As a mother of a 7 year old I am always on look out for good books that will enrich, educate, nurture & fuel the imagination of my girl.
In this world of fast food, in-your-face commercials, barbie-mania & pre-teen sitcoms...it becomes increasingly difficult to expose them to the beautiful world of books. The world where we grew up!
The world of Enid Blytons, of those Russian fairytales where Vasilisa was oh! so beautiful, of Amar Chitra Kathas where the illustrations by Uncle Pai always had me enthralled.
I am happy that my daughter shares my love for books and is intrigued when I narrate small incidents from my childhood about books & stories.
Recently I came across some lovely books, thanks to the amazing world of blogging & some helpful friends~
It's a beautifully illustrated story of the river Pampa as narrated by herself as she flows through the rich Vijayanagara Empire.
'The Fried Frog and other funny freaky foodie feisty poems' by Sampurna Chattarji
Here is a small excerpt from her book
"I am sick of learning Lochinvar,
I'm sick of Robert Frost,
Kept stopping by those snowy woods-
Why didn't he go get lost?
And daffodils and babbling brooks,
I don't care if they're pretty,
I'd rather read a wicked poem
About living in my city."
I quite liked Sampurna's style & here's something for me too;-)
My daughter strangely identified with her style of writing. She also narrated a poem from the book at her school recitation event:-)
Dinaben and the Lions of Gir by Meera Sriram and Praba Ram.
Though not for my daughter's age group, but a beautiful bilingual book for 4+ readers that captures how Man and Lions co-exist in the forests of Gir in Gujarat.
Meera & Praba are part of Saffron Tree ~ a website that brings to you reviews, recommendations, pointers to great children's books from India & the U.S.
This is their first book and has been published by Tulika and I wish them great success:-)
9 comments:
i love books...specially creative ones!!!!!!!they r such a great surce of inspiration to me. My daughter loves books too....she can sit for an hour straight going through the pictures....shes going to be 4 this may. I like the fact that she likes to sit with them n encourage her coz otherwise i find her watching tv or playing games on computer.
Regards,
Veda
Very special that you are not allowing too much technology to overtake the beautiful simplicity and joy of reading and handheld book. I'm enjoying the 'Amar Chitra Katha: the Glorious Heritage of India' volumes which are little comic books about the classics of India. Am reading one about Tansen and thoroughly loving the simple words of wisdom and the detail illustations.
Hi Archana,
Stumbled upon your blog by chance. You have an awesome list of blogs with exquisitely beautiful pictures..Really! It'd be such a delight to visit this space often.
Good wishes
Swati
I hope my daughter finds love in book too when she grows up. It is such a magical world.
You have a beautiful colection of children books!
Thank you, Archana for spotlighting our work. We feel touched you have showcased Dinaben in your colourful blog.
You have aesthetically captured the joys of reading. Nice to know Mallika shares your love for books. Best wishes to you both. Thanks, again!
Thanks for the heads up, should pick up a few for my niece.
Coincidentally have been following a blog which has a post on the early history of children's books-can't see them being reprinted!
http://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2009/11/beautiful-title.html
I grew up reading Amar chitra kathas, Tinkle, Enid Blyton(famous 5, Malory Towers etc etc) and tales from Russia. The russian books( by Raduga publishers?) have a special place in my heart and I actually brought many of the those books with me to US when I moved as a tween :-). My collection of Tinkles and ACK's includes almost every book in the collection and my whole extended family thanks me for introducing them and their kids to these books.
Lovely pictures, as always :) The first one with the book and the little fingers is the best :) I used to love Amar Chitra Katha as a kid :)
Very good photographs.
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