Remember that character in a book that you suddenly felt a flood of empathy for? Or that literary character your book-worn hands keep going back to when you are sad, happy or even angry? Our moods, our emotions and what we feel at the moment often predict the book we will pick up, or the character that we will love the most. So we have compiled a list of our books for all your mood seasons. Be it adults or kids, we don’t want anyone to ever think, “I’m feeling so… scared. Now if only there was a book somewhere that truly understood what I’m going through.” Here are the books. Enjoy!

 

1.    Curious-

Sister, Sister, Where Does Thunder Come From? by Roopa Pai and Greystroke

We have heard thunder and lightning are all Kumbhakarna’s doing. In fact, it could be because of some sky-riding motorbikes too. There are many possibilities to explore as a curious little boy and his big sister try to figure out ‘where does thunder come from?’ Read this beautiful story in Hindi, Marathi and Telugu.

 

2.    Sad –

Manikantan Has Enough by Anil Menon and Upamanyu Bhattacharyya

There’s something inherently sad about this book. You will notice not just the obvious longing felt acutely by the main character, but also the sad state of affairs we, as human race, might soon find ourselves in. Read this book, available in 9 languages, to feel better about yourself as you realize even in a futuristic, technology-consumed world, things are not all bright and shiny.

 

3.    Angry -

Sringeri Srinivas Learns to Laugh by Rohini Nilekani and Angie & Upesh

You see the title? That’s how angry Sringeri was. He actually had to ‘learn’ to laugh. In all his books, Sringeri just can’t help but pull all the attention to himself, can he? But in this one, he has competition. From monkeys. Read in Kannada and Hindi to find out what happens when a bunch of monkeys get on his nerves.

 

4.    Vengeful –

Chakora, The Brave Dog by Ashwin Suvarna

Don’t for a moment think that the animal kingdom is not fraught with feuds, jealousies and revenge. This community user has depicted the secret world of animals in this wonderful story about struggles of a dog, his journey, and how he faces animals bent on taking revenge.

 

5.    Compassionate-

Reeti and Mithu by Anupa Lal and Soumya Menon  

We have an untapped reservoir of compassion that we are not aware of at times. Meet Reeti, a little girl who suddenly realizes that her friendship with Mithu, her parrot, is not equal or fair. Join her on her discovery of compassion in this story available in ten Indian languages.

 

6.    Vain-

आम्ही सारे प्राणी by Madhav Chavan , Meera Tendolkar and Santosh Pujari

Proud of your hair? Your teeth? Your lack of tail? Huh? Well, vanity knows no bounds and no logic either sometimes. Here’s a sweet story about a little girl who is showing off in front of a bunch of animals, trying to prove humans are better than animals. Do the animals take it well, and who turns out to be better in the end? Read this Marathi story in Kannada, English and Telugu  to find out!

 

7.    Funny-

Saboo and Jojo by Herminder Ohri

Happy endings are great. Funny endings are even better. Here’s a story that will remind you of all the adorably funny things we used to say and do as kids. Saboo and Jojo is available to read in 6 languages, three of which are translations done by our community in Kora, Santali and even French!

 

8.    Playful-

निराली दादी by Mala Kumar , Manisha Chaudhry and Niloufer Wadia

Meet this grandmother. She can’t stay still. She refuses to slow down. Her fun is just getting started. Watch her quick playful hands bounce and juggle everything from frying pans to office supplies! This grandma has tossed up quite a lot of trouble for herself. Watch out for her!

 

9.    Excited-  

Pambaram, the Naughty Top by Kavitha Punniyamurthi and Ajanta Guhathakurta

We just cleaned up and found something delightful - a naughty spinning top! This pambaram will spin and spin until your head does the same. Priya and Bala were playing with Pambaram when suddenly it took off! Help the kids chase the super-excited Pambaram as it weaves its way through the house and neigbourhood making things… and people fall. Also available in Hindi and Marathi.

 

10. Scared-

Under My Bed by Anupa Lal and Suvidha Mistry

We often do a double take at night when we see a shadow that looks creepily like a full-fledged person. While we pretend to be brave, a child’s mind doesn’t quite work like that. Thankfully. So, here’s a story about fear that makes us see danger in innocence, available in bilingual formats too with English in Telugu, Marathi and Hindi.

 

What are YOU feeling today? Tell us the story you relate to the most in the comments, or on Twitter and Facebook!

 

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This Hindi Diwas, celebrate the Hindi language with some of our Hindi-first books. This means that these books were first written in Hindi, and then translated into other languages. Our Hindi Diwas celebration list includes books by Hindi literary stalwart the late Kamala Bhasin, features whimsical silly poetry and also some simple books for young ones about how to count in a fun and engaging way.

 

1. सतरंगी लड़कियाँ सतरंगी लड़के

 

 

क्या सभी लड़कियाँ एक जैसी होती हैं? ज़रा सोचिए…

क्या सभी लड़के एक जैसे होते हैं? ज़रा सोचिए…

 

2. रंग बिरंगी किताब

 

देख भँवरी की सतरंगी किताब, दोस्त सभी चकित हैं आज। भँवरी ने बताया यह पीपल के पेड़ और मूँगफली मामा का कमाल। चलिए जानते हैं, कैसे हुआ ये धमाल!

 

3. मुफ्त की कुल्फी

 

उत्तर भारत में बचपन, गर्मियों और मोहल्ले की गलियों का एक अनोखा रिश्ता है और वह है ठंडी-ठंडी कुल्फियों का मीठा सा स्वाद। आइये नन्ही भँवरी के साथ इसका मज़ा आप भी लीजिए।

 

4. गप्पू गोला

पिटारा खुलते और गप्पू गोले के बाहर आते ही क्या क्या नहीं होता! गड़बड़ घोटाले की एक लड़ी सी फूट पड़ती है। तो आइए पढ़ें यह अगड़म बगड़म कविता।

 

5. चकाचक चीकू

चीकू में कुछ भी ख़ास नहीं था। पर एक दिन इस साधारण सी लड़की ने सब को दिखा दिया कि हर कोई असाधारण बनने की क्षमता रखता है।

 

Read more Hindi-first books on StoryWeaver here.

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Bhavana Vyas Vipparthi, has lived and studied in Bangalore all her life. Having finished a Fine Arts course at Srishti, School of Art Design And Technology, she went on to do a masters in animation film design at NID in Ahmadabad. Her mind is now consumed by her terribly talkative two and a half year old son, a perfect dog, and a fellow animator husband. She makes up a million stories a day to stay sane. You can find their work on https://vimeo.com/thestudiospaceman
 

When I was given the opportunity to work on a book for Pratham Books, the script that got my attention was the one on garbage. Chikoo, a little litterbug gets a dose of her own messy medicine, when all the trash she keeps carelessly throwing around, comes back as a big cloud of smelly garbage that hangs over her head. Managing our garbage through very doable means like segregation and composting, has always been a cause I support. And I was very happy to get a chance to do my bit for this important issue. The script by Karanjeet Kaur was quirky and unusual. As I read it, I imagined a mixed media/ collage approach would work really well with the theme.

I knew straight away that the garbage had to be real. It would add a great texture to the images along with being the only effective way to show the reality of our very serious trash problem. I collected our trash at home over a few days, arranged it and photographed the cloud that would haunt Chikoo.

 After the initial rough page layouts were done, I had a lot of fun exploring ways to show other elements. The flies that swarm around the cloud of trash were done with a dab of paint and fingerprints for their buzzing blurry wings. 

The odorous vapours were cut out of OHP sheets and painted, as the paint dried on the plastic surface it left interesting organic patterns. 

   

The backgrounds were done with watercolour and I used different kinds of leaves as stamps to make trees and bushes.

The ground and park railings were also created using different materials as stamps. 

 

With this abundance of different textures, the characters had to stand out on the page, and making them cutouts solved this problem effectively. The final characters were drawn on paper, cutout, and carefully painted. They were made in different parts with the hair, head, and body as separate pieces. Legs and hands were drawn on the computer later. We always draw from our own influences and the uniforms are the very same ones that I wore as a quiet little girl in primary school. 

All the different elements, backgrounds, desks, characters, flies, smell etc,were first photographed and then cleaned up on the computer. The final pages were assembled on Photoshop. Where most projects I work on start and end digitally, it was a welcome break to cut/paste/paint, explore and create something unique for this book.

You can read 'A Cloud of Trash' by Karanjeet Kaur and Bhavana Vipparthi by clicking on the image below

 

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