Books By Indian Authors

This delightfully crafted wordless picture book perfectly captures the chaos unleashed around the house by a grandmum, whos misplaced her glasses. As your child reads the lively, detailed images on each page, hell learn more about Ammachis world. Ammachis Glasses will get your child thinking, questioning and laughing, all at the same time!

Activity: Prepare a sensory bin for your child by burying his favourite toys or objects in a box filled with sand or shredded paper. Encourage him to find and identify the objects using his fingers instead of eyes.

If your child thinks T-Rex and triceratops are cool, shell love this little picture book of Indian dinosaursthe ones that roamed our country aeons ago and left fossils behind. Each dinosaur is etched out with a personality, and their whacky names are sure to be a hit with your increasingly vocal preschooler. Dont be surprised if you catch your child chanting Barapasaurus or Alwalkeria at random!

Activity: Play a game of tongue-twisters in your native language, if possible. Or put on some music and dance like dinosaurs!

Hard-hitting verse and striking illustrations come together in this powerful book about human hand in a tigers fate. The words have a rhythm and tension when read aloud. The tiger sketched in white and orange and the people in black create a telling power dynamic between man and beast. Read this out to your child, and get ready to answer a lot of questions!

Activity: Explore the idea of camouflage. Paste a picture of a tiger across ice-cream sticks and one of tall grass on another set of sticks. Cut them so that the sticks separate. Now, on a sheet of paper, paste tiger sticks and grass sticks alternatively. Dont the tigers stripes keep the tiger hidden beautifully?

This series of witty and engaging books is perfect for instilling the joy of reading in your children. It helps them transition from picture books to chapter books, from being read to to reading by themselves. Relatable characters from across the spectrum, true-to-life situations and a generous dose of humour, fun, adventure and goodwill will strike a chord with your early grader. Watch your child go crazy with the whimsical hole on the top corner of these books!

Activity: Play a game of passing-the-parcel with a twist. Everyone has to say something nice about the person who holds the parcel when the music stops.

Have you shouted yourself hoarse telling your tween to sort their trash, buy fewer clothes or save water and electricity? Get her to read this supercool climate change adventure that follows a group of school children as they take on a mysterious cloud obscuring the Mumbai skyline. This book creatively explores a serious topic in a language that preteens speak and understand.

Activity: Encourage your child to find ways to do her bit for the environment. It could be composting household vegetable waste, cycling to school or running the AC less often.

A homegrown alternative to Enid Blytons endearing boarding school books, the Hill School Girls series delves into the eventful world of adolescents. The four novels skilfully navigate a range of issues from curriculum changes, privacy concerns and loneliness to bullying and harassment, while nailing the school-genre staples of friendship and personal growth. Each book is written from the perspective of a different student, making the whole series more interesting.

Activity: Encourage your child to start a book, film or hobby club with her classmates. They can have their own HQ, meet-ups, discussions and, perhaps, even a blog.

Action, adventure, mystery and a dashing protagonistall seen through the eyes of a teen. Thats Feluda for you. Intricate plots, alluring settings and the eminently likeable trio of suave private investigator Feluda, teenage chronicler Topshe and bumbling writer Jatayu make these detective stories perfect for teenagers.

Activity: Watch a true-crime documentary or series with your child, paying attention to the trail of clues and breakthroughs that helped the police nab the culprits. For example, Forensic Files.

What can an artist and an illiterate tribal boy do against the combined forces of politicians, bureaucrats, law enforcement and industrialists? Korok, a Gond boy working as a gardener, lays bare the travails of Adivasis and takes us to the heart of a grassroots tribal movement against mining. His experiences touch upon themes of discrimination, corruption, environmental protection and the unequal politics of development in a simple yet powerful manner. This sensitive, insightful book is sure to pull down your teens ivory tower and get him interested in the struggles of others.

Activity: Get together with your teen to discuss the work of teenage Indian activists, such as Trisha Venkatesh (a womens rights advocate), Tanushah Ramadass (a feminist and a climate activist) and Licypriya Kangujam (an 8-year-old environmental crusader).

DIVYA SAINATHAN IS A CHENNAI-BASED FREELANCE WRITER.