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Strange Worlds! Strange Times!
A perfect introduction to science fiction for young readers, this collection ranges from JC Bose to modern writers including Jerry Pinto and Manjula Padmanabhan. With stories that challenge and fascinate, the book weaves alternative worlds and possible futures through satire, humour and through provoking situations.
This is certainly a feel-good book but fortunately does not hit you on the head with a do-good message. A simple story, told from the perspective of Tenzin, a young monk, it has a good mix of adventure, encounters with the powers-that-be and beautiful descriptions of nature and animal life in Arunachal Pradesh. The illustrations are tasteful and add to the ambience of the place.
In this collection, Amma’s tales flow one into the next seamlessly – you too may fall asleep in the middle of one of them and get another one as a bonus when you wake up! The narrator’s voice is earnest, and the stories paint a vivid picture of Amma’s childhood. The drawings are exquisite and have a dream-like quality where one is not sure where fable ends and truth begins.
Despite a lackluster front cover, Evan Purcell’s slim paperback adventure story has all the ingredients of a juicy fantasy story, thanks to a wonderfully conjured up central character, 12-year-old Karma Tendin the monster hunter, and equally engaging partners in friendship and crime. The pace is racy to the very last line of the story, and the writing quite simply superb. You will want more and guess what, you will get it!
How do you weave together history, adventure, multiple personalities and the Kohinoor diamond without being dense and diffcult? By being Venita Coelho and spinning a 273-page yarn that leaves you with the promise of a sequel! There’s just one word that describes this book: unputdownable.
Truly a book for our polluted times. Research, imagination, and a whole lot of love has gone into this effort to shake readers out of their apathy to the deteriorating state of the environment. The fiction is serious and engaging, with a tension all its own, while facts are posted at regular intervals. Like the real Greta Thunberg, the children in this book send adults a resounding call to account.
History never had it so good as the present time and this collection is a testament to that. The bonus is that this book of stories from history come with several hints of mystery. Easy to read and often eliciting a chuckle, historical information relating to subjects such as unexpected finds in rock shelters, the fate of Shah Jahan’s peacock throne, or Rabindranath Tagore’s missing Nobel medal, are presented with precision and panache.
Children never seem to tire of hearing ghost stories. Here is one by the master story teller about three children who live near an abandoned and “haunted” village. The story is neither ghoulish nor is it gory but with help from the natural elements, Ruskin Bond weaves a gentle and believable tale with just enough chills to satisfy the young reader. The illustrations evoke the place and the atmosphere sensitively.
