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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…