Summer Reads

Price: Rs 375 Pages: 38

Every child who has been on his own even for a little while will tell you that there are personal demons to be vanquished. Sometimes,its the darkness,sometimes,the monster under the bed. While our children are familiar with Western stories like Hansel and Gretel or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,they often tend to know less about the stories of our land. In this beautiful art book,illustrated by the very talented Bhajju Shyam,a Gond artist from Madhya Pradesh,a young boy Musa,who lives in a village at the edge of a forest,learns how to deal with his fears when he ventures into the forest on his own for the first time. The text is simple and the artwork breathtaking.

Sometimes,in the melee of glossy international titles,its easy to lose track of the lovely work happening in our own backyard. Alone in the Forest is one such gem. It is firmly entrenched in the Gond communitys cultural pantheon,but the appeal of its beautifully delineated artwork is universal rather than ethnic.

Stories Short and Sweet

Ruskin Bond

Red Turtle/Rupa

Suitable for: 5

Rs 150 Pages: 87

This collection of short stories from Ruskin Bond relieves the unmitigated harshness of summer like a lilting breeze. The pace is unhurried,the setting is the familiar hill station,and the mood ceaselessly gentle. Bears and humans learn to co-habit,often with comical results,a boy and his grandfather plant trees in an island tirelessly,to replenish what man destroys of nature,an old Anglo-Indian ladys lonely existence is lit up by an unexpected friend,a school boy who shares her enthusiasm for botany. A thief gives up an easy opportunity to rob for a chance to educate himself,while a gleeful pret cant wait to move houses. Reading the stories is like stepping out of the chaos of everyday life into a Himalayan vacation where time stands still and where the sun is always mellow and welcoming. Its a world where not only children feel at home,but adults do too. Theres something oddly comforting about Bonds writing because he talks of qualities that never get dated compassion and love,friendship and trust,and above all,a wide-eyed enjoyment of life.

The Diary of Amos Lee: Lights,Camera Superstar

Adeline Foo

Hachette India

Suitable for: 8

Rs 225 Pages: 155

Pre-teens can be a difficult stage for children and parents. Between notching up the maximum number of friends on Facebook and topping the scoreboard in video games,there are popularity contests to scale and fans to woo. Its a new year for Amos,but things dont get off to a flying start. Amos is in a new school,with his arch enemy Michael; his diaries get stolen and posted online,and a new television show based on his diaries gets commissioned,only it doesnt feature him in the lead. Instead,he has to write scripts for it,while his sister,best friends Alvin and Anthony,and not-so-favourite Michael and another boy from the new school who happens to be called Amos Wee Awesome if you scramble the name get to act in it. Its a trying time,but its the year when Amos learns about the reach of social media at a personal and political level. And also,why moms really know best,even if they mess up a bit along the way. The sketches by Stephanie Wong are fun and the book is an easy read,much like the previous ones in the series.

The Crazy Tales of Pagla Dashu and Co.

Sukumar Ray

Translated by Jadavpur University Translators Collective

Hachette India

Suitable for: 6

Rs 295 Pages: 146

Its a tad difficult to imagine a Bengali household which has missed out on the delicious escapades of Pagla Dashu literally,madcap,the impish village boy who writer Sukumar Ray created in 1916. Dasharathi Pagla Dashus real name is witty and unpredictable,charming and blunt,a free spirit who breaks boundaries and rules at will,and whose presence guarantees lively happenings. The book includes translations of most of the original stories featuring him and other such lovable characters like him. An added treat is the collation of sketches that Ray and his filmmaker son Satyajit did for different editions of the book. Translations are often tricky business because the originals are so deeply entrenched in the local culture,tied up with the various connotations of its daily idiom. Rays original narratives of Pagla Dashu have spawned phrases and expressions that still strike a chord in Bengal. Jadavpur Universitys Translators Collective has done a credible job in retaining the charm of these stories for readers outside the state. The result is a collection of spontaneous stories that may not be a laugh-out-loud read like the original,but is certain to induce happy chuckles and a deep feeling of satisfaction once you are done reading.

Tik-Tik,The Master of Time

Musharraf Ali Farooqi

Red Turtle/Rupa

Suitable for: 7

Rs 250 Pages: 253

Tik-Tik might be a child scientist in the faraway planet of Nopter,but he is no different from young earthlings. He bristles at what he deems to be age discrimination,because there was one gigantic,colossal fault with our species which trumped all the advantages the fact that children grow only up to a quarter of an inch a year in Nopter. Together with his best friend Nib-Nib,he drafts the Growing Up Project,all he needs to do is to undertake a journey to Earth,where growth happens much faster. He sneaks into his grandfather Kip-Kips space egg and reaches earth after some adventure,but thats where his grand plans begin to unspool. Earth is a completely different business altogether there are enemies to overcome,his own self-importance to temper and warring friends to reconcile with necessary pitfalls of the adulthood that Tik-Tik seeks. He bumbles through these adventures with fortitude,and often cunning. It ends with the rather sombre message that a childhood lost is irretrievable,but it holds your attention. Farooqis gaze is sometimes sympathetic,often amused,but never censorious. Michelle Farooqis winsome illustrations enhance it.

Spinning Yarns: The Best Childrens Stories from India

Various Indian authors. Edited by Deepa Agarwal

Red Turtle/Rupa

Suitable for: 11

Rs 250 Pages: 204

Imagine a collection that has everything from school stories,to anecdotes of ghosts and adventures of shikars and pranks,nonsense rhymes and festive tales. And then draw up a wishlist of writers who could write them. Rabindranath Tagore. Check. Premchand. Check. Sukumar Ray. Jim Corbett. RK Narayan. Check. Ruskin Bond. Ranjit Lal. Vikram Seth. Paul Zacharia. Check.

Like Aruna,Zacharias protagonist in the story The Library,is told,Then you can dream the rest of the book after you read it again,my child,its a tantalising collection that bridges the generations between the authors and their audiences. It is also a collection that does not distinguish between girl stories and boy stories,encouraging both to explore the others domains. A sumptuous treat to enliven dreary summer afternoons.

Who Could That Be At This Hour

Lemony Snicket

Daniel Handler

Penguin

Suitable for: 8

Rs 272 Pages: 350

Sometimes,all you need to do is to ask the right questions. Unfortunately,Lemony Snicket never learned this. The first in Snickets new four-book series called All the Wrong Questions,a supposed prequel to his A Series of Unfortunate Events,asks just the sort of question Snicket the eponymous protagonist should be avoiding. But,then,in this book,hes only 12,pursuing an apprenticeship with an incompetent detective S Theodora Markson,investigating the theft of the Bombinating Beast,a statue belonging to a wealthy client. The book has a noir-ish feel,accentuated by the illustrations of Seth. Snicket casts about cliches of the detective fiction trope,and like most of his other titles,steeps the book in literary allusions,not all of which might be apparent to its young readers. But its an imaginatively expansive universe,where everything and nothing is fantastic,ensuring that your reading of it is uniquely your own.

The Puffin Book of Folktales

10 Indian authors

Puffin

Suitable for: 6

Rs 499 Pages: 104

For their 10th anniversary in India,Puffin has brought together an anthology of folktales by 10 Indian writers including Sudha Murthy,Paro Anand,Devdutt Pattnaik,Shashi Deshpande,AK Ramanujan and others,with some eye-popping illustrations by Poonam Athalye. Between them,they cover some familiar stories,some folktales and a few original ones. Two of my favourites are Murthys Bhagirathis Pond and Deshpandes The Gardeners Son. The first is a poignant folk tale from Karnataka which tells of a young wife sacrificing her life for the welfare of her people. Its a simple,but touching re-telling.

Deshpandes story is a love story,but it imparts some valuable lessons,least of which is a strong message of feminism and a question,do all love marriages have a happily-ever? If you think its too much for your young one,be rest assured. Its done gently and directly,making you wish there were other writers who would impart life lessons to our children with similar panache.