Polar Bear, Arctic Hare

Polar Bear Arctic Hare
Poems of the Frozen North
by Eileen Spinelli
Illustrations by Eugenie Fernandes
Ages 4-8


This is a book of short poems about the Arctic wildlife. The illustrations are simple and complement the poems well.

What impressed me was that it educates about Arctic wildlife in such a way as to leave a lasting impression. And the verses are charming and catchy, easy to repeat, easy to understand. I enjoyed reading them out aloud. There is no discounting the appeal of rhyme when reading to children.

The Arctic Nursery Rhyme early in the book piqued my curiosity right away:

Arctic Tundra, Arctic Tundra,
How does your garden grow?
With lupine seeds and fireweeds
And bearberries all in a row.

And at the back of the book, we have notes about Arctic Lupine, Fireweed and Bearberries. Three things I had not heard of until this book!

Narwhal Sighting easily became Ana's favorite poem in the book, especially with bold large illustration of one poking out from the icy Arctic:

What is that in the Arctic sea?
That creature with a single horn?
Some sailors saw it long ago
And thought it was a unicorn.

And, at the back of the book, in the notes, we find out that only male narwhals have this horn which is actually a tooth! No one knows what it is used for...

In Racing The Peregrine Falcon, we discover that the peregrine falcon is the fastest creature in the world:

Faster than a school bus,
Faster than a hare.
Faster than a race car,
Faster than a bear.
Faster than a cheetah -
The awesome peregrine.
I think I'll save my running shoes
For races I can win!

It wouldn't be fair for me to present all the poems here. Hopefully the sample above speaks for the rest of the book.

We learn about the only white whale, Beluga; the killer whale, Orca (which is actually a large dolphin); the Arctic Tern which happens to be the long-distance champion of the world flying from Arctic to Antarctic and back again following the summer sun...

We learn about the Tundra Wolf, Musk Ox, Ptarmigan... Polar Bear, Caribou, even Snow Fleas and Orange-Golden Bumblebee... and the iceberg!

All in simple verse, accompanied by stark illustrations.

Some poems are short and warm, some set the heart racing with its rhythm and meter (especially, Caribou Coming). Some just flow like a gentle brook while some make us chuckle.

The permanent harsh coldness of the Arctic seems like a tough place to sustain life. And it is. But we learn about the animals and plants that have adapted and evolved to survive there. It seems like a good starting point to learn about geography and biology of the world we live in.

Every time we've read the book so far, I've not been able to get away with skipping the notes section at the back of the book. This is a book I want to add to our home library, and look forward to reading to my toddler in a couple of years.

Priya Kuriyan - Interview

Once in a while, I come across some illustrations during long web crawling sessions and I whistle! Let out a small sound of joy at the exciting and fascinating pictures leaping out of the page. Priya Kuriyan's blog etcetera etcetera, the illustrator of the book Taranauts, made me whistle and shout out with joy.

Many folks enjoyed the wonderful interview with the author of Taranauts, Roopa Pai. Here is an interview with the illustrator of the same book - Priya Kuriyan. Thank you Priya for writing back in detail to us.

How did you get into children's book illustrations?

In the beginning, I never consciously thought of illustrating for children per se . I studied animation film making at a design school where one is exposed to so many different kinds of exciting visual media. As a student of animation, one was expected to draw -a lot- and also experiment with all kinds of storytelling methods, character development, visual techniques and treatments at the conceptual stage of film making. I enjoyed this stage of the film making process immensely. I think my interest in illustrating for books was an outcome of that.

However it wasn’t until I approached Tulika books, a publisher based in Chennai, that I got my first real illustration project. They were kind enough to look at my work and give me a chance to work on an endearing children’s story called ‘I’m so sleepy’ written by Radhika Chadha. Later, I also did some sequels to the book and wonderfully, they did get noticed by other publishers of children’s books and one thing led to another. So it was really by default that I started illustrating children’s books ..and loved doing it.

What are you inspirations in the illustration world?

Oh many! Quentin Blake has been an all time favourite. I have always loved Mario Miranda’s work.Tim Burton’s concept drawings for all his films are a treat to go through. As a kid I also loved books illustrated by Mickey Patel. Prashant Miranda (compiler's note:- oh my god!. He has some amazing stuff!) is another artist whose work I really admire. I also love the work of graphic novelists like Niel Gaimen and Marjane Satrapi. I absolutely adore the work of Piet Grobler. I can just go on. Also, with the internet , there is so much more exposure to what is going on around the world. People are constantly exchanging links saying ….”have you seen this…?” or they are posting interesting items on their facebook profiles. It is really amazing how many talented contemporary artists there are in obscure corners of the world whose work I have stumbled upon work trawling the web . Its wonderful that one can actually access the work of these artists and actually personally get in touch with them through their blogs .

How does it work out when the illustrator and the writer are not nearby. I was surprised by the amount of cohesion there seems to be between the words being written by Roopa Pai and your illustrations next to it. Did you read the book before the assignment or did you work in parallel?

Well, I definitely did read the book before beginning to illustrate it . It would be impossible to do so otherwise as one has to really gauge the mood of the book and understand its characters completely.

I don’t think physical distances matter as much especially in this day and age when so much work can just get done online and by having a couple of phone conversations. Most of Taranauts was actually done in this way .I met Roopa in person only once the book was launched. Credit does go to the Vatsala the editor at Hachette who actually co-ordinated between us. Roopa had conveyed a very clear vision of what she wanted but at the same time gave me enough space to imagine and elaborate on the world that she had created. In cases where my visualization was a little way of target , a simple email explaining the error would suffice. The process always involves a little bit of back and forth depending on the feedback the author gives. I think once you have understood the characters and the genre of the book you are pretty much set. After that it is merely a question of executing those ideas.

There have been many occasions when I’ve illustrated for books and have never ever met the author or even spoken to them for that matter! It is however always nice to meet writers of these books personally not so much because it helps illustrating them, but because of the fact that they are usually interesting people!

As an illustrator, you would have your own pet projects versus projects being given to you by publishers. How do you balance your own interest with what you have to deliver.

Well, the answer to that I guess is simple . If you love and enjoy what you are doing , then nothing is really an effort. So I usually try and squeeze in sometime every other day for something of my own. I must admit that personal projects without clear deadlines are not the easiest to complete quickly.

Sorry if this take sounds stupid - like a writer's block, is there an illustrator block?

Well there are definitely some spells when one doesn’t know how to treat a certain story or doesn’t feel inspired enough... But I think a short walk or run in the outdoors or a day of doing absolutely nothing about it is a good enough antidote for illustrators block (thank you for the nomenclature. I now know what I occasionally suffer from). I always feel one mustn’t take a project so seriously that it ruins the spontaneity of it .

What are the books that you love?

Among children’s books, I love all of Roald Dahls books . Of course Quentin Blake’s illustrations only add to the charm. I love his impish and often mean sense of humor . Piet Grobler illustrated this book written by Anushka Ravishanker called ‘Today is my Day’ which I like a lot. Like every other kid I grew up on my quota of Enid Blyton. One of my favourite books as a child used to be ‘the Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. The whole idea of a family getting shipwrecked on an island and building a life for themselves was fascinating. I still love Asterix and Calvin and Hobbes. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is also a favourite. I love all of J.D Salinger especially his compilation of 9 short stories. There are hundreds of other books I would like to name but since they might seem a little out of the context of this blog, I shall refrain.

Anything else that you would like us to know..

I guess that’s all for now. I hope I’ve answered all your questions. Thank you for the opportunity and your interest in my work.

Thank you Priya.

Where is the Green Sheep?

Title: WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP?
Author: Mem Fox
Illustrator : Judy Horacek
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Age Group: Pre-K to Gr 1 (as per Amazon)
Picture Courtesy: Amazon.com

I always find hand-picking books for babies and toddlers very interesting, and challenging. While its bulls eye most times for the older age groups with the knowledge of their acquired likes and dislikes, it could be more of a gamble with the unknown, for the fries. The eye scans for something more than instructional concept books, for a gush of creativity that makes us hopeful of reining in the wandering little mind. Texture or bold colors, sounds or pop-ups, pulling tabs and pushing buttons often come to the rescue.

None of the above physical or mechanical attractions in this book. And yet it can hold the child in rapt attention. What is it that does the trick? Repetition - a binding word that puts the child in the comfort zone and belts him up for the ride. The "hiding" game intact. The confluence works like magic! All said, it is still a concept book.

This is how Mom Fox, a Saffron Tree favorite, starts the fun and word play in this book -

Here is the blue Sheep.
And here is the red sheep.
Here is the bath sheep.
And here is the bed sheep.
But where is the green sheep?

Clever, I tend to think. Clear ink-and-watercolor illustrations keep things simple for the young. Appropriately placed, pictures of different sheep - scared sheep, far sheep, moon sheep and the like support the text further along. Not to forget the adorable portrayals of the sun sheep on the beach or the train sheep peeping out the window. The use of opposites, colors and patterns add value, and rhyme sustains the momentum. Blank white pages periodically appear questioning But where is the green sheep? and the excitement mounts to find our missing friend. The finale is when the anticipation builds in the couple of pages leading up to the "eureka" moment on the last spread! And that's when, I'd surmise, the exceedingly satisfying moment for the reader and the listener would also arrive.

There is an elaborate writing on Mem Fox's website on how she collaborated with Judy Horaceck on the book and how the book evolved - http://www.memfox.net/green-sheep-secrets.html. The photograph included at the bottom says it all!
Here is Judy Horacek's website, http://horacek.com.au/, where her banner includes our colorful sheep friends as well. Amongst other things the back cover of the book also lists the accolades that it has received.

I'd hate for my 20 month old toddler to grow up to discover "Where is the green sheep?" not featured on Saffron Tree! Because that's how much he loves this book...we love this book!

All About Nothing

Concept and illustrations by Nina Sabnani
Written by Deeya Nayar

Tulika Publishers

Ages 5+

You must have studied the Roman numeral system at some point in school. The sheer number of rules just for writing down numbers is quite daunting. Just to refresh your memory - I did while doing 3rd grade Math with my daughter, here are some:

(I had even forgotten the symbols - L is 50, C is 100, D is 500 and M is 1000)
You cannot repeat V, D and L.
X, C and D cannot be repeated more than thrice.
If a smaller numeral is placed before a larger one you have to subtract it. You cannot however subtract V, D and L in this manner. You can subtract I from V and X only, X from L and C only and C from D and M only.
If a smaller numeral is placed after a numeral, add it.
If a smaller numeral is placed between two larger ones, subtract it from the one after it.

For example, 3999 would be MMMCMXCIX.

When we get to addition and subtraction and higher operations, it begins to get really complicated.

Why the need for so many rules you ask?

Mainly because the concept of place values did not exist. This idea is perhaps the most brilliant thing about the Hindu-Arabic system that we now use (ie 0-9 digits). Peel away a layer from this and you bump into that superstar to whom a lot of intellectual progress can be attributed to, that most perfect shape - the little circle. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Mister Zero! All About Nothing by Nina Sabnani is about this hero who simplifies our lives much more than we realise.

Muchu is a diamond trader who lived in ancient India. One day he is embroiled in a particularly tricky calculation and goes to bed with his head still spinning. In the morning, he notices a sunbeam making a circular pattern on one of his scrolls. This triggers a thought process which leads to his discovering the concept of shunya or zero.

This story was originally an animation film. It is fictional but is based on actual research. Though the recommended age group is 5+, I think it will appeal to folks of all ages. Sabnani has authentically re-created the world at the time around which the concept was discovered. She brings in a philosophical twist by quoting a Sanskrit shloka about poorNa or whole and weaves it into the story beautifully by relating it to shunya or empty. The pages have been given a manuscript-like background, the colours are rich and earthy and the illustrations simply transport you back in time.

Like my favourite Math teacher used to say, the beauty of genius lies in its simplicity. Once you get it, you wonder why no one thought of it earlier and how folks did without it before. All About Nothing tells you this about zero and its importance in a most delightful manner.

Picture Courtesy

Final list of favorites from 2009

This post is coming in slightly late. Nevertheless, we are determined to share with our readers, the very final list of our "favorites" in the year 2009 from three of our contributors.
Artnavy writes...



Jalebi curls

A bilingual book from Tulika, we have it in English and Hindi. The quaint little story is by Niveditha Subramaniam and it is wonderfully illustrated by Kavita Singh Kale.

The tale is simple and imaginative- a King who loves jalebis ( Indian sweet) so much that he even dreams of them.

He imagines anything curled, such as the queen's earrings, the moon, flowers. all turn into jalebis.Then the dream, turns into a nightmare when his moustache is under attack. He awakes to find one hot crisp jalebi awaiting him. And all is well.

It is just pure fun and if that is not enough reason to keep reading it , it is also excellent for early readers and for introducing a new language to children.

Sameer's House


I am fond of geography. To introduce the concept of address and boundaries or rather no boundaries, is this book from Tulika- Sameer's house.

Written by Deepa Balsavar and Deepa Hari and with evocative illustrations by Nina Sabnani, this book is much liked and adapted by us at home, by substituting Sameer with other people and thereby learning about new places.

Sameer lives in a house on a road called Saraswati Street in the city -Mumbai, the state of Maharashtra, in a country India, in a continent Asia . . . ending with the universe. A very powerful way of depicting where we are in the larger scheme of things.

Praba's husband, Ram writes about his three yr old's favorite from 2009...


My younger one (3 yrs old) is fascinated by this book titled "Tiger Can't Sleep". The story is all about a tiger (a pet one I suppose) sitting in a closet and not letting a little boy (about 5 yrs old) fall asleep. The tiger snacks on crunchy chips, turns the light in his closet on and off, plays a musical instrument and so on. The noise annoys the boy. He tries to persuade the tiger from stopping to do all of these, but can't quite get him to listen. Eventually, the tiger tells the boy he is afraid to be alone in the dark closet, and that he wants to snuggle with the boy in his bed. The boy, quite tired by this point nods. The next minute, the tiger jumps into the boy's bed. And guess what, in a jiffy, the tiger falls asleep. Is the boy able to sleep now? No way! Well, how can he when there is a tiger snoaring in his bed?

Well, as for my daughter, she loves the page in which the tiger-cub character eats potato chips. Of late, she is starting to appreciate the funny twist in the end. The illustrations portraying the tiger's expressions are amusing. This book has shown up very often at our bedtime, read-aloud routine, hand-picked by my little girl.

And Praba has this to say about her seven year old's favorite book...


If my seven year old were to pick one book that she thoroughly enjoyed reading by herself in the year 2009, that would be The Magic Finger, by Roald Dahl. The book in fact was the first short novel, (fiction peppered with fantasy (magic), if I may, by an author of classics) she had picked during the first month of her second grade year. Prior to this one, all the other books she had read were part of some "realistic" fiction character-based series or the other - Arthur and friends and Ivy and Bean, being her favorite series in her first grade year.

The Magic Finger is a story about a little girl endowed with magical powers on her finger that she can use to turn people into any thing she imagined them to be. She lives on a farm and has some strong views against hunting. She can't stand her neighbors, the Gregg family for hunting geese, squirrels and other small, wild animals. Annoyed, she tries to talk and convince them to stop killing the wild animals. She gets mocked at, which makes her even angrier. She decides to use her magic finger turning them into ducks. My daughter thinks the anti-hunting message and the funny imagination about neighbors turning into ducks, are the two main reasons she would recommend this book to others. As for me, the content around hunting, I thought would be a bit intense for her. Contrary to that, I was pleasantly surprised and happy to see that the book became a hit with her.


Heartcrossings writes about her daughter's favorites in the year 2009...

"I asked J to name 5 of her most favorite books of the ones she read in 2009. 2 was not nearly enough She wanted more like 10. So the top 5 as per J were..."

1. The Number Devil
2. Go Figure ! A Totally Cool Book About Numbers
3. The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
4. The Phantom Tollbooth
5. No Talking by Andrew Clements

Not a Box

Not a Box
by Antoinette Portis

Ages : 3-7 and on...

[Experienced and reviewed by Praba here.]

It has happened so many times at home with the boys. Where one of them picks up the toilet paper holder in his hand and tells me its a mike to sing into. Or when one of them gets into the big large toy tunnel we have, with the other pulling him along, and it is actually a train with many stops along the way. I see it all the time, when their imagination converts the simplest everyday object and becomes a whole new thing with a whole new dimension of possibility. And that is the concurrent theme of Not a Box as well.

What looks deceptively like a box, morphs into a race car, a mountain peak, a building on fire, a robot suit, a hot air balloon, a mount on top of an elephant....and...you get the drift. The rabbit at every turn keeps telling us that it is not a box. Then what is it, we wonder...and we get our answer at the very end....its my not-a-box. Which is like the most fitting finale to such strong imagination. Why is it necessary for everything to have a name, when it can be the not-a-name?

Not a Stick
by Antoinette Portis

Ages : 3-7 and on..

This is the follow-up to Not a Box, and another imaginative adventure, where a stick is a stick and not just a stick. Can you imagine all the things a stick could become now? :) I will not let the stick poke the fun out of the box, by spelling it all out.

Instead, I will tell you about the stark simplicity of the illustrations by the author, where less is truly more and sharp, clear images on plain white backgrounds create the maximum impact of visual enjoyment.

This author is already a favorite on ST, with the beauty of her A Penguin Story already captured here by Kodi's Mom.

This series of books has potentially triggered another winter game and art activity hereabouts. Where boredom can be dispelled by a flick of that not-a-stick and other everyday objects that we see, can morph into the wildest, funniest things, making life...just a little bit more interesting!

Library Lion

Library Lion
by Michelle Knudsen
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

Ages : 4-8

There is something about animals in improbable everyday settings that just raises the gentle humour quotient and makes the story a surefire enterprise in enjoyment, and Library Lion is no exception to this genre.

Ms. Merriweather, the head of the library is very strict and particular about rules, topping which are two particular ones : no running in the library, and no noise. Fair enough, one would think. Except when it comes to lions. What are the rules about lions in the library anyway? No one knows. So when a lion turns up in the library one fine day, everyone is surprised, some nervous even, but they let it be, because he is not breaking any rules. And moreover, this is one conducive lion. He fits right in, and proceeds to make himself useful in many ways. He dusts off the encyclopedias with the furry ends of his tail, he licks the envelopes for sending notices, carries the children on his back so they can reach the top shelf...and the best thing of all is that he is a nice cosy backrest for the kids during everyone's favorite story hour.

So everything is going well, until one day when things go wrong. The story twists as the lion has to jump to the rescue in the only way he can. Which means that he has broken one of the cardinal rules. What happens that day? What does the lion do? What happens now that the rule is broken? This is what forms the rest of the story and in a way that has your emotions hanging on your sleeve, until you can be at ease on the last page that everything is just as it should be, that the shelves will once again be dusted, and the envelopes licked, and children hoisted up to reach the shelves and everyone cuddling up close to our beloved friend during his beloved story time....

Its a simple story, of an fantastic situation, with gentle humour to keep a smile always handy and the victorious exhilaration of everything being alright again in the end. And the illustrations tell this story perfectly. Kevin Hawkes' eye for creating just the right facial expressions, and the underlying current of persistent humour, makes you fall in love with the characters right away. The rule-wedded head librarian Ms. Merriweather, the sincere assistant Mr. McBee, the slightly nervous storyteller at story time, all the numerous kids who look like they have found a second home in this magical setting and our highly entertaining, unlikely-gentle, books-loving lion....you have a place in your heart for them all, when you get to know them through the book. And he adds little touches, like all the kids reading books with pictures of a lion in them, when the lion goes missing, to create the mood of his absence and their missing him. Or the way, he shows the entrance of the library with two imposing lion statues on either sides....much like the lions at the New York Public Library...tying in the theme cohesively.

With its warm and familiar theme of unlikely animals in improbable settings, this is a book that appeals to all ages, and I wouldn't be surprised if I caught myself daydreaming about a lion at the library the next time I go!

Interview with Roopa Pai

This is an email interview done with Roopa Pai, author of the Taranauts series, the review of which has been already posted. Sathish and me would like to thank Roopa for having promptly and patiently replied to all our questions. Please read on to find what interesting things Roopa has got to say !

In the few books that we have read of yours (like Sister, Sister series & Taranauts), there is a lot of discussion on scientific concepts for children. What is your inspiration for this?

I didn't actually think that Taranauts had anything 'scientific' about it, but now that you put it that way, yes, maybe it does. Even the Children's Book Trust award I won several years ago was in the category 'Science Writing for Children'. The truth is, I am a student of science (I studied computer science and have an engineering degree), and I am very keen on puzzles of every kind - mathematical, logical, verbal...

When I was studying engineering, we used a lot of American books, since computer engineering was a relatively new department and there weren't many Indian textbooks yet. They were a revelation! Suddenly, our textbooks became books we loved to read - everything was so clearly, simply explained, even the most complex scientific concepts. I loved that the books always started with the assumption that you knew nothing, unlike Indian books that assumed that you knew things already, and if you didn't, well,it was your responsibility to go find out! I realised four things -

1. Clarity and simplicity were the keys to great science writing, and starting from the basics did not equate to dumbing down.

2. Science writing need not be jargon-filled and inaccessible and intimidating, it could be, and should be, fun and wonder-inducing and accessible even to a complete novice. To me, the greatest scientist is one who understands his subject so deeply, feels it so instinctively, that he can explain what he does from day to day even to a child.

3. If science teaching was approached in a ' how wonderful our world is' way, we would have many more children who fell in love with science and grew up to be real innovators and inventors.

4. Science teaching could, and should, penetrate every subject in the curriculum, just as history teaching should, and art teaching, and language teaching, and math teaching. Keeping all these subjects separate should be just for convenience, in no way are these, or should these be, isolated from each other. Only with that kind of holistic learning does the world begin to make sense to a child. Why can you not teach science through a story? Or art through math? Or history through geography?

I am delighted that schools nowadays have begun to realise this. And the new NCERT books are quite amazing - miles better than what we used to have.

I also feel that all children love science and math instinctively - if it is presented properly, they will enjoy it. And that is my inspiration - to present science in as many different fun ways as possible, so that children can begin to relate to it, and feel the wonder of it.

How did you get into writing for children?

I was one of those kids who read all the time. And I always knew I wanted to be a writer. Rather late in life - maybe I was 12 or 13 already - I discovered Target magazine (the children's magazine, now no longer around, published by Living Media). I fell in love with it and continued to read it until I was 15 or 16, although it was clearly meant for a younger audience. I think it must have been then that I decided I wanted to write for kids. A job at Target became my life's ambition. When I moved to Delhi after my degree at the age of 22, I went straight there and applied. Luckily, an editorial position had just fallen vacant. I got the job! Usually there is a wide chasm between expectation and reality, but that didn't happen with me - I realised I actually loved writing for kids. And here I am.

From what we have seen, there are very few Indian based fantasy books for children. Yours is probably one of the few that have come out in the recent past. What is your take on children's fantasy writing in India?

Well, actually, there isn't much of any writing out of India in English for the 8-12 age group, fantasy or otherwise. But I think it is beginning now - there is plenty to look forward to.

As far as fantasy is concerned, we have a huge and outstanding tradition of fantasy literature in India. Our mythological stories are our biggest fund of fantasy literature for kids - worlds where animals and birds talk (Panchantra and Jataka tales), worlds where powerful birdmen, beastmen, seven-hooded serpents, gods and demons live companionably (or not!) with each other, worlds where the most amazing things emerge when an ocean of milk is churned - if that isn't fantasy, what is?

And I think Indians are different from westerners in that we believe that the fantastic is always with us. We never ever - even in the middle of our demanding, very real daily lives - lose our sense of the fantastic. If the real in India is sometimes fantastic, then, equally, the fantastic is real. The Indian mind will as easily accept that an Indian will go to the moon in 2020 as it will that a stone idol of Ganesha can drink milk.

So why do we not have more fantasy writing for children in India? I think it is precisely because of this. I'm guessing that because the lines between fantasy and reality are so blurred in the Indian mind, and because the two are so interchangeable, we haven't felt the need to create a special genre called fantasy literature. The west, on the other hand (and I mean particularly the English-speaking west), has probably felt the need to do it because they have become such terrible rationalists that they have lost the sense of the fantastic in their daily lives, and need such literature - and Santa Claus! - to escape.

But if our children now want to read 'fantasy literature', after having 'discovered' it with Harry Potter, I am sure Indian writers will have no problem creating new worlds for them to inhabit in their imaginations. Which is what Taranauts is about - churning that ocean of Indian story-milk to come up with an exciting story that is as new as it is old.

There are two girls and one boy as the main stars of your book. Was this combination chosen in order to appeal to both genders? I think our son would not have been as much interested in the book, if all the stars were girls :)

Yes, definitely. :) Why two girls and a boy and not two boys and a girl? Because I felt more confident about writing a story that would appeal to all girls, and also to boys of that age that read, than about writing a story that would appeal to all boys. Apparently, it is a smart move, because I have been told recently that statistics show that when children are between 8 and 10, there are many more girls reading than boys. But I didn't know that when I was writing it.

When do you plan to release the other books in the Taranauts series? Do you have any other books in the pipeline apart from the Taranauts?

The second book -The Riddle of the Lustr Sapphires - will be out late Feb - early March. The next one 'The Secret of the Sparkl Amethysts' in mid- to late-June, and so on. No, I have no other books in the pipeline right now - the Taranauts are very demanding mithyakins and they take up all my dings and mind-space!

Who are you personal favourite authors and what is the latest interesting book that you've read.

Like it says in my little bio in the book, I read more children's books than adult books. Among children's authors, Dr Seuss (who I incidentally never knew as a child - I was only introduced to him a few years ago, when my kids were young - he's one of the greatest), Enid Blyton (yes, she is not so popular now, but her books and the worlds she created lit up my entire childhood), J K Rowling (what a compelling storyteller!), Roddy Doyle, Terry Deary (brilliant example of writing history and science in fun, engaging ways), Judy Blume, Louis Sachar...

Where short stories for children are concerned, I have several Indian favourites - Sigrun Srivastava (every story was guaranteed to make me choke up and learn something - tolerance, not judging a book by its cover...), Subhadra Sen Gupta (engaging, entertaining, and beautifully told historical fiction), Monisha Mukundan (her book of recipes for children 'My Mother the Sandwich Maker' is one of my favourites), Geeta Dharmarajan, Vijaya Ghose, and so many others.

I just finished the first book of the Young Bond series, called Silverfin, by Charlie Higson. It chronicles the adventures of James Bond when he was a lad at Eton. It is a very 'boy' book, full of action and adventure - I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. Could not put it down from start to finish.

How did you get involved in Bangalore Walks ? Can you please tell us more about it.

Just like I believe science can be and should be presented better to kids, I believe very strongly that history also should be presented better. Knowing your history gives you a sense of identity, a rootedness, and pride in who you are.

In the last 16 years or so, my husband and I have lived at various times in Delhi, London, Mumbai and New York, and we despaired at how much London and New York made of their histories and how little we did here in India. We also marvelled at how fantastic the tourist experience was in these places, just in terms of finding information about things to do, discovering the history of any place through audio guides, and so on. So when we came back to live in our hometown Bangalore after 12 years of being away, we were playing around with this idea of creating something that would enhance the tourist experience in Bangalore.

Slowly, the idea of heritage walks came up. It seemed almost oxymoronic - the idea of heritage walks in a modern cosmopolitan glass-and-chrome metropolis totally devoid of impressive historical monuments, forts, or temples. But when we did our research, we were stunned at how many stories there were to tell.

We started in 2005 with the Victorian Bangalore walk on MG Road on Sunday mornings. We wanted it to do well, of course, but even we could not have predicted just how popular it would become. Even today, although we have two other walks - the Traditional Bengaluru Walk in Basavanagudi and the Green Heritage Walk in Lalbagh - every weekend, the Victorian continues to be the flagship walk. You can get all the details at www.bangalorewalks.com

At BangaloreWalks, although I do occasionally lead walks and tours for senior corporate teams and high-powered leadership teams from all over the world, my real responsibility is leading the children's / students' walks and tours. I conceptualise, create, and execute customised tours for children between the ages of 6 and 18, both from here and from abroad. I can safely say that my job is very very rewarding, apart from being something that, for me at least, seems like anything but work.

Anything else that you would be interested in sharing with the readers of SaffronTree...

I think I have already said a lot more than you or I anticipated. Thanks for the opportunity - answering your questions has actually helped me clarify my own thoughts on a variety of issues.

Pic source : Bookaroo, Nov 2009

Taranauts

Taranauts - The quest for the Shyn emeralds

Author : Roopa Pai

Illustrator : Priya Kurian

Publisher : Hachette India

Age group : 8+

Taranauts is a newly released fantasy book for children, by Roopa Pai (author of Sister Sister series of Pratham Books). The story is set in a completely different universe called Mithya. This universe has eight worlds and each of the worlds are illumined by their very own Tarasuns. It is ruled by an able Emperaza, Shoon Ya. When all seems happy and peaceful in this universe, the evil twin brother of the ruler, by name Shaap Azur spells doom for the inhabitants of Mithya, by capturing the Tarasuns.

Now to free the Tarasuns from the clutches of Shaap Azur, a special task force is formed. These are the TARANAUTS, each of whom is equipped with special powers ! They are the two girls- Zvala and Zarpa and the only boy - Toofan ! Their mission is to cross the various hurdles and solve the riddles set by Shaap Azur, so that the Tarasuns could be retrieved back.

This book is the first of the series, wherein the Taranauts begin their mission with the first World, Shyn (hence the name of this book). The riddles in this book are quite interesting and at an easy level. You have word puzzles, simple number puzzles that you can crack along with (or before the Taranauts!). My son enjoyed doing these and was delighted each time he solved it

before he read on how the Taranauts tackled them.

The conversation between the kids sometimes touch upon simple scientific principles. But these do not stand out as dry statement of theories, but blend well into the story enabling the Taranauts to advance in their mission. I really liked this approach by Roopa. Well, it is not all serious stuff ! There are lots of light moments and fun as the three Taranauts try to gel together as a team :-)

The black & white illustrations are simple, beautiful and very imaginative. They have been done by Priya Kuriyan. Check out her blog, you can see some awesome paintings.

My 7 year old son's experience with this book - We were there for the book launch and he was quite excited with all the book related activities and games that happened during the launch. He felt very special getting a book signed by Roopa Pai herself ! This book was at a slightly higher level compared to the other chapter books that he had been reading. So the progress was

a bit slow. He needed one of us as he sat with the book to read, to comprehend some of the long sentences. At one point I thought that he might lose interest and drop it mid-way, owing to these reasons. But the story was compelling enough to make him go at it steadily and finish it !

He is not much of a talker, so to elicit his feedback for the book I wrote down my questions in an interview format and here are his replies -

1) Did you like the book?

Yes I liked it very much.

2) Which character did you like the most?

I liked Tufan.

3) What did you like about that character?

I liked Tufan because he can blow gentle breeze as well as strong winds.

4)Do you want to read the next book in the series?

Yes I want to read - The Riddle of the Lustr Sapphires.

The interview with Roopa Pai will follow this post.

Monkeys on a Fast

Author : Kaushik Vishwanathan
Illustrator : Shilpa Ranade
Publisher : Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd.
Karadi Tales (Will you read with me?)

In the current times of craze for having a size zero figure or 6/8/10 packs, how can the ancestors of human race be far behind? A story on - what happens when a tribe of monkeys thinks of fasting for a day and then regularly thereafter to lose some excess fat?

A worried monkey chief - Chakrapani (Chakku) is in deep thought trying to find some ways to keep his tribe from eating anything and everything all the time. While pondering over this problem he finds a solution when he hears a temple priest telling the devotees about the “Ekadasi” (eleventh day of the waxing moon) and the benefits of observing a fast that day. Chakku finds it a wonderful idea for the monkeys too. But now he has a difficult task in hand - how to convince the monkeys to abstain from food and worse still from their favourite bananas for a whole day!!! Puzzled monkeys ask questions like - does Ekadasi mean - eka dosa? Eka dasi? Eating one dosa the whole day?

After a long counseling session (loved the tactic the chief uses to convince them - if humans can do it, can't we???), the monkeys finally go on a fast and try to meditate with their minds focused on bananas all the time.

Two little naughty monkeys Bonnet and Macaque keep giving great ideas to the chief Chakku and the whole meditating tribe - how to make it a little easier for all to continue with the fast. But do their ideas help the monkeys to carry on with their fast or do they all give up? You have to read the book to find it. But they come up with really great ideas, this much I can tell.

The zany illustrations by Shilpa Ranade are perfect to accentuate the effect of the whole story.

This book comes with a CD and Sanjay Dutt is narrating the story and has done full justice to it. The title music is by - Shankar Ehsaan Loy, the songs are really good and I find myself humming them often, not just Raghav and Medha.

On a personal note, I remember when I was very small, our whole family used to observe(we all still do) a fast every year - last day of the Navratri. During that day we could eat some specific things only - chapati made out of kuttu flour, special kind of rice, potatoes in any form, fruits, nuts etc. but not regular rice, wheat flour and vegetables. But I very vividly remember that the whole day we(kids of the house) used to just think about food and nothing else and we were always asking our mother - Can we eat this? Can't we eat this? I guess on those "Fasting days" we ate way more than what we ate on regular days.

Crossposted at : Literary Sojourn

{Image source : Amar Chitra Katha}

Look! Look! Look!

Picture courtesy: Marshall Cavendish
Artist/Illustrator: Nancy Elizabeth Wallace/Linda K. Friedlaender
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children's Books
Age group: 4-8
Awards: - Texas Mockingbird Award 2007-2008
- Kid’s Wings Award 2008

I judged Look! Look! Look! by the cover. It looked appealing, and it piqued my curiosity - what would three mice have to do with a painting of a royal lady? It was surprising to see the treasure it held inside and how much it appealed to my 4 year old, given that we haven’t read too many books on the topic before that. I had to post this review here when the art fever was still on.

Look! Look! Look! is about three mice, Kiki, Alexander and Kat, who find a postcard from an art museum addressed to the people living in the house. The card has a painting of Lady Clapton on it, the mice take it to their home to study it better, and in the process, introduce us to what to look for in a painting.

What I loved about this book

- The characters.
A kid looking at a painting with someone as a guide would have been something ordinary. But the characters here are little mice, and instead of having things pointed out to them, they discover it themselves. A mouse’s perspective adds that extra level of interest for a preschooler and sustains it throughout. I thought the use of mice had another neat perspective; most larger than life paintings hanging in museums would seem this way to little kids…like a postcard would feel to mice. The choice of the characters and how they talk through the painting is the key to hooking in the youngest reader.

- The text.
Short and sweet dialogues. There is a lot happening in the illustrations and the text wisely takes a back seat only to convey what is necessary. Anything more verbose and the young reader might have tuned out.

- The Illustrations.
Everything is in cut paper collage and the book gives an illusion of felt like texture. The illustrations work perfectly for this theme, because later in the book, the mice identify shapes in the painting, cut those out on paper and reconstruct the painting with just shapes. It blends in right with the existing illustration. The author/illustrator, Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, in her blog writes about how she creates her illustration, it was nice to read a little about the work that goes behind her creations.

- A new perspective.
Art is all about perspective. Two pairs of eyes may not see the same thing, even one set of eyes would not see things the same way when looking at it from a different angle. The mice prove this point by using a frame and zooming in to one section; that’s when you really notice the little details on the lady’s beautiful silk gown – the patterns of flowers intertwined with vines. This has renewed my 4 yo’s interest in patterns and he points them out everywhere, and is thrilled that even his clothes have repeating stripes and checkers for patterns.

Just as you can notice little details, you can zoom out and break down something that looks complex with many elements into simple lines, and shapes. The mice walk us through each of these observations.

They deconstruct the painting into circles, kidney and raindrop shapes, and recreate many other characters with the pieces.

-Instructions to create a self portrait.
The book doesn't stop with telling you how to see other people's art, but encourages you to create your own. There are step by step instructions to create a postcard and add your self-portrait to it.

The only thing I’d have liked to see is a little history/background on the painting itself. It would have been nice to have that information in the index, for the benefit of the parent who has to answer a curious preschooler.

After reading this book, it is almost impossible to resist up markers, scissors, colorful construction paper and doing something with them. Also, a visit to the art museum might not seem as intimidating if we knew we weren’t the littlest ones to study paintings.

I believe the best books don’t end at the last page. They inspire you to observe, think and create something of your own. By that measure, Look! Look! Look! is a definite winner.

Rangoli

Author Anuradha Ananth
Illustrations Shailja Jain

A few years ago, there was an ad for a playschool which proudly proclaimed that they would correct the child if she coloured the tree blue or mango purple or some such !!! When does well intended guidance become stifling? (Anti coloring books could possibly help. )

I often wonder how to be neither patronizing nor judgmental about a child’s art work. What is constructive at this stage? How do I understand and discover the work as Anushka envisaged it and not view it with my adult notions of art.

Most books that belong to Tulika’s Under the Banyan series and almost all Tara Books subtly bring about art appreciation. For instance Dancing on the walls helped Anush recognize the Warli art piece that we have at home. Magic Vessels had many kolams and the illustrations were rendered in an ancient Tamil sculpting style.

Presenting under the Art exploration series at ST, a more direct book on this typical household art- Rangoli- a bilingual gem from Tulika.

Since the day my grandma joined us, decades ago, we have had a fresh kolam greet us each morning, at our house foyer. Most of our grandmas are sure to have a book of designs/ rangolis which they still add on to and refer, often painstakingly compiled by hand. A more simple, familiar introduction to Indian art there cannot be. And whatever the name it may be known by, across the states of India- kolam, alpona, muggu- it is enchanting .

The vivid illustrations in the book capture a variety of styles and venues where one can appreciate rangolis. It states the reason why rangolis are drawn and concludes on a modern note- a sticker rangoli to work around the constraints of modern day living!

There is step by step kolam on the back page which is sure to provoke a child’s curiosity. And ideal for novice adult learners too.

Book On Art Appreciation

I am amazed at art appreciation books for children that try breaking down art to make it appealing accessible to young children. Books like ‘Can You Find It’ reviewed for ST by Sheela, Tulika’s ‘Looking At Art’ reviewed for ST by Choxbox play an important part in the artistic development of children. These books provide children with positive modeling, nurture their healthy curiosity and more importantly shows how art has changed from the medieval ages to present. Art histroy, in my point of view, teaches children ‘what is art’ is changing and evolving and gives children the confidence that they need not follow some one’s foot steps but can be the torch bearer of change.

Children are natural artists, but as parents we often don’t know how to respond to their art because we are not mind readers and because as adults we have already developed our own definition of how art must look like. So we might end up being too judgmental or compliment them in a condescending manner.

I love books like ‘Ish’ reviewed for ST by Ranjani because it teaches the adult to appreciate a child’s art and not the reverse.

My book picks that help adults to better understand the whole creative process and appreciate children’s art are:

Pranav’s Picture
By Nandini Nayar art Vishwajyoti Ghosh
Published by Tulika

The story opens with Pranav sitting at his desk with a piece of paper, holding a paintbrush. To a casual observer who blindly forwards and lands in the last page, all Pranav has managed to do is to draw ‘just a blue line’. But if you read the book, we are privy to Pranav’s extraordinary imagination. Within six pages, that takes less than 30 seconds for an adult to thumb through, Pranav has managed to imagine a giraffe about to eat grass, but really didn’t because a horse ate all the giraffe’s grass, leaving the giraffe in tears. Meanwhile a boy mounts the horse and gallops to his house, a house with A-line roof, one door and two windows to be specific, gets in to bed and goes to sleep, which is depicted by the blue line.

Pranav ends up teaching us a valuable lesson, sometimes there is more to what you see and adults have to respect the process and not the product.

Harold And The Purple Crayon
By Crockett Johnson
HarperCollins Publishers

Another reason I fell in love with Pranav is because he reminds me of my all time favorite Harold of Harold And The Purple Crayon. That Harold….with his blue pajamas and his purple crayon he is such a riot.

If he wants to walk on something he makes his own straight path and then realizes that a straight path is no fun because it leads no where. He wants excitement so he makes his own adventure like walking in to a forest, creating a scary dragon and ends up getting scared by his own imagination. Half way in to his adventures, Harold realizes that he wants to go home and the rest of his adventure is getting himself home. Harold is frantically trying to find the window of his bedroom in the hundreds of windows that he drew. Then he realizes that his window is ‘always right around the moon’. Sounds like the Akbar-Birbal story in which the guy looses his golden ring some place but is looking under the street light because there is plenty of light under the street light right?! This is the thinking process of a preschool child. Because of their limited life experiences and cognition, they often distort reality in order to fit what is happening to them. Harold is Piaget's pre-operational child, to the T.


The Dot
By Peter H Reynolds
Walker Books Ltd

Suddenly at the age of five or six, because their thought process is becoming more concrete, because children are looking for logic instead of warping reality to fit what they know, the creative process takes a hit. When you give them a paper, put them on the spot and ask them to draw all they can draw is a blank. Then comes the whining, ‘But, but….. I don’t know what to draw. Can you help me?’ That’s it. The adult then rolls his/her sleeves, either demonstrates or gives ideas and the art transforms to the adult’s art. It is no longer the child’s. As a parent or as a teacher what do you do? How do you encourage the child to create?

Peter H Reynolds tackles this in his The Dot. The teacher in this book, looks at Vashti’s blank paper and asks her if it is a polar bear in a snow storm! She then encourages Vashti to make a mark. This leads Vashti to create a gallery full of paintings.

My children have read these books countless times because in their little minds, all that Pranav, Harold and Vashti do makes perfect sense and it is F.U.N!

Thumb Thumb Thambi and Thumb Thumb Thangi

 I was totally floored the minute I spotted these books, they are the cutest books I have ever laid my eyes upon!

These are a set of ten books with very simple story-lines and everyday vocabulary - 9 to 1, Mirror, Flower, Hello!, Where is Thangi?, Shhh!, Dark, Tail, Up Up! and Song. The illustrations are created with thumbprints - hence the names of the characters. Thambi and Thangi feature together in some of the books and by themselves in the rest. The size of the book is child-friendly and not at all intimidating for a beginner reader. The last page says ' I CAN READ THIS BOOK!' - making the smile go wider!

 Just before the last page in every book there is a blank page where the little reader is invited to produce her own thumbprint art based on the story. Once the imagination is fired there is no limit! Be prepared for lots of little masterpieces!

Creating simple storybooks is actually the trickiest. Hats off to the Tulika folks who made them - Biswajit Balasubramaniam, Deepa Balsavar, Radhika Menon, Jeeva Raghunath, Ashok Rajagopalan and Sandhya Rao! I bet anyone who sees them will go ga-ga just like my friend Ranjani (who mentioned it in an earlier post as one her family's top picks of the year) and me!

 My little angootha chhaap artist (pun intended) is so delighted with them that she requested me to get the Kannada versions and read them to her! She had learnt to chant numbers in Kannada last year when we moved to Bangalore and I guess she finds these books the next logical step!

Image Source

Books on Art Exploration

Books, books, books, what would one do without them?! I am reviewing four books in particular, all with open ended art exploration for various age groups.

I would like to give credit for Choxbox for her idea about cluster posts centered around a topic. Considering that art is in the air in many ST-ers and in this month many of us are sharing the art books we liked, cluster posts are more like a one-stop-resource, if I may say so.

Painting, by Everett E. Saunders. A Whitman CREATIVE Art Book Age: 3.5 – 6 years

This book is O.L.D. First published in 1966, I unearthed it from our local library. This being an old book, I had to substitute some art materials in the book for what I had at home. For example I wasn't going to hunt for Indian ink and I substituted it with liquid food colors and a ink dropper.

But the techniques are still largely relevant. Saunders has introduction to different art materials and brushes that are child friendly. There are different techniques like wet chalk painting, string painting, crayon resist, blotting etc. Each page comes alive with the vibrant abstract expressions of children.

The book shows pictures of five or six-year-old children playing with paint. One thing I realized from thumbing through the book is that, in the sixties it might have been perfectly okay for a six year old to do art that looked like splattered paint with out disappointing an over bearing adult. Now a days, what is with this unsustainable push for children to be little geniuses and to produce something, I don’t understand.

Paint! By Kim Solga Published by Grolier Educational Corporation Age: 3.5 – 8 years

Kim Solga again explores open-ended techniques that produce abstract expressions. She talks about crumpling plastic wrap/aluminum foil/bubble wrap/leaves on to wet painting and let it dry over night to create texture on wet paint. This is perfect for the young three-year-old children. At home, we did back to back exploration where we did all the above on the same day. This kept my children interested for a good one-hour and the next day after the art pieces were ready to be handled, we talked about how different the textures were. Stemming from my interpretation of Montessori, I give the children only primary colors, unless they specifically ask for a secondary color or mix a secondary color themselves. So this gives us a great opportunity to talk about the new colors that are in their painting. The painting is only a day old, memories are fresh, so it is easy for us to discuss how different the blue + red = purple they created is different from the ready made purple and such.

Some projects such as the introduction to Pointillism through dot painting are for the seven and eight year old children. But can be left open ended for a preschooler.

I, in particular loved the concept of Kim’s “half-and-half-paintings”. It is for the older seven or eight year old child. In this technique, she pastes a post card sized photograph, like for example a giraffe, on paper. The giraffe has about an inch of its neck missing. The child has to observe the pattern and finish the picture, kind of like filling in the blanks.

Arty Facts. Light, Color and Art Activities. Linking art to the world around us. By Barbara Taylor.
Crabtree publishing company.
Age: 5 – 8 years

There are certain projects like making a kaleidoscope, creating positive pictures vs creating negative pictures, sculptures and mobiles that are suitable for an elementary school age child, but certain elements from each ‘project’ can be adapted for a preschool age child as well.

I liked the way that book is true to its title, “linking art to the world around us”. The black and sliver foil fish mobile is inspired by a shoal of sardines. The book has the picture of a diver with a shoal of sardines in their characteristic circular motion with facts about the play of lights that is caused by the shoal on one side of the book, with instructions for the mobile on the other side of the book.

There is a project inspired by the fireworks against the night sky and another inspired by the brightly-lit city with neon light and skyscrapers, that I found to be very inspiring. Black paper + glue + glitter = glee!

What’s the big idea? Activities and adventures in abstract art.
By Joyce Raimondo
Watson-Guptill Publications
Age: 9 – 12

This book targets the older elementary school children and focuses only on abstract art. To be even more specific, the author discusses the styles of six artists and talks about how we can create our projects inspired by the masters.

Joyce starts with Picasso’s cubism, talks about the elements of his art and provides suggestions to make ' faces with feelings'. She then wraps up Picasso session with photographs of child-made collages/models/sculptures made with a wide variety of material from paper and glue to lego blocks to strips of coiled paper arranged in a careful order.

The other artists discussed are Matisse, Leger, O’Keeffe, Calder and Gorky.

The book’s motto is “art as a springboard for expression” and manages to successfully accomplish it.

The Other Side

Title: The Other Side
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrator: E.B.Lewis
Publisher: G.P.Putnam's Sons, NY
Picture Courtesy - Amazon.com

"There is no school on Monday, no mail on Monday. And do you know why?", began the teacher. I was at my daughter's kinder room when it was my turn to help out, and I overheard the teacher beginning to read a book on Martin Luther King. I could not take my eyes off of the little ones' faces, curious to know how they would absorb it all. They listened with intent. Silence ensued. And then they dispersed. I felt cheated when I could not comprehend what went through their minds. That afternoon I walked back home wondering how I could talk to my daughter on what Martin Luther stood for and how I could present the historical significance that surrounds him. The customary discomfort that preceded talks (with her) on "unhappy" truths, was again telling me that I was soon going to be guilty of adulterating the innocent mind. Even though, in most cases, the terminating message was good.

So, when I was at the library this weekend, I nonchalantly scanned the shelves for something besides King's biography, and something that did not scream strong language or characters. The Other Side turned out to be the kind of book that would be an ally in my mission. In fact, it won me over to find a spot on Saffron Tree to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. today!

The opening spread, in stunning yet soft water colors, takes us to a flowery patch amidst lush greenery and scattered houses. A lengthy fence catches the eye in the middle of the rural scene. Just as we warm up to the narrative of a little African-American girl, Clover, we get involved in the incident that occurred one summer, when she noticed a white girl on the other side of the fence, staring at her. The fence is a repeating detail in the illustrations on most pages. Annie, is the lonely girl across the fence yearning to be included in the outdoor games Clover and her little group play all day. Clover also finds herself admiringly looking at Annie's free-spiritedness. And then one day, things change. Clover and Annie exchange smiles and names. Annie invites Clover to join her on the fence. The girls exploit the technicality that their mothers' never opposed their sitting on the fence. A fence like this was made for sitting on, we hear Annie say. By the end of that summer a friendship is born. It is not long before Annie is seen playing together with the rest of Clover's gang. And the book ends with this -

"Someday somebody's going to come along and knock this old fence down", Annie said. And I nodded.

"Yeah," I said. "Someday".

Yes, the fence is the metaphor. But the literal meaning sufficed. There was no need to mention civil rights or segregation. A warm setting, with girls her own age or older brought the much needed comfort, and kindled curiosity in my 5 yr old. I embraced the subtlety and capitalized on the situation. I mentioned King. She stared at the portrayals of Annie and the girls carelessly sitting on the fence and told me a few things. I think she will understand his context now.

The book reminded me that children have the power to make a change. Innocence is probably the secret. The story in The Other Side, I thought, brought Matin Luther King's dream closer to reality.

Jacqueline Woodson's another book "Coming On Home Soon" has been reviewed earlier, read it here - http://www.saffrontree.org/2007/05/coming-on-home-soon-by-jacqueline.html

Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima

Barefoot Gen : A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima

Written and Illustrated by Keiji Nakazawa
Translated by Project Gen

Tara Publishing

Ages 12 and above



History, they say, is written by victors, never by underdogs. This holds true especially where the Second World War is concerned, where the experiences of people in the Allied countries largely public memory. The casual reader of history can also often miss the forest for the trees - reading about battles and treaties, strategies and foreign policy, it is easy to forget the millions of ordinary civilians who bore the brunt of political manoeuvres and compromises.

This is why Barefoot Gen is so important - it focuses on the hardships faced by ordinary Japanese citizens in a war their country fought largely for profit, and which many of them were opposed to. It looks at the way millions of people were routinely deceived and left to suffer, while corrupt officials and businessmen profited from the war. It also examines a horrific and shameful chapter in that war - the bombing of Hiroshima (and later, Nagasaki) by America. Seen through the eyes of a young boy, Gen, the book is a first in its attempt to explain this important event in history to young readers, using a medium that enjoys extraordinary popularity in Japan - the comic book.

First published in Japanese in 1972 as Hadashi no Gen, Barefoot Gen is the first book in a series that went on to become a cult classic among young and old alike It is loosely based on the author's own life - he was seven when the city was bombed and he,his mother and infant sister alone survived while the rest of his family perished.

Gen is the son of a poor farmer who is vocal in his opposition to Japan's role in the war. This causes the family a lot of trouble, as Nakaoka is ostracised and branded a traitor, his property vandalized and his children bullied. The family struggles to stay alive as food grows increasingly scarce; some of the most touching scenes involve the children fighting over,or fantasizing about, small things like rice or even fish bones.Recruited into the military, Gen's older brother experiences corruption, abuse and further disillusionment, finally becoming a deserter. And then, just when things seem to get better for the family, a B29 is spotted overhead...

Nakazawa was a professional cartoonist for years before he began drawing the Gen books, and the influence of popular stylistic trends in the manga of that period is evident in this book . With their stark black and white format, the panels effortlessly swing from the comic (almost slapstick, at times) to the symbolic.

While Gen is aimed at young readers, it does contain some disturbing images - children are injured, starving or killed; Gen's sister is stripped and humiliated in school; Gen and his brother fight over scraps and later resort to begging. The author's criticism of Japan's involvement in the war runs through the narrative; if anything, he comes across as overly critical of his own country while never once questioning Allied involvement or the bombings that followed.

The last quarter of the book is especially difficult to read - Nakazawa does not allow us to miss a single detail of the destruction caused by the bomb that was dropped on his city. The pace of the book becomes almost leisurely at this point, as he traces the little routines and rituals of people going about their day, unaware of what is to follow. When the bomb is dropped, we must see, through Gen's eyes, the agonizing end of everything he has known and loved.

So why am I recommending this book - because, for all the violence depicted in this book, it still conveys an incredible message of hope and humanity. It shows us that the huma spirit can be weak and misled, but also resilient and capable of great courage. Gen is a plucky little hero - sly and conniving at times, violent at others,- and his optimism and essential goodness kept me hooked to his story. If Gen depicts the cruelty of mindless mobs, it also highlights individual acts of courage and kindness. But most of all, here is a story that underscores the importance of keeping history alive by seeding the future with the lessons of the past - Barefoot Gen does not end with death, but the birth of Gen's little sister, and a powerful message to ".. never let this (war) happen again ". I look forward to re-reading this with my daughter when she is old enough.


Image courtesy


cross posted here