Do best friends always have to be alike? Devi and Bonda are best friends, but Devi is a little girl, while Bonda is a… Well, he can lift heavy boxes, he can extend his arms and legs, he never forgets anything he’s told, he can be turned on and off. Can you guess what he is? 

Written by acclaimed children's author Roopa Pai and illustrated by the wildly talent Jit Chowdhury, 'Bonda and Devi' invites children to step in to the future to see what might be in store for them. 

Follow up activities

There's a whole host of fun things to do with children after you've read the book together, here are a few that we loved! 

Meet My Robot

Resources

● Paper 

● Pen 

● Colour pencils 

Imagine if you had a robot of your very own! What would you call it? What would it look like? What would you programme it to do?

Ask children to spend a little time thinking about the answers to these questions and then write a creative piece about their very own robot friend. They can then draw their robot and colour it in too!

Cereal Box Robot

Reuse, recycle and recreate!  We love the idea of taking old things and making something new with it... especially if that something new, is a shiny robot! Be prepared to get your hands messy with the children, as you create your very own Cereal Box Robot!

Resources 

• Old cereal boxes of different shapes and sizes 
• Bottle caps 
• Toilet paper rolls
• Aluminium foil, old newspaper 
• Paint 
• Glue 
• Scissors 
• Cello Tape 
• Bowls 
• Paintbrushes 
• Loads of imagination!

What to Do 

● Create small workstations by spreading newspaper on the ground 

● On each workstation leave a collection of supplies 

● Let the kids go crazy and create their own robots! 

Need a little inspiration? Head to Kids Activities Blog for some! 

Maker Space Ideas

If you have slightly older children in your group, do check out these links on making simple robots that actually move!

Resarch Parent has two awesome 'My First Robotics' ideas - a Wigglebot and a Wobblebot! We absolutely love the names, don't you?

Do you have ideas for activities to do after reading 'Bonda and Devi'?  Leave us a comment on the blog or share them with us on Twitter or FaceBook.

 

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Pratham Books intern Rahel Rao, puts together some stories guaranteed to make you guffaw and giggle!

One of the most popular sayings in the world is: laughter is the best medicine. With this in mind, we have compiled a list of hilariously told and beautifully illustrated stories that will surely make you smile and brighten up your day!

1. सोना की नाक बड़ी तेज (Sona’s Smart Nose) by Vinita Krishna and Suvidha Mistry

Sona’s strong nose can smell all the amazing flavours of the chuskis (or golas) in her uncle’s shop. But wait! Something also smells bad! Can Sona figure out what it is?

2. ಕಣ್ಣಾಮುಚ್ಚಾಲೆ   (I Spy!) by Samvida Venkatesh and Sandhya Prabhat; translated by Asha Yogendra

Play a game of I Spy! with Sania, on her birthday. Can you and Sania find all eight friends in this beautifully illustrated book, while learning subtraction at the same time?

3. Kallu’s World 3 - Mangu Mali and the Ambia Bhoot by Subhadra Sen Gupta and Tapas Guha

Join Kallu and his friends in his third adventure in the series as they try to get juicy mangoes from Mangu Mali’s haunted tree. It is a colourfully illustrated, hilarious story, sure to bring a smile onto your face.

4. వార్షిక క్షవర దినం (Annual Haircut Day) by Rohini Nilekani and Angie & Upesh; translated by Ambika Ananth

It is the day Sringeri Srinivas gets his annual haircut. But, when he asks people to cut his hair, nobody has the patience. He finally ends up finding help in the most unexpected place.

5. Mr. Anand has an Adventure by Mala Kumar, Manisha Chaudhry, and Satya Krishna Prakash

The adventurous Mr. Anand finds Greeno when going on a walk in the forest. Greeno is crying and, when Mr. Anand agrees to help, their adventure begins.

6. आकऽछी! आऽऽ क् ऽऽछी! (Hatchu! Ha-aaa-tchu!) by Sharada Kolluru and Lavanya Karthik; translated by Sandhya Taksale

Hatchuram’s sneezes are so loud, they disrupt the entire village, from the milkman, to the peacocks, to the earthworms and the mice. How does the village respond to this? Find out in this colourfully illustrated story.

7.   டொக் டொக்! (Tok Tok) by Vidhya Pradhan and Reshma Barve; translated by N. Chokkan

There is a loud noise and it’s keeping the king awake. Join the kingdom as they try to find out what is making the loud noise that keeps their king awake, making him cranky the next day.

8. Tommy and Tingu by Kanchan Bannerjee and Natasha Mehra

Tommy’s owner has a friend called Rohan. Rohan’s cat is called Tingu. In this cute, short story, find out why exactly Tommy is scared of Tingu. This is a perfect book to read-aloud to children.  

9. खोदकर भोवरा पंबरम (Pambaram, the Naughty Top) by Kavitha Punniyamurthi and Ajanta Guhathakurta; translated by Sushrut Kulkarni

When Pambaram the top is spun after years, he begins spinning everywhere, out of excitement. Chase him along with Priya and Bala, trying to catch him and stop him from making a mess everywhere.

10. ಹೀಗಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ? (What if?) by Hari Kumar Nair; translated by Aparna Prasanna

In this story, born out of Shyam’s wild imagination, he thinks about what his life would be like if all his features were different. What would life be like if his legs were as long as building; or his teeth so strong, he could bite into anything! Beautifully illustrated, it is a great book to read aloud.    

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Since our launch in September 2015, we have hit many milestones with you by our side: new and exciting stories in various formats, two million reads and now, we've hit another big one: storybooks in 200 languages on the platform!

Today, with over 15,000 stories in 200 languages, StoryWeaver is truly a global repository of multilingual stories. We are also continuing our commitment to address the resource gap in mother tongue languages and help preserve the fading footprints of the languages underserved and underrepresented in mainstream publishing - 40% in underserved or indigenous languages. There is however so much more to do. We are now looking to increase depth of content in the top 100 languages across Africa, Asia and North America through our partnerships. We are always looking for new partners to help us create stories in more languages, so that more children will have stories in their mother tongues. If you are interested in partnering with us, please write to [email protected].

A big THANK YOU to our amazing community across the globe for being such an integral part of what we do. It's your stories, your translations and your unwavering belief that all children should have access joyful stories that have helped us celebrate so many milestones. Without your support and goodwill, we wouldn't be where we are or having so much fun doing what we do!

We are excited to embark on the journey to the next hundred with you all!

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