Book Box: What do you read before Harry Potter?


Dear Reader,

Children’s books are the most important books of all.

They’re the ones that make us readers in the first place. And because they come first, they shape us most profoundly, giving us ways to think about the world and our experience of it, opening windows to other worlds, other experiences,” says S F Said, Lebanese British author of the award-winning Varjak Paw.

To celebrate the upcoming Children’s Day, here are six sets of stunning books for you — profound and page-turning, with stories of our earth and its animals, art and science, food and personal finance.

Books 1 of 6: Art and Music

Mornings with Monet.
Mornings with Monet.

Mornings with Monet combines stunning visuals with thought-provoking copy.

For three minutes, the water turns to glass. Catch this river! Catch it!

He can only try. Artists try“, award-winning author Barb Rosenstock tells us, of the moment when Monet is sailing down the Seine, with his brushes and canvas, desperately trying to capture the play of light on the river. For a darker look at the artistic impulse, one that talks to children about emotions like guilt, pain and anger, read Somnath Hore: Wounds by Likla.

The Boy Who Drew Cats is a fairytale about the power of the paintbrush and draws inspiration from Japanese art for its stunning illustrations, while Malhar in the Middle challenges the hierarchies of art — why for once, can’t the tabla player be in the centre?

And what could happen when a society suppresses the soul of an artist – read the moving The Story and the Song to find out.

Books 2 of 6: Science

Origin of the Species and Topi Rockets from Thumba.
Origin of the Species and Topi Rockets from Thumba.

Molecular biologist, graphic designer and illustrator Sabina Radeva gives us a stunning version of Darwin’s seminal scientific text. On the Origin of the Species is the perfect book to have on your children’s home library shelf, every time they dip into it, they will discover something different. From here, zoom up with Topi Rockets from Thumba, another beautifully illustrated book about a young girl who follows India’s space programme.

Saving the Dalai Lama’s Cranes.
Saving the Dalai Lama’s Cranes.

A young monk and his friends in Arunachal Pradesh must navigate both mountains and moral dilemmas to save their beloved birds in Saving the Dalai Lama’s Cranes. There are many more amazing save-the-animals books like this one, they feature species in different geographies, and compellingly call for conservation. I loved the sumptuously illustrated Dorje’s Stripes and also Ira, the Little Dolphin who lives in the waters of Chilka Lake in Odisha. Besides these, I can’t resist mentioning our girls’ childhood favourite animal books here, Ruby and the Muddy Dog and The Fidgety Frogs, which isare fun and full of the most amazing alliterations. And In the Rain with Baby Duck, which is all about the problems of walking in the rain and finishes off with the most fantastic pancakes.

Machher Jhol.
Machher Jhol.

A little boy in Kolkata in East India sets out to get ingredients for fish curry in Machher Jhol. And thousands of kms northwards, in Ladakh, another little boy goes around inviting everybody for traditional thupka soup, in Thupka for All. Both these fabulous books celebrate the power of food and feasting.

Earn it and Ricksaw Girl.
Earn it and Ricksaw Girl.

Induct your children into the world of finance with these fun books. The Moneybunny series start early. Their catchy illustrations capture baby bunnies earning, saving and investing in carrots and other such delicacies. Also read The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, where a cat and dog manage a shop that has to shut down. This book by the famous children’s author Beatrix Potter will surely provide some early wisdom in financial prudence! In Rickshaw Girl, Naima tries hard to help her rickshaw puller father earn money — it isn’t easy, but she gets some special help — read this touching book to find out more about the world of women and micro-finance.

Books 6 of 6: Earth challenges

Here We Are; Sea Prayer; Homecoming.
Here We Are; Sea Prayer; Homecoming.

When you read Here We Are, you will find yourself lingering over every visual, marvelling at how picture and copy combine to make a powerful plea – this is our planet and this is our place in it, let’s keep it alive, it says. Also read these two books on refugees — featuring two little boys — one from Syria in Sea Prayer, the other from Tibet in Homecoming.

Finally, meet M Venkatesh. This co-organiser of the Bookaroo children’s literature festival takes time off from preparations for the upcoming festival on November 26 and 27, at the Rail Museum, New Delhi, to talk about the experience of running a book store and a children’s literature book festival.

Here are edited excerpts of our conversation:

M Venkatesh.
M Venkatesh.

What were your favourite books while growing up?

I grew up in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Most of my books used to come from the school library. Others were borrowed from friends (like Tintin and Asterix that I could not buy). We did get to buy the odd Enid Blyton, Amar Chitra Katha’s, but that was about it. But I used to haunt the school library even after school hours thanks to our English teacher Mr Ambrose who would let us in any time.

What has the experience of running your children’s bookstore Eureka been like?

The best part is chats between our young audience and ourselves. The challenging part is bringing out the right book for him or her from a shelf.

One effect of the internet age is circulating lists. We feel that these almost-prescriptive lists have stunted the earlier curiosity that we used to see in children and parents alike to explore and discover books. Reading is a private affair and each child is unique. One size fits all can be detrimental to the reading journey of a child.

What trends have you observed in children’s books?

Books dealing with environment, race and gender issues have more takers. Parents of toddlers no longer want the traditional alphabet, numbers and colours etc. They move onto genres and concepts much earlier now. ‘Cause’ has become big!

Coming to the Bookaroo book festival, can you share some anecdotes?

In Bookaroo, there are anecdotes for each of the 38 editions and each of the 17 cities we have been to. Picking out is difficult but a couple of them that come to mind just now are these.

After hours in Bookaroo has been quite interesting especially when speakers let down their hair. From playing antakshari across shikaras on the Dal lake to singing on the ghats of Ganga in Varanasi to karaoke in the rice fields of Kohima.

Another incident that happened recently was when a student who had interacted with Bijal Vachharajani in Bookaroo Srinagar in 2018 looked her up when she was attending the Paris Book Fair to come and say hello to her.

Any favourite moments from the book festivals?

When a child mis-read the poster she saw somewhere that the festival starts at 10.30 and convinced her parents to arrive at the venue the previous night at 10.30 while we were setting up! – Delhi Bookaroo, Sanskriti Anandgram, 2008

When a parent came after the festival was over requesting us to open the auditorium so that the child could be convince the child that the festival was indeed over and no one was sitting inside – Jaipur Bookaroo, Jawahar Kala Kendra, 2016.

Any tips to get children to read?

The only tip that possibly can be said is that if you read, your children will pick it up.

Reading with the child from a very young age (even a few months old) is a great way of starting off the reading journey as the act of reading will always have fond memories associated with it rather than a chore.

And finally, what books are you reading right now?

The one on my bedside table right now is Bring on the Empty Horses. The last book I read before that was Your Inner Hedgehog by Alexander McCall Smith (delightful). And the one before that was 1946: Last War of Independence, the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny by Pramod Kapoor (very well-researched

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With that, it’s a wrap. Next week I bring you more of the same – irresistible and award winning YA books, this time for tweens and teens.

Until then, happy reading!

Sonya Dutta Choudhury is a Mumbai-based journalist and the founder of Sonya’s Book Box, a bespoke book service. Each week, she brings you specially curated books to give you an immersive understanding of people and places. Write to her at [email protected] with your reading recommendations, and any questions around reading.

The views expressed are personal

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