Excuse Me, Is This India?

by Anushka Ravishankar, Anushka Ravishankar

Illustrated with rich quilts put together with Indian textiles, this whimsical story in verse is an unusual book of travel-through a child's imagination. Brilliant nonsense verse and exquisite textile art together plot a blithe, philosophic journey through the surreal mixture of places, people and times that is India.

Genres: Picture Books

24 pages, Hardcover

First published November 19, 2001

About the author

Anushka Ravishankar, a mathematics graduate, has made a name for herself internationally as an Indian children’s writer, with over 10 books of verse, fiction and non-fiction. Her special talent is in the area of nonsense verse, where she brilliantly adapts this difficult genre to Indian English usage, without a false note. Anushka Ravishankar can be said to have pioneered the Indian English nonsense verse form and brought it to international attention. She recently returned from a UK tour with Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen, at the Children’s Bookshow.

from http://www.tarabooks.com/about/authors/

Reviews

[Bobby]

The story of a child who dreams about turning into a blue mouse and taking a trip to India (inspired by a quilt made for him by his aunt who had been to India). Along the way, the blue mouse meets a cow, an elephant, bandicoots (mole rats), and some people. The story itself is told through mostly rhyming verse and is cute enough. However, the real strength of the book is in its illustrations...all of which are in the style of cloth patchwork (like one would find on a quilt) and look great. Kudos to the artist (Anita Leutwiler) and the author for the creativity. Definitely a fun and charming book for younger kids.

[Nadine]

#existential #WWA #perspective

[Moushumi Ghosh]

What a delightful read! Besides it reminded me of Maurice Sendak's 'Where the wild things are' even though Ravishankar's book is for slightly older children. The rhyme was the most outstanding feature of the book. It's got a resonance that continues even after the book is over. Reading Anushka Ravishankar is always a treat and this book is - I am very happy to say - no exception.

[Elizabeth]

I liked the textile (quilt) style of illustration.

I didn't really love the text that refused to answer where the protagonist was -- but that kind of sing-song may be appealing to many kids.

I was expecting the book to be much more explicit about depicting that India is not a monolith, and the book is short enough that we only get a few glimpses of India which was disappointing to me.

[India Anker]

Cute little read