Description
Set in Cambodia, in India, under the sea near Capri, and in some unnamed places where giraffes eat cucumber sandwiches, cacti bewail their thorns, little dolphins embark on research projects, and an eight-year old girl finally makes sense of her confused heart, these stories are built on humour and love for mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, for friends, for plants and snakes and even for displaced stones that long for their faraway rivers. These quirky stories will appeal both to children and to adults.
These stories carry the rare intimacy of tales first told aloud, shaped by listening and laughter. Moving effortlessly between whimsy and wisdom, they invite young readers into a world where animals speak, wishes matter, and small moments glow with meaning. A book to be read, reread, and remembered. — Anurima Chanda, co-founder of ACLiSA (Association for Children’s Literature in South Asia) and author of Women of India
Padmini Mongia’s tales feature bratty children, difficult adolescents, and unsure young adults. Crafted with precision, there’s a surreal visuality to Mongia’s read-aloud fables starring all creatures great and small, humans included. — Rimli Bhattacharya, Professor of English (Retd), Delhi University
In addition to scholarly articles on Joseph Conrad and on contemporary Indian writing in English, Padmini Mongia has published the picture book Pchak, Pchak: A Story of Crocodiles (Young Zubaan, 2008) and a collection of short stories for younger readers, Baby Looking Out and Other Stories (Yoda Press, 2018). She is Professor of English at Franklin & Marshall College. Padmini is also an abstract painter, who has shown her work in both India and the US.
Priya Kuriyan is a children’s book writer-illustrator, comics maker, and chronic doodler. She has directed educational films for the Sesame Street show (India) and the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI) and has illustrated numerous children’s books for various Indian publishers. She lives and works in the city of Bangalore.
