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Everyone’s grandma is supposed to be all warm and fuzzy and a great cook. But Biji rides a motorbike, loves to wear make up, and invents food mishmashes like mangoes with parantha. And Biji is a terrible cook. She does try, but what she comes up with is hilariously inedible. Until finally she finds that one thing she can actually cook well. The bright and action-filled illustrations help to make this colourful grandma real.
Based on a true event in rural Tamil Nadu, this story follows a boy’s efforts to rally villagers to rescue nestlings of a vulnerable bird species. It captures community involvement in prioritizing a bird’s protection over immediate needs. Diverse characters offer insight into rural life and draw attention to a co-existence with nature and each other. The artwork, using a limited palette, plays with darkness and perspective in interesting ways.
Perhaps the first children’s book in India that chronicles a significant transgender public figure, Grace Banu. The engaging storyline, along with plentiful illustrations shape an interesting narrative, introducing children to a theme they may not have encountered often. Written by a queer-trans author, this is a significant representation in Indian CL. A great book to help children think about gender and caste realities.
The Girl Who Loved Words: Mahashweta Devi
TThe book introduces writer Mahesweta Devi in wonderful, spare text and striking artwork that can inspire young readers to find out more about the writer. The writer’s love for words is presented through the trope of a bedtime story told by an older sister to her siblings, with the older sister revealed as Mahasweta at the end. The illustrations draw from the specific context of Bengal, paying homage to the art of Chittoproshad Bhattacharya.
We Hope: Children on Climate Change
This collection features children’s comments on climate change, along with simply and evocatively communicated information on specific issues. Reflecting children’s voices from diverse environments, it covers a range of landscape- related challenges. Spectacular illustrations by different illustrators mirror this diversity of voices and contexts. The book makes space for children’s voices and brings home the idea that climate change affects everyone.
Good poems for children are hard to come by, especially modern ones. This is a delightful collection of poems on all sorts of weird and wacky themes like dinosaur eggs and pangolins that play music. The incidents are bizarre yet identifiable. The language is witty and beautiful, with unusual words and carefully crafted rhythm. These are poems to read aloud, or silently to yourself, and enjoy the play of language and a parade of quirky creatures.
अनेक विषयों, वस्तुओं पर रची गयीं कविताओं का यह गुच्छा शिशु गीतों की तरह सरल और सम्मोहक है। यहाँ हाट और गुड़ से लेकर बकरिय़ाँ, शेर और रेगिस्तान भी हैं। कल्पना की उड़ान और कौतुक से सम्पन्न इनकी भाषा का अपना मजा है। ये कविताएँ प्रत्येक वस्तु, जीव और व्यक्ति को नयी नजर से देखने व समझने को आमंत्रित करती हैं, जैसे गाँधी जी और मक़बूल फ़िदा हुसैन पर लिखी कविताएँ, और हमें जीवन की विविधता तथा बहुलता में ले जाती है। चटख रंगों और चौड़ी कूँची वाले चित्र कविता को भित्ति-चित्र की भाँति रूपायित करते हैं।
केवल एक कविता से बनी यह पुस्तक जलेबी का गुणगान है। जलेबियों के पारने, छानने, रस में पगने, दोने में परोसे जाने और फिर मुँह में डलने तक का पूरा क़िस्सा मज़ेदार पदों में दिया गया है। साथ ही जलेबियाँ बनाने वाले रफ्फू भाई की महिमा का बखान भी है। बोलचाल की मुहावरेदार भाषा और रसभरे चक्करदार वाक्यों की अद्भुत मिठास विरल घटना है। पूरे वातावरण को ख़ुशनुमा बनाते रंग और रेखांकन देखते ही बनते है। यह कविता जलेबियों के बहाने जीवन की छोटी छोटी बातों और खुशियों का शानदार उत्सव है।
