No book lover’s year will end till you have lapped up the year’s best. Of course! 2017 was a year full of wonderful books — some full of inspiration, some stuffed with adventure, those dealing with deeper issues, while still others were just feel-good fun. As we bid adieu to 2017, here is a list of some books that we lost our hearts to.
The Wolf The Duck and The Mouse by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen
A mouse and a duck. Inside a wolf. Enjoying life. If this sounds bizarre enough for you to rush and pick up this book, please do. If it doesn’t, let me try once more. The mouse and the duck are having their fair share of fun even though they have been eaten by the wolf, but there is the threat of a hunter who is about to kill the wolf! Guess what happens next? The duo within does its best to save the wolf. How? Well, that’s for you to find out. All we can promise is that dying, being eaten by an animal and being part of his insides has never been this fun!
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
One hundred stories of 100 women through the ages. How fabulous can that be! Did you know that this book, that has created a fan following for itself across the globe, among children and their parents alike, is a crowd-funded project? The book took shape when Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, founders of four-year-old Timbuktu Labs and creators of Timbuktu Magazine, the first iPad magazine for children, realised that 95%of the books and TV shows they grew up with lacked girls in prominent positions! With stories of Ada Lovelace, Serena Williams and Malala Yousafzai, the book is a must-have.
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt and Adam Rex
How often have you played Rock Paper Scissors? Bet you didn’t know the history behind the game, did you? Drew Daywalt weaves this fabulously bizarre tale about Rock who is the champion of the Kingdom of Backyard, Paper of the Empire of Mom’s Home Office, and Scissors the undisputed victor of the Kitchen Realm. It’s every read aloud book lover’s dream, complete with exaggerated fonts and funny lines. You’ll love this one!
Ammachi’s Glasses by Priya Kuriyan
When the wonderfully talented Priya Kuriyan brings out a picture book, we are always awaiting it with glee. Now if this book is a wordless picture book, you may magnify that excitement a thousand-fold. Ammachi’s Glasses is among those treasured books of the illustrator. You will laugh yourself silly as Ammachi helps herself to chappal-sambhar or washes out the family cat along with other clothes. You will want to stop her from landing into further trouble and tut-tut when she does. I mean the children will do all this. Not the adults. No. Definitely not the adults.
A Tangle of Brungles by Shobha Vishwanath and illustrated by Culpeo Fox
A collectively cool collection of collective nouns! Did you know what a storm a coven of witches could brew in a cauldron with a cloud of bats, a bind of eels and a clew of worms? Fabulously woven into a story cleverly with collective nouns, A Tangle of Brungles is a book you will thoroughly enjoy. It’s not just the kids; I bet you will pick up a lot of collective nouns too.
Boo! When My Sister Died by Richa Jha and Gautam Benegal
Noorie’s sister Zoya is dead. Noorie is never going to feel her again or play with her or have fun with her. She is upset and angry. Her mother’s lies about Zoya being everywhere around them only gets Noorie angrier. Zoya’s friend Dhara trying to be with Noorie all the time also annoys her. How does she handle the hurt? Boo! is a sensitive and well-crafted book that opens up a passage for conversation about loss. The illustrations are heartbreakingly beautiful. Buy it please.
Ninja Nani and the Zapped Zombie Kids written and illustrated by Lavanya Karthik
What can a 10-year-old and his nani do together? Play indoor games, maybe read a book, you’d think? How about bringing back zombie kids to their senses! Ground breaking stuff, this, from Lavanya Karthik who destroys all your long-held stereotypes about the seniors with her two just-released books: Ninja Nani and the Bumbling Burglars (Book 1) and Ninja Nani and the Zapped Zombie Kids (Book 2). Throw in a bunch of madcap characters and the author’s crackling writing style, and the readers are glued to their reading spots.
