Two Little Trains

Two Little Trains
by Margaret Wise Brown
illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon

Ages 3-6

Publisher: HarperCollins

After reading Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears following CROCUS 2009, I came upon another book illustrated by the two-time Caldecott Medalists, the Dillons, called Two Little Trains.

It was bewildering at first to notice that the book was written by well-known Margaret Wise Brown, of the Good Night Moon fame, wondering how on earth... until it dawned on me that this 1949 treasure by Brown was republished in 2001 with the cleverly interpreted illustrations by the Dillons that attracted me to this book in the first place.

I have not seen the original publication, so, am not sure what illustrations accompanied that edition. But, this particular version is packed with clever visual parallels that makes it a treat.

A little colorful wooden toy train sits next to a gift box on the title page. Packed suitcases and a boxed/wrapped present wait on a platform where a train is about to board the passengers. Thus starts this wonderful journey:

Two little trains went down the track, Two little trains went west
With a puff, puff, puff and a chug, chug, chug, Two little trains to the west.

Each double page spread shows the two little trains undergoing similar adventures - one, a streamlined modern train with the passengers; the other, a classic wooden train, a toy for the little kid, the intended recipient of the boxed/wrapped present.

While the modern train is shown chugging along up the hill, through the tunnels in the mountains, and over the river with blobs of purple-gray oval trees, the toy train puffs along up the banister, through the "tunnel" made by a hard-bound book, and over a bathtub and on the kitchen counter near a bowl full of purple plums that match the size and shape of the purple-gray trees...

The illustrations and the rhythm of the text makes this book a treat to read. It is a bit challenging for me to describe in words the beautiful analogous images skillfully illustrated by the Dillons.

What's not to love about trains, especially if one is a toddler? I fell in love with this book after the first second read when I started noticing the pictures.

[image source: Harper Collins]

Days with Thathu

Title : Days with Thathu
Author : Geeta Dharmarajan
Artist : Nancy Raj
Publisher : Katha

Age : 2-4 years

There is a unique flavor to the relationship that children share with their grandparents and a very special one in its own sense, nothing compared to any other thing in the world.

Through 'Days with Thathu' , a little girl brings to us a glimpse of her beautiful small world which she shares with her grandfather and all the ordinary things that they do extra-ordinarily, in fact, the ordinary things become extra-ordinary when they both do it together. She enjoys being with her Thatha, who is lovingly called Thathu sometimes. They go to watch cinema, go in the open sea playing with the fish, Thathu walks and she skips holding hands, they enjoy grey clouds and playing in the rain, they run together, they somersault together and play pretend games while she sits on the lap of her dear Thathu.

She enjoys all the activities that she gets to do with her Thathu during the day and then a peaceful rest on his lap.

A sweet little book conveying the true feelings of a little heart and the same are beautifully projected by the art work of Nancy Raj. She has brilliantly captured the togetherness and loving bond between a grandfather and a granddaughter through sketches, using very little colors which works marvelously to bring out the simplicity and the clarity.

SIGNATURE - Patterns in Gond Art

Title - Signature, Patterns in Gond Art

Edited by - Gita Wolf, Bhajju Shyam and Jonathan Yamakami

Publisher - Tara Books ; Age group - All ages

Signature - Patterns in Gond Art, is truly a signature book of Tara Books, which releases such exquisite books, that each book is a collector's delight.

This book is an attempt to understand the Gond Art patterns, the artists, their unique styles and the inspiration for each of their signature patterns. With an excellent introduction by Gita Wolf, each of the subsequent pages have the pattern magnified on one side of the page and on the other side is the artist's name and his/her explanation of the inspiration for that pattern.

For example there is a Gond artist by name Ram Bai, whose signature pattern is the long bindi (the kind that we call thilakam). You have the beautiful bindi patterns in red and green on an ochre background and here is what the artist has to say "I thought of a bindi on a forehead, not the round kind, mine is a line". Each of the artist's explanation of their individual pattern amazes you, because all these are simple and easily understandable. There is nothing abstract about them. Most of their inspiration comes from nature and it is a revelation that there are so many patterns out there waiting to be discovered by us. Ears of corn, young paddy shoots, crescent moon are some of the beautiful things that have inspired artists. Some of the patterns and their inspiration, mentioned by the artists are mind blowing because it speaks volumes of their creativity and observation skills.

As Gita mentions in the introduction, once we familiarise ourselves with the artists and their style, we would be able to identify the artist anywhere based on their work. I thought this was an interesting exercise ! So I collected all the books in my house where the illustrations have been done based on the Gond Art style - Turning the pot, Tilling the land (Durgabai Vyam), one of the stories in The Verdict and other tales from the East (Anand Singh Shyam and Kalabai Shyam), Bulli and the tiger (Nankusiya Shyam). I studied the individual patterns of artists as outlined in this book and went to check in these other books. What a childish joy I derived in discovering how the unique stamp of the artists is so evident everywhere !!

I showed and read this book to my two kids, aged 4 and 8 years. They enjoyed it a lot and it was an interesting exercise to figure out, what the magnified pattern on the right side meant and what could have been the inspiration. In a rush of excitement, the kids decided to create their own patterns and filled their drawings with these unique patterns. It made us very happy indeed to see our Gond art drawings !

An eye opener to Gond Art, inspiration and joy for the readers - this book has achieved it's purpose of creation is my humble opinion :-).

Pic src : Tara Books

The Yellow Bird

A guest-review by Anu Kumar, the writer of many interesting books including - In The Country of Gold-Digging Ants, Atisa Series, The DollMakers' Island.

The Yellow Bird

By Lila Majumdar

Translated by Kamala Chatterjee

There may not be a single child growing up in a Bengali household who was not told Lila Majumdar’s stories once. She died only recently at the age of 100, and wrote a range of books on a variety of subjects. But it is as a writer of children’s books that holds the key to her enduring popularity, across ages.

Lila Majumdar came from the illustrious Ray Chaudhuri family of Calcutta. She was a niece of Upendra Kishore Chaudhuri who began the children’s magazine Sandesh. The magazine flourished under his son, Sukumar and grandson, the equally illustrious, Satyajit. Lila Majumdar remained associated with the magazine very actively right till the 1990s, even though she did other things as teach, present programmes on radio and bring up two children. Her first story appeared in Sandesh when she was only 14.

It is Lila Majumdar’s daughter, Kamala Chatterjee, who has now translated her book, ‘The Yellow Bird’ into English, bringing Lila Majumdar to a wider audience. It is indeed surprising that her books took so long to be available in other translations and there couldn’t have been a better beginning than ‘Yellow Bird’ to acquaint children with this wonderful writer. And Puffin Books deserve all credit for this.

The Yellow Bird is a strange, magical, little seen bird. Yet whenever it is known to appear, animals turn to human beings or begin behaving in strange ways.

But the story about the yellow bird is only one of many stories narrated by Jhogru, who has been working as a domestic help in Rumu and Bogey’s house for many years. The children are upset because a street dog that they picked up, Bhulo, and decided to keep as a pet, suddenly goes missing. He has done this before but on one occasion he simply doesn't appear.

A child’s loss can be bewildering, hard to explain and understand but Jhogru empathizes and seems to understand this all too well. And he does all he can to take them to a magical, fantasy world, usually his home village located in Dumka, in Central India.

All Jhogru’s stories are fantastic and unbelievable and Bogey, the know-all, sceptical boy, is rightfully suspicious. But Rumu, his younger sister, who is easily moved to tears, finds them comforting. There is adventure and also magic in the commonplace, as Jhogru’s stories show. The Yellow Bird, says Jhogru, is rarely seen but whoever has seen it, like his brother in faraway Dumka is struck by a strange restlessness and is compelled to leave home forever.

He goes on to describe the magic “manja” that makes kites fly high in the sky. And then he tells them about the babu who came from the city promising to make glass. He closeted himself in a room for days on end and didn’t emerge. Finally Jhogru’s grandfather lost patience and broke the door open. The man had disappeared, leaving a few things behind. When the grandfather threw his stuff into the fire, magic glass pieces appeared in the fire.

There is the horse that could fly. When Bogey is sceptical, Jhogru assures him that he does know about flying horses having worked in the stables once. He tells the story of a strange boat that appears in the river once near his home with a lovely damsel in it.

Jhogru finds a story for every occasion even as the children wait for Bhulo to come. There is the bear that the sardar just could not kill, as the creature looks at him in mute pity. There is the strange old man at the fair who sells them funny shaped boxes, one of which contains the seeds of the gunamoni tree, that grows astonishingly quickly once planted. Then of course there is the tiger in Burma who crept into a hut where Jhogru was sleeping and still didn’t harm anyone.

Jhogru’s repertoire of stories never seems to run out, even if Bhulo chooses to come back. Does he?

The Yellow Bird is a great book for reading aloud, replete with shadow black and white illustrations by Ajanta Guhathakurta. This book in its original Bengali won the award for Children’s literature awarded by the Bengal government. More to look forward to are Puffin’s plans to bring out some more of Lila Majumdar’s books in translation, especially ‘the Burmese Box’ that holds as much delightful promise as did 'The Yellow Bird'.

Many thanks to Anu Kumar for the review of this wonderful book.

Many thanks to Ajanta Ghathakurta for giving permission to display her illustrations along with this review.

The Riddle of the Seventh Stone

On this Thanksgiving Day, we would like to take the opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to all our readers for the love and support you have been offering us over the last four years. As a way to say thank you, we would like to extend an invitation to contribute to our blog. The guest review feature will be published sometime during the last week of every month. Thanks!

The first one comes from the author of Gind, Harini Gopalswami Srinivasan. Thank you, Harini for reaching out to us with a cheerful pick from Zubaan Books, and a very refreshing review of the same!

Author: Monideepa Sahu
Illustator : Pooja Pottenkulam
Picture Source: http://blog.prathambooks.org
http://www.zubaanbooks.com/zubaan_books_details.asp?BookID=158

The Riddle of the Seventh Stone is the story of Rishabh and Shashee, a rat and a spider, who accidentally get sprinkled with a magical herb in the shop where they live and are changed into human children. Outraged though they are at this fate, they soon make friends with the Deepak and Leela, the shop-owner’s grandchildren, and become involved in their concerns. Not least of these is the villany of the Shark, an evil money-lender cum real estate developer, who is harassing their Thatha. The children discover that he is plotting to squeeze out the residents of all the old houses on Avenue Road, demolish them and build an enormous mall over the graves of all the vermin, who will of course never survive such a ‘development’. The vermin get together with the humans to unearth King Kempegowda’s treasure and outwit the Shark. Will they succeed in saving their ancestral homes? Read on to find out!

So what’s special about this book? First off, the humour. It’s rarely that one comes across a book that makes a bold departure from reality and pulls it off. I’m not talking about fantasy, where more or less anything goes as long as there is internal consistency, but books set in the ordinary workaday world, with the rules unexpectedly changed, as in Alice in Wonderland, or Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Doolittle series. This departure from our normal experience is dealt with so matter-of-factly that one accepts the underlying assumptions without having to strain one’s reserves of credulity. At the same time the events that occur are so absurd that you are giggling to yourself right through the book. Monideepa Sahu’s book has this same distortion of the familiar that gives everything a delicious novelty.

Another very satisfying element of the book is the excellent characterization. The human characters like Deepak and Leela, Thatha, Ajji and Constable Balu are recognizable and lovable. But there is nothing sentimental about them, and Ajji’s own war against the vermin population has to be countered by Leela’s quick thinking. The kind woolly Thatha is a perfect foil for the housewifely and slightly tyrannical Ajji, just as Shashee’s astringent manner and sense of superiority are a foil for Rishabh’s eagerness and diffidence. Of course the vermin are the best! The Big Bandicoot is a wonderfully memorable character and Pooja Pottenkulam’s drawing, on p. 108, of the bandicoot biting the clerk’s thick hairy ankle is so funny it deserves a medal. (Another illustration that had me in splits was Rishabh taking a bath on p. 54.)

Parents will also welcome the sound values woven into the narrative, but so subtly that young readers will never suspect it of being good for them. There is the touching friendship between Rishabh and Geeta that teaches you that beauty is skin deep and what matters is the person inside. In fact, Geeta, with her face that is ‘perfectly round like a manhole cover’, is the rat’s ideal of beauty. Similarly, Leela’s warm caring nature could easily be an example to us all. Without being in the least priggish, or even thinking about it, she pitches in to help Ajji and Thatha when they are tired, stoutly supports Rishabh when he is overwhelmed, and appreciates the good in everyone. Rishabh, who is acutely aware of his own shortcomings, is able to rise above them only with the encouragement given to him by Leela and the Big Bandicoot. Conservation is another central theme of the book, with a case being made out for preserving old buildings, old ways of life, other species, and all kinds of waste. Old Bangalore is lovingly painted in a way that will gladden the hearts of old Bangaloreans and others who remember less plastic times. The history and social fabric of the city – its founding by Kempegowda, Tipu’s occupation, and its waves of immigrants, including the Sindhi community after Partition, and their assimilation – are lightly touched on and woven effortlessly into the narrative. Avenue Road, that chaotic and wonderful centre of commerce, is almost a character all by itself. The descriptions of the old ‘tunnel houses’ with their courtyards sporting tulsi plants and the hot water cauldron embedded in the bathroom will hopefully provide the ‘mall generation’ a new perspective on their city.

All this and yet so much sheer fun! Monideepa Sahu’s delightful debut book should be prescribed reading for all school age children. I for one have decided to put it firmly on my list of gifts to keep in stock, and am eagerly looking forward to her next!

Meet Nancy Raj

Did the above pictures grab your attention? Savour more of this artist's work here.

Read on to know what Nancy Raj, the illustrator behind some very charming children's books, including Malli and Hanuman's Ramayan, has to say to us.

How did you begin illustrating?
I began doodling when I was a child. The clean whitewashed wall of my little house was an inviting canvas. I remember making many mad curls, lines, circles, sun, moon, girl, boy, house, apple, mango, flower, leaf and so on. Every Christmas the house would be whitewashed and my mother would warn me not to "dirty" it again. Anyhow I would be at it - I would start with a small dot which later would transform into gigantic flowers.

I started illustrating for Tulika Publishers, Malli is my first book with them.

How is it when you collaborate with a writer? Do they tell you the style or do they offer complete freedom?
The script gives me the feel and complete idea to prepare the illustrations. I send the writer initial scribbles, which gives her/him the idea of how the story will visually flow. Sometimes the writer may have a particular idea/style in mind which I try to adapt into my illustrations.

What inspires you? Your favourite authors/ illustrators?
Local people and life around are my great inspirations - fussy children, loud hawkers, motorist, over flowing buses, share autos, markets, greasy mechanics, grumpy neighborhood and so much more to watch around.

And yes, artworks of other illustrators are inspirations too. My favorite Illustrator/artists are Bill Watterson, Quentin Blake, A.V. Ilango - a Chennai based artist, I love the way he captures local life with his strong lines and colours, very inspiring.

How do you go about illustrating? Does one need formal training? If yes, what?
I see. I remember. I draw. One doesn't need "formal" training. Simply get to-gether with friends with similar interests. Carry a sketchbook, Paint, Illustrate, go for a photo shoot in your area, browse through picture books. This will help discover many new techniques and skills for illustrating.

Some picture books look like computer graphics and some look hand drawn/ painted? Also I have heard of digital enhancement of painted work. What is your take on these?
Computer generated or hand drawn does not matter. Any artwork with life and feel will speak for itself. Now technology has improved so much, there are digital tools that can create a water colour painting without water or paints! I use a digital pen and tablet for most of my works, I create textures, pastel effects, impasto methods and much more with my digital pen, without any mess or delay!

However, traditional methods are like "grandmom's recipes" that remain special and true always. Without immense practice and experiments using traditional methods, an artist's work will fall flat, lifeless and look plastic.

What are the options for illustrators?
There are many requirements for illustrators in many growing fields like animation, gaming, advertising, children's education, filming, etc. in print and online media.

What are your thoughts on Art Appreciation for children?
Art Appreciation is definitely meaningful. It helps a child to think, visualise, understand, concentrate, learn, and respond.

Would you and have you illustrated books for other countries/ cultures? Pl elaborate
Yes, I have illustrated educational material for other countries, where I was asked to capture a particular culture, look and feel, so that children can easily connect with it. I pick information from the internet, movies, books etc. Only the materials and the objects differ, the spirit and energy of the illustration remains the same.

How would you rate the scene in India for picture books and children's book
It is not enough yet. I'm wishing for more publishers, writers, illustrators, readers, buyers, critics, art schools to emerge and evolve.

What is your ambition finally in the sphere of illustration?
I want to make many picture books for all ages.
I want to illustrate and publish with my own script sometime soon.
I want to learn 2d animation, and start animating my illustrations.
I want to make real LARGE scale (wall size) illustrations on Indian market scenes.
I want to start up a small children's publication company along with my friends.
I want to elaborately illustrate my own wedding card ( a crowded south Indian wedding scene)
I want to illustrate a picture bible for children in adaptation with South indian culture, look and feel.
I want to organize a regular drawing and painting school for children some time soon...and the list is never ending.

Any anecdotes you wish to share...
I spend most of my evenings with my next door little friends (around 8 to 11 years) . I remember helping a little one draw "Cinderella" . The little one finished Cinderella's puffy gown & asked me to draw the shoes. I drew a pair of beautiful stilettos - side ways to show the long pointy heels. At once the little girl slapped her forehead and said " How can any one stand like this?" She erased them quickly and drew 2 simple curves and said " Now look".

I am so fascinated by the way children's thought process work Their concept of proportion, colours, shapes, anatomy, logic is so diffrent from how we see it as adults. I wish some day our children will get inspired to instantly pick up characters from Indian tales.

***********
Thanks Nancy for a very refreshing chat! Hope all your dreams come true.

Nancy has a Master’s degree in Fine Arts and specialization in Graphic Design from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She has worked as a creative visualiser and illustrator with many companies and publications.

Her works include- Katha Pubishers: Days with Thaathu, Tulika: Malli, The Village Fair, Aaah vill irundhu Akk varai, Hanuman's Ramayana, Snake and the Frogs, Sesame Workshop India: Educational kits on" Food and Nutrition" and " School" for children. ..She has done projects for NCERT, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, World Health Organization, she even illustrated the Humor coloumn for the in-flight magazine of Paramount Airways.

It was during her stint in Chandamama, a monthly magazine, that I got to know her as the illustrator of Ms Shinies and Mister Muthu.

Meanwhile

Meanwhile
by Jason Shiga
Published by Amulet Books

STOP! This is not an ordinary comic!


This is the loud disclaimer in the book as you flip to the first page. But you already know that having judged the book by its cover. Meanwhile is not ordinary in any possible way. How can it be, when you can pick your own path through the book, and stumble on some 3856 story possibilities, while you are at it?

Jason Shiga is a graduate in Pure Mathematics. I looked up 'pure mathematics' online, because I wasn't sure what it meant. Mathematics motivated entirely for reasons other than application; distinguished by its rigor, abstraction and beauty.


"In Meanwhile, you make the choices that determine how the story unfolds. Instead of one story, Meanwhile splits off into thousands of different adventures."


And it starts at a place where a boy walks into an ice cream shop to have ice-cream. He has the choice of chocolate or vanilla. Or rather, we do. we get to pick what he has. And each flavour of ice-cream, will mean a different flavour to the story. Its kind of heady....having this much control over a book.

Illustrated in comic strip style, it is fast paced and each strip is connected to the next through a tube, which might lead you to a page, some 20 leafs away, only to bring you back to the very same page. It is exhausting for sure, but worth the zany ride! There is adventure and action and a mission too, as you strive to hit upon that one magical permutation and combination of choices that will lead you to the secret access code, which is a must to avoid the impending disaster. Yes, it is dark in some places, and most of the science goes flying above your head, leave alone your child's, but somehow it is easy to skim over that as you race to find that elusive choice that will lead you down the right path.

Winkie had and continues to have an absolute blast with this book. It has occupied him on many a quiet afternoon, when the attention can wander and boredom can set in. He has bookmarked pages in an attempt to start where he left off, the minute he gets home from school.

Together with a pure value of entertainment and absorption, Meanwhile would serve as a wonderful way of understanding the concept of permutations and combinations in mathematics. An interesting tidbit from the book....

"Once the outline of the story was structured, a computer algorithm was written to determine the most efficient method to transfer it to book form."

It took an algorithm running for 12 hours straight for this solution to be arrived at. Another 6 months before layouts were finished, a year of prep work and finally production which was completed one year later.

Phew! I think it might take us just as long to crack that code! :)

Won over by James Herriot

I discovered James Herriot a long time ago. His books are not really for young children, but can be easily read and appreciated by older children, probably 13+ ones. With typically gentle and wry British humour, Herriot, whose real life name as a vet in Yorkshire, was James Alfred Wight, brings to us the life in typical Yorkshire villages. A few years back, during our stay in the UK, a visit to Thirsk, the village in Yorkshire in which he lived and practised, was a not-to-be-missed-opportunity. Herriot has immortalised this village as Darrowby in his books. We realised how powerfully he had potrayed the sprawling Yorkshire moors (also a setting for another well loved classic- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.) and the life of the locals, complete with their dialect- as we could identify it immediately, essentially unchanged for the many years since the books had been written.

So when I found these picture books by him a few years back, I grabbed them immediately. Here was my opportunity to introduce this wonderful writer to A, then all of 6 yrs old. All of them have complete, single stories suitable for the age group of 4-8 years. Published by St Martin's Press.

Pic courtesy goodreads.com

THE CHRISTMAS DAY KITTEN
A stray cat regularly visits Mrs Pickering's house, where James Herriot regularly goes to check on her three Basset hounds. The cat, a timid tabby named Debbie by Mrs Pickering, creeps in a few times each week, eats the food given to her, spends some time in the warmth of the sitting room in front of the fireplace, and then and goes away. No-one knows where she lives.

On Christmas day, a dying Debbie comes to Mrs Pickering's house with her precious cargo- her kitten. She leaves it in the care of the only place where she has known warmth and love. How this Christmas Day kitten, named Buster by Mrs Pickering, makes it his home is for the reader to find out.

A lovely story that touches a child's heart. With all the warmth associated with Christmas.

Pic courtesy goodreads.com

THE MARKET SQUARE DOG
One Market Day, James Herriot notices an unknown dog, obviously a stray, begging at the various stalls for food. The dog has "two friendly brown eyes ... in a wonderfully attractive face", a friendly wag of his tail for Herriot when spoken to, but would not be caught.

One day, the local police constable, Phelps, comes to Herriot's surgery with an injured animal- the Market Square dog, who had been found knocked down by the roadside, just outside the town. The vet does all he can for the dog, visiting him at the public kennels as he heals. Over the next few weeks, people come for many of the other dogs, but not for our stray.

What happens next? Does he find a home? Who are the lucky ones who get this very lovable and friendly stray as their pet? Read to find out.



Pic courtesy fantasticfiction.co.uk


OSCAR, CAT-ABOUT-TOWN
The Herriots adopt a stray cat brought to them in a very weak condition. They nurse him back to health, and name him Oscar.

Now Oscar proves himself to be a very sociable cat. He is missing one day, and after a lot of searching, they find him with the judges at a Women's Institute hat making competition! Over the next few months, he goes missing many times, but the Herriots know that they would find him at some social do, including, among other things, a soccer match at the local school and a rummage sale at the Town Hall.

"Now we know," said Helen.
I nodded. "Yes, when he disappears, he isn't running away at all. He's just visiting. He likes getting along, he loves people, especially in groups, and he is interested in what they do. He's a natural mixer."
Helen looked down at our cat. "Of course, that's it ... he's a socialite!"
"A cat-about-town!"

Pic courtesy fantasticfiction.co.uk

BLOSSOM COMES HOME
Blossom is an old, placid cow belonging to Farmer Dakin. She has been a good milk-cow for more than twelve years. But Dakin is a poor farmer, and cannot afford to keep a cow that is not productive, and he need the space in the stall for a younger cow. So, he does what all poor farmers do. Sells her very regretfully to a knacker on market day.

So what does the placid Blossom do? How does she come back home, where the farmer knows she truly belongs?

Here Herriot has potrayed the difficult decisions with which these poor farmers, deeply attached to their animals, are faced with. A wonderful book.

Pic courtesy amazon.com

BONNY'S BIG DAY
Bonny and Dolly are 20-yr-old workhorses belonging to a taciturn farmer, Mr Skipton. Although they can no longer work for him, he keeps them "down by the river", where he goes at least once every day, with a pitchforkful of freash hay, a steep climb for the old man. But he loves them, and although he has "no time for pets an' such", the horses are like pets to him.

So when the time comes for the Darrowby Pet Fair Show, Herriot suggests that Mr Skipton enter his horse, Bonny. An idea that the gruff old weatherbeaten farmer scoffs at.

What happens next stands testimony to these men's love of their animals. And the value they place by them.

There are a few more books in these series, which I would love to get my hands on. Moses the Kitten,  Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb , Only One Woof, are some of these.

All these stories by James Herriot carry his trademark warmth and his love for the animals, the bleak Yorkshire moors, and the people who live by this land. The distinct personalities of the animals and the people, revealed through the flow of the stories, makes for richly layered stories.

Although some of them had a note of sadness to the tale, the resolution to a happy ending made them extremely enjoyable. Leading A to read and re-read them many times on her own after we had been through the read-aloud sessions, many times over.

The illustrations by Ruth Brown are full page, often spilling over onto the adjacent page, making these books perfect picture books inspite of the extensive text. A biography says this about her work-  "Known for her delicate use of watercolors, her particular love of cats, and her realistic and atmospheric representations of rural life, she has been particularly praised for her richly textured and colored artwork." Making her the perfect choice for a picture book by James Herriot.

Art & Max

Image source: Houghton Mifflin
Author/Illustrator: David Wiesner

Ages: All Ages
Publisher: Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin

It is no secret that we here at ST *love* David Wiesner. Satish introduced us to Free Fall, Tuesday, Three Pigs (see a pattern there?!) and we enjoyed Flotsam thanks to utbt.
We at the Kodi household devoured all four books, but the whimsical fantasy of flying frogs in Tuesday was most loved of all.

So when Satish told us about the latest Wiesner book, it took me only half a minute to see if my library had it, but two whole weeks before I could get it in my hands, and what a treat it was!

Art & Max is a kid's book for grown ups. You can say that of all Wiesner books, can't you? A book that can appeal to a child's level of humor while tugging at the stuffy adult's realm of reality. For a kid reading Art & Max for the first time might be puzzling. It is not laid out in a typical picture book format, it reads somewhat like a comic strip, so to follow the sequence of events, and to relate each dialogue to each character might take a couple of readings. But the book's charm lies in how once that initial hurdle is crossed, it appeals to the child's mind at several levels - there is humor, fantasy, art to be admired and marveled at, begging for more and more readings.

The storyline - or what little I am about to write of it - goes like this. Art is a biped desert lizard and a snobbish artist, who specializes in painting portrait stills of fellow lizards. Max is an eager student. Much like an annoying younger sibling, Max jumps excitedly at Art's work, interrupts his portrait session, eager to try his hand at the canvas. With Art's nod of approval, he quickly sets up his 'studio' against a cactus. Except...he has no idea what to paint.

"But, what do I paint?" he asks Art for direction.
"Well....why don't you paint me?" replies a proud Art in a posing stance.

Pause the story for a second and imagine how a 2 year old, paintbrush in one hand and can of paint in other, might react to that statement? That should give you a clue about the chaos and deconstruction that ensues.

An explosive temper, some dissolving of the ego, unraveling of tightly held beliefs and several stretches of imagination later, the destroyed art is restored and finely resolved.

It would be hard for me to describe the illustrations this book, without revealing any more of the story. All I'll say is David Wiesner excels. The landscape is barren and we see the outline of cacti and low hills in the far distance, the foreground a perfect shade of desert orange. The expressions on each character are sketched out to amazing detail. I found it interesting that of all possible creatures, desert lizards were the subject of choice. But if you think about it, with their large bulgy eyes that can express dismay or elation; a wide mouth that can curl up to a grin or a grimace; a curious neck that can hang in despair or stick out in pride and a tail that has its own personality, there couldn't have been better subjects to tell this tale. Every part of the lizard, down to the last scale, is sketched out to detail and in Art, in particular, all of these details are crucial to the story.

Art & Max is a project in art restoration that has to be experienced. Now, this review might have some of you googling for the whole story. I urge you not to, for watching the story unfold is the real treat. Sharing it with the child at home is even better. After you do that, do come back here to decipher the code in italics!

King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub

King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub

Written by: Audrey Wood

Illustrated by: Don Wood

Ages: 4-104

I saw this book somewhere in the middle of a pile of books at a used books sale. The illustration on the cover was enough to know that this one was a winner. And what a riot it is! The copy I picked came with a CD with the most amazing songs - one for each page. The book has been a TOTAL hit in these parts, if you ever come across it just shut your eyes and grab it with all your limbs!

King Bidgood’s Page is complaining to us - the King has been in his bath tub for ever now, the poor chap has been hauling hot water all the way up to the top of the castle all day to keep the tub water nice and warm. He is exhausted while the king is merrily singing and having a ball. King Bidgood’s in the bathtub and he won’t come out, who knows what to do, asks the Page.

The Knight steps in. He informs the King that it was time for battle. The King jovially agrees and says ‘Today we battle in the bathtub!' The next scene is sure to lead to much laughter - the hapless knight is also inside the bathtub and waging a mock war with the King with toy soldiers, canons, ships and even a miniature castle. The illustrations are mind-blowing - each worth a place on a display wall. Finally the Knight gets out, soaked to the bone and in a state of resignation.

The Page once again asks for help - does anyone what to do? The Queen decides she has to do something and declares - its time for lunch. The King gleefully rubs his hands and says ‘Today we lunch in the bathtub!' The lavish spread of sumptuous roasts and delicious desserts is plonked right in the bathtub with the king enjoying the fare delightedly, while the queen is cross about her hard work going down the drain quite literally.

Next the Duke responds to the Page’s pleas and comes forward. He tries to tempt the King out by telling him that they should go for fishing together. The King jumps at the idea and says (you guessed it!) - 'Today we fish in the bathtub!’ The Duke is shown sitting in the bathtub, with toads and bait worms and snails covering him while the King is enjoying a spot of fishing right there!

Finally the whole Court decides to take matters in its hand. They invite the King to attend the Masquerade with them. And yes, the next thing you know the entire Court is in the bathtub, stepping over each other, bending backwards to not fall out and generally getting completely squished while the King is merrily dancing!

They all give up and ask in unison - who knows what to do?

The Page has had enough apparently. He says he does know what to do - and does it.

Can you guess what?!

The Adventures of Mrs Pepperpot

Author- Alf Proysen
Illustrator- Hilda Offen
Publisher- Red Fox, UK
Ages- 3-6 yrs

Mrs. Pepperpot (Norwegian: Teskjekjerringa, translation: the teaspoon lady) is a fictional character in a series of children's books created by the Norwegian author Alf Prøysen and was first published in the 1950s.

I found Mrs Pepperpot as a Diwali gift for my daughter. And she turned out to be a lovely find.

The main character Mrs. Pepperpot, is an elderly lady with a secret - she shrinks to the size of a pepperpot, every now and then, without warning . This leads to funny and fun situations which she manages to cope with and come out a winner! Whenever she shrinks she also acquires the ability to talk to animals who help her out in her escapades.

In all this she has the ability to laugh at herself and is cheerful and resourceful , a wonderful role model without intending to be one...

Mrs Pepperpot is a much loved and lengthy series. This particular abridged version contains two episodes - Mrs Pepperpot learns to Swim and Mrs Pepperpot minds the baby- with colourful and vivid illustrations that will keep even the wee ones enchanted.

In the first story, Mrs Pepperpot is eager to swim and jumps into the village pond and finds herself in what looks like an ocean to her- yes she shrinks. She finds an unlikely mentor and coach in a frog with his team of babies- tadpoles.

In the baby minding episode, the baby thinks Mrs Pepperpot ( the shrunken version) is a doll and keeps chanting "Wan' dolly!" and tries to play rough with her as he would a toy. She has to summon all her skills to be able to minimise the damage to her home and keep the baby from danger.

In both cases she shrinks as soon as she has to take responsibility but we see her rise to the occasion despite her diminished size and therefore limited means.

Anush and I felt that she would make a good companion to Mrs Armitage who though not magical, is pretty adventurous and pleasant.

Charlotte's Web

Title : Charlotte's Web

Author : E.B.White

Publisher : Scholastic

Age Group : 8+ years

An endearing tale of an unimaginable friendship between two extremely dissimilar creatures - a pig and a tiny spider. Even the idea of witnessing an affectionate relationship between these two is hard to imagine. But W. B. White has beautifully weaved a loving, emotional and sensitive story of a pig who was born a runt and a common wall spider doing an amazingly inimitable task.

The new born pig was destined to be put to rest soon after its birth because of its under-developed body but for a little girl Fern, who argued with her parents and convinced them to allow her to take care of the pig. With the loving care of Fern, the pig grew big enough to be sold to Mr.Homer Zuckerman, who had a big barn and many farm animals and who sometimes raised pigs too. So the deal was finalised in six dollars and Wilbur became a part of the big strange assorted family. Initially he felt sad and lonely in this new place without Fern but surprisingly one day he was invited into a conversation by a spider, who was hanging from her web on the roof of the pigpen. She liked to be called Charlotte. Thus ensued their unique affectionate bond.

It was a known fact in the barn that in coming winters, Wilbur would be killed by Mr. Zuckerman for one of the grand feasts in the house. But as any living individual Wilbur did not want to die and wanted to live life fully but there was nobody who could help him. Nobody?, no infact this is not true. There was one creature in the barn, who sincerely wanted to save Wilbur. Yes, you guessed it right - it was Charlotter, the spider. But spiders are adept in doing just one task - that is of web weaving, so how could weaving a web help save Wilbur's life? Charlotte came up with the most brilliant idea of her life and miraculously this idea not just worked but it worked so wonderfully that Wilbur - who was once an underdeveloped pig, got accolades for his smooth skin, healthy body and Divine hand behind his existence.
Charlotte's work was done, she was nearing her last days now and had just one last job left which she needed to do at the dusk of her life - making an egg sac and filling it with eggs - lots and lots of eggs. When Wilbur came to know about Charlotte's future, he was heart broken and lost all interest in everything but soon composed himself and took up the onus of being a protector and godfather to Charlotte's children and her grandchildren in her absence. This was his way of expressing gratitude for what his dear friend had done for him.

This book offers a huge range of things for the young readers - the true friendship rising above all sorts of hurdles and limitations, the will and determination are indeed the supreme characteristics and subsequently the way has to follow these two obediently, and some things even defy the demarcation of life and death as Wilbur kept taking care of Charlotte's spirit through her descendants. The messages of self-belief and trust, affection and keeping the promise are conveyed beautifully through this heartwarming and moving story. The penultimate chapter is very touching when Charlotte breathed her last, some parents may not feel comfortable with this particular event but I took this as an opportunity to explain life cycles of different creatures and how living every moment of it positively and helping others is the most important part of being alive rather than just adding years to the life.

The story is appropriately peppered with humor through the presence of many other animals in the farm including the greedy and gluttonous rat - Templeton, who had an important role to play in the whole scheme of things.

A perfect tale of a true friendship.

Image Source : Amazon

Tulika's Panchatantra

I usually have reservations about subjecting an impressionable tender mind of four or five years, to the stereotypes and violence one encounters in some older tales- be they from Hindu mythology or from the Jataka or the Panchatantra series. I usually read them myself and offer an agreeable version to my child. This works fairly well but is different from the experience of reading a picture book.


Authors: Kala Sasikumar, Deepa Balsavar
Illustrators: Proiti Roy, Amrita Kanther

Enter Tulika. Here is an engaging collection of six abridged Panchatantra tales- perfect for the young reader at home. Low on word count , rich in pictures and devoid of gore and a preachy tone. They are available in bi lingual editions including Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi and so on .

Authors: Indrani Krishnaier, Jeeva Raghunath
Illustrators: Harsha Nagaraju, Shailaja Jain

Remember Brahma’s Butterfly and Vyasa’s Mahabharat that Tulika did a while ago. Well this series is not in that genre, as they have an original tale to follow, albeit with some changes.

The choice of stories range from the fun to the profound. The macabre endings in some of the original versions as I know them, have been done away with. Eg. The tortoise is only hurt not dead.

Authors: Mariam Karim- Ahlawat, Niveditha Subramaniam
Illustrators: Nancy Raj, Namrata Rai

The original language the tale has been retold in has been mentioned on the front cover. The Q&A below explains what that implies.

Each of the six books in the series is written and illustrated by a different duo of author and illustrator. The illustrations in each tale are inspired by a particular folk art/ craft. While Gond, Pithora, Madhubani, Patachitra are the usual folk styles one sees explored, the Kalamkari and the Chennapatna toys' styles were new and interesting additions.

Warli, the latest Indian folk art that is gaining mainstream popularity (be it Coke TV ads or subways in Bangalore) is missing in action. Possibly because it has been explored by some of the other Indian publishers we love here (Pratham) and also by Tulika in Dancing on walls.

Despite the varied styles, overall the set of books look like they belong together. eg. Tree stems in the relevant art style adorn the back page of every tale .

And our favourites among them are The Talkative Tortoise for obvious reasons, followed closely by The Musical Donkey and Four Friends.

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

Here are some answers to my queries from Radhika Menon and Deeya Nayar.

Why Panchatantra?

We are constantly thinking of ways to make bilingual texts attractive to children. Giving them single line ‘simple’ texts is to kill any interest in learning a language. They will be less of a translation nightmare for us but doesn’t excite the imagination in the least! So we come up with attractive themes like cricket, city animals, visually exciting books like Grandma’s Eyes, Night, Upside Down, whacky stories like Jalebi Curls, Norbu’s New Shoes and so on.We have a lot of books with just one or two lines and even just words on a page. While these work very well bilingually we also needed books with a little more text. That is when we thought of using very familiar stories. The familiarity of the stories would make the reading in a new language easier and less intimidating. Panchatantra was a natural choice and lent themselves to creative take offs so well.


How was the art style married to the story and the illustrator choice?

There was no real marriage. We chose illustrators and asked them to choose the style they wanted to work with. The style is also adapted - flourescent colours are not used in Kalamkari usually but you will find them in the book based on that style. We are bringing styles of folk art and retelling to children in our own way.

How true to the original are they? What does "Originally in XXX language" imply?

All these stories have been retold by authors. We left it to the authors to choose the story and retell it in their way. If they had qualms about the originals, then they worked it out in their retelling. ‘Originally in X language’ means that the story was originally retold by the author in that language. We wanted to draw attention that we do original or originally rewritten stories in various languages and translate them into others.

Any more to follow these six books?

We do want to continue with the series. It may be more Panchatantra stories or other familiar, popular stories like Tenali Rama, Akbar-Birbal, Jataka and so on. All of them open up exciting retelling and visual possibilities. And in two languages!

Thanks Radhika and Deeya.

********

And you could visit here for some more info on this series.

Diary of a Wombat

This book was a gift from Catherine, who sent it to us all the way from Australia. A book I had earlier read about, but not got my hands on. A piece of Australia, about an animal native to that continent. It was read by A with a lot of giggles.

Pic Courtesy jackiefrench.com

DIARY OF A WOMBAT

Written by Jackie French

Illustrated by Bruce Whatley

Published by Angus & Robertson, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Ages 4+

Mothball is a wombat. A very busy wombat. After all, she has to sleep, eat, scratch, eat grass, and most importantly-train the humans she lives with to provide enough carrots for her to crunch. For grass all the time is soooo boring! So what if there is a door which stops her from entering the house in search of carrots? The only way is to chew a hole in the door to get in!

And how tiresome that the humans board up the hole! Now what does a wombat do? Well, Mothball just proceeds to battle with everything possible till she gets her carrots. The doormat "(Discovered flat, hairy creature invading my territory. Fought major battle with flat, hairy creature.)", the dustbin, ransacking shopping bags, Until she discovers that a whole lot of lovely, sweet, crunchy carrots can be got by digging them up from the garden. Gorged on until she gets bored of them, too.

So now what? Now Mothball feels like eating rolled oats. And proceeds to train her humans to give her rolled oats. And carrots too!

Inference by a wombat? "Have decided that humans are easily trained and made quite good pets."

A lovely picture book, that was much enjoyed by the 9 yr old. Read and re-read many times over. We searched and found the real story of Mothball, the story behind Diary of a Wombat. As endearing as the book. We learned a lot about this intelligent and aggressive marsupial along the way. We also read up on and learnt more about the way evolution has brought about the unique way in which this sub-class of mammals raises its young.

There was a lot of laughter as A and I drew parallels between the way Mothball apparently trains her humans and the way children apparently train their parents to heed all their needs, all the while that parents feel that they are training their children in something that the child needs to learn. It is, after all, a two-way street, isn't it?

The book is winner of the Booksellers' Choice Award, and a Children's Book Council of Australia Honour Book. Illustrations of the activities of Mothball by Bruce Whatley are worth noting, with their photographic quality. They speak volumes, without the need for any text at many places, making this a perfect picture book for even a very young child.

The book can also be viewed online here.

My Brothers' Flying Machine

My Brothers' Flying Machine: Wilbur, Orville and me
by Jane Yolen
paintings by Jim Burke

Little, Brown and Company, 2003

Ages 4-8

The Flying Machine, an airborne chariot capable of transporting man through the domain of Zeus himself, had a profound and historic significance in mankind's progress in the recent centuries.

In the era of airplanes, stealth fighter jets, space shuttles and deep space probes, it is not easy to impress upon the young minds about the time before, when all this was nothing short of magic. Much like all scientific revelations, until the framework and references are in place, it *is* magic. And magic begets more magic. Each tool, each technological advance builds on the previous until a critical point is reached when it is hard to stop its exponential growth.

My Brothers' Flying Machine tells the story of the Wright brothers' indefatigable quest for man to fly - through the eyes of their little sister Katherine. However, it is not a fictional account of Katherine detailing "How I helped my brothers build their first airplane". It is a creative retelling of historical facts, presented as a flowing text reminiscent of long and descriptive poems of yore.

"When the world speaks of the Wrights, it must include our sister. Much of our effort has been inspired by her." -- Orville Wright.

Katherine says she was four years old when Papa brought home a flying machine which Orv and Will immediately toss around with not-so-gentle hands. It breaks. And they fix it. They fix it so it works better than when Papa first brought it home.

With a first person account like this which said more than the mere words, the book immediately appealed to me. And, Ana is at a stage where she is quite interested in "real" people's stories - stories from my childhood, stories from when she was a baby, stories about other people who did interesting things in their life (Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Houses was a surprising favorite in this genre, while Wangari's Trees of Peace left quite an impression).

Katherine's strong personality and her staunch support for her brothers' endeavors makes her a veritable force, albeit a back-stage one, in the development of the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine.

Katherine's reference to the fleeting nature of fashion regarding the hobble skirt, as well as her matter-of-fact statement about not being the first woman to fly were delivered beautifully. When finally it was her turn to fly, Katherine shares, "Wind scoured my face till my cheeks turned bright red. Then, I opened my arms wide, welcoming all the sky before me.", leaving us with the same exhilaration as we close the book.

Jane Yolen, an award-winning, much-respected children's book author, has taken some rather complex ideas and made them wonderfully appealing and accessible to the young ones. After reading Mama's Kiss, Owl Moon, and How Do Dinosaurs... books by Ms. Yolen, My Brothers' Flying Machine came as quite a surprise for me in terms of the subject matter.

In A Note from the Author, Ms. Yolen states that both brothers have credited Katherine with having a hand in their success. In honor of Katherine's steadfast faith and support, in 1981 the Gates Learjet Corporation established a Katherine Wright Memorial Award to be given annually to a woman who provides encouragement and inspiration, behind the scenes, in aeronautics industry advancement, or to a woman who has made personal contribution to the art, sport, and science of aviation.

The paintings by Jim Burke capture the period, the mood, and the action beautifully. The soft lighting, the muted warm colors, and the full-page format that sometimes depict a view from the sky, sometimes zoom in on the intense expression of the brothers standing shoulder-to-shoulder, project a combination of grace and remoteness that is characteristic of historical portraits.

A country far away

A country far away
by Nigel Gray
Illustrated by Philippe Dupasquier
Published by Orchard Books

[Image courtesy : amazon.ca]


A country far away is about two stories that happen in parallel. Or one could argue that it is a single story really. How is that, you may ask? Let me tell you...

On the title page of the book, there is a picture of two boys, sitting at a table, on opposite sides, with a globe in between them. One of them is pointing to Africa , his origins, and the other has his finger somewhere on North America, showing where he is from. And this is perhaps one of the best introductions to the book. For reasons of simplicity, let's call them Boy 1 and Boy 2. :)

On every page that follows, both their lives unfold simultaneously, simple sentences used to describe an aspect of their lives.

"Today was an ordinary day. I stayed home."

The top band of the book shows Boy 1, herding the sheep in his village in rural Africa. Right below, Boy 2 helps his Dad wash the car.

Flip some pages, and...."Today was the last day of school before vacation. We went home early."


Boy 1's school is the outdoors. The kids sit on the ground. When school is done, he rides back home in a donkey. His excitement at the last day of school is obvious.

Below, Boy 2 is in music class at school. Later, we see him working on the computer. Then he catches the bus back home. He is excited too.

And so on it goes. Visually, you see a lot of differences in their lives, the differences being as topical as rural v/s urban living. And it could be cultural too...arising from the uniqueness of the regions they belong to. Or it could be, to some extent, economic, judging by the rustic setting of Boy 1's life, in contrast to the creature comforts that surround Boy 2.

But more than all these seeming differences, what you really see is how similar their lives are. How they both go to school and play with their friends, and help out at home, or go out to the market, celebrate the birth of a new sibling, and welcome cousins from out of town. In their own ways, each one enjoys a full life, unique to the landscape of their birth.

There is actually no need for words in this book. The pictures are so visually engaging and detailed, that you clue in to every page, just from that heart to heart connection. We particularly loved the page, where there is a full family portrait taken on both sides. All the family is there...grandparents, cousins, new baby sister, parents, uncles and aunts...everybody. With Boy 1 and Boy 2, standing right in the center.

It is interesting to note how 7 year old Winkie related to this book. While his lifestyle corresponded, in pretty much exact detail to that of Boy 2, yet he also identified with Boy 1, saying that they were both brown skinned. And I think this is where we can lay a finger on the true pulse of the book. That black, white, blue or brown...our lives are the same. What makes us happy is the same. What moves us is the same. What inspires us, is the same. What relaxes us, is the same.

In the end, Boy 1 and Boy 2 get to meet. How? Well, its the tale for another story! :)

Interview with Anu Kumar

I recently read the book 'In the country of Gold Digging Ants' and was extremely happy about it.

Caught up with the author, Anu Kumar, and she was very kind to reply back with a lot of details. Hope you enjoy reading her interview.

If you were a time traveler, which of the various travelers described in your book would you love to meet and go along with? I would probably prefer Alexandra David-Neel for her chutzpah and mysticism! What about you?

A: All of them and those I left out! But if I had to choose, I'd pick Marco Polo and Ibn Batuta, for in that period, they covered a great deal more of the known world. And the stories they left behind are so fascinating.

As I read through your book, I could not shake of the quirky notion of "nothing and everything has changed in India". Your thoughts? What went through your mind as you wrote the novel in terms of comparison of the India that is now vs. India that was described by these travellers?

A: True, it was interesting, the contrast or the absence of it, between then and now. But of course, travelling was more arduous and unsafe and that itself was an adventure, left only to the lucky few. Another thing I did note with regard to the travel writing of today was the entire absence of 'nature' in the earlier works. But then its because it was so much a part of our lives, whereas today, 'nature' and the environment make up exotica (for lack of a better word).

[Sathish]- Emphasis is mine. The nature perspective is something that did not occur to me. Very interesting indeed. Never thought of it from that point.

I was surprised about one aspect of the book publication - Almost every page had small graphic image at the bottom of the page (more like a graph) that showed the current traveller being described? Any reasons for choosing this graphics and putting it on every page.

A: That was my editor, Sudeshna's idea, and I thought it worked well. I realise there could have been a map detailing the route taken, places stopped at and described...Maybe in a new edition :-)

Did you have to exclude presenting any travellers due to various constraints? Why choose these 11?

A: I chose the 11 because they represented different time periods - from Megasthenes in the 3rd century BCE, to the Chinese pilgrims, to Alberuni, then ibn batuta, and the Europeans who followed. So the reader would get a sense of history's trajectory, in a way.

There were some interesting travellers I did leave out - those who came in Mughal times such as Tavernier and Manucci (during Shah Jahan's time), then Mark Twain - who left behind some pretty humorous accounts. Then there was Fanny Parkes who travelled through parts of

north India, especially during the time of the 1857 revolt...

One had to pick and choose one's fellow travellers; more's the pity!

What made you decide to write a non-fiction history book for kids? There hardly seems to be any non-fiction book in history genre for kids and even if present they can probably be counted with fingers.

A: I just thought this was a mix of history and adventure; one way of telling young people that history isn't boring at all. And Sudeshna at Penguin liked the idea and was very encouraging.

Also this was another way of looking at history, more than reading flattering accounts of emperors by their courtiers.

Tell us a bit about your other works and what you are currently working on.

A: I had done an adventure set in history featuring a 14 year old time traveller called Atisa, sometime early 2008. The book was called, 'Atisa and the Seven Wonders' and as is obvious Atisa had adventures in each of the seven ancient wonders as he searches for Icarus, the

son of Daedelus. Icarus, in Greek myth, was always believed to have been singed by the sun when he flew too close to it on wings his father had designed. But Atisa thinks otherwise, so again its fiction interspersed with mythology and history (received knowledge that we have about the seven wonders)

This month, the second Atisa book is out. Its called, 'Atisa and the Time Machine: Adventures with Hiuen Tsang", where Atisa travels and comes to the rescue time and time again of the Buddhist monk, Hiuen Tsang.

Am also working on a book on the railways for older readers and there's some other fiction too.

What are you currently reading? Any book recently that has got stuck in your head and does not let go?

A: Have just begun 'Luka and the Fire of Life' - Rushdie's wonderful play with words is fascinating to follow.

A book for children I read recently is Lila Majumdar's translated 'Haldi Pakhir Palok' or 'The Yellow Bird'. A slim book, but its so rich in the fantasies it evokes, in the many different worlds a child's imagination can conjure up. Lila Majumdar was a Bengali writer but one of the finest writers for children anytime.

How easy or tough was it to switch from non-fiction book where one has to do a lot of research to a fiction where one depends more on creative output?

A: Am not sure. Actually, most of the books I have worked on or am engaged in, involve some sort of research or another. To evoke a different time period, or even to conjure up a different

world, you need to be 'authentic' and true to the context and research thus becomes invaluable.

Thanks a lot, Anu Kumar, for providing some wonderful context regarding the book.