As their train puffs away into the distance, three runaway children, Lily, Vicky and Aman, are led by Makhmal Khan the monkey into the shimmering world of the forest. . . Deep within its shadows, beyond the last cloud on the horizon, stands Nyagrodha, the ancient banyan. Within its magical labyrinth the children encounter monarchs and mice, dreamers and scholars, paupers and fortune-seekers, braggarts and burglars, foppish fish and bloodsucking bugs, gory battles and incredible flying machines. But none of these can distract them from the dangers that threaten Simha, the fierce young king and his friend Jeev, the musical bull. For the story of their tangled lives is very like the childrens’ own. Will Aman, Vicky and Lily find their way back home through the maze of stories? Or will treachery destroy the friendship between Simha and Jeev, and leave the forest wounded and bleeding forever. ‘This is an upside-down story,’ Hanumanta the Langoor warns the children. ‘A story that will turn you inside out. Will you hear it unafraid?’
Catagory: Children
children main category
Shakuntala and Other Stories from Ancient India
Six unforgettable stories of love and bravery, treachery and injustice, from ancient Indian literature. Classical Sanskrit and Tamil writing teem with myriad characters, and here we meet some truly memorable ones.
This collection of six plays, poems and epics retold for children includes ‘Shakuntala’, a heartrending story of the love between the beautiful Shakuntala and King Dushyanta; ‘The Little Clay Cart’, where the evil designs of the king and his family are foiled by the righteous Charudatta and Vasantasena; ‘The Story of an Anklet’, about Kannagi, who wreaks a terrible revenge for the wrong done to her; ‘Manimekalai’, the extraordinary account of a woman’s search for her true calling; ‘The Last Trial of Sita’, in which the playwright gives a whole new ending to the Ramayana, and ‘The Broken Thigh’, about the final, desperate combat between Duryodhana and Bheema on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Accompanied by descriptions of the authors’ lives and the time when the stories were written, these lively retellings are an ideal introduction to some of the best-known stories from the Indian classics.
Puffin Classics: The Burmese Box
‘I’m going to find that box, the box that’s been missing for a hundred years … Do you know, there are precious gems in it, worth a king’s ransom? Emeralds the size of a rooster’s egg, rubies as big as pigeons’ eggs, pearls the size of a duck’s egg!Aunt Podi’s treasured Burmese box was a part of family history. When Panchu Mama narrates the hair-raising story of how it was acquired and the mysterious circumstances in which it got lost, Goopy decides to find the fabled box and its precious contents. ‘The Burmese Box’ is an action-packed story of a family on a treasure hunt, as they grapple with devious plans and nasty crooks, a highly suspicious detective and eccentric relatives.In ‘Goopy’s Secret Diary’, con men, hidden treasures, a stolen necklace and the secret of an old mansion make for a fascinating read as we follow Goopy’s rollicking adventures in a forest.Featuring two novellas, The Burmese Box is beloved children’s author Lila Majumdar at her best. Her impeccable style and trademark humour will keep generations of readers in thrall.
The Room on the Roof
A classic coming-of-age story which has held generations of readers spellbound!
Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part in Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging for the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted … and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community.
Written when the author was himself seventeen, this moving story of love and friendship, with a new introduction and illustrations will be enjoyed by a whole new generation of readers.
Ashwathy and the Boot of God
Of course, there is no such thing as the FBI branch of Kuttipuram, Kerala, but Ashwathy Venugopalan always believes in the impossible-life is more entertaining that way. And things only get more impossible in Ashwathy’s life when God arrives in a boot and requests her to investigate the murder of a woman in her town. Can Ashwathy, the atheist, crack her first case with God by her side?
A Rulebreakers’ Club Adventure
Who’ll let the dog out?
The Rulebreakers’ Club is a gang of five that’s stuck with the Worst Dog in the World. But they’ve finally found a way to get rid of him. All they have to do is catch a ghost and rob a bank. Oh, and they also have to save the world. Easy, right? Wrong! How are the Rulebreakers ever going to get out of the mess they’ve got themselves into? And where will they find this phantom ghost?
A Rulebreakers’ Club Adventure
Three boys, two girls and one dog-no, you haven’t heard this before!
The Rulebreakers’ Club is a gang of five without a dog. And, of course, gangs without dogs are just not cool. They decide to remedy this situation by kidnapping a pug named Spike. But dognapping is tricky business and dog-owning is definitely not as easy as it sounds. Can the Rulebreakers survive this trouble-making dog and save the world while they’re at it? Or will they land up in a doggone mess?
The Chirmi Chasers (hOle books)
A sitola match between two rival schools is more than a game for Nanka-if they lose, he and his father have to leave town! Can Nanka and his unlikely teammates do it?
The Impeccable Integrity of Ruby R
Ruby Rauf is an idealistic, industrious scholarship student with a fixed plan. She is going to ace her exams and get a decent job so she never has to suffer the daily degradation of poverty again. Yet, when she meets the compelling actor-turned-politician Saif Haq, her world is upended. Dazzled by his charisma, inspired by his zeal, she quits her degree midway to join his campaign as his social media manager.
Ruby soon discovers that politics, even with a leader as upright as Saif Haq, is a moral minefield. Diligent, sincere but desperately naïve, Ruby longs to do the right thing but struggles at first to square her innate integrity with the difficult choices her job demands. As she wades deeper into the quagmire of political intrigue and the savage world of social media, her values grow more flexible, her methods more ruthless. She out-thinks allies and rivals to deliver brilliant results. Resented and admired by her colleagues, favoured by Saif, Ruby appears unstoppable-until one day when Saif asks her to prove her loyalty by making the most painful sacrifice of all.
With quicksilver dialogue, shrewd political insight and a thoughtful take on the MeToo debate, this sparkling novel reveals Moni Mohsin on top satirical form.
The House That Spoke
Fourteen-year-old Zoon Razdan is witty, intelligent and deeply perceptive. She also has a deep connection with magic. She was born into it. The house that she lives in is fantastical-life thrums through its wooden walls-and she can talk to everything in it, from the armchair and the fireplace to the books, pipes and portraits! But Zoon doesn’t know that her beloved house once contained a terrible force of darkness that was accidentally let out by one of its previous owners. And when the darkness returns, more powerful and malevolent than ever, it is up to her to take her rightful place as the Guardian of the house and subsequently, Kashmir.