Richa Jha's Blog: Snuggle with Picture Books, page 2
February 6, 2014
A launch and a review!
This has been both a delightful and a tear-jerker of a day in equal measure. The Susu Pals and The Unboy Boy got launched at Bombay’s Kitab Khana as part of the Kala Ghoda Arts Fesitval, 2014. While I sit here in Lagos thousands of miles away from the scene of action, a most awesome set of people put it together and managed to convince me that these books are no longer just my babies! That explains the delight and the weeping with joy bit! Thank you Sangeeta Mehta Bhansali, Lubaina Bandukwala, Gautam Benegal and Preeti Shekhawat for making it possible! 
Some snapshots of the event at the end of this post. But before that, this other thing that left me at a loss of words in the most thrilling and satisfying of ways:
This review of The Susu Pals by Renee and her children at one of the most popular review blogs in kidlit, Mother Daughter & Son Book Reviews:
Please do head over to Renee’s website and check out all the fabulous books that get featured and the discussions they trigger.
And now, for some images (courtesy Sangeeta) from this afternoon’s launch:
October 25, 2013
Let’s together make it happen – Pratham Books in Google Impact Challenge
I’m away for a while (still away!) but I quickly logged in talk about this inspiring dream that Pratham Books is dreaming up! It’s one lofty vision, and every single vote from you and me can make it possible.
A quick heads up on it, and then straight to the voting panel!
Pratham Books is a finalist in the Google Impact Challenge. They propose to build an open source platform for children’s books. In simple terms, it means that it will allow for people to (most importantly) translate the books, remix books, adapt it in different ways for different users (audio, apps, mobile, download and print), etc. In a country like ours where just a fraction of our kids have access to good, fun, entertaining reading material, bringing resource heads (authors, translators, illustrators, editors, publishers, educationists) together on one platform is an ambitious, yet doable plan. And it seems like the most creative and satisfying way to take up the challenge of putting a book in every child’s hand in a language that she understands. The world over, collaboration is not just the new buzzword, but also the most keenly believed-in strategy to be followed for a lasting impact all around. And in India, it is especially the need of the hour.
Here’s how Pratham Books envisions it, and I quote (from blog post):
“Our project will build collaborative web platforms that solve the three major problems that affect children in India – a very low number of books available for them, a lack of linguistic diversity of books and a lack of access to funding for libraries and books so that children can experience the joy of reading.”
For those among us with a better feel for numbers, here’s a mind boggling statistic (from Pratham Books’ blog post):
In the last decade, Pratham Books has created 250 stories, and 1600 books — which have been read 50 million times. With this Award, in just 3 years’ time, they’ll be able to scale up to 20,000 books, across 25 languages and over 200 million book reads!
Here’s a link to a couple of more detailed posts on this:
Creating a climate of collaboration
And now, fellow snugglers, here’s what we need to do to make this a reality:
We have time only until Oct 30. Get going, now now now!
October 10, 2013
Our Mom is Funny
Published By: Scholastic
Story: Yeshwanti Balagopal
Illustrations: Neetu Sharma
“Our mom is funny. One day she said, ‘Poodles for lunch!’ But really she meant…”
In a Sentence: While mom acts all goofy, the kids know her little big secret well enough.
What is it About: Mom gets a lot of words wrong. Like poodles for noodles, dirt for shirt, or even crooks for books! This simple book is the funniest I have seen in a while in India. It is able to get the humour just right, the kind that will make little children crack up and roll along the rugs. For the first time reader, most of the fun will be in trying to guess what the mom actually means!
There is quite a bit of silliness from mom between the covers, which, while the grown ups may find predictable, the kids are sure to relish. Yeshwanti’s words capture the joyful ambience of a happy house with a carefree mom who knows well how to delight her kids.
What makes it snuggly: Everything about this book is giggly and snuggly. It just is such an incredibly no-fuss happy book! And at the end of all the goofiness, the book ends on a satisfying note which will make the little ones cuddle up closer to their moms before going ‘again, again!’
What Stands Out: Neetu Sharma’s artsy craftsy touch to the story with her lovely appliqué like finish to the pages. The colours are peppy, the cutouts of the kids, mom and the objects lying about the house have a babyish charm. And there’s plenty of detail in her craftwork to create a vivid impression of what this trio must be upto all day – from snuggling with books to enjoying walks in the parks to the mom struggling with the girl’s messy tangled hair!
Will be best enjoyed by: 2+
From snuggly to snugglier: The kids will have a wild time feeding messed up words into this mom’s mouth!
And how about all of us becoming a parent like this mom!
Love Ratings?
Ha Ha! Quotient: 4
Touches the heart: 5
Cuts through the clutter: 5
Visual appeal: 5
Encore Quotient: 5
Thank God it’s not moral science: 5
Show, don’t tell: 4
Hey, this is a really important book!: 3
October 9, 2013
Ranganna
Published By: Tulika Books
Story: Arthi Anand Navaneeth
Illustrations: Kavita Singh Kale
In a Sentence: “And he loved colours.”
What is it About: Ranganna is a cute little growing up baby who loves everything that growing up babies love: colours, colours and more colours around them; and friends who adore him; and nail paints, of course. Just that, as is an open secret by now, Ranganna is a growing up baby elephant. With baby pink cheeks!
What makes it snuggly: Ranganna looks adorable. He is a gentle baby who gets sad instead of throwing tantrums when told that baby elephants – much like baby humans – don’t use nail paints. He observes the happy things around him, and how – my favourite is him peeping over the boundary wall at the temple admiring the riot of colours among the clothes and flowers!
What Stands Out: The gentleness of the story telling and the vibrancy of the illustrations. And I love the fact that Ranganna is blue and is a he and that the book shows a little baby boy getting all excited about nail paints – as they usually do – and that his friends let him have what he deeply wishes for. Don’t miss the thumping finale jig by an ecstatic Ranganna!
Kavita paints a beautiful South Indian town (don’t miss the coracle getting rowed down the river) with an abundance of greenery and colours. Just look at all those sarees and sheets drying on the ghats; they linger on in the mind as the most lasting visual take away from this book.
Will be best enjoyed by: 2-5 years
From snuggly to snugglier: The little ones could try and come up with a list of things / accessories / activities that the different animals they know of might like.
And a guessing game of how many toe nails the different animals have!
The gender neutral treatment of the story makes it an excellent conversation starter between parents and little ones on gender stereotypes and their understanding of these in the world around them.
Love Ratings?
Ha Ha! Quotient: 3
Touches the heart: 4
Cuts through the clutter: 4
Visual appeal: 3
Encore Quotient: 3
Thank God it’s not moral science: 5
Show, don’t tell: 3
Hey, this is a really important book!: 3
Little Laali
Published By: Tulika Books
Story and Illustrations: Alankrita Jain
Rs 95
“What if I were really very, very little, wondered Laali.”
In a Sentence: The joys of being little.
What is it About: Instead of whining about why she’s told she can’t do a lot of things just because she is little, Laali imagines herself to be – what she considers – really very very little, and embarks on a fantastic flight of imagination that makes her roll, jump, fly and do much more.
What makes it snuggly: I am a big fan of Alankrita’s playful, naughty, sparse illustrations. Her words and illustrations have an ‘awwww, how adorable’ kind of a cuteness about them and a simplicity that kids can decode without assistance. (See Boodabim)
My daughter and I love her textured multi-coloured dresses and those long plaits!
What Stands Out: There is a simple mischievousness about Laali, almost like a delicious secret that she keeps from the grown ups in her life but shares with the readers, making them (us) an accomplice in her ‘of course I can do this and so much more by being really little’ confidence!
Will be best enjoyed by: 2-5 years
From snuggly to snugglier: A great book to talk to kids about the simpler concepts of big and small, and the more difficult ones like perspectives, real and imagined and positivity.
This book reminds me of Squish Rabbit, another sweet tale of littleness, loneliness, exploring, being oneself, and finding a soul mate!
Love Ratings?
Ha Ha! Quotient: 3
Touches the heart: 4
Cuts through the clutter: 3
Visual appeal: 3
Encore Quotient: 4
Thank God it’s not moral science: 5
Show, don’t tell: 5
Hey, this is a really important book!: 3
September 9, 2013
Sticky Icky Booger Bugs
Published By: Archway Publishing
Story: Sherry Frith
Illustrations: Carol Newell Walter
Available at Amazon.com
“My name is Kory, and sticky icky booger bugs are part of my everyday life.
They try to stay in me, and I try to sneeze and cough them out.”
In a Sentence: Nothing is insurmountable.
What is it About: ‘Sherry wrote Sticky Icky Booger Bugs after her sons Kory and Kevin were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. It is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. There are 30,000 children each year diagnosed and battling cystic fibrosis. There is no cure for this progressive disease.’ – From the press note.
Sherry Frith wrote this book as a way to make her sons understand, in a manner and form that would appeal to them, what it is inside them that their bodies are having to constantly battle with. And it is her way of telling her children that they are loved and special, no matter what.
I found the afterword particularly moving:
‘After being diagnosed in 2010 with a rare genetic heart condition, Sherry’s future was unknown. She made the decision to leave something for her boys, and this story unfolded with the help of her neighbor Carol, who created the illustrations and whose grandson is also in the book. Kory’s story reminds him and other children that they are special.’
What makes it snuggly: The fact that this is a first person narrative by Kory himself; it is reassuring to see him happy and active like any other child you know. And there are times when he knows he can get away with doing things others can’t – like sipping juice sitting right there in the classroom
And if you allow yourself to forget for a moment that these are sticky and icky and generally a whole lot of gooey mess that can wreak havoc inside your body, thanks to Carol’s illustrations, you will like these bugs too! Carol’s gentle pencil coloured/ crayon illustrations are simple and have an all-is-well old world charm about them.
What Stands Out: The sheer optimism that this book radiates. Once you go through the book (and if you read up a bit more on cystic fibrosis), you realize that living with this condition day in and day is not easy. What appears even more difficult is to maintain the regular cycle of the daily simple-but-mundane routines of using inhalers, shakers, nebulizers, pills that helps keep these bugs at bay. Sherry explains its imperativeness to her kids with a no-fuss matter of fact calmness. And the fact that she makes it appear so ‘normal’ – like brushing your teeth and washing your hands – is what belies the graveness of what if this were not done regularly. The book has helped her kids, as it will the others affected by cystic fibrosis, cope with this condition with patience and confidence.
What also stands out is the mother’s resoluteness and her infinite patience. Hats off!
From snuggly to snugglier: While this book seems tailor made for children affected by cystic fibrosis and their caregivers, it’s a beautiful book to be read out with every child. It can open up many conversations around the subjectiveness of what they feel is normal, abnormal / fortunate, unfortunate; or about being positive-minded rather than a grumbler; or about how it is possible to win and be against odds. And it is a lovely book for a parent or a care giver to reinforce that love is unconditional.
Love Ratings?
Ha Ha! Quotient: 3
Touches the heart: 5
Cuts through the clutter: 4
Visual appeal: 4
Encore Quotient: 3
Thank God it’s not moral science: 5
Show, don’t tell: 4
Hey, this is a really important book!: 4
September 5, 2013
Grandpa Green – Goodreads Review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
(Image source: Nine Kinds of Pie)
Grandpa Green is as much a loving ode to great grandpa as it is to an inimitable green thumb and an artist at heart. The grandson walks us through the beautiful garden full of fanciful topiary that the great grandpa has lovingly hand-crafted over the years, and in the process, he walks us through his entire life story from the time when pa was born in a different era.
The book shows some exquisite examples of topiary, but more than that is the imagination that has gone behind every frame. I love the way Lane Smith depicts grandpa’s first kiss in middle school, or how his dream of studying horticulture turns into the reality of war (a turned over tree becoming a cannon, shooting a cannon ball which leads the eye straight to the parachuting topiary), and how the entire book’s enduring appeal comes from just two colours – an abundance of green and delicate strokes of black. Look at the mood of the page change from a vibrant green (when looking back at grandpa’s life) to a stark black and white of the beefy tree for the present (‘Now he’s pretty old.’), suggesting both grandpa’s age, and his stature.
(Image source: Nine Kinds of Pie)
It’s a gently paced book which manages to compress an entire life history within 28 pages with minimal words and little fuss. It suggests the inevitability of ageing and of memory loss, and how we leave behind traces of us in everything we touch throughout our lives. The most enduring sentence in the book is: ‘Now he’s pretty old and he sometimes forgets things…. But the important stuff, the garden remembers for him.’ Spread over six deliciously rich spreads, it’s the piece de resistance of the book; at once poignant, optimistic, and loaded with existential truth.
The nostalgia-laced references come without mush, making it an incredibly satisfying read. And it shows how the young boy bonds with his ageing grandpa, with enough hints to suggest that he is ready to take on the green-thumb mantle from him. Interestingly, even though we get to ‘see’ Grandpa only towards the end of the book (doing what he loves doing, of course), we get a feeling all along of having him right before our eyes from the first page! Just one of the reasons that makes this book, above all, a masterful piece of art (a 2012 Caldecott winner, no less)!
Trailer time!
Grandpa Green Trailer on youtube
August 28, 2013
Beatrice Doesn’t Want To Goodreads Review
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Beatrice Doesn’t Want To by Laura Joffe Numeroff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The predictability of the plot doesn’t rob this book of its fun element, and the illustrations have a big role to play there. Lynn Munsinger’s Beatrice – a sulking bored Basset Hound – with her stubborn ‘I don’t want to’ streak is a sure winner! My kids and I kept looking at her different expressions ad nauseum, and each time, we came up with so many different things that could be going on in her mind. And big brother Henry with his ‘I give up’s in sheer exasperation walks away with all our love and empathy! Oh, the pains of having to look after a younger sister who wouldn’t listen
The plot is simple. Beatrice doesn’t want to read books, until Henry finally comes up with a way to give her a taste of the joys of reading. It’s a great book to introduce to a reluctant reader, and an equally great one to share with a voracious one, because the latter will keep jumping in at the turn of every page to comment on how silly and stubborn Beatrice is being! I’ve seen some kids have their private chat with Beatrice exhorting her to try out books once, just once – ‘and then you’ll see how you’ll love them!’
August 22, 2013
Just Like Sisters – Goodreads review
Just Like Sisters by Angela McAllister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My daughter and I loved this book. Clearly, it’s Ally the pen pal alligator who steals the show with her antics! Ally comes over to Nancy’s and they discover that they have a lot in common, down to the fluffy pink scarves they pick up! And there’s plenty of fun things they have up their sleeves to teach each other. Nancy fancies her as her twin, a wish that gets vindicated when the person at the airport check-in counter refers to them as sisters! Bot my daughter and I went ‘awwwwww’ at this point
The book is gently paced story of discovery a friend bit by bit, and it’s a book with a decidedly girl-girl focus. But I see no reason why this book be lapped up by boys too with equal enthusiasm.
August 18, 2013
Alone in the Forest
Published By: Tara Books
Written and conceptualised by: Gita Wolf and Andrea Anastasio
Illustrations: Bhajju Shyam
Design: Nia Murphy
Rs 375
When Musa’s mother fell sick one day, she couldn’t go, as usual, to fetch firewood from the nearby forest.
Don’t worry, said Musa, I’m grown up now, I’ll get the wood!
In a Sentence: Fear is a state of mind; overcome it, and it feels like the biggest achievement at the end of the day.
What is it About: Alone in the Forest is the story of one such achievement / triumph – that of a young village boy Musa over the fears that engulf him when he finds himself alone in a forest amidst strange noises and fearsome beasts. It’s about the small but significant milestones in a child’s life that stoke his belief that he’s growing up; or that he has grown up. It’s about the subtle hints of familiar sights and sounds that our minds associate with what’s comforting and what’s not. And it’s about Bhajju Shyam’s irrepressible and gorgeous Gond art
What makes it snuggly: For every art lover out there, this will be an irresistible book to snuggle with. Just look at the rich intricacies of Bhajju Shyam’s Gond styled illustrations. He has a remarkable way of using dense dots and lines to add a sense of depth or lightness to the pages; a depth and lightness that echoes the state of Musa’s mind too. Children will love the different birds and animals drawn in Gond style.
What Stands Out: The page designs by Nia Murphy, to begin with. Juxtaposed against the contrasting vibrant backdrops and an interesting interplay of colours, the scenes get transformed from the normalcy of the bright morning, to the inching eeriness of the thick forest, to the creepiness of the dark hollow of the tree, back to the reassurance of a still bright evening. And of home.
Some of the pages have outstanding visual perspectives – especially the ones where we get to see through Musa’s eyes. In fact, his eyes have been used with masterful cleverness to create some truly exceptional spreads. My favourite is the one where Musa spots a wild boar (pasted above) – eyes, forehead and hair set against a shocking red! Such sparingly used visual elements used to create such intense fear!
I also like the metaphorical representation of the entire village inside the cow’s body. When Musa spots a cow near his hiding, his immediate inference is that the village won’t be far – that’s one of the best symbolizations of hope and safety I’ve come across in any children’s book!
Will be best enjoyed by: 4+, and art lovers regardless of their age.
From snuggly to snugglier: Apart from engaging kids with folk art led activities, this is a great book also to discuss the different manifestations of fear with them, and how they think they can / they have overcome one or more.
Love Ratings? (I find it difficult to rate art-led books against my usual parameters because it’s impossible to confine – and define – them within these. A book such as this one is more a collector’s item in my eyes than a picture book; yet the book is a picture book to the core in the way the words get used and the story moves forward and the page turns happen and in the way it makes us want to go over the intense and delicious pages again and again! At a personal level, I find folk art in picture books as limiting the scope and vivacity of this medium, but each time I come across yet another of Tara’s books, I have to eat humble pie I confess to being in absolute awe of these, and I get terribly nervous while rating them!)
Ha Ha! Quotient: 0
Touches the heart: 4
Cuts through the clutter: 5
Visual appeal: 5
Encore Quotient: 4
Thank God it’s not moral science: 5
Show, don’t tell: 3
Hey, this is a really important book!: 4
