In this story of community, set in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, everybody in Keshav’s neighbourhood turns benefactor by adding to his kolam (a pattern drawn in front of a house, typically with rice flour) and creating a wondrous design at the end of it. The book begins with a boy named … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Keshav’s Kolam
Readers are transported to a zany primary school classroom in India, with The Homework telling a story of a class assignment that makes its way to an unforeseen conclusion. With each frame set against the blue-lined paper of the ubiquitous school notebook, the book hits a cheeky note from the get-go, with its opening lines: … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Homework
Geometry, perspective, astronomy, and a healthy dose of curiosity all come together in this book. It tells the story of Usha, who's learning to perform cartwheels, as she has a conversation with her big sister Aarti about a constellation they see in the sky. Aarti explains, from their vantage point lying flat on the ground, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Usha and the Big Digger
Depicted in shades of the Earth such as ochre, cyan, and sienna, Mina vs the Monsoon tells the story of a young Muslim girl in North India wanting to play football but the rains play spoilsport. Her mother suggests that Mina stay indoors so as to not catch a cold from getting wet in the … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Mina Vs the Monsoon
Memory, borders, and identity come together in this book about the power of stories to connect us and to share a lived heritage. This picture book begins with a girl whose grandmother, her Momo-la, is visiting—acollector of things and a teller of stories. She takes her granddaughter to visit particular storehouses of memory: The Museum … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: My Momo-La is A Museum
This is a young adult novel that tells the story of Abir Maqsood, a college-going student in Bangalore, who balances her family's expectations of her with her own desires of the direction that she would like her life to take.Abir's entrepreneurial side comes to the fore when she decides to build an app to help … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Henna Start-Up
Illustrated in a thoughtful, textured mix of crayons and watercolour, this book—Cristina Sitja Rubio’s English-language debut—narrates the story of Badger, who makes plans to spend time with his friends in the forest during Winter. However, he finds that most of them—Mr Bear, Marmot, nighthawk, are all fast asleep for the season. He goes back home, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Most Beautiful Winter
This book seeks to create a sense of connection between readers and the world we exist in, helping us see afresh that we are all connected. Instead of viewing our relationship with the natural world as a circle, Loop de Loop states: Modern humans have created a different kind of system. It’s less like a … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Loop de Loop – Circular Solutions for a Waste-Free World
Class and communal differences fade into the background as a shared passion for sport steps into the spotlight in this picture book. Girls on Wheels, in author Srividhya Venkat’s words, is “a work of fiction inspired by the skateboarding revolution in India.” The story is centered around 3 girls—Damini, Sana, and Anila—who are all headed … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Girls on Wheels
Relatable characters, conversational storytelling, and the madcap humor that everyday situations may sometimes lead to—these are the core elements of a story that Khyrunnisa tends to pull out from her writer's hat. Baby and Dubdub is no different. It tells the tale of a boy named Rohan, who wants a pet dog more than anything … Continue reading #WORLDKIDLIT WEDNESDAY: Baby and Dubdub
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 