Nilanjana S Roy: Children's books - The Wizards of India

SPEAKING VOLUMES

In the late 1970s and 1980s, it was axiomatic that children's books came from elsewhere. Enid Blyton ruled the market then, as she still does (for some reason, Blyton and P G Wodehouse have continued to command faithful readers in India long after their books have fallen off the shelves in the Western world).

UK Puffins were available, but more visible were books from the erstwhile Soviet Union""our heads were full of stories about Young Pioneers, Baba Yaga and circus acrobats. Our "own" stories, from South India's beloved Thama tales to Bengal's beloved Thakurmar Jhulir stories, were trapped in the politics of language""there was no question of, say, translating Malgudi Days into Gujarati, any more than there was a market for the Thama stories in English.

It made me wonder, sometimes, where the Indian equivalents of L Frank Baum and A A Milne were to be found. I wouldn't say that the children's books segment is booming just yet, but it is coming of age. Here's a look at some of the new releases this month, and what they have to offer different age groups.

Anoushka Ravishankar is probably one of the most popular children's writers today, and anyone who reads Moin and the Monster (Young Zubaan/ Puffin) will understand why. Her tale of what happens when a drawing of a singing, dancing monster comes to life and the complications it causes for young Moin is hilarious""it's not a very happy monster initially, because it wanted to be drawn scary but got drawn funny instead. Ravishankar's tongue-in-cheek rhymes and sense of humour is perfect for the under-10 brigade. She's been more successful at breaking away from the Five Findouters Formula (children off on an improbable adventure) than most Indian authors.

Rohini Chowdhury's White Tiger (Puffin, Rs 150, for the 10 + age group), which sends three children in search of a ghost tiger, is far more formulaic, but she scores with an original storyline and an abiding love of the jungle. Zai Whitaker fans will be happy to see the wildlife enthusiast return with The Boastful Centipede (Puffin, Rs 150), a collection of rhymes in praise of creepy-crawlies, reptiles and other neglected beasts. TERI has just come out with a set of colourful books that discuss everything from the Chipko movement to solar energy and gulmohar trees""despite the slightly earnest tone, these are attractive books, and I can see how they would appeal to school libraries.

The real difference is visible in the teenage and Young Adult market. Payal Dhar's A Shadow in Eternity (Young Zubaan/ Puffin, Rs 295) is the first in a fantasy series that stars a 12-year-old schoolgirl, Maya, whose life changes when she discovers an alternate world called Eternity, where she will train to be a Defender of the Light. Dhar doesn't have the self-referential, dry humour of fellow fantasy writer, Samit Basu, but her alternate universe where prophecies and shadow warriors might threaten time itself is quite beguiling and very carefully constructed.

An equally interesting experiment is a graphics novel from the new imprint Phantomville Comics. The Believers, by abdul.sultan.p.p (Phantomville Comics, Rs 150), is an ambitious look at religious fundamentalism, which pits a self-exiled engineer returning from the US against his brother, now a religious leader in a village in Kerala. Shyam Selvadurai's Swimming in the Monsoon Sea (Penguin, Rs 250) is a more conventional coming-of-age story, though both books would appeal to the late adolescent market. Selvadurai tells the story of young Amrith and the summer marked by the arrival of his cousin from America with sympathy and understanding, against the backdrop of a school production of Othello.

And never mind the huge fuss and the even huger advance, teenage girls everywhere are likely to have a blast with 18-year-old Kaavya Visvanathan's How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild And Got A Life. After years of following HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get Into Harvard), a deceptively simple question about what she does for fun sends Opal Mehta and her parents into the arms of HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get A Life). Opal figures out how to dress better, how to be popular, how to join the Haute Bitchez...until she begins to wonder whether she really likes the life she's trying so hard to get.

If it sounds too much like a dog's life, try the real thing: John Grogan's delightful Marley and Me: Life and Love With The World's Worst Dog (HarperCollins, $10). If you have pets, or children, or just a nodding acquaintance with the neighbourhood strays, you'll love this account of the Labrador Retriever who was an unregenerate, omnivorous thief and professional regurgitator.

nilanjanasroy@gmail.com