let’s make our planet greener!

Sunbirds in the Morning, Grey Hornbills at Dusk

Author: Kalpana Manivannan With the unprecedented rise in urbanisation, the need to create and preserve green spaces is becoming crucial. These spaces help bridge the growing gap between humans and nature and ensure that other species co-exist in harmony without losing their habitat.  Sunbirds in the Morning, Grey Hornbills at Dusk is a birdwatcher’s delight and an informative read for…

The Boy Who Built A Secret Garden: Nek Chand

Author: Sangeetha Menon “Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.” – Pablo Picasso This was the overarching feeling I had when I finished reading ‘The Boy Who Built A Secret Garden: Nek Chand’. This book is a part of Duckbill’s ‘The Dreamers’ series, written and illustrated by Lavanya Karthik. This story is…

Planet Protectors—Stories of Green Heroes by Bahar Dutt

Author: Vaishali Shroff When we are asked to name heroes from various walks of life, almost all of us may give the same answers because our school textbooks typically depict the same popular examples—whether it’s scientists, freedom fighters or warriors. While it’s important to learn about them, it’s also essential to learn about common people hidden around and amongst us…

Jury Citation for Anchoring Change

Editors: Vikram Singh Mehta, Jayapadma RV and Neelima KhetanPublisher: HarperCollins India “Anchoring Change attempts to showcase 24 successful social organizations from across India, spanning seventy-five years since independence. It shifts the conversation from India’s failures to successes and distils from these successes relevant design principles that might have wide relevance to create an alternative, grassroots-based, sustainable development model.” JURY  …

Jury Citation for Urban Green Space, Health Economics and Air Pollution in Delhi

Authors: Swati Rajput, Kavita Arora and Rachna MathurPublisher: Routledge India “This book looks at the ecological stress on cities and engages with the challenges of reducing vulnerabilities and risks of pollution on the health, well-being and livelihoods of people living in developing countries. With an emphasis on the environmental issues facing the city of Delhi, the book focuses on steps…

Jury Citation for A Green Economy

Author: N R KrishnanPublisher: Notion Press “This book traces the global and national process of gradual change in the integration of development and environment and, in a deeper sense the ethics of the relationship between humans and nature. The book is a veritable treasure of knowledge that shows how to live today for a common future in which no one…

Jury Citation for Searching for the Songbird

Author: Ravina AggarwalPublisher: Young Zubaan “A motley group of school friends investigating a crime and a mysterious disappearance in the Himalayan foothills… if it sounds familiar, you’re not mistaken. But the beauty of Ravina Aggarwal’s Searching for the Songbird lies in how effortlessly it ties together various provocative themes and, quite literally, draws young readers into the music of the Doon Valley.…

Jury Citation for Grandfather’s Tiger Tales

Author: Anjana BasuPublisher: Talking Cub “The ever-expanding body of children’s literature featuring tigers gets another excellent addition in Grandfather’s Tiger Tales. The three stories in this anthology bring together familiar and unfamiliar narratives – of a tiger that came to a cricket match, of the fearsome tiger god Dakshin Ray of the Sunderbans, and of a tiger and a man sharing…

Jury Citation for We Are the Dancing Forest

Author: Raj Shekhar, Devashish Makhija, Venkat Shyam and Nina SabnaniPublisher: Tulika “The striking musicality and eye-catching visuals of this book in verse by Devashish Makhija, Raj Shekhar, Venkat Shyam and Nina Sabnani lure readers into the world of Adivasis, ‘…the earth’s kuiya-muiya, singing the forest’s haiya-huiya’ where the river mumbles, the fish babble, hills whisper, trees tumble and everything sways to…

Jury Citation for Superpowers on the Shore

Author: Sejal MehtaPublisher: Penguin Viking “Sejal Mehta’s book opens up the rich and fascinating world of intertidal organisms to anyone with the inclination to pause and look at what a receding tide reveals. Day or night, this zone can thrill you with its inhabitants, be it an unexpected octopus on a Mumbai beach or the glowing plankton in the tidal…