Other Books

If you've been sulking about the paucity of good children's literature in India at a time when authors are tripping over each other to provide quality writing for youngsters in the West, Vandana Singh's stories should bring a smile to your lips.

Actually, scrap that, they'll make you beam very widely even if you haven't been sulking about the kid-lit thing.

Singh's delightful stories centre on the unflappable Younguncle ("he says he prefers it that way""though it is quite ridiculous to be called Younguncle even by one's parents") and the improbable adventures that he narrates to his adoring nephew and niece.

These include setting the priorities of a group of pickpockets right (steal only from the unscrupulous merchant, not from poor people), employing the services of a forlorn ghost to teach a do-badder a lesson and rescuing a kidnapped cow with a little help from a group of monkeys.

These are enormously entertaining stories, well-written, crackling with understated humour and grounded in good values without being preachy. Best of all, you can expect more books in the series soon, starting with Younguncle in the Himalayas, due to be released in a couple of months' time.

Younguncle Comes to Town

Vandana Singh
Pages: 93;
Price: Rs 150
Young Zubaan