Cauvery

Cauvery

Written by Oriole Henry

Photographs by Clare Arni

Published by Pratham Books

Ages : 8 +

Here is a book which I fell in love with, the moment I set my eyes on it. It is a very well written book with stunning photographs which take you on the journey of the river Cauvery from it's birth to it's end.

The fascinating story starts at Talacauvery, a place in Coorg (Karnataka) where the river originates. Soon we traverse the various significant places that the river meanders through. The facts about the river at these places are interspersed with the legends associated with them in that location. So you have the story of how Cauvery was born, what happened at Srirangapatnam when Tipu Sultan was the ruler and the spooky curse of Talakad. In fact the author says that the curse is still valid in that location. So you wonder what's the curse ?! No, I am not going to reveal it ....you have to pick the book and find out for yourself :-).

The river is likened to a girl- who jumps and rushes along when she is young, becomes more placid midway and finally looks very thin as she joins the sea at Poompuhar in Tamilnadu. As the author says, it was alright that she looked small because she had spent much of her energy feeding the lush paddy fields in the rice bowl of India before she quietly joined the sea.

Here is an extract from the last page of the book -

'Clare Arni and Oriole Henry followed the Cauvery for four months from its source in the mountains of Coorg down to where it meets the sea at Poompuhar. “In an old Maruti car we explored every road and path we found, no matter how seemingly impassable. We flew over the Cauvery, took boats down it and waded across its rushing waters to try and capture the history and mythology along its banks, the changing landscape across two states and the life this magnificent river sustains.”

I read this book to my 7 year old son and here is what I really liked about the book -

The facts and the legends are beautifully interwoven, so that the children retain their interest as we go along. They don't get bored with the facts.

The facts are enhanced by the wonderful photographs and trivia little details given at the bottom of the page, which will surely interest the children.

I simply loved the way Oriole Henry has written this book- the factual details, legends and her own emotions which conveyed a feeling of ownership of the river !

I think another reason I enjoyed the book was that we have been to quite a few of the places that Cauvery flows through - Coorg, Bheemeshwari fishing camp and quite recently Tanjore area in Tamilnadu. It was the monsoon season and the river was in full flow. It was indeed a visual treat as we saw the the lush green paddy fields all around.

Now for my son's reaction to this book ! He was quite fascinated as we read along. With his eyes wide open he listened to me as he made the connections to the river being talked about and his own fun experiences with the river.

This is a new book which has just been launched by Pratham. At only Rs.60, this must be the costliest book of theirs. The reason being this is their first book to be printed on recycled paper. It is available in English, Hindi, Kannada and Marathi. For more information click here.

Update : On the topic of rivers in India, Tulika publications have four books in this series.

Toby Jones and Mystery of Time-Travel Tour

Toby Jones and Mystery of Time-Travel Tour

Michael Panckridge and Brett Lee

Ages 10+

The dedication in the first page of the book 'Toby Jones and the Mystery of the Time-Travel Tour" says -"To the fielder at mid-on who won't get a bowl and bats down the order, but who loves the game as much as anyone". Michael Panckridge won me there with this dedication. The book seems to have been written specifically for me.

Well, I was the person who could never bowl a decent over and batted down the order; included into the team only for showing up the required number of persons in the team. I was nicknamed Traicos by my local gully cricket team-mate, the guy who was in Zimbabwe team when he was 45 years old. Traicos was a highly accurate bowler and adept fielder for his age, but I was not. I was named Traicos because I had reactions of a normal 45 year old! I was not the guy in the mid-on, I was the guy in the third man when we were playing a leg-side only game! In spite of being bad at it and getting constantly taunted for being a book worm; I would never miss a game.

Toby Jones, the hero of the book, a boy of around 13-14 years old is not only one of the biggest all-rounders of his school; he also has an unusual gift. A gift to time travel to the games that were played long ago. All he has to do is get hold of the old copy of Wisden and read through the match that he wants to travel to. The book is a racy read. It seamlessly switches one story to another as he describes some interesting school matches in which Toby Jones plays to the problems that he and his friends face while they time travel; and the mysterious and ruthless Philip Smale, the manager of the rival team named Scorpions(can there any other obvious name for a ruthless team with a very fast bowler as their main weapon?).

It is a fascinating concept - the ability to time travel to matches that were played long back. Imagine travelling back to the days of Don Bradman or the fiery Andy Roberts or Holding. If I had that ability, I would probably go back to that exhibition match where Tendulkar was introduced to the world - where he faced the arguably one of the best leg-spinners in the modern era Abdul Qadir (admirers of Share Warne, please excuse!) and hit him for 3 sixers in an over.

Here is a book that invokes the madness and the passion of cricket and adds some more fuel to it. It never occurred to me that a book can be written about cricket, time-travel and mystery hunt all mixed up together. Michael does it in great style. If you or your kid is a great fan of cricket, passionate about it - here is a book that you and your kids will love.

From one cricket mad nation Australia, Michael Panckridge will be in another cricket mad nation India for the Bookaroo Festival in Delhi. He will also be here in Bengaluru soon and I would like to ask him about the match he would like to time travel to.

Update: This book was recommended by the Aravinda. Thank you Aravinda.

A Lion in Paris

Katha has launched a lovely range of books in their Katha World Library series and I happened to lay my hands on one of them, A Lion in Paris. Written by Beatrice Alemagna, the English translation is by Mariette Robbes.

I think it’s a brilliant idea simply because it teaches kids of this age about the Bartholdi lion in Paris even before they recognise it for the big deal that it is. To be honest, I started the book without really making the connection. The story is about a lion in the savannah who heads out one day in search of pretty much everything anyone of us would – love, life and a future.

Once there the lion strolls through the city and is rather dismayed at the lack of attention he gets from the people, busy getting on with their lives. And as he walks through the city, he introduces you to everything famous in the city – the Seine, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower…

Finally he reaches a crossroad and sees a pedestal in the centre of it. Climbing up there he roars and thousands of cars around him honk back. He’s happy. He’s found his place. He’s found a reason to be.

I don’t know if the kids really get it, but I loved introducing them to the various sites in Paris that they may or may not ever see for themselves and I appreciate that they are getting acquainted with them so early in life. I only wish there were more such books being made in India about our heritage, without getting preachy or boring. The illustrations are beautiful. The concept is fantastic and so easy for even my two year old to grasp. And the idea of the lion finding fulfillment in something so simple and yet so important, is something I loved.

There's a lovely line at the back of the book where Beatrice talks about why she considered this lion as a subject and she says "I have asked myself why this lion is so loved by Parisians and I think, it is because he seems so sure and really happy to be where he is."

The Curious Garden

The Curious Garden
by Peter Brown

Published by Little, Brown and Company

Ages : 5-8

One boy's quest for a greener world, one garden at a time...so goes the byline of the book, and to that I would add, one garden's curiosity to extend itself, one spring at a time...

There was once a city with no gardens, or parks or greenery anywhere around. And all the people stayed indoors. Dreary is the word that comes to mind when you visualise this, and dreary is what the picture looks like when you open the book. Lots of factories, smoke coming out of their chimneys, the brown roofs of the houses, and in all, a dull set of monochromes in brown.

But Liam was the one little boy who loved to get out and explore. And one rainy day, as he was splashing through the little puddles on the ground, he stumbles upon a dark stairwell leading up to the tracks on a bridge. He climbs it to find a railway line that had long since been abandoned, and even more surprising....a little lonely patch of color. The only spot in the city where a little bit of green was trying to thrive and failing miserably at it.

So predictably, Liam becomes the gardener that this little patch needs and you see him watering, and overwatering, pruning and over-pruning and making a lot of other gardening gaffes. And this is the part of the book that gets truly enchanting. When the garden suddenly comes alive under his care and assumes its own little personality. A hint of that is given to us as the author descries the garden as waiting patiently, while Liam finds better ways of gardening. Just that one little phrase and you feel suddenly introduced to this cute little second character of the book, which will soon become the main character in point.

Weeks go by and Liam begins to feel like a real gardener and the plants begin to feel like a real garden. And I believe most gardens stay in one place, but let's not forget that what we have here is a very curious garden...that is quickly getting restless, and it lives up to its name, by spreading itself, pushing itself beyond its little virgin patch, to discover the rest of the tracks. The tough little weeds and mosses are the first to move, followed by the more delicate plants. And over the next few months of spring and summer and autumn, the curious garden explores every corner of the railway. At this point, the huge patch of mossy green covering pretty much the entire bridge and railway line is a tremendous treat for the green-hungry eyes. The couple of pages that follow are wordless and full double sided illustrations to allow you to simply take in all the changes that the garden has wrought on itself thanks to its curiosity and its thirst to know more....to find more.

But nature and its seasons asserts itself once more as the very next page is blindingly white with snow, and Liam misses his little garden so much. But instead of moping around about it, he sets about to educate himself instead, on how to become a better gardener, and preparing for spring. 3 cold months later, the snow finally begins to melt and Liam is ready to visit his garden. Winter has taken its toll on our little friend, but under Liam's gentle nudging, it comes awake. And what follows next is a veritable feast for the eyes and for the soul as you encounter once more, the indomitable will of this little garden to go beyond the boundaries of the railway tracks and its bridge, to every little nook and corner of a dreary city, livening up its landscape, spreading its curiosities and happiness to every living, breathing thing around! And the not so living breathing things as well, for our little garden loves old, forgotten things, like an abandoned car, and a boarded up window and the cracks in the sidewalk!

Humour is interspersed with the soul of this book as you see how plants pop up in unexpected places too, like an entire STOP sign covered with vines or the fire hydrant wrapped in these pretty creepers. The burgeoning personality of the garden is fully explored through the rich color illustrations of the book. But one of the most touching aspects is this....that the most surprising thing that popped up that spring were the new gardeners! You can now imagine the revolution that takes place within that city....how the garden has made its way into the hearts of the people and blossomed even there. No more time is lost as a city once dull and parched and brown, now is vibrant and teeming with the flora.

Every story, to have a successful plot, has to have a firm beginning, establishing a problem or the lack of something. And as it progresses, it has to suggest growth, for the character(s) involved. And the end, has to be such that it suggests itself to you even as you turn the pages, and leaves you feeling, that this is the way it's meant to be. It just feels right. The Curious Garden, made me feel right...right there on that first page, as I saw the lacklustre landscape before my eyes, and knew what the book could be about. But what I was unprepared for was the way it was laid out, for the way the garden was given its own character role and its own script to follow. No! Rather, it set its own script and led the story all on its own. And that is what inspired the author in the first place...this very trait of nature to self preserve and to redecorate, as the author subtly puts it.

An excerpt, in his own words : It often seems impossible for nature to thrive in a city of concrete and brick and steel. But the more I've travelled and the closer I've looked, I've realized that nature is always eagerly exploring places we've forgotten.

The story was born when the author came across an old elevated railway called the Highline, on the west side of Manhattan, which had been long abandoned. Without people and trains getting in the way, nature was free to redecorate and slowly, rusty rails and gravel gave way to wildflowers and trees.

"All of this made me curious : what would happen if an entire city decided to truly cooperate with nature? How would that city change? How would it all begin?"

Well....now you know. :)

[Pic : Courtesy The Highline]

Thanksgiving Wish

Thanksgiving Wish
by Michael J. Rosen
paintings by John Thompson

Ages : 6-9

As we wind down to enjoy the coming holiday season, as we prepare to meet with family and friends, or just get warm and cosy indoors, here's a holiday story of a family's cherished Thanksgiving tradition, that we can wrap around ourselves like a soft blanket, and settle back into the comfy pillows to enjoy....

This is Amanda's story of Thanksgiving...her once a year trips to her grandmother Bubbe's house for the holiday, her most special holiday of all. The whole month of November, Bubbe prepared the exact same meal she had cooked, for as long as Amanda can remember. She cooked one holiday dish each day, alongside whatever else she was cooking for the regular meals. A tom turkey so heavy that more than one person was needed to lift it out of the oven, a stuffing made from her own braided challah , the tzimmes of prunes and apricots that stewed all day with lemons, the chicken soup with matzo balls so light, they floated, snowflake rolls, honey cakes and....well, you get the drift...

But Amanda's favorite part was quite something else, the part that came right before bedtime. All year, Bubbe would collect the wishbones from all the birds she cooked and dried them on the curtain rod above the kitchen sink. And just before bedtime, she would get out the wishbones in small, medium and large, for each of the grandchildren. What size of a wish do you have tonight? she would ask. Holding one end herself, and Amanda the other, to the count of 3, *snap* it would go. The one who got the bigger piece would have one wish granted, so long as the wish was never mentioned to anybody else. Amanda asked her grandmother once, what she wished for, but the only answer she got was that it was the same wish every time...and then one.....two....three....*snap*!

And then Bubbe died, as unexpectedly as anything you want to live forever dies.

For the next Thanksgiving, Amanda's family invited everyone else to their new home to continue the tradition Bubbe had set. And as it often happens during times of festivals and holidays, their loss of Bubbe was most keenly felt.

You never stop missing someone...Amanda's father tells her. You sort of forget how much you miss them, until something like Thanksgiving reminds you again. And then it's missing them, and its sadness all over again, until some other happier thing...like the fact that your cousins are coming tomorrow.

Truer words were never spoken.

What follows next is the story of what happens that particular Thanksgiving of Bubbe's passing. Does the family manage to make all the wonderful, memorable dishes that Bubbe always made? Will it turn out just the way it did with hers? Will there be hiccups along the way? What happens? What about that special wishbone wish that Amanda always loved to do? Will she get to do it this time too?

Let me just answer the last one for you. No one had been collecting wishbones the way Bubbe did, but there was just one wishbone after that meal, and Amanda earned herself the right to use it since she was the youngest in the family and hence had had the fewest chances to wish with Bubbe. And she made her wish after all. What her wish was, we'll never know. But don't you wonder what her Bubbe used to wish everytime I know I did. And when I found out, I knew in my heart, that nothing could have topped it.

This is a tale for the holidays. It is full of sentiment, emotions, memories, warmth, family, food, and all those beautiful ingredients that make a good story, grand. At points, it makes you think of your own grandmother and all the things that sets your relationship apart. The illustrations are beautiful and lifelike and capture human expressions and moods enchantingly.

So whatever you may be doing this Thanksgiving season....whether it be with your own family and its traditions and feasts, whether your table is not as full of people as you'd like it to be, but you still see the warm faces of your loved ones, or whether you are just winding down for a weeklong holiday of bakr-eid....or whether you don't really celebrate Thanksgiving in your part of the world...I hope this tale of Amanda and her family warms your heart, and prompts you to look around and feel what it is you are truly thankful about today!

If you ask me what I am thankful about, it is for the simple meal that we just had and the feeling of being comfortably full and satisfied. And since we're on the subject of food, I'll end this review with some trivia facts about the delicious food that Bubbe cooked...

1. Braided challah : A bread bakes in honor of the Jewish Shabbat, representing the idea of unity...how we tie everything together, bringing all the diversity in our lives together for a peaceful harmony and unity, much like the ideals of Saffron Tree. :)

2. Tzimmes of prunes : Tzimmes, a traditional Jewish dish made with carrots and honey, is often eaten on Rosh Hashanah--the Jewish New Year, when everything is sweetened with honey. While the main ingredient of carrots remains a constant in Tzimmes recipes, all other ingredients vary greatly from cook to cook.

3. Matzo Balls : They are dumplings made from ground matzo, a cracker like flatbread made of plain white flour and water, much like chappathis.

Paper Boy

The Paperboy

Dav Pilkey

Ages 4+

When I came across the wonderful talk by Chimamanda Adichie regarding the danger of a single story; it reminded me of an experience that I had when I was around 13-14 years of age. I used to read a lot of fiction and that usually meant Enid Blytons', Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew(although it was not cool to admit that I read Nancy Drew during that age with other boys!). In most of these stories, a few kids used to work as a newspaper boy to earn some extra dough. That fascinated me and I thought why I should not try that out?

I plucked some courage and went and met the uncle who comes to collect money every month for the newspapers and asked him if he can give me a job of dropping the newspapers everyday. I had a red coloured bicycle and I thought that was qualification enough for dropping newspapers. He gave me a wry smile and told me - "The kids that I employ are from very poor families. The money they earn will help their family in a small way. You and your family are relatively better off than them. What do you think? Whom should I give the job to?".

Ouch! One of the early lessons in cultural differences and how things need not work the same all over the world and what we read in the books is not what the situation is in India.

Well that incident and the wonderful talk by Chimamanda leads to the wonderful book called The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey. The book allowed me to vicariously enjoy the life of a paper boy and talk about danger of getting exposed to only books of one country or culture.

In this wonderful book, a boy raises very early every morning, with his faithful dog, to deliver newspapers on his bicycle. With some wonderful colouring, Dav Pilkey shows us the kid waking up, shaking off his deep slumber, quietly having a small breakfast, packing the newspapers, adjusting them on his bicycle and dropping them off across various houses across the suburb. As we pause through the pages, one can sense the life and the enjoyment he gets with his dog as they roam the roads with no one in sight.

For me the silent late nights are eerie, but early mornings silence is almost respectful. The sense of reverence is captured by Dav Pilkey's wonderful colours as the dawn slowly crawls in with the dark night fading away. By the time, the boy is done with his rounds, the lights are up in many houses. His parents and sister are awake, but still in their bed. He tiptoes back to his attic room and dreams away while the rest of the world is busy waking up.

The boy was always the first to greet the day.

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster

Illustrations by Jules Feiffer

Ages:8-12

My eight year old, J was not a fantasy reader despite my best efforts to introduce her to this genre. That changed after she read The Keepers. This review is not about The Keepers though at some point I will with help from J of course. Instead, this one is about one of the other books that border on the fantasy genre that J really liked.

She says The Phantom Tollbooth is a wonderful book in which a series of events happen because of a tollbooth. The main character, Milo has a colorless life until a tollbooth arrives in his room with a map and a set of instructions. Then the adventures begin. According to J, reading this book is a lot like solving a puzzle. Milo, Tock (a watchdog), The Humbug go looking for Rhyme and Reason who are princesses who resolve arguments. The princesses got banished by their brothers because when the brothers had an argument over what is more important - numbers or words, Rhyme and Reason said both were equally important. The brothers were not happy with this resolution because they wanted one person to win and the other to lose.

Will Milo, Tock and The Humbug be able to find Rhyme and Reason when they know that demons may try to harm them while are are out looking for the banished princesses ? And if so, will princesses be able to return home safely ? To find out, says J, you have to read the book !

Rumniya

One of the greatest fears a young child has would be that of getting lost. I bet each of us has a story to tell about how they got lost and found and all the drama around it. I have one from the time I was three and a bit and the fact that I remember it all in vivid detail tells me how much of a big deal it must have been to me.

The flashback was brought on by Pratham Books' cute little book called Rumniya, written by Rukmini Banerji. The delightful illustrations by Henu remind me of this artist called V.B.Halbe who used to illustrate Shikari Shambhu in Tinkle (all those who remember him, raise your hands please!).

Little Rumniya, all of a year and a half, goes to a wedding with her Nani and Nana. She is attired in a lovely lehenga and bangles and looks exactly like any Indian kid on a festival/family event. The venue is done up with flower strings and colourful buntings. Waiters are going around with trays of drinks, guests are greeting each other and folks are joyfully tucking into the wedding feast. Soon Nani and Nana meet their friends and start chatting and little Rumniya, well, gets lost in the crowd.

Instead of crying (like how yours truly had!) she decides to do something. She figures that it would be much easier from her height to check out folks' footwear rather than trying to scan faces. So thats what she does. She goes around checking people's sandals and slippers till she comes to a familiar looking pair!

Needless to say this was a hit in these parts and with not just the kids!

One

Title: One

Author and Illustrator: Kathryn Otoshi

Publisher: KO Kids Books

Age Group: 2+

Cross posted at utbtkids.com

When I pick a book from the library, I pick up the book for its social/ethical values or for its pictures or for the educational values. Books like Flotsam inspires me to think out of the box. Books like The Relatives Came talks about the same issues we go through at home from time to time. In a nutshell, when I thumb through a book, I inadvertently shelve it in to a category in my mind. It forms the angle I adapt when I read the book at home with my children. Once in a while a book like One comes along and it just blows my mind.

Well, it talks about numbers and colors. So is it a toddler book to introduce colors and numbers? No. One is definitely more than that.

It has simple sentences and is easy to read. When they talk about the color red the author writes Red, making it easy for a preschooler to connect color to the name of the color in print. So is it an easy reader book? May be and some more.

When the author says, “Red got bigger and bigger and bigger”, she illustrates it with three red dots in increasing sizes. Is it a book that helps children comprehend comparison? This is got to be a early math skills book. Yes, definitely…..and much more.

It talks about feelings. So is it a book on values. Yes, that too.

One is the story of seven colors. Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Red, Green and the number One. Blue is an average Joe. He has his days, taking pleasure in simple things, at times feeling insecure hoping that he could be like some one else. He is weird with in acceptable limits. Then comes Red. He senses Blue’s insecurity and teases him. No one stops Red. Blue feels blue. Red’s ego bloats. Now comes One as in number one. So far the colors are illustrated as a blob of watercolor. One is gray, he has sharp corners and angles and nothing like the other colors have every seen. One is unique not only in appearance but also in his nature. He stands up to Red and refuses to be bullied. He looks at other colors and says, “If someone is mean and picks on me, I for One stand up and Say No.” Other colors join One in his stand against Red, even the meek Blue. Now Red turns even redder from the embarrassment and rolls away. Blue and One call out to Red saying that Red can be a part of the group if he is ready to respect the rest of the group. “Red can be hot AND Blue can be cool” they say, because they want “Every body to count.” Red laughs and joins the fun.

The illustrations capture one’s eye. Simple enough to smack our head and think, “Dang, I could do it”.

I fell head over heels in love with this book. I bought two copies of this book and donated one to my children's classroom. This book is so far the number One in my list of recommendations. I have even read it to couple of adults who visited us. I am just smitten with this book.

Monsoon Afternoon

Title: Monsoon Afternoon
Author: Kashmira Sheth
Illustrator: Yoshiko Jaeggi
Publisher: Peachtree
Age Group: 4-8 years

Soft watercolors all over, stroked elegantly to reveal pleasing sights of peacocks, street dogs, cows, and paper boats. A city drenched in monsoon. And that is not the only picture that this book paints, but the images also bear the warmth of a special relationship.

This book goes back to the motivational roots of Saffron Tree, in that it is perfectly tailored for children who need to get acquainted with the current Indian setting. It is also flawlessly apt for children who can, only through books, partake in the experiences that stem from the smell of moist terrain, almost unique to monsoons in India. Having said this, and going beyond the backdrop, the story itself unravels a treasured bond between an old man and his grandson, and this surpasses any kind of regional or climatic boundaries.

The boy, endowed with an autobiographical voice by the author, is looking around for familial playmates, just as the first drops of rain hit the earth. His efforts in vain, and even as he is resorting to the lull, we see grandpa appear from behind, with a tempting offer to sail paper boats! A monsoon afternoon well savored - swinging from the aerial shoots, witnessing a peacock's glorious spread, and hopping on to dadaji.

Our little friend who is now comfortably settled on his old man's shoulders, turns inquisitive. Did monsoon come when you were little? he asks. Will monsoon come when I become a dadaji? Our eyes drift to the corner in sepia showing dadaji as a little boy swinging from a banyan tree. And then fast forward to another portrayal of the boy, aged and still enjoying the shower juxtaposing our lad riding on his dadaji. I want to milk the moments in these pages. Yes, even if people pass on, monsoons will come and help break the summer heat, wash away the dust and soak their grandchildren and their grandchildren. Because that's what seasons do, and that is the nature of it.

I closed the book with a good read of Kashmira's notes on her monsoons in India, what the rains meant to her and what they brought with them - the mango season, time for indoor games, and the season for sicknesses too. A great way to talk to children about the ways of life when seasons change, in a land different from their own. Rains always excite children. Even while some carry brightly colored umbrellas and wear synthetic raincoats and boots, they can also find joy through fascinating stories of how some others spend their rainy afternoons in another part of the world.

And you think yesterday's telephonic complaints about leaking roofs, autorickshaws stuck on flooded streets and damp clothes pulled the trigger on this review? Nostalgia,I call it.

The Milkman's Cow

Take a story along the lines of the enormous turnip - the one where the old man, his wife, a little boy and a little girl and an assortment of animals together yank out the extraordinarily stubborn vegetable. Bring a cow into the picture, along with the plethora of folks you'd find in the streets of an Indian town or city. Add a refreshing twist and what do you have - a charming tale called The Milkman's Cow! Penned in rhyme by Vidya Pradhan and full of delightful illustrations by Saurabh Pandey, the book is published by the Children's Book Trust.

The milkman is in a fix - his cow has decided to park herself in the middle of the road. He pleads with her to please get up and get going as folks would be waiting for milk. But the cow refuses to budge.

Along came a policeman with buttons and buckles gleaming bright

"Hmmph", he said, twirling his long moustache,

"I'll show you how to do it right."

So the policeman and the milkman pulled and tugged and prayed.

But the cow wasn't going anywhere that day.

One by one, seven more passers-by stop to help and together try to get the cow up - a grocer with bags of potatoes and peas, a wrestler with muscles gleaming in the sun, an engineer with his fancy degree, an ice-cream man jingling his cart, a cobbler with his leather and awl, a painter with clothes splattered in orange pink and blue and a peanut vendor with roasted peanuts smelling fine. They pull and tug and pray. But the cow refuses to budge.

Finally a little boy stops by to watch the fun. He steps in and holds out a sheaf of grass and voila! the cow gets up and lets herself be led away by the boy to munch the yummy greens! All the grown-ups cheer and applaud the boy's cleverness. Kindness and brains win over brawn.

CBT has several books like this all of which sell for between fifteen and twenty-five rupees. Do not be fooled by the relatively low prices - they are excellent in terms of paper and print quality. Wedding Clothes and Mrs. Woolly's Funny Sweaters, both by Asha Nehemiah, are two more I can think of right away. They are all huge hits in these parts. Check out their stall at the Bangalore Book Fair or their website for their catalogue. Major bookshops also stock their books.

Once Upon an India

A couple of years back, an American friend gifted my daughter a set of nine books by Laura Ingalls Wilder called The Little House series. As we read them, first her and then me and then her again, we were both enchanted by this autobiographical account of a pioneer family. The series starts off when Laura is five years old and goes on through her childhood, adolescence and adulthood till she herself becomes a mother.

Seeing how captivating my daughter found it, I realised that history comes to life and becomes interesting for a child especially if narrated in another child's voice. It need not be a mere string of dates and events. I looked around for similar accounts of Indian history and found a series called Once Upon an India published by Pratham Books. The four fictional tales based in different periods of Indian history have been penned by Subhadra Sen Gupta and illustrated by Tapas Guha.

A Royal Procession is set in the times of Emperor Ashoka. Parvati and her brother Laxman, children of a potter, go to the monastery one day to deliver some pots. They bump into a man who tells them he was a soldier who has now stopped fighting. The children tell him they wish they could also meet the king like he could. Their wish does come true and whats more they're in for a royal surprise!

The simple storyline is punctuated with details of what the palace was like and what they wore. Also there is a section at the end that talks about fun facts about life in those times.

Incidentally, Sen Gupta has recently authored a book called Ashoka The Great and Compassionate King. Published by Puffin Books, it is for an older child and also goes into details of how historians discovered what they know about Ashoka and the Mauryan period.

Sailing Home is about Basava and his sister Sundari who live in the port-town of Mamallapuram in the Pallava period. When their father, a sailor, doesn't return home when he should have, the children get worried. To find out what happened they go to the port where they meet sailors from foreign lands who do not speak their language. What will happen next?!

The fun facts at the end of the book talk about interesting things - sample this - people in those days not only dyed their hair but also used toothpicks after meals!

In Raza Meets the King you meet the royal tailor's son who goes to the palace with his father to deliver Emperor Akbar's clothes. The emperor is not happy with his new outfit and Raza uses his wits to save the day. I found this story utterly delightful!

In the fun facts section you learn that Akbar would choose from as many as thirty dishes every meal and that he enjoyed flying kites!

Marching to Freedom was written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the historic Dandi March and through nine-year old Dhani's eyes, we learn about the thoughts of those who undertook it. Dhani also wants to join in and is gently persuaded by Gandhiji himself to stay back and do another very important job - that of feeding his goat Binni. The story illustrates the endearingly simple principles that the Mahatma lived by. The facts about the March at the end make all the more sense after reading the story.

Wish books like these would be used to teach history in schools!

Edited to add: Pratham Books have an online catalogue here. Or here in pdf version. To get hold of their books you can choose the ones you want from the catalogue and mail them the list or call them up (the contact details are in the last page of the catalogue) and they will ship them over. They have a stall in the Bangalore Book fair that is on till this weekend, you could pick the books from there. Some major bookshops like Landmark have started stocking sets of their books as well.

Redwoods

Redwoods
Written and Illustrated by Jason Chin

Ages : 6-10

Amazon.com’s list of top ten picture books of 2009!

Who would have ever thought that a regular ride in the subway could become such a magical journey, transporting you soundlessly, thousands of mile across the coast to the mysterious and enchanting redwood forest of California!!!???!!

That's exactly what happens to a little boy as he chances upon a book about redwoods on his way to the subway and starts reading it, and strange things begin to happen. As he reads that the redwood ancestors lived about 165 million years ago, during the Jurassic period...we see dinosaurs appear outside the train window. When he learns that one tree alone can live for more than 2000 years, which means that the trees alive today first sprouted during the Roman Empire...we see a couple of Romans sitting on either side of him. And once he gets off the subway and heads to the exit, still wrapped up in his book, we see him come out to the breathtaking view of the redwoods forest itself! And from there on the journey intensifies from page to page as facts are woven into the most beautiful and detailed illustrations of this unique landscape.

In the author's own words...

"In 2006, I sat down in a New York City subway train and read about the discovery of the world's tallest tree, Hyperion, in a magazine article by Richard Preston. I was enthralled by his descriptions of researchers working in the redwood canopy, hundreds of feet above the forest floor. His words transported me out of the loud, smelly, crowded subway car to the redwood forest thousands of miles away. . . "

Things that stand out about this book...

1. That for a change, it is a non-fiction picture book, which can be confused with fiction, and can even be categorised as a memoir thanks to the beginnings it had with the author! :)

2. That the illustrations beautifully blend with the facts and quite literally transport us deep into the realms of the redwoods forest!

3. That the facts come across in such a light manner, such that a young reader will be able to actually relate it to his world. For instance, the trunk of a redwood can be about 29 feet in diameter. Its a number an adult can relate to in wonder, but for a child, it makes better sense to add....That's so wide that a tunnel can be cut in it, big enough for a car to drive through.

4. The subject is something as fascinating and mysterious and redwoods. So many facts about it really make you gasp in wonder....

• that redwoods not only start from seeds, but also from other redwoods.
• That they have the ability to live through forest fires, thanks to their extremely thick barks.
• That in the summer, the redwoods create their own rainfall from the fog that condenses on its needles and sends the water down to the ground, where it feeds not only its own roots, but that of surrounding plants as well.
• That plants grow on the redwoods and once researchers found a mass of ferns that weighed more than 1600 pounds!
• That the redwood branch systems are so dense and crisscrossed that researchers have gotten lose while exploring them!
• That the largest redwood, at 370 feet was called the Stratosphere Giant and is now topped by another at 379 feet called the Hyperion, which is like 6 stories taller than the Statue of Liberty, and what's more...its continues to grow!

In all, by the time we finished this book, me and my son learned quite some things about something we knew so little about. And we made a little resolve to ourselves that we would go and see the redwoods forest with our very own eyes one day. But that is for a day in the future. For now, we are going to go right back between the covers of this book and take the journey all over again....this time with that little girl who found the book lying on a park bench, where the boy had left it behind....See ya!

Little Quack

Little Quack
by Lauren Thompson
Illustrated by Derek Anderson

Ages : 2-5

Mama Duck had five little ducklings, Widdle, Waddle, Piddle, Puddle and Little Quack...

So begins the story in one of our favorite books of all time.

If it is at all possible to lock memories inside the pages of a book, with just a few words of it acting as a trigger to a sweet recollection.... then Little Quack is what does it for us. And what better proof of that than the day my 6 year old located this very book from his school library, and brought it home for his little brother to read! Yes, we've indeed come full circle with Little Quack!

What would attract you and your child to this book and the many others in this series are a few simple, but solid things. How feelings are presented in such a simple, easy to digest way! How simply everyday fun such as playing hide and seek can be made so exciting! How complex concepts like friendship and acceptance can be broken down into its barest essentials! How small phrases in repetitive style can be imprinted onto little minds, and help them 'read' the book on their own pretty soon. How these phrases, that flow in such a singsong way become so etched into our own adult minds that we find ourselves using it liberally too at opportune times....such as....Come on little duckling. You can do it. I know you can! Not to mention a central character who is so darn cute, with his innocence and sweetness captured to enticingly by Derek Anderson's expert strokes and use of colours, the likes of which simply fills you up with this abounding happiness with life!

All this and more draws you irresistibly to the life of this little duckling and everything else that happens in it. And if your child is in that magical, blossoming age range of 2 to 5, then you definitely want him/her making friends with Little Quack!

A chair for my Mother

Written and Illustrated by Vera B Williams

Caldecott Honor Book (1983)

I picked this book from the library solely because it was a Caldecott Honor Book - the gold stamp for kid lit.

The story is narrated in first person by a young girl who lives with her mother and grandma. They live a simple hardworking life (we might even say that they are poor, although the book never uses that word).

Due to a stroke of bad luck they lose all their meager belongings and have to start afresh. The neighbors pitch in and among other things give them some old furniture. But what's really missing in their home is a comfortable chair. Her mother complains that after a hard day at work she would like to curl up in a soft velvet chair but all they have are the hard kitchen ones.

So mother brings a big jar back home and they all work towards filling it up with their spare coins at the end of each day. When the jar is full, they will take the money and buy a chair. So that is where the title - A chair for my mother - comes from.

It is a simple no frills story - no rhymes or clever words, but it works because it is so simple. The illustrations ofcourse are beautiful, of Caldecott standard. Very detailed with nuances that I might miss, but obviously a child would catch. For example, the border on each page is relevant to the picture - notice the border on this picture of their kitchen..

And ofcourse the message.. Now a bit of personal background - I was brought up by my widowed mother and we had very little money growing up. But the thing I remember from my childhood is not the lack of money, but the sense of camaraderie we shared at home. A feeling that as long we worked hard and supported each other we could overcome all our problems.

No doubt this book struck a chord in me - and it paved the way for a dialogue between me and my daughter. I found myself talking about the hard times I had growing up and I could sense that young as she is, it was the first time she had ever thought about anything like this. About working hard and together to reach a common goal, about the unparalleled joy of deferred gratification. When you want something so badly and get it after much hard work, it does taste sweeter does it not?

A must read for our privileged children.

A Color of his Own

A Color Of His Own
by Leo Lionni
Ages: 4-8+ years


The cover image - with its bright vibrant colors against a stark white background, of a chameleon with a dubious expression - first caught my attention.

The simple text sheltering a profound message urged me to bring it home to read it to my kids.

The chameleon is aching for immutability. Having his colors constantly change, depending on his mood or environment, has become tiresome for him. He envies the gray elephant and the pink pig and the green parrot who have an unambiguous color identity.

So, he decides to stay put on the greenest of green leaves so he can stay green forever and get to be known as the green chameleon, with a color of his own.

However, when autumn comes, the de-chlorophylled leaf turns yellow and so does the chameleon. And when the leaf takes it a step further in its seasonal pageantry and turns red, so does the chameleon, possibly involuntarily. And when the winter gusts blow the leaf down, and the chameleon with it, he decides that black is his color for winter.

When spring comes around, so does the chameleon, thanks to a rather charming and heart-warming encounter which is a treat to read aloud.

The chameleon's search for his own unique color leads to self-acceptance when he meets a wiser and older chameleon who offers comfort with, "We will still change color wherever we go, but you and I will always be alike."

The message in this book is universal: With our wide spectrum of emotions, interests, likes and dislikes (our colors), we are constantly trying to answer the Who am I? (What is my color?) question, while trying to blend in and feel accepted, regardless of age or ethnicity.

Not only does the book appeal to kids dealing with self-esteem and self-identity issues, it also shows how wonderful it is to find a friend with whom to share all our various colors/moods and be accepted for who we are, and in turn learning to accept what makes us special.

The brilliant water-color art work by Leo Lionni (5 May 1910 — 12 October 1999) makes this book a treat for the eyes: the stark white background helps focus on the brightly colored illustrations on each page, making this one of the few books that appeal equally to my 1½ old and my 4½ year old. The short and smooth text accompanying the illustrations makes it easy to follow.

On an aside: My 4½ year old found it hard to accept that goldfish are red as the book states, having seen them on the orangish side in our home-aquarium from babyhood. But, that opened up a whole new exploration of ideas, not quite intended by the author, I am sure. But, her favorite read-aloud part was when the sad chameleon asks in desperation, "Won't we ever have a color of our own?"

Chameleons have fascinated me from childhood, particularly their chromatophores that gives them the ability to change colors. Of course, technically, chameleons are solitary creatures, quite aggressively territorial. They animatedly deter other chameleons from encroaching on their territory by displaying their menacing colors till the meeker one concedes and leaves the territory.

Facts aside, this deceptively simple book has layers of meaning that can be distilled for the young minds:

• change is inevitable, so let's find a way to embrace it rather than shun it
• we may not always get what we want, but we can accept what we have and find happiness
• we are not alone, we can find others like ourselves who are willing to accept us the way we are

Via its stark, colorful and elegant art work and uncluttered presentation, this book is sure to appeal to kids of all ages.

Leo Lionni's Bio at Greenville Public Library

The Success Of CROCUS 2009

The curtains on CROCUS fell down last Friday. It has been a quiet weekend here. As for us under the Saffron Tree, we are exhausted from all the excitement, the writing, the reading (of books and of reviews). Tired from the process itself, and even from making multiple trips to the library! But somehow there is still more than adequate adrenaline left in us to come back and write about a good book that we've just enjoyed with our own children. How so? Because, when we did what we did the past week, we seem to have affected the choices people made when they looked around for a book. A story, a concept, a message. And here is how we found that out.

A storyteller stopped by and told us...

This story is a great one for me to adapt into a puppet show...thanks

The whole essence of this Festival is the various perspectives we are getting from people who are passionate about books and children! This is true integration of diversity...

And some wonderful authors amazed us with their kind words -

I loved ur interview with katia..And your CROCUS week--what a terrific idea - (Uma Krishnaswami in an email)

I hope there are some editors out there reading this, and maybe we can finally help them understand how our Third Culture Kids need to have books that mirror some of their experiences. And what an awesome selection of great books ! - Katia Novet Saint-Lot

Thanks so much for writing about my book in such a thoughtful way. When I wrote Calabash Cat, I never realized the philosophical implications of a cat who sets out to find the end of the world. I was merely writing about traveling. - (an excerpt from James Rumford's email)

While some could not wait to read the book, some decided to re-read the book!

I have read this book sometime back and had loved it ... but your review makes me want to re-read it !- Cantaloupes.Amma

You make me want to go out and grab the book...RIGHT NOW!! - Mamma Mia! Me a mamma?

Beautiful, beautiful book! My kids and I love it..we will read it again tonight - Prita

Some patted our backs...

Dear team ST..This week has been wonderful what with all these stories from all over the world. I can't wait for the day when my two year old and I will read all these together! I am already looking forward to tomorrow's book! - Hema

WOW!! Wow! Simply wow! Standing ovation to whoever came up with the thought of taking the readers through this multi cultural joy ride around the globe. And to the contributors. Fabulous job. Amazing picks. Thank You. -DD MOM

And some left us inspired with their presence!

Thank you all at Saffron Tree for supporting our small team at Lama Mani Books. It's great to be on the map as part of CROCUS 2009! And congratulations to you all for putting it together - it's absolutely fantastic! - Aravinda Anantharaman

The laurels of CROCUS and of Saffron Tree rest on you, on what you have to say to us! And all we can say, still holding on to a good book, is THANK YOU :)