‘That’s not what I expected!’

Here is a list of new books for children which deal with common topics in unpredictable ways.

When The Jungles Whisper

The Egghead Detective Agency

The Boy Who Loved Birds

I love it when books surprise me. I’m not talking about the twist in the tale — though that’s always welcome. Here, I’m referring to books that are different or unusual or deal with a topic in unexpected ways.

Some recent Indian releases:

The Great Escape by Menaka Raman, illustrated by Sheena Deviah — this is the story of a boy who’s new to school and is feeling left out. But it’s anything but sad. The adventures he ends up having on the first day had me in giggles. And made me think — wait, exactly whose escape was the title referring to?!

The Egghead Detective Agency by Pika Nani, illustrated by Jemma Jose, where kids solve neighbourhood mysteries with the help of a ghost of a certain, famous, egg-headed detective! This is a bunch of mysteries, with prompts, puzzles and codes for readers to solve themselves.

The Time Has Come by Venkatesh M Swamy and Swati Roy, illustrated by Priyankar Gupta, is a book that introduces kids to what makes a city livable, and encourages them to tackle a city’s problems on their own. Filled with facts and activities, it tells a child that they don’t have to wait to grow up in order to change things around them that aren’t right.

Flipped: Mystery Stories/Sci-Fi Stories — I like anthologies because I get to sample the writing of various authors. I like anthologies with a theme because sometimes it’s nice to know what to expect! This book is the fourth in a series of themed anthologies. Mystery stories make up the first half of the book. Then flip it and read from the other end and you have science fiction stories! Contains stories by various authors, and is illustrated by Shamika Chavez.

In When the Jungles Whisper by Preethi Menon, the author writes 26 different stories, and the star of each one is a wild creature. Some rare, some common, some endangered. They serve as an introduction to all of these creatures, for children who might not even have heard of some of them. They are told as bedtime stories in the book, and the quiet whispering quality of the stories makes me think they’d be great as bedtime stories for the reader too.

Staying on the jungle theme, Chaos in the Jungle and Other Stories by Rachna Chhabria is another bunch of animal stories, each one conveying a subtle message.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 100 Anecdotes by Arthy Muthanna Singh and Mamta Nainy — If you’re an admirer of the Dalai Lama, this book is a must. It is essentially his life story told in tiny anecdotes. The format and the layout suit older kids (and adults) better.

Lavanya Karthik adds to her brilliant Dreamers series, which is a series of picture book biographies, which she has both written and illustrated in an art style that suits the subject. The latest in the series are The Boy Who Loved Birds (Salim Ali) and The Girl Who Climbed Mountains (Bachendri Pal)

The author has written 14 books for children and can be reached at www.shruthi-rao.com

GobbledyBook is a fortnightly column that gives a peek into the wondrous world of children’s books. Hop on! Or as Alice did, plunge into the rabbit hole.