India

Materials from India

Do!

Do! is a set of action pictures rendered in the elegantly minimalist Warli style of tribal art. It introduces basic verbs to the young reader through a series of delicately drawn pictograms, which both illustrate the verb and tell a further string of stories. Every page or pair of pages invites the child to explore a busy world and make up her own tales. The art conjures up a world teeming with human figures, animals, plants, and birds.

The illustrations in Do! were made by people belonging to a tribal community in Maharashtra, in western India. Ramesh Hengadi, Rasika Hengadi, Shantaram Dhadpe, and Kusum Dhadpe are the artists featured in this book.

Do! was conceived of by Gita Wolf, who has written more than seventeen books for children and adults. A highly original and creative voice in contemporary Indian publishing, she has pursued her interest in exploring and experimenting with the form of the book and its status as a revered cultural object.

Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth

Ganesha is just like any thoer kid, except that he has the head of an elephant and rides around on a magical mouse.  And he love sweets, especially the traditional dessert laddoo. When Ganesha insists on biting into a super jumbo jawbreaker laddoo, his tusk breaks off!  Ganesha is terribly upset, but with the help of the wise post Vyasa, he learns that what seems broken can actually be quite useful after all. The bold, bright colors of India leap right off the page in this fresh and funny picture book adaptation of how Ganesha came to write the epic poem of Hindu literature, the Mahabharate. 

The Churki-Burki Book Of Rhyme

Meet Churko and burki, the rhyming sister, and spend a day with them in their billage, playing and singing songs.  Adapted from the Gond arist Durga Bai’s rendering of her own childhood in her village Paranghr, this is a merry tale of fun and rhyme.

The Rumor

In the village of Baddbaddpur, the people like to tell tales, “so tall that if you put them one on top of the other, they would reach the stars.” Pandurang is so dour that he can make milk turn sour. One day he coughs up a feather. As the story of Pandurang’s feather is passed from one person to another it grows and grows and grows until it can hardly be recognized. And that’s when the story weaves its magic on the ill-tempered Pandurang. An international version of “broken telephone” this is a funny cautionary tale about the nature of rumors.

Nur Jahan of India

From the deepest heart of the Moghul palace, her face hidden by veils, Nur Jahan came to rule all of Mogul India. This book tells the story of how she introduced efficiencies, encouraged trade, and made possible a great flowering of the arts. She hunted tigers, rode elephants to war, commanded a nation from behind a curtain, and did many other things that girls were not expected to do. Sections on the clothes Nur Jahan wore, the foods she ate, and why she is remembered today are included.

Chained

After 10-year-old Hastin’s family borrows money to pay for his sister’s hospital bill, he leaves his village in northern India to take a job as an elephant keeper and work off the debt. He thinks it will be an adventure, but he isn’t prepared for the cruel circus owner. The crowds that come to the circus see a lively animal who plays soccer and balances on milk bottles, but Hastin sees Nandita, a sweet elephant and his best friend, who is chained when she’s not performing and hurt with a hook until she learns tricks perfectly. Hastin protects Nandita as best as he can, knowing that the only way they will both survive is if he can find a way for them to escape.

No Ordinary Day

Even though Valli spends her days picking coal and fighting with her cousins, life in the coal town of Jharia, India, is the only life she knows. The only sight that fills her with terror is the monsters who live on the other side of the train tracks — the lepers. When Valli discovers that that her “aunt” is a stranger who was paid money to take Valli off her own family’s hands, she leaves Jharia and begins a series of adventures that takes her to Kolkata, the city of the gods. Valli finds that she really doesn’t need much to live and is very resourceful. But a chance encounter with a doctor reveals that she has leprosy. Unable to bear the thought that she is one of the monsters she has always feared, Valli rejects help and begins an uncertain life on the street.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 3.