentioned whether the stones they threw away were actually precious stones. And so on. They draw me pictures and posters. One little boy slipped a stone into my hand telling me it was a semi-precious stone. When I told him, I shouldn’t really take a semi-precious stone, he said, “It’s alright, I have the other half”.
One of the best times I had was with the children in a school in Chennai. They had made me a bottle of ‘Wondergro Supersonic Hair Tonic.” (from my book Mystery of The Secret Hair-Oil Formula) and drawn a picture of the formula from the book. Seeing how delighted I was, they felt it was wise to caution me not to actually use the hair oil because it was made from food colouring. That was really memorable.

The Wondergro Supersonic Hair Tonic

Top picks among children’s books.
As they come to my mind at this point:

Cool by Michael Morpurgo
Catherine, Called Birdy  Karen Cushman
Smith Leon Garfield
The Boy in the Dress David Walliams
The Why-Why Girl, Mahasweta Devi
Pranav’s Picture, Nandini Nayar
Barber at the Zoo, Pratibha Nath
The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech
Two Weeks with the Queen, Morris Gleizman

We have had a couple of publishing houses in India set up children’s imprints in the recent past. Do you think children’s literature is getting the attention it deserves?
Not at all. Children’s books in India fall into the vicious cycle where they are not promoted properly, so they don’t sell well or make a profit so they’re not considered worth promoting and so the vicious cycle continues. As an author, there’s still so much to despair about in the current scenario.  But there is an inkling of change with new children’s publishing houses and imprints. I am optimistic.

What more do you think can be done to promote reading - by publishers, bookstores, libraries, schools, parents, and blogs like Saffron Tree?
This is too profound a question for me to do justice to in an interview. Briefly, I think parents first and schools next are the two most influential and important factors in promoting reading. Parents have to be good role models and if the parent enjoys reading and is willing to spend money and time getting books for the home, the child has a good start. Parents should read to children and with children from the time they are babies.   Publishers have to do their bit in giving children the widest variety of great books – something for every reading taste. Historical fiction, sports stories science fiction, travel writing, comics – children need lots of options.

Saffron Tree is a great resource guiding parents about the best books available. The reviewers have won the trust of readers and I know that if ST says a book is good – it must be good.

[pics courtesy Asha Nehemiah]

Ocean Non-fiction

About 70% of our earth's surface is covered with water— cold & deep oceans, gushing rivers, still lakes, all teeming with life. These waters hold many mysteries, many creatures yet undiscovered; plus the many creatures we've been fortunate enough to encounter thanks to our insatiable curiosity and yearning to understand our world. We have explored barely 5% of the ocean so far.

Until now I had not heard of  Mola Mola and Portuguese Man-of-war and Siphonophore and Loosejaw Stoplight Fish and Hatchett Fish and Viper Fish and Black Swallower and Vampire Squid and Snipe Eel and  Tripod Fish and Giant Tube Worm and Oarfish and Hairy Angler and  such...

Although I'd be hesitant to meet them face to face, I am glad the kids and I got to know about these wondrous creatures through some amazing books.

Without further ado, here are a few of the non-fiction picture books about ocean creatures listed in no particular order.

Down Down Down
by Steve Jenkins


I have tremendous respect/awe/admiration for Steve Jenkins. Many of his books are a huge hit with the kids and an inspiration for me.

And sure enough, Steve Jenkins' Down Down Down became an instant favorite with us thanks to the amazing art work and simple yet rich text.

Moving from the top Sunlight zone to the Twilight zone to the Dark zone to the Abyssal plain and Hydrothermal vents to the deepest Marianas Trench, the book showcases creatures that have adapted to living in these zones and co-existing with others.

Jenkins' trademark cut-paper collage work and choice of creatures to showcase are brilliant as always.

[image source: carlemuseum.org]
[view gallery at stevejenkinsbooks.com]

Partners in the Sea (Undersea Encounters)
by Mary Jo Rhodes & David hall
photos by David Hall

Undersea Encounters is a series of books by Mary Jo Rhodes. Partners in the Sea is particularly fascinating as it explains symbiosis - mutualism and commensal relationships and other partnerships among the ocean creatures.

Not just the classic sea anemone and clownfish, but, many such curious relationships are showcased in child-friendly text and gorgeous photographs. A small shrimp cleaning the inside of a grouper's mouth, Coleman's shrimp riding on the back of sea urchins, not to mention sponges and corals and the animals they host and hide...

[image source: Mary Jo Rhodes website]

How to Hide an Octopus & Other Sea Creatures
by Ruth Heller

Along the same vein as How To Hide A Parakeet & Other Birds and other such books in this series, I love the presentation - the illustrations and text.

Octopus changes its color to camouflage and hide from predators, much like a chameleon.

As quick as a wink, it turns to pink
or green or blue or any hue,
...
This creature is an octopus and very often hides
by changing to the color over which it glides.

With lilting text and starkly beautiful illustration, the book comes alive with various sea creatures in their natural habitat, from cuttlefish to sargassum fish, sea dragon to decorator crabs (a favorite from Partners in the Sea book), we learn how these creatures can hide in plain sight and thus escape predators.

[image source: better world books]

Sea Jellies: From Corals to Jelly Fish
by Sharon Sharth

Animals In Order series of books by Children's Press (also Rookie Read-About series) has a collection of non-fiction books that go one step further in helping children understand the classification of living things.  The Order of Living Things section explains the Kingdom, Phylum and Class for the creatures presented in the book. Sea Horses, Pipefishes and Their Kin by Sara Swan Miller is another in this series that we liked.

Each double-page has a photo of a particular creature on the right with the Family, Common Example, Genus and Species information on the left, along with a page of details about that particular specimen. And it is further grouped - for example, Sea Jellies are grouped as Open Ocean Sea Jellies, Rocky Shore Sea Jellies, Coral Reef Sea Jellies, and Swamp Sea Jellies.

The book also talks about what affects their existence and the conservation efforts needed to preserve the bio diversity.

[image source: amazon.com]

Sea Horse
by Christine Butterworth
illustrations by John Lawrence

For a long time, no one was sure what kind of animal the sea horse was. Its scientific name is Hippocampus, which means "horselike sea monster".

The inside of front and back covers shows the different kinds of sea horses from Dwarf to Short-snouted to Barbour's to Pacific to Pygmy to Zebra to Long-snouted, to name a few.

The mixed media artwork illustrations are lovely in this book which tells the story of sea horses in quite an engaging and entertaining manner, focusing on Barbour's sea horse.

[image source: amazon.com]

The Usborne Big Book of Big Sea Creatures 
and Some Little Ones too
by Minna Lacey
illustrated by Fabiano Fiorin

With four giant fold-outs, there is plenty to see in this book. Illustrations of the sea creatures is accompanied by a short few sentences about them. The relative sizes of the creatures are well presented.

Besides the usual whales and other massive mammals, the soft-bodied octopuses and jellyfish and squid, and the ever-fascinating sharks, we learn about other creatures too, like the Humphead Wrasse, Goliath Grouper,Ornate Wobbegong, Conger Eel, Beluga Sturgeon and Atlantic Sailfish...

Right along with Steve Jenkins' Down Down Down, this book was quite an obsession for the kids.

[image source: usborne.com]

Oceans
Dolphins, sharks, penguins, and more!
by Johnna Rizzo
introduced by Sylvia A. Earle

This large square book with an adorable photograph on the cover is packed with tidbits about dolphins, sharks, penguins and more, as the title says.

One of the favorite pages in the book is towards the back in the section called "Layers of Life" where 50 sea creatures are listed and arranged in the various zones in the accompanying picture.

Some interesting creatures we learnt about from this book include Moonfish, Barrel-eye fish, Bell jelly, Comb jellyfish, Black seadevil, Vampire octopus, and Fangtooth.

The attractive feature for me was the Ocean Extremes pages which have to be held up vertically to behold the full glory. From the Bizarre Creatures of the Deep to Wild Wonders like the Mid-Atlantic Range of mountains, Hydrothermal vents, and Marianas Trench, and cool advances like the JIM suit and ROVs and Ice Buckets and Super Subs... a lot to learn about not the just creatures but how to get to where they are and study them.

20 Ways You Can Protect The Ocean section is practical and motivating for the young reader.

[image source: google books]

Turtle Tide: The Ways of Sea Turtles
by Stephen R. Swinburne
illustrated by Bruce Hiscock

The best part of this book was how it impressed upon the young mind (and the adult reader) the laws of nature and the survival struggle that many animals face.

A female Leatherback sea turtle makes the exhausting journey, hauling herself to the beach she was born in, to lay her eggs, digging and burying— a 100 of them.

A few eggs are stolen and eaten by raccoons. Now there are only 64 out of the 100.

The 64 hatch and scramble out of the sand steadily heading towards the ocean. On the way, a few hatchlings are eaten by Ghost Crabs and now there are only 22 out of the 100.

As the surviving hatchlings scramble faster and faster to the ocean guided by an internal compass, a few more are eaten by a waiting blue heron. And now, there are only 10 of the 100.

The ten manage to plunge into the relative safety of water only to be eaten by a cruising Sand shark. What was 100 is now only 2.

A pair of laughing gulls out hunting for fish for their own babies grab the two remaining, but one of them drops a turtle hatchling who disappears in a wash of breaking waves.

And out of the 100, only ONE hopefully survives!

A gripping drama unfolds in this narration as we root for the turtle hatchlings to head for safety and simply survive. This made the kids appreciate what a privileged position humans have in terms of survival - we have plenty of food, relative safety, and very little threat from natural predators...

The illustrations are simply amazing!

[image source: Bruce Hiscock website]

W is for Waves
by Marie and Roland Smith
illustrated by John Megahan

Quite wordy and for older readers, this book is one of a series of books by Sleeping Bear Press on various themes, like S is for Shamrock, G is for Galaxy, W is for Wind.

For the younger reader, the short rhyming verses and the pictures were interesting enough. For example, the page on bio-luminescence has this simple verse
L is for Lights,
some creatures have their own.
Great to have if the lights go out
at night when you're all alone.

M is for Mollusks.
This popular group
often end up
in somebody's soup.

[image source: Sleeping Bear Press]

Biographies: William Beebe and Sylvia Earle

Biographies are inspiring and heart-warming. Very few picture book biographies manage to present the essence of the person without distorting the image to fit the narration. One of my favorites is Manfish, The Story of Jacques Cousteau.

Into The Deep: The Life of Naturalist and Explorer William Beebe
by David Sheldon

Biggest attraction in this book was Beebe's Bathysphere and the mysterious creature he encountered. We may ever know what the mysterious creature was that Beebe glimpsed during his deep sea dive, but we learn about his indefatigable zeal, his persistence, and his dedication to studying the mysteries of the deep.

[image source: charlesbridge.com]

Life In The Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia A. Earle
by Claire A. Nivola

The happy discovery in this book for the kid was that Sylvia A. Earle was inspired by William Beebe and his Bathysphere and constructed her own deep sea diving one-person submersible and went deeper than anyone had done until then. Alone!

Sylvia A. Earle is an inspiration. She is passionately fond of the sea, "the blue heart of the planet." She didn't just want to dive down for a quick look, she wanted to live in the sea. And she got to do it for two weeks, living in Tektite II, a deep sea station.

Every spoonful of water in the deep ocean, Sylvia says, is brimming with extraordinary forms of life. 

[image source and view more images at Macmillan]



Just for Fun:

Usborne 1001 Things to Spot in the Sea
by Katie Daynes
illustrated by Teri Gower

'I Spy' style of books are always popular with the kids. Each page in this book presents a scene and lists the number of a certain type of creature/thing to find. For example, in the Underwater Forest spread, amid the sea kelp are a host of creatures swimming about. We are asked to identify 10 Garibaldi fish, 5 Black rock fish, 8 Kelp bass and so on.

While the younger kid was fascinated with the book, I found the illustrations a bit confusing. There were always other creatures shown on the picture but not listed among the items to find, and not much info was given about them.

[image source: usborne catalog]