Endangered Animals of India

Written by Praba Ram & Meera Sriram
Illustrated by Lavanya Karthik
Published by DC Books- Mango

"Threatened in their own home" reads the sub- title. It is indeed saddening that there is need for such a book-  that nature's beautiful creations do not feel secure in their own homes.

Authors Praba and Meera have put together fascinating and unnerving facts about ten endangered animals in this book- a wake up call to  readers of all ages, everywhere.

From Near Threatened to Critically Endangered, which are some of these animals in India? Where are they? Why are they vanishing? And what can we do about it?

Journeying across India- from the snowy slopes of the Himalayas to the deeps of the Indian ocean , from the Sundarbans to the the deserts of India, the book tracks these animals highlighting their quirks and their habits.

This book will certainly help children and adults empathize with the plight of the many diverse wild animals of India – from Snow Leopards to Red Pandas, Fishing Cats to Gharials.

The text is easy to follow and there are crisp ready reckoners on each animal which you can go through if you are short on time or patience or just in need of a refresher.

The illustrations are fabulous in detail and look very life like. It is interesting how illustrator Lavanya Karthik adapts the style of her work to suit the theme and spirit of the book.

Every school and animal lover needs to read this book. And if I have learnt something from this book, every lover of life too, since we all have a role to play in a balanced eco-system!

The book was recently featured on Mango's blog as one of the best-sellers of 2013.

Tsomo and the Momo

Tsomo and the Momo 

pic courtesy tulika books

Written and illustrated by Niveditha Subramaniam

Published by Tulika books.

Ages 3+

 

Any parent will recognize this scenario. A child’s favourite food item is made. The child is given a serving of that food. However large that portion might be according to the parent, it always seems small to the eyes of the child. A bigger chunk of chocolate. A bigger dollop of ice cream. A bigger laddoo … you get the picture! (Of course, things work the other way when it is food that is not liked by the child.)

 

Tsomo is just such a child, who loves momos. (We love them too!) Her mother makes a really big momo for her –  a gingery, garlicky, fingerlicky momo, bigger than Tsomo herself. But Tsomo thinks it isn’t big enough.

 

“But I want a momo as big as the moon!”

 

Like all mothers faced with this situation, her mother tells her to finish this momo first. And then, what happens? Do read this book to find out.

 

Niveditha Subramaniam’s zany pictures perfectly compliment her text to present this story from the mountains of Nepal and Tibet, the home of the momo, and is sure to be a hit with the kiddie foodies.

Interview with Gita Wolf of Tara Books

We are delighted to have Gita Wolf of Tara Books on Saffron Tree. Before we get started, here's a short bio about Gita and her work in the arena of children's publishing.

"Gita Wolf has written more than 14 award-winning books for children and adults. She was an academic by training before she moved into publishing, with a research focus on comparative literature. She continues to pursue her interest in exploring and experimenting with the form of the book and its status as a revered cultural object."

It's indeed a treat to get insights into her books as well as hear about Tara's over-arching role in promoting folk art.

Tara no doubt has been instrumental behind some fabulous works of children's fiction focusing on handmade books and folk-art for the last twenty years. Kudos to the entire Tara team!

Gita, on behalf of Saffron Tree, I wish to thank you for your time. Through interviews such as these, we get to know our favorite creators better. Thank you, Maegan of Tara Books, for helping co-ordinate this interview. We greatly appreciate it!

A book simply can't get any more beautiful was my instant reaction when I first picked up Gobble you up. The trickster tale told in cumulative rhyme is a delight to read-aloud, eye-candy like no other, a keep-sake to hold on to. Our children learn so much - about a new culture, craft traditions and people. Needless to say, Gobble you up is another goose-bump inducing work of art.

1) Let's start by asking you, how was the whole experience working on it?

The process of creating the book was an extended and satisfying experience. We first met Sunita when she came to Chennai for a workshop that we held on women's floor art back in February 2011. One of the most striking themes within the Meena repertoire is the pregnant animal, depicted with the baby inside its stomach. It is from this iconic image that the idea for Gobble You Up! originated. Why not construct a tale around an animal within an animal?

We asked Sunita and her husband Prabhat, a Hindi writer, for a story along these lines and Sunita remembered a tale told by her grandfather, about a cunning jackal which swallowed one creature after another. Prabhat wrote down the oral story that Sunita remembered, and Susheela Varadarajan translated it into English. From the basic plot of the original tale, I wrote the text with cumulative rhyme.

Illustrating the story in the Meena style of art involved two kinds of movement. The first was to build a visual narrative sequence from a tradition which favoured single, static images. The second challenge was to keep the quality of the wall art, while transferring it to a different, and also much smaller, surface. We decided on using large sheets of brown paper, with Sunita squeezing diluted white acrylic paint through her fingers.

We photographed Sunita’s images, and Production Manager C.Arumugam converted them into flat graphic images that could be printed by silkscreen. In order to draw attention to the sophisticated detailing inherent in Sunita’s art, book designer Rathna Ramanathan split the images into two colours. The jackal – the protagonist – is rendered in black, and the creatures he swallows in white. Gotham, a modern typeface inspired by an architectural vernacular was used as a compliment to the contemporary quality of the art.

The book was then printed on Kraft paper, specially produced for us in large rolls. The paper was cut to a printable page size, printed by silkscreen in two colors, section sewn and hand bound by our team of printers and binders. And that was how it was done!


2) You published 10 and ABC pop ups, when do you think the cross over to Indian pop ups will happen?

I'm not sure about other Indian publishing houses, but we're always ready to experiment with the form of the book, and I think that in terms of production it's certainly possible. Our book I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail - while not a pop up book - uses die cuts to allow each page to interact with the next, and has been one of our most popular books in recent years. The art is by Ramsingh Urveti - a Gond artist from Madhya Pradesh, while we worked with Japanese Brazilian designer Jonathan Yamakami to realise the design.

3) How did you decide that you would focus on Indian folk artists across almost all your work?

We realised that there was a rich indigenous visual culture around us, that hadn't yet been explored as an art form that could be used in the book.

In India there are rich traditions of art and seeing that we know too little about, and some of it seems perfect for illustrating children's books. This is one of the best ways for children to get to know this art without heavy handed pedagogy - they accept this different kind of art as 'natural' - not something to be looked at in a museum. It becomes part of what they grow up with. I think it is very important to get to know what I would call 'other ways of seeing and describing' - we live in an age where there seems to be endless choice - at least for the urban middle class child - but in the end everything is homogenised. Exposure to Indian folk art, on a coeval basis, and not as something exotic, is a great way to democratise what we think is worth knowing and passing on.

That being said, we don't exclusively work with Indian folk artists, and our work brings us into contract with illustrators and artists coming from a diverse range of backgrounds and contexts.

4) You are one of the few to have published a child- Samhita Arni's book. What are your concerns and criteria while taking on a child author ?

I think that in Samhita's case we really felt that she had a story to tell that was new and refreshing. Naturally there were things that had to be taken into consideration because of her young age at the time, which we worked through in collaboration with Samhita and her mother. The main thing was that Samhita was enjoying the experience and took the whole thing in her stride.

5) We often hear "Tara books are beautiful but expensive" What is your response?

That's interesting, as we often hear either this or it's exact opposite, namely: "How can you make handmade books so affordable."

In answer to the first question: our books are always set at a price that allows fair compensation to be given to everyone involved in creating them: from the author, artist and book designer to those involved in the production process. We are also very strong on the quality of our production and the ethics of our books. So we're not prepared to cut corners on either quality or environmental impact. For example, many of our books use either handmade or recycled paper.

In answer to the second question that I often hear - we are able to sell our handmade books at such an affordable price compared to other artists' or handmade books because of our Book Craft Workshop run by Master Printer C.Arumugam. Arumugam and his team of sixteen artisans have refined their process of silkscreen printing over the years to enable them to print silkscreen printed books in unprecedented numbers.

Our Book Craft Workshop has now printed and bound 250,000 books. On average we print and bind 18–22,000 books every year. That averages out at about 65 books per day. On average a book has 63 impressions (separate screen-printed colours), which is a grand total of 1 million and 24,000 impressions a year.

As far as we know, we’re the only publishing house in the world that produces handmade books in these numbers. In effect, what we do is make artists’ books in enough numbers so that they become affordable for the average book buyer. It’s our way of nurturing the physical form of the book in an age that is busy writing its obituary.

6) Have you looked at exploring folk art from other countries through Tara?

Yes, it's definitely something that we're exploring. Last year we were invited to Mexico, as part of a project working with traditional artists. Some book projects are currently in the pipeline as a result of that trip, so do watch out for those.

Picture Books Celebrating Librarians

While there are several books celebrating libraries, there aren't as many that pay tribute to the librarians who have catalogued and shelved endless volumes over the ages, always knowing where to find what one wants to find in the library, and recommending the right book for the right topic for the right reader. With the digital age, this group of specialists is becoming obsolete and under-appreciated.

So, when we sought out a few books that showcased the dedication and enthusiasm of librarians, we had to share it here. And who did we turn to to help us find these books? You guessed right!



My Librarian is a Camel

How Books Are Brought To Children Around The World
by Margriet Ruurs

This is one of the top favorite books among this collection for the kids, and me. The author contacted the librarians in various parts of the world to share their favorite stories about their libraries. Some of them even clicked pictures of their mobile libraries and sent it to the author with stories about happy readers, as the smiling faces revealed in their pictures.

From Australia, Azerbaijan, to Thailand and Zimbabwe, 13 countries are showcased here, each with a unique story about mobile libraries. A map at the beginning shows the locations of these countries in the world. Filled with photographs, the books shows real people in real places, passionate about books.

From Truck-libraries in Australia and Azerbaijan, to the Book Boat in Finland (Bokbåt in Swedish and Kirjastovene in Finnish) that shuttles between the rocky islands in the Aboland archipelago; the floating library and the bicycle libraries of Indonesia to the Camel libraries of Kenya; horse-drawn wagon in Mongolia to donkey-cart in Zimbabwe; from converted train carriages of Thailand to four-by-four trucks on rocky mountainous terrain of Papua New Guinea; we read about the dedicated and passionate people who bring books to their readers not minding the trouble.

The book is full of anecdotes that stayed with the children. Like, in Mongolia, The Book Tour, when the mini-bus brings books to the nomadic tribes, is called Amttai Nom which means "candy books". Children are given food including some sweets before they sit down to read the books and choose a few for them to keep till the next mini-bus visit, when they can exchange books. Mr. Dashdondog, a well-known writer undertaking this task of bringing books to children asks" Which was sweeter: books or candies?" The children always answer, "BOOKS!"

In the Introduction the author says, "Maybe you have been taking your local librarian for granted, just like I did. Next time you borrow books, think of how lucky you are to be able to choose from all those free books and to take home as many as you wish."

[image source: Boyds Mills Press website]


Biblioburro
A True Story from Columbia
by Jeanette Winter

Waiting for the Biblioburro
by Monica Brown
illustrations by John Parra

Both these books tell the story of Luis Soriano Bohorquez, a real-life teacher/librarian in Colombia, who brought books on a burro to the children in the remote regions.

Jeanette Winter is a master at writing & illustrating biographies. My Name is Georgia still charms us every time we read it. Biblioburro unfolds the story in a gentle and simple manner, telling it as it is. Luis makes the arduous journey with his burros Alfa and Beto, and reads to the children and then lets them choose books to keep until his next trip when they get to exchange them for new ones.

Waiting for Biblioburro adds some fun elements that captivated the kids at home. For one thing, the girl in the book is called Ana, a name my daughter goes by. Ana, in the story, has read her book, her only book, a zillion times and knows it by-heart. Being a rural community with each family member chipping in with the tasks, books are not a top priority. But, Ana wishes she could sit with her books all day long.

It is Ana's dream-come-true when Luis arrives with his burros, Alfa and Beto, bearing books. After waiting for a long time for the Biblioburro to reappear, Ana writes her own cuento (story). Finally when the Biblioburro arrives, she hands it to Luis who reads it to the children under the tree. This book is peppered with Spanish words which we liked. The Glossary at the back helped.

[image sources: Simon & Schuster, John Parra website]


The Librarian of Basra

A True Story from Iraq
written & illustrated by Jeanette Winter

Alia Muhammed Baker is the librarian of Basra. Anticipating the devastation that will follow the military maneuvers in the area, and fearing the loss of all the excellent library books, she starts to take action - first through proper channels, appealing for assistance to transport the books to a safe area.

Not succeeding in that approach, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She carries books by the car-load to her house to keep them safe, small batches at a time. Till one day, it becomes clear that the library had become a war zone and something needed to be done immediately.

With the help of her neighbor, a restaurateur, she manages to save thousands of books from burning down with the library building. She is still waiting for the rebuilding of the library so she can safely return the books to the shelves.

[image source: amazon.com]


Librarian on the Roof: A True Story
by M.G.King
illustrated by Stephen Gilpin

RoseAleta Laurell wanted everyone to come to the Dr. Eugene Clark library and use it. That's what it's there for. She especially wanted the library to serve the needs of her rural bilingual community. But that was proving hard. So, she decided to jump into action.

In an effort to raise awareness and money, she camped up on the roof of the library, saying she'll come down when the target amount is raised.

Needless to say, it attracted great attention among the newsfolk and eventually raised more than the target amount. RoseAleta came down from the roof after a week of weathering it out, happy that her gimmick worked.

[image source: Albert Whitman & Co.]



That Book Woman

by Heather Henson
illustrated by David Small

Cal doesn't care much for books. What good are they when he needs to plow the field and fetch the sheep when they wander and bring the cows home in the evening. His sister Lark, however, cannot do anything but read, absorbed in it all day long if Mother would let her.

The story is inspired by the Pack Horse Librarians known as "Book Women" in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. These brave women were commissioned to bring books to the remote regions where no schools or libraries existed. Traveling by horse or mule, the book women would make the same arduous journey every two weeks - even in bad weather - simply to bring books to the families in that region.

The book was a bit of a difficult read initially as it is written in an Appalachian dialect. 

"My folks and me - we live way up as up can get. So high we hardly sight a soul - 'cept hawks a-winging in the sky and critters hid among the trees."

Thus starts the book and continues to tell the story of how one Book Woman made Cal a reader over time. It is heart-warming at the end, and possibly might interest older readers for the challenge it provides with the language.

[image source: David Small website]

[An interview with author Heather Henson]



Miss Dorothy and Her Book Mobile

by Gloria Houston
illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb

The author shares that Dorothy Thomas was one of her heroes as a child, bringing books in her green van to the children in that rural area, even to the school, as there was no library there at that time.

Dorothy wanted to be a real librarian in a brick building. She loved books. So, she studied to become a librarian. But, circumstances arranged themselves to put her in the midst of Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with her husband, where the neighbors were miles away and there was no library that needed a librarian. But, Dorothy found a way.

Through community meetings and donations, she got a van, and went around checking out books to the interested reader and sustaining the love of reading in that community. Finally, a reader donated a little white house to serve as the library and Dorothy got to work getting it arranged and ready for use.

[Browse Inside at Harper Collins]

[image source: Harper Collins website]


Fiction:

Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don't)
by Barbara Bottner
illustrated by Michael Emberley

Missy is not interested in books. So she thinks. Her librarian Miss Brooks thinks that Missy just hasn't yet found the kind of book she loves. Missy wonders why Miss Brooks wears costumes when she reads books to the kids, all year long.

And then comes a truly terrifying week in May: Book Week! Each child has to pick a book and read it and make an appropriate costume and  read the book/tell the story in class.

Missy does not want to participate. She dismisses all the books suggested by Miss Brooks. Until... there's a book about warts, an ogre with warts, slimy yucky ogre with warts and hairs on his nose. Missy is hooked!

Her mother helps make an ogre costume for the big day; Missy brings stick-on warts for the whole class; and she reads the book aloud with great pleasure, punctuated by snorts.

Finding the right material that interests her is what got Missy addicted to books. Which is true for most kids. The gentle story brings out that fact while celebrating the librarian who persisted and helped.

[Look Inside the book at Random House]

[image source: Random House (Knopf) website]


The Boy Who Was Raised By Librarians
by Carla Morris
illustrated by Brad Sneed

While not my top favorite (or kids' for that matter), the book again celebrates three librarians who helped Melvin learn as much as he wanted, from first grade till he graduated high school and moved on. And, the book ends with Melvin coming back to help other kids feel the same connection with the library and the librarians.

With no mention of Melvin's family or other influences, this book directs a warm gratitude to the librarians who seem to have been instrumental in satisfying Melvin's thirst for knowledge.

[image source: Peach Tree Publishers]


Shared here already: Librarian Who Measured the Earth

Little Indians

Little Indians
By Pika Nani
Tulika Publishers
Ages 10+

Travel a few hundred kilometres in India, and the landscape, the language the people speak – all change. ‘Little Indians’ explores the many little Indias within this country, in a way that is sure to appeal to little Indians.

The book takes us on a journey through 15 states/union territories from the snow-covered peaks of Uttarakhand, to the gorges of Madhya Pradesh, the mangroves of the Andamans, the rues of Puducherry, the gullies of Delhi… We learn a little bit about the history of the region, its geography, read a few tidbits, get to know about achievers from the area, and then dive into a story.

Simple stories with an old-world charm, that give the flavor of a place. I found it refreshing to read stories in which the child protagonists are not the urban characters we usually encounter. In each of the stories, a bunch of kids with no resources to speak of bar their wits, solve a problem. The setting comes alive, whether it is Kille Raigad in Maharashtra, or the home of a weaver in a village in Tawang valley, Arunachal Pradesh. I liked how the stories weave in details that reveal a bit about the place and its people; like the one about bakeries and baguettes in Puducherry. It was a lovely trip down memory lane to places I have been to, and a wonderful introduction to places I am yet to visit. I must say I was perplexed by the choice of setting for the story on Andhra Pradesh, which has so much more to offer than its film industry.

Like Puffin’s fun India A to Z, this is a wonderful resource for kids, one that I hope will be used in schools. What more can one ask for? A part-2 with the other states we haven’t zoomed to in the first installment!

[Image source www.tulikabooks.com]

The Susu Pals and The Unboy Boy

There is a story (perhaps many) in every one of us.
Some share it and some don't.  Some tell it and some pen it.
A very select few tie up with brilliant illustrators and  publish it!

Kudos to Richa Jha of Snuggle with Picture Books for taking that leap of faith- rather like those who wish to homeschool kids and finally muster the courage to do it. And Richa has done it in such style.  


 In The Susu Pals Richa partners with Alicia Souza, the witty cartoonist whose daily humor pieces are very popular.


Humorous in tone, it is a sensitive portrayal of  friendships that go through testing times and endure fickle distractions. Rhea and Dia are best friends and do everything together. Then Isha moves in next door. How does that change the equation? Do they stay friends?

While my girls had trouble accepting the 'going susu together with their best buddy' bit, they loved the book and found the characters appealing and real.

The Unboy Boy is the story of Gagan. He does not fit into people's common norms for how a boy should be and behave. Even his family and friends think of him as an un-boy boy. They attempt to make him more boy-like.

Do they succeed? Or do they join forces with his mother, his sole supporter who backs and encourages him to be himself.

Writer Richa Jha ties up with illustrator Gautam Benegal in this story and together they charmingly bring out how cool and nice it is to be yourself.

Do read Susu Pals and Unboy Boy.  You will of course enjoy the easy flow of words, the illustrations and the humor.

You may just want to reach out to a long lost Susu pal you had and perhaps some Gagan in your life will be a happier person as well.

You can watch the book trailer of Susu Pals  here

In Conversation with Jash Sen

Image source Duckbill Books

The Wordkeepers, the first book in a trilogy, is a gripping fantasy with two teenage protagonists and characters from Indian mythology. The prologue is the face-off between Arjuna and Ashwatthama after the Mahabharata war. The rest of the book is set in contemporary times, in 2028 to be precise. How would mythological characters fit into a story with modern teenage characters, I wondered. The mythological characters adapt and manage quite well.

Kali (the lord of Kaliyug, not the goddess Kali) is in pursuit of Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu. It is up to fourteen year-old Anya Sharma to protect Kalki, another fourteen year-old. A few of the Chiranjeevis have an important role to play. There is Ashwatthama, the cursed immortal, Parashuram and Vibheeshan. The author interweaves mythology and fiction, incorporates legend and lore, and a lot of imagination.

The Wordkeepers is impressive for a debut novel. There is not one dull moment. I kept turning page after page, wanting to know what happens next. When I finished reading the book, I devoured everything about Ashwatthama that I could find on the internet. But I still had a few questions for the author. Jash Sen graciously agreed to answer all of them.

Jash Sen

ST: An IIMC graduate who has worked in IT and taught mathematics. How did the transition to writing happen?
Jash Sen: I had wanted to be a writer for as long as I remember, but I stopped believing in my dream as I grew up. Life went on, but somewhere in the course of a particularly boring job in the US, I decided that I wanted to get back to writing. It was hard at first; I was very rusty. I changed track to teaching, which was a fresh perspective and a wonderful burst of energy and started writing. This was in London a few years later. But I couldn't complete, the stories weren't taking flight, somehow. In 2009, I returned to Calcutta and started writing in earnest. Coming back to my roots must have helped, because The Wordkeepers just poured out.

Why did you decide to write ‘The Wordkeepers’ for young adults? 
I didn't. I just wrote an adventure story. My publishers decided it was meant for young adults. I didn't consciously dumb down anything, but I knew I wanted pace in my story.

Have you been doing school tours and events? What do Percy Jackson fans have to say about ‘The Wordkeepers’? 
I have, indeed. Now that I am promoting Skyserpents, the sequel to The Wordkeepers, I do a little talk on mythological animals from our mythology and we start off with a chat on minotaurs, chimera and the like. Then I describe Makars, Navagunjara, Sharabh, and other animals to the audience - which they absolutely love. There is so much to enjoy in Indian mythology - so many animals, so many worlds.

When and how did you decide this was going to be a trilogy? Did you think through all three books before you began writing the first one? To what extent did you plot and what did you have to keep in mind while writing?
When I started The Wordkeepers I thought I was writing a small ghost story about a giant eye watching this girl (the cover). Before I knew it, Ashwatthama insisted on being a part of it. So then the two had to meet. So there had to be a quest, there had to be Kalki, then suddenly Bilal was there, fully formed, this cricket loving, calm, quiet little boy. It was eleven thousand words. So I thought, okay, you are a thirty thousand word story. But then the world started getting richer and richer and I had Dhoomavati, The Skyserpents, the yaksha and one day when I had written about an entire diary fully - I said to myself, hang on, this cannot be one story. This is probably two stories. So go back and finish the first. It was when Duckbill signed me up that I realised I would have to give them the whole story, that is, all three books, as an outline. So I asked them for a month and planned out the whole thing. It was a three book kind of story eventually.

How long did you research? How much of it has gone into the published book?
The mythology? All my life, I guess - I'm rather into mythology from different cultures, it is a bit of a hobby of mine. Some of it has gone in, mostly as characters I found interesting or as mythological creatures and beings. I had only one rule - I would talk about gods and goddesses and creatures that weren't usually centre stage in mythological tales, there would be more scope to imagine and invent there. So, not Balram himself, but Balram's impetuous nature, yes. Not Lakshmi, but Kuber. And so on.

I thought the eccentric goddess Dhoomavati was your own invention. I was quite surprised to find that she does “exist”. Similarly with the Jangil tribe. Now I’m wondering about the ‘gateway to the red planet’! Is that based on legend or is it completely fictional?
No, no - I made that one up! I like to make things up - thank goodness I'm a storyteller or else I'd have felt compelled to make stuff up in real life, which as you know, is not very nice!

The wordkeeper is a girl; Bilal is raised as a Muslim in an Andhra Naxalite village. There is also a Christian camp coordinator and a Third Gender Task Force. Were you conscious about being inclusive?
Not really. One of the nice things about growing up in the 80s was that this was all completely normal - we never felt we needed to make any grand statements about religion and gender. If you're a tough little cookie, you're a tough little cookie - as Anya is. It doesn't matter whether she is a girl or a boy.

The second book in the trilogy was launched recently. Do any of the other Chiranjeevis make an appearance in ‘The Skyserpents’ or the third book?
Yes.

Without revealing too much, can you tell us about ‘The Skyserpents’?
It starts with Anya attempting a daring rescue of her mother. My lips are sealed after that.

Have you written the third book already? What next?
Heavens, no! But I must get cracking on it. Next? Who knows? Something different, I hope. I'd like a bit of a change. The history of Bengal and the North-East is my current obsession - perhaps something from there?

[Photo credit: Jash Sen]

The Flute

The Flute

by Rachna Gilmore
illustrations by Pulak Biswas


"Long ago and far away," we enter a village that has a gushing river, on the banks of which our baby girl, Chandra, is born. For a brief childhood spell, she basks in the music of her mother's flute, growing up without a care in the world.

Then her world is turned upside down all of a sudden. A flood sweeps away both her parents, who push her up to safety, handing her the flute, before they pass away. Reluctantly taken in by her aunt and uncle who treat her harshly with nary a kind word, piling brutal workload on her to "earn her keep," Chandra carries on, deriving solace from playing her mother's flute when she can manage it, away from her disapproving uncle and aunt.

But then, much like the twists and turns of fate in fairy tales, her uncle and aunt pluck the flute from her in a fit of anger and toss it into the river. But, Chandra carries on with the chores, bearing the abuses with quiet resignation, through the bitter winter and the searing summer, starving, yet surviving.

And then, one day, as she sits by the river bank, hunger gnawing, she hears a hopeful, almost cheerful music, just like her mother used to make. And out of the river appears a plantain leaf laden with simple yet sumptuous meal. Day after day, she is fed by the mysterious provider. Until her uncle and aunt find out and accuse her of unimaginable things.

Finally, when the monsoon arrives after a long parched summer, it was a relief at first. But then, it rains and rains causing the river to rise. In an abominable act of cruelty, her aunt and uncle push Chandra down as they go higher up to safety, letting her get washed away in the flood.

This is the turning point in Chandra's life, when desolation and misery give way to hope and comfort. When one has reached the bottom, there is no way but up. And so it is with Chandra. She clings to hope and emerges safely, adopted by a loving family who have lost their child to the same flood.

The illustrations by renowned artist, Pulak Biswas, in a limited palette of bright blue and red, contrasting with whites, blacks and grays, is stunning! I first encountered Mr.Biswas in Tiger on a Tree - again a distinctively stark black and orange palette, reminiscent of the tiger in that book as well. In The Flute, the moods and atmosphere is expertly conveyed - from the gentle rippling of the river as Chandra sits by her mother's feet and listens to the flute, to the rush of the furious flood; the expressions of the aunt and uncle; even the waxing and waning moon.

Rachna Gilmore has an uncanny ability to use the exact words, only as many as needed - no more, no less., and yet tell a story in the most profuse way possible. For a while, when we read Catching Time, Making Grizzle Grow, and A Screaming Kind of Day, I told myself that I want to grow up to write just like her some day.

With the many natural disasters around the world, when we read about the strength and resilience of children in the wake of utter devastation, we can't help but be inspired. Chandra, though fictional, could be any one of the children we never get to read about in the news stories.

[View excerpt of the book at Tradewind]

[image source: Author's website]

Disclosure: While the book was a review copy, the views expressed here and the decision to share it here is my own.

Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building

Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building
by Christy Hale


Every once in a while, I come across a book that combines my favorite things in an uncommon way.

Combining poetry and famous architectural structures from around the world, along with children's everyday play things, the author-illustrator Ms. Hale has given us a book that is deceptively simple, yet profoundly gratifying.

On the left-hand page, we see an illustration of kids stacking up their nesting cups. On the right we see the photograph of Petronas Twin Towers. The parallels between the children's play and the imposing structure, the tallest twin-buildings in the world, is deliberate and striking.And the rhyming words accompanying it is arranged in stacked order to mimic the structure: "Cup on cup, stacking up, Smaller, smaller, growing taller."

The book is full of such pairings of children's play and large-scale structures, and they are not limited to steel and concrete. On the one hand, we see a little girl making circular mud pies; opposite page shows a photo of an earthen New Gourna Village in Egypt; the note tells us how this village combines natural elements earth, water, sun, air, with traditional design to create a sustainable unique entity. Especially matched were the mud pies by the children and the roof of the mosque with cooling domes.

And, furthermore, we see kids constructing with recyclable materials, paired with the The Paper Tube School in China.

Back of the book has notes on the various real-world structures presented in the book, with the architect and location information.

All in all, a brilliant book that both the 5 yo and 8 yo loved as much as their Mama gushed about it.

[Look inside the book at author's website]


[image source: amazon.com]

Orangutan Tongs

Orangutan Tongs
by Jon Agee


Word play. What's not to love about it?

From some of the familiar tongue twisters that adults will recognize to a set of quirky ones that defy repeated enunciation, the book is a fun read aloud for all ages. Kids may not always get the nuances, but the delightful pictures easily captivate them and keep them interested.

The 8 yo kept saying, "That's funny, Mama," as she read every other verse, with loud laughs punctuated by unbridled snorts. Tongue twisters are a huge favorite, understandably. When we introduced, "One smart feller he felt smart; Two smart fellers they felt smart..." to her, she was in splits, as expected.

The 5 yo found quite a few things he could not easily forget or let go in the book. Like, "a noisy noise annoys an oyster" or, "I saw Esau sitting on a seesaw." His Achilles heel happened to be "Peggy Babcock" - saying it 5 times in a row, fast.

Of late, quite a handful of Jon Agee's books have managed to tickle us - Palindromania, Z Goes Home, Terrific, Sit On a Potato Pan, Otis. The word play books as well as some quirky picture books are rather delightful.

The 5 yo's favorite was Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog. Each page hints at what type of animal Mr. Putney has, with fun clue picture and wordplay answer. Example, There's an armadillo on the nightstand next to a timepiece, with the question "Who wakes up Mr. Putney in the morning?" The answer is "Alarmadillo." You get the idea - the one that he got right away is "Slobster" having encountered it in Stardines by Prelutsky.

Humans have this special ability to communicate via language - a construct we've developed and perfected over centuries. The joy of taking this language we have made up and coming up with things to make it all the more amusing is only matched by the ability to share it with our fellow beings and revel in the common bonding experience. Books that provide the sheer pleasure of amusing us with word play are indeed to be treasured.

[Two Tree Toads by Jon Agee]

[image source: amazon.com]