Up Down

Up Down
By Vinayak Varma
Tulika Publishers
Ages 3-6
Bilingual: available in English-Bengali, English-Hindi, English-Kannada, English-Tamil, English-Telugu

Books written and illustrated by the same person have a special appeal. There are very few of these among children’s books published in India. Up Down is one of them.

When I chanced upon this unassuming little book years ago, I fell in love with it instantly.

Little Appu wants to play on the seesaw. But who will sit on the other side? A grasshopper? Or a mouse? Or ...? ‘A wonderfully simple approach to the concepts of light and heavy, up and down,’ the blurb on the website says.

Simple in retrospect, as Edward Teller famously said. Once you see it, you wonder why no one thought of it before. That is how it is with all ingenious ideas.

At the time we read the book, the kid was reluctant to make friends, preferring to play with his parents instead. We had tried convincing him that playing with peers would be more enjoyable. So the “seesaw story” struck a chord with him.

The illustrations depict motion beautifully and add a zing to the catchy repetitive text. The kid cackled at the sounds the animals let out when they went up in the air. The animated Appu is adorable; the bare-chested look succeeds in making him even more lovable.

I have lost count of the number of times the child had this book read to him. When he graduated to reading by himself, it was one of the first books he read. Since it is a bilingual, I’m sure we will revisit it very soon and I’m looking forward to it!

[Image source http://www.tulikabooks.com]

Bird Non-fiction Picture Books

A few non-fiction picture books about birds educated and amazed us. Just the right balance of crisp text and brilliant illustrations made these books wonderful to read aloud.


Animals in Flight
by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

The stark cut paper illustrations, meticulous attention to detail, simple and direct kid-friendly text packed with information are what set apart Steve Jenkins' books. This one is no exception.

We learn that insects were the first animals to fly, even before the dinosaurs. Why did animals have this adaptation - the ability to fly? The most obvious answer is survival - to escape predators and go in search of new food sources.

Along the way we learn about birds and insects, and of course the only flying mammal - the bat. We also learn about gliders like Flying Squirrel, Flying Frog, Flying Fish, Flying Lizard, even Flying Snake.

The book ends with a glimpse into human endeavors for taking to the air.

As always, back of the book has a Notes section which provides more information about the animals.

[image source: goodreads.com]


About Hummingbirds
by Cathryn Sill
illustrated by John Sill

We have enjoyed many of Sills' books. The husband and wife team have written many books in the About... Series, of which we sampled About Birds and About Raptors for the bird study, besides the About Hummingbirds book.

Each plate has gorgeous detailed illustrations of almost photographic clarity by John Sill.  Simply amazing. The text is easy for preschoolers to follow along - simple, straightforward and packed with interesting information about the hummingbirds.

We learn that most hummingbirds cannot walk, their feet are used for perching. And that hummingbirds can be found in different habitats like desert, mountains, wetlands/grasslands, and forests.

Each double-page spread has text on one side and a full page color illustration on the other. The caption clearly indicates the bird(s) we are looking at in each page.

Afterword has further information about each of the plates in the book. Again, just about all the books by the  Sills are amazing.

[image source: Peachtree]






Bring On The Birds
by Susan Stockdale

This is one of the oft-read favorite of the 5 year old, especially because of crisp lyrical text and bright illustrations.

Swooping birds, whooping birds, birds with puffy chests.
Dancing birds, diving birds, birds with fluffy crests.

Swooping bird - Great Horned Owl, whooping bird - Whooping Crane, puffy-crested bird - Victoria Crowned Pigeon. Each page has just one phrase showing one type of bird.

Back of the book has more information on each bird along with the thumbnail image of the bird.

I have tremendous respect for author-illustrators who excel in writing and artwork which makes their books quite a treat to behold. (Another of Susan Stockdale's books shared here before is Carry Me)

[image source: susanstockdale.com ]



Bird Talk: What Birds are Saying and Why
by Lita Judge

Many birds, if not all, talk and sing a lot. Why do they do that and what are they saying/singing?

Bird Talk shares some of the things birds say. Like, male songbirds sing in spring to get noticed, they are saying, "Pick Me!"

We learn about some of the other bird behaviors and strategies that can be noisy. Like the male Sage grouse puffs up his feathers and make "loud popping noise by blowing up air sacs and rubbing their wings across." 

Palm Cockatoo is like a "one-man rock band"  whistling and bobbing and drumming against a tree.

Whether it is to attract mate, defend the territory, raise an alarm, or to train their chicks to fly birds sure have a lot of ways to communicate. We learn about 28 of them in this book. "About the Birds" sections at the back of the book gives further information about each of the birds


[image source: macmillan.com/]



The Eagles Are Back
by Jean Craighead George
paintings by Wendell Minor


There was a time when the majestic bald eagles were on the verge of extinction. Through dedicated efforts, they have made a comeback. This books shares the success story in a heart-warming and kid-friendly way.

A little boy works to get a pair of bald eagles to adopt an egg and incubate it. Alaska, the eaglet, is born. Slowly but surely she learns to fly.

At the end, a little boy tells his dad how he read all about the return of the eagles on the Internet and how a little boy helped. Turns out that little boy at the beginning of the book is the dad at the end.


[image source: http://www.minorart.com/child/eagles/eagles.html]

Muhammad Ali: the King of the Ring

Muhammad Ali: The King of the Ring
Written by - Lewis Helfand
Illustrated by Lalit Kumar Sharma
Publishers - Campfire

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" - Is there a more famous statement made by any other boxer or athlete? Muhammad Ali - A controversial figure, a man of great paradoxes, Cassius Clay, has remained one of the most talked about boxers. A man of paradoxes because he did not mind beating the blues out of an opponent inside the ring; but, refused to get enlisted in the war of Vietnam saying he had no quarrel with Vietcong and that he believed in peace due to his religious beliefs.  Two totally strong opinions and divergent. I wonder how he reconciled these two differing opinions within himself. 

This tastefully done graphic novel by Campfire publishers keeps bringing these two differing opinions to fore in our minds. Thankfully, it does not attempt to answer this paradox, instead sticks to telling his wonderful story in some gorgeous colors and illustrations. Whenever the story's pace falters, the book switches back to the present day and makes it appear that the story is being presented by a group of television anchors discussing the idiosyncrasies, travails, training and boasts of Muhammad Ali.  This regular (not too often though) switch-over between present day and the story tends to give the readers a overall picture of the story as it progresses. Although, this back and forth switch works well at times, I found it a tad irritating. Whenever the switch over happens, it would have helped if the colors were changed or differed - probably show the present day in black and white and actual story of Ali in colour.

Nevertheless, Lalit Kumar Sharma has some gorgeous illustrations through out the book. The illustrations that portray boxing convey speed and violence. 

Apart from Ali's story of boxing, the small vignettes of his life like his fear of flying that made him wear the parachute inside the flight; he fainting after a girl kisses him makes this legend a human. 

Campfire publishers, started a few years back is one of the top new publishers in the burgeoning (small though) industry of comics and graphic novels  in India. They have some great set of books that have been published so far. I specifically like their Heroes series. We like their books on Mandela and Wright Brothers as well. Their recent book in the heroes series is about Mother Teresa.  I wish they are a bit more enthusiastic about maintaining their blog and their web site.  Most of their books are available in Flipkart and Amazon India. 

The 13th Riddle

Title : The 13th Riddle
Author : Nadine D'Souza
Illustrator : Ajanta Guhathakurta
Publisher : Tulika Books
Ages : 6+

Piloo Paheliji is the mayor of a modern progressive town and considers himself the smartest man around. As his name suggests, he loves Pahelis (Hindi name for Ridddles).He loves them so much, that he keeps asking people riddles and gets a smug satisfaction when they fail to answer them. He has also declared one day of the year as "Riddle Day", when he throws open a riddle to all the people of the town, in the morning. The one who answers it correctly by evening will be rewarded. But for twelve years it has so happened that no one has been able to answer the riddles correctly.

The thirteenth year of the riddle day dawns. Paheliji decides to place an attractive reward, which people will find hard to resist. He offers the post of the mayor to the winner! In his usual way he begins his speech to the people and just as he is about to ask THE question, an interruption comes in the form a bright young boy. Irritated, Paheliji asks the boy his name and what does he get in return ? A riddle, to answer that question. Taken aback, Pahelji further questions the boy, only to get riddles in answers. Paheliji is totally stumped. The man who is used to asking riddles, is now forced to think and answer them. What happens next ? Does the "smartest man" in town lose to a little boy ? Does he lose the title of the Mayor? Read the book to get your answers !

This is a very simple and refreshing book, that will be enjoyed by the little ones. The answers given by the boy disguised as riddles, are quite cleverly thought out. In his speech, Paheliji talks about how he is excited that day, because thirteen has always been his lucky number. This subtle positive reference to a number, that is in general considered unlucky by so many people around the world, impressed me.   

The illustrations are very catchy and Paheliji's funny expressions have been very well captured.The book might just spurn your own little one to become a Paheli-wali or Paheli-wala :-)

Note : This was a review copy received from Tulika, but the views expressed are solely mine.