Award-winning author and illustrator Manjula Padmanabhan has come out with her latest book for children – “The World Tour Mystery”, brought out by Tulika Publishers. “The World Tour Mystery” is about a family of six, who, through their clue-bearing diary jottings and pictures, take the reader on an exciting journey to monuments and sites around the world.
Manjula's love for puzzles finds expression in this book as well as in many others she has written. In an e-mail interview, Manjula Padmanabhan speaks about “The World Tour Mystery” and children's literature in general. Excerpts from the interview:
Who do you enjoy writing for the most — adults or children?
Adults. I don't really write for children — I create picture books and then add text.
How and when did you decide to start writing for children?
I worked as a cartoonist and illustrator for magazines from my late teens onwards. Some of my ideas were better suited to children, so I looked for publishers who were interested.
What kind of books did you read as a child? Can you name some of the books that have had a profound influence on you? Who are your favourite children's authors?
I read everything that came my way, as a child, including a lot of fairy tales, fantasy literature and comics. “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass” were early favourites. “The Wind in the Willows”, “The Water Babies”, all of Enid Blyton and also E. Nesbit.
Tell us about your love for puzzles, and about writing and illustrating picture-puzzle books.
Drawing picture-puzzle books is an extension of doing puzzles — I am sure many people who really like puzzles eventually think about creating their own! The pleasure comes from being immersed in a purely abstract dimension for a short while — and when you return to the world, you feel refreshed.
Writing or illustration — which do you prefer of the two?
I am often asked this! But there's no question of preference — sometimes I want to write and sometimes I want to draw. That's all there is to it.
How did the idea for your latest children's book, “The World Tour Mystery”, come about?
When I was a child, we used to play a party game that I loved, called Around The World — we lived in a big house with lots of stairs and doors, so there was a great deal of running and shouting — and the aim was to get a list of countries in the correct order.
My book is a quiet little two-dimensional version of that game (without the house and the running around) and the “mystery” is about getting a list of countries in the right order.
What are your comments on the children's literature scene in the country?
It's improved a great deal. There are many more authors and publishers than when I was struggling to earn a living as an illustrator.
If you were to recommend three must-read contemporary Indian children's books, what would they be?
Oh dear — that's difficult! I usually just give away my own titles as gifts so I don't exactly look around. My publisher is Tulika, and I think their books are wonderful. Come to think of it, of all the books I've ever read about India and Indians, the one that towers above the rest is Rudyard Kipling's “Kim”! Isn't that amazing? And of course “Jungle Book”. Jim Corbett's wonderful stories about being a hunter are also some of the most inspiring and authentic stories set in India.
THE LARGER PICTURE
Manjula Padmanabhan's book for children, “Same and Different” was selected for The White Ravens 2011, as the Outstanding International Book.
Her multilingual picture book, “I am Different” was chosen to be one among the Outstanding International Books of 2012 by the Unites States Board on Books for Young People.
