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Reviews of children’s books from all over the world

Trying to find the best children’s books? Read our reviews of children’s books from all over the world. Dive into book excerpts and favorite reading lists by well-known writers and lists of great books for children. We review all genres of children’s books – the classics and the new, illustrated books, picture books…


41 items in this section. Displaying page 1 of 5

Sumptuous Delights

History, Mystery, Dal and Biryani Written by Subhadra Sen Gupta Illustrations by Tapas Guha Published by Scholastic India Pvt. Ltd. Sumptuous Delights Don’t you sometimes wish you were on a time machine, able to go back and forth in time at will? Recently, while reading this book of 10 short stories by Subhadra Sen Gupta, curiously but appropriately named History, Mystery, Dal and Biryani, I felt like I was on one....

Hamid Buys an Eid Present

Hamid Buys an Eid Present

Festival of Eid English translation of ‘Eidgah’ (Hindi) Written by Munshi Premchand Translated by Khushwant Singh Published by National Book Trust, New Delhi Translated by the veteran columnist and writer, Khushwant Singh, Festival of Eid retains the compelling essence of the original work. This well illustrated book tells the story of Eid, as it is celebrated in a small village, and stresses that festivals are actually about showing the love and concern that we feel for our near and dear ones....

A Chest Full of Stories

A Chest Full of Stories

Zigzag and Other Stories Written by Asha Nehemiah Illustrations by Atanu Roy Published by Scholastic India Pvt. Ltd. A queer-looking African bird, with shocking pink plumes on the head, a yellow beak and eyes the colour of Cola, Zigzag, is the main character of the title story in this collection of short stories. Somu leaves Zigzag, a talking bird, in the keeping of Dr. Krishnan while he is away. But this strange guest turns out to be a disappointment for the Krishnan family....

Gems of Indian Literature

Gems of Indian Literature

Excerpts from ‘Books Forever’ Written by Manoj Das Published by National Book Trust, New Delhi India’s literary past is indeed great. It’s a known fact that many of the parables of the Bible, the fables of Aesop of Greece, the folktales collected by the Grimm brothers of Germany and the tales retold by Hans Andersen of Denmark had their origin in India. We shall unravel together some of the gems of Indian literature like the Bhagavad Gita,The Upanishads, Vedas, Ramayana, and the Mahabharata in our subsequent articles....

AHA! Books: Arvind Gupta

An individual booklist is found to reflect the compiler’s own interests and biases. To that extent this booklist does not lay claim to any objectivity. It contains some extremely fine books on education, popular science, maths and children’s stories. Over the years, I have been actively involved in translating and popularising many of these books. At times we have been successful in bringing out low-cost, Indian reprints like for instance The UNESCO Source Book for Science in the Primary School, Publisher : National Book Trust, India....

The Magical Land of Narnia

The Magical Land of Narnia

The Magical Land of Narnia [Illustration by Shinod AP] ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ series by C.S. Lewis Review by Sujit Thomas; Illustration by Shinod AP Most newspapers which carried articles about Harry Potter several months ago usually had only one thing to say, though in different words: “Harry Potter! The One and Only”, or “No Other Book in the World with Such Imagination”. But they are wrong. There HAS been a set of books just as magical as the Harry Potter series....

Of Daemons, Lords and Dust

Of Daemons, Lords and Dust

The Golden Compass Written by Philip Pullman Published by Alfred A. Knopf. 11 year old Gayatri Jayal, a student of Modern School Vasant Vihar and a fierce fan of Lyra Belacqua, wrties her impression of this half-civilised, half-wild young girl, who looks set to take the world of children’s books by storm. In a world in which there are millions of different worlds within just an inch of space, lives a girl called Lyra Belacqua. She is supposedly an orphan, who grew up and still lives Jordan College, the grandest and richest college in Oxford....

Glimpses from Gandhi's Life

Glimpses from Gandhi's Life

Stories From Bapu’s Life Written by Uma Shankar Joshi Illustrations by Mickey Patel Published by National Book Trust, New Delhi Gandhiji’s intellectual influence on Indians has been considerable. Some were attracted by his emphasis on political and economic decentralisation, others by his insistence on individual freedom, moral integrity, unity of means and ends, and social service; still others by his satyagraha and political activism. Glimpses from Gandhi’s Life [] For some students of India, Gandhi’s influence is responsible for its failure to throw up any genuinely radical political movement....

A Teacher Remembers

A Teacher Remembers

Excerpts from the book: Divaswapna, An Educator’s Reverie Written by Gijubhai Badheka; Translated by Chittaranjan Pathak Published by National Book Trust, New Delhi I waited eagerly for the school to begin. I was eager to take my class and start my work; eager to put my new plan into practice; eager to bring about peace and order in the class; eager to make classroom teaching interesting and win over my pupils. I felt my pulse throbbing....

Of Rat Snakes and Boys who are Different

Of Rat Snakes and Boys who are Different

Kali and the Rat Snake Written by Zai Whitaker Illustrations by Srividya Natarajan Published by Tulika, Chennai An excerpt from the book: Kali’s father was one of the most famous snake-catchers among the Irula tribe. He had caught over a hundred cobras just this monsoon and bought many good things for the family. The snake cooperative paid Rs 150 for each poisonous snake. They took out the poison from snakes to make anti-venom serum. When Kali went snake-catching with his father, his legs worked like machines....

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