Payal Dhar checks out what’s in the bookshops.
An entertainment fortnightly recently remarked that Indian children’s publishers are yet to come up with a winning series to compete with the titles flooding the market from the West. However, if the likes of Foxy Four from Young Zubaan and Taranauts from Hachette are anything to go by, that trend might just be set for a big change.
Subhadra Sen Gupta’s “foxy four” are schoolgirls in Delhi’s St Teresa’s Convent. There is Padma, the nerdy one; Jahan, the sporty one; Charu, the serious one; and Mandeep the fashionable one — an unlikely mixture indeed, but united by a sense of adventure that sees them take on some formidable opponents.
Two books are out so far. In Double Click!, the Four are on the trail of their classmate Simran who has been kidnapped and held for ransom. In the just released Star Struck!, a trip to Varanasi for a quiz contest hots up when the friends become embroiled in a mystery involving a missing idol and a Bollywood film crew. Word has it that the Foxy Four are up for more adventures in the future.
For some other-worldly adventures for younger readers, check out Roopa Pai’s Taranauts series. Zvala, Zarpa and Tufan are three youngsters from a universe called Mithya, made up of the planets Shyn, Dazl, Lustr, Glo, Syntilla, Shimr, Sparkl and Glytr. They are sustained by the light of the 32 stars, and all eight worlds bob around in the endless ocean Dariya, around the bad-tempered volcano Kay Laas.
However, the evil Shaap Azur — twin brother of the benevolent emperor Shoon Ya — has stolen the world’s stars, plunging Mithya into darkness. Their only hope lies with the Taranauts, each endowed with an unusual power that makes her or him extraordinary.
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Follow the three brave mithyakins as they travel to each of the worlds one by one to retrieve the stars, battling dangerous monsters and solving mind-bending puzzles. Illustrated by Priya Kurian, the best part is that the reader also gets to have a crack at some of the puzzles the Taranauts come up against. This eight-part series also has two books out so far: The Quest for the Shyn Emeralds and The Riddle of the Lustr Sapphires.
Also worth mentioning is Vandana Singh’s Young Uncle series from Young Zubaan. In Young Uncle Comes to Town and Young Uncle in the Himalayas, three children — Ravi, Sarla and the baby — find their lives changed when an unconventional relative comes to say.
Suniti Namjoshi’s Aditi books are brought to you by Tulika.
Delightfully illustrated by Shefalee Jain to engage younger readers, Aditi and her unusual friends travel to exciting locations in Australia, Canada and England to tackle dangerous missions. Hi-tech gadgets battle for space with dragons and magical artefacts.
