Kittu is lost!
The World’s Most Chaotic Family has left him behind at a dhaba on the highway in the middle of nowhere. He is rescued by an icecreamwala and suddenly, Kittu’s terrible, horrible day turns mad!
Who would have thought that this middle-of-nowhere place would have a skate park? The icecreamwala’s daughter Mad is mad about skateboarding and now Kittu wants to zoom around on a skateboard, too!
But can a boy with one leg who walks on crutches learn to skateboard? Is Kittu mad to even try?
This book was a winner in the Children First writing competition, organised by Parag, an initiative of Tata Trusts, and Duckbill Books.
Catagory: Literature & Fiction
Invisible People
This book is a chronicle of memories … narratives from an India which few of us who read this book will ever encounter.
Have you ever really looked at the people who live on the streets around you?
Many of them have fought against unimaginable odds to live a life of dignity and courage. Some have emerged from their sufferings with greater strength, and gone on to help others like them.
Harsh Mander writes with compassion and deep sensitivity about these unsung heroes of India—Mogalamma who cannot walk and yet is a pillar of support for others like her; Rajmane who was wrongfully imprisoned and now assists other poor prisoners get justice—and helps us see that there is another India around us, if only we would stop and look.
This is a book that every young Indian should read, because it is easy to forget that for every successful Sindhu and Rahman, there are thousands of Mogalammas and Rajmanes, struggling bravely just to live a normal life.
Flattrack Bullies
War has been the backdrop of their lives.
Nouri and his cousin Talib have been best friends for as long as they can remember. Though Nouri is a Shiite and Talib is half Sunni, the two never thought about it.
Then one day, as groups of Sunnis and Shiites clash in Baghdad, mistrust and suspicion tear the two boys apart. And now, Iraq isn’t just at war with America. In a country that is at war with itself, the two boys must battle their own deadly prejudices.
Will Talib and Nouri be able to overcome their mutual hatred, and rediscover their friendship?
Gold Medalist for 2012 Independent Publisher Awards
The White Zone is a part of the Duckbill Not Our War series. The NOW series deals with children growing up in times of conflict–powerless, vulnerable, and yet, against all odds, brave and hopeful of a better future.
Ravana Refuses to Die
The little town of Babubari seems to attract all kinds of dubious characters–sinister sadhus, annoyed actors, slimy sethjis, marauding monkeys …
And the Babubari Gang–Muru, Jitu, Chippa and Chipkili–are always in the thick of things.
Whether it’s a demon king who refuses to die, a top-secret interstellar mission, a hair-raising kidnapping or a sleazy landgrabbing, the Gang is embroiled in every adventure that unfolds in Babubari.
Rustom Dadachanji’s exuberant storytelling and Priya Kuriyan’s riotous illustrations make this a book you will never want to put down!
The Serpent’s Revenge
How many names does Arjuna have?
Why was Yama cursed?
What lesson did a little mongoose teach Yudhisthira?
The Kurukshetra war, fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas and which forced even the gods to take sides, may be well known, but there are innumerable stories set before, after and during the war that lend the Mahabharata its many varied shades and are largely unheard of. Award-winning author Sudha Murty reintroduces the fascinating world of India’s greatest epic through the extraordinary tales in this collection, each of which is sure to fill you with a sense of wonder and bewilderment.
Puffin Classics: The Diary of a Space Traveller & Other Stories
It all began with the fall of a meteorite and the crater it made. In its centre was a red notebook, sticking out of the ground—the first (or was it really the last?) of Professor Shonku’s diaries.
Professor Trilokeshwar Shonku, eccentric genius and scientist, disappeared without a trace after he shot off into space in a rocket from his backyard in Giridih, accompanied by his loyal but not-too-intelligent servant Prahlad, his cat Newton, and Bidhushekhar, his robot with an attitude.
What has become of the professor? Has he decided to stay on in Mars, his original destination? Or has he found his way to some other planet and is living there with strange companions? His last diary tells an incredible story . . . Other diaries unearthed from his abandoned laboratory reveal stranger and even more exciting adventures involving a ferocious sadhu, a revengeful mummy and a mad scientist in Norway who turns famous men into six-inch statues.
Exciting, imaginative and funny, the stories in this collection capture the sheer magic of Ray’s lucid language, elegant style, graphic descriptions and absurd humour. The indomitable Professor Shonku has returned, to win himself over a whole new band of followers!
The Caterpillar Who Went On A Diet And Other Stories
A hilarious glimpse of the complex lives of insects These fourteen scintillating stories are marked by Ranjit Lal’s usual combination of meticulous research, rollicking storytelling and fascinating characters. Nimbu, the caterpillar, resolves to go on a diet inspired by the stick insect. Cheeni Chor, the ant, discovers a refrigerator stuffed with goodies and is driven to rebellion. Ladoo Gulabjamun, one of the resident cockroaches of the famous Golden Thali Restaurant, decides to take on the management to impress his ladylove. You will also meet the body-building cricket, the dung beetles who like to party and a host of other insects who reveal their inner lives as never before and are true to both the insect and human world. Lal’s mastery of the world of birds and beasts, as captured in Crow Chronicles and The Life and Times of Altu Faltu, also extends to the world of insects, and this is perhaps his most enchanting and comical book to date. Rahul Dutta’s unusual and striking illustrations capture the magic of worlds Lal reveals.
The Ramayana
The popular classic in which good vanquishes evil, now in a pocket-friendly version for children
The Ramayana is one of the best-known epics in the PBI – World-the tale of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, who exiles himself to the forest for fourteen years to honour his father’s word. In the forest, Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana meet new friends and unusual foes, and each day brings new adventures. But Ravana of Lanka, the king of demons, ruins it all by abducting Sita. To rescue her, Rama enlists the help of Hanuman and his monkey army. In the final battle many heroes die and new ones are born.In this fast-moving version for children, the ancient tale takes on new life. The traditional ingredients are all there-drama and excitement, gods and princes, love and war, infinite stories within stories, monkeys who cross oceans and carry mountains, shape-changing demons and bizarre monsters-but described with freshness and vitality by Bulbul Sharma. This contemporary retelling, which answers questions and provides explanations, is the perfect first Ramayana for everyone.
Bringing Back Grandfather
I’m stuck between poop and school, and I don’t know what to do. Dadu, this is all for you.’
Anu and his grandfather are happiest together, birdwatching in the forest near their home in Seattle, waiting for the barred owl to show up. One day Dadu suddenly dies in the woods, but his see-through spirit stays with Anu. He is desperate to get his grandfather back from the gods. With his best friend Unger, the daring Izzy Mumu next door and help from the Internet, Anu sets out to turn holy enough to perform great wonders. He visits a graveyard, shaves his head like a sadhu, lives on offerings of sandwiches and water, and rolls all the way to school-through rain and poop-like Ludkan Baba. In the end, the only hope he has left is Karnak, the awesome magician at the Mystery Museum on Divine Island . . .
What happens when Anu finally finds himself face-to-face with Karnak-and a truth that he cannot escape? Find out in this warm and funny story about how a boy deals with being foreign, being bald and being separated from someone he loves like crazy.
The Battle For No. 19
Eight schoolgirls from the hills on a tour of Agra, drive into Delhi the day Indira Gandhi is assassinated. They run into a violent, crazed mob that pulls their jovial old driver Kartar Singh out and slays him brutally. In a blazing city lashed by violence, the girls flee to seek refuge. They find it in an elegant and apparently empty house but is it safe? Its gallery of forbidding masks and medieval weapons is alarming enough, but worse, it is a house marked by the vicious mob because it belongs to a rich Sikh family with two children. In an adventure gone dreadfully wrong, all that the girls can think of is going home, but the vengeful enemy is right at the door! Led by sixteen-year-old Puja, a masterful archer but with her own personal demons to fight, the girls have to tackle one threat after another, including a chicken thief in their midst. Mustering their wisdom, stealth, cunning and courage, they valiantly keep their conscienceless attackers at bay until they are finally plunged into a quandary where there is only hair’s breadth between killing and being killed. A gripping and powerful story, The Battle for No. 19 highlights the moral dilemmas of young people in today’s world where violence erupts round every corner, and the line between right and wrong runs dangerously thin.