Lakshmi is a 13-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Lakshmi’s stepfather sells her into prostitution in India. She is told that she has to stay in the prostitution until she pays off her family debt. Lakshmi forms friendships with other girls that enable her to survive in the terrifying new world.
India
Materials from India
The Birdman
A broken man, unable even to work, Noor Nobi wanders the busy streets of Calcutta. One day he found the cages crammed with birds. With his last bit of money he buys the sick, left over birds that no one wants. At home, he nurses them back to health, and in a simple act of kindness that few understand, sets them free. So begins Noor Nobi’s journey back from despair. The Birdman is a true story.
Illustration: Gouache on Arches paper
Looking For Bapu
When his beloved grandfather dies, eight-year-old Anu feels that his spirit is near and will stop at nothing to bring him back, including trying to become a Hindu holy man.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
A courageous mongoose thwarts the evil plans of Nag and Nagaina, two big black cobras who live in the garden.
Evergreen Tales Of Panchatantra
This collection of humorous fables originated almost 2000 years ago in a Sanskrit collection of animal stories called the Panchatantra. These stories have found their way in one form or another into the folklore of every major culture and tradition.
Premlata And The Festival Of Lights
Because her mother had been forced to sell the family’s Diwali lamps to buy rice, Premlata’s family is too poor to celebrate the Festival of Lights, until she comes up with an ingenious scheme to bring light and hope to her family.
Priya’s Day
This is a bilingual book which tells the story of a little girl Priya and her busy day. It not only tells a story in two languages, it engages readers and listeners in a very special way to create their own very special books.
Homeless Bird
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India’s tradition or find the courage to oppose it.
The Elephant-Headed God And Other Hindu Tales
A collection of Hindu myths featuring gods and goddesses, kings and queens, heroes and beggars, angelic beings and demons.
The Conch Bearer
In India, a healer invites twelve-year-old Anand to join him on a quest to return a magical conch to its safe and rightful home many hundreds of miles away, high in the Himalayan mountains.