CHENNAI: I can hear giggling from somewhere inside the house. I pause, and savour the sound of my children’s unfettered laughter. I peak into their room, expecting them to be watching some random YouTube video, but wonder of wonders, they are reading. One of them has his nose in Sideways School by Louis Sachar: a series of wacky, interconnected, somewhat dark stories about a 30-storey school (without a 19th floor). The other is making his way through Khyrunnisa A’s Goal, Butterfingers! about a young boy with butterfingers and plenty of hare-brained schemes.
As we enter month seven of this pandemic and our children muddle their way through online school, Zoom birthday parties and social distancing on the playground, the question ‘Where can children find some relief ?’ is one that’s on the minds of many parents. The answer: In books. Books filled with humour, adventure, friendship and laughter. Books that remind us of the small joys of life and also let us experience the grand adventures human imagination is capable of.
As author and editor Bijal Vachharajani says, ‘At a time like this, books are a great way to crawl into imaginary cupboards and slip into magical new lands, where you can meet different characters, make new friends, and laugh and cry alongside them.’ So, if you’re looking for some books to crawl into with your children (or even by yourself), read on.
Of elephants, and missing unniyappams
Gajapati Kulapati Kalicha Kulicha— writer and illustrator Ashok Rajagopalan’s Gajapati Kulapati books have been a staple in our home for over a decade. Rajagopalan makes excell ent us e of sound s (Kalabaloooosh!), repetition and an adorable elephant to create books that demand to be read again and again. And again. Ashok says he writes to that part of himself that never grew up.
‘I hope books like mine will make kids smile and laugh for a while.’ Satrangi Ladkiyan and Satrangi Ladke by Kamla Bhasin and Priya Kuriyan is a joyous celebration of all the different ways in which children can just be. ‘Kamla Bhasin wanted to create a book that said as a child you can choose to do and be anything you want. Climb a tree, wear a dress, be petulant, angry, loveable,’ says commissioning editor Shinibali Mitra Saigal.
Ammachi’s Incredible Investigation by Vinayak Varma and Rajiv Eipe — a Darwin-reading Ammachi and her grandson turn detectives to apprehend a thief. Ammachi is loosely based on Rajiv Eipe’s grand-aunt and the book involves a missing food item (uniyappams!), a lineup of suspects, a bunch of cleverly laid homemade traps, and the use of the scientific method to catch the culprit! What ensues is endearing and sure to get young scientists scheming away. Also read: Art is Everywhere - Here, There and in Trash by Aparna Kapur, Bijal Vachharajani, Adrija Ghosh, Canato Jimo, Priya Kuriyan, and Sheena Deviah and Zakir and his Tabla by Sandhya Rao and Priya Kuriyan.
Friendship, horror and jumping cows
There’s this awkward phase young readers go through — no, not pimples and facial hair, much before that — when they feel they’re too old for picture books, but still aren’t quite ready for middle-grade fiction. Duckbill Books released a set of four Hook Books earlier this year, specifically intended for this category of readers. Set across small-town India and spanning a range of genres — horror, friendship and personal journeys these are really lovely books.
Hansda Sowvendra Shekar’s Who’s There? and Anoushka Ravishankar’s Hey Diddle Diddle were a big hit in our home! Friends Behind Walls by Harshikaa Udasi made me feel nostalgic, warm and fuzzy inside. Set in Deolali a small cantonment town in Maharashtra, it tells the tale of boundary walls, warring families and two children determined to mend broken relationships. If you can’t go on vacation, might as well take a trip with a book, no? Also read: Thank God It’s Caturday! A Collection of Cool Cat Stories.
Nonsense verse, adventure birthdays
Nimmi’s Dreadtastic Detective Days: Shabnam Minwalla’s Nimmi Daruwalla is a delight! Follow this slightly nerdy, adorable girl across three books: Nimmi’s Spectabulous Schooldays, Nimmi’s Dreadtastic Detective Days and Nimmi’s Bizuper Birthday. Sudeshna Shome Ghosh, who commissioned the books, says that “Reading books that are humorous helps children as much as learning about history and manners.
It creates empathy, it builds a happier outlook towards life, it makes children become self-aware. And apart from that, when a child sits with a book and then keeps reading because the book is so much fun, you also create readers!” Habber-Jabber-Law: A Nonsense Adventure by Sukumar Ray translated to English by Arunava Sinha. Are you ready to talk to cats, crows who do accounting and two old bald men called Uto and Booto? This is the perfect book to read with the kids when they’ve bunked online English class. Sometimes, some nonsense is just what you need to make sense of the world.
All of Me: Venita Coelho serves an all-you-can-eat buffet of adventure, intrigue and drama. Eleven-year-old Castor is discovered locked in a basement, but not entirely alone. Castor follows a trail of clues to find out why he was imprisoned which lead him to Maharajas, the Koh-i-Noor and an army of Blue Turbans. Oop and Lila: Lost in the Scarabean Sea by Olivier Lafont. Some books are such a pleasure to read aloud, filled with words ad wordplay that roll off the tongue.
Just try saying wallublocks, Bombazine Bay and bortmongers. Oop and Lila eat some wishing candy when inside the Fakir’s tent at the Mega Mela, what follows is time travel, pirates and Brutish colonisers! Also read: The Girl Who Ironed Her Hair and Other stories by Lalita Iyer.
MENAKA RAMAN @menakaraman
The writer’s philosophy is: if there’s no blood, don’t call me