READ AND GROW

‘Adventures with Hanuman’ is a book for children written by Arshia Sattar. Arshia Sattar is an Indian translator and writer. She was bitten by a monkey when she was three years old and Hanuman has been her friend ever since. It is illustrated by Sunaina Coelho.

Let me share a little about this amazing story.

Raghu was lying in bed, bored and longing for an adventure when his wish suddenly came true. The great Hanuman, till now only a friendly face on a poster, suddenly appears by his bed.

He invites Raghu to join him as he sets off to help Rama rescue Sita from Lanka. Soon, Raghu finds himself flying, seated on Hanuman's shoulder and, along with his new friend, he leaps across the sea, reaches Lanka and finds Sita. Battling rakshasas, changing size and finding his way through the maze that is Ravana's palace, Raghu has the best adventure of his life with the cheerful and brave monkey god!

Funny and endearing, Hanuman comes to life like never before in this zany retelling of his adventures. The book has exciting and lively illustrations.

If you want to know more about the exciting adventure of Raghu and Hanuman, do read this book.

Beautifully woven, edifyingly honest, and moving stories make this book written by the master storyteller, William Dalrymple; worth a read. It entails the story of nine lives, a Buddhist monk who takes up arms against the Chinese invasion of Tibet and then spends the rest of his life trying to atone, by making prayer flags in India, a Jain monk who tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death.

Nine lives, Nine people, each one taking a different religious path makes this an unforgettable book. William Dalrymple delves deep into the heart of a nation torn between the relentless onslaught of modernity and the continuity of ancient traditions.

Since Rudyard Kipling, it’s only William Dalrymple who has evoked village life so profoundly and dealt with loss and redemption with compassion and sensitivity. A must-read for young minds as it changes the way we think about devotion.

‘It’s Itchcraft’ is a storybook from the series of Zach Files. It is written by Dan Greenburg. He is an American writer, humorist, and journalist. He has written more than sixty books for kids and grownups, which have been translated into twenty languages. This storybook is illustrated by Jack E. Davis.

Let me share a little about this thriller story.

Zack, the protagonist, studies in Fifth Grade. He is very nervous about the Halloween dance in his school as he does not know how to dance and he did not have a partner! Zack meets Prudence, a beautiful girl who speaks with a funny accent and is always dressed in old-fashioned clothes. Zach is smitten. He had found the perfect partner for the dance! Prudence was very different from the rest of the kids in his school. She was actually travelling in time and belonged to 1692 and was fleeing the Salem witch trials!

The book is filled with thrills. The author does not use bombastic words and the numerous illustrations are striking.

If you want to know how and why Prudence came from the past, and what happened at the Halloween dance do read this book.