Famous Indian authors of children’s books

International Children’s book day: Every year April 2 is celebrated as International Children’s Book Day. Children of today’s generation are surrounded by smartphones. In such a situation, they cannot become friends with books, whereas books are like true friends for us. It is also the responsibility of the parents to allow their children to read books, so that the child’s imagination gets expanded by reading those books. When we talk about children’s books, the names of JK Rowling, Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl come to mind first. However, there are some Indian writers who have created amazing works for children. Children must read those works. Know about some such Indian writers and their works.

Anant Pai: Children were introduced to traditional folk tales

Hardly any child of today’s generation knows about ‘Amar Chitra Katha’. For a time, Amar Chitra Katha used to be a memorable companion for children. The creator of Amar Chitra Katha was Anant Pai, who also became famous by the name of Uncle Pai. Anant Pai is also known as the father of Indian comics. He was born on September 17, 1929 in Karkala city of Karnataka. Pai had a difficult childhood and his parents died when he was only two years old. His maternal grandfather took care of him. He went to Mumbai for higher education and after completing his graduation from there, Uncle Pai joined the comic division of The Times of India. There he published Indian versions of comics like ‘Phantom and Mandrake’. In the year 1967, he started the ‘Amar Chitra Katha’ series in collaboration with India Book House. Through this series, he introduced children to traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories and biographies of historical characters. In the year 1980, he also started a children’s magazine named ‘Tinkle’. In the year 1996, he was honored with the Hindi Sahitya Akademi Award. Uncle Pai’s style of presenting characters was very interesting and unique, which is why he was very successful in attracting children’s minds. The special thing is that even today his books of Amar Chitra Katha can be ordered and read.

Major works: Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha

Ruskin Bond: Writers who take children to utopia

Ruskin Bond’s stories are so captivating that one gets absorbed in them. It will seem as if your syllabus remains incomplete without them. Interesting stories like The Blue Umbrella, Rusty and the Leopard and Rusty Run Away fascinate the children. Ruskin Bond also gives vivid depiction of mountains and nature in his writings. He has depicted the flora and fauna of the hills, wonderful landscapes, diverse climates and simple hill folk along with interesting characters in his stories. Ruskin Bond has written more than 30 books for children. Ruskin Bond received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for his book ‘Our Trees Still Grow at Dehra’. Ruskin Bond has a book for children – ‘The Hidden Pool’. This is a collection of short stories. The Hidden Pool story collection is the story of three friends Laurie, Anil and Kamal. Laurie is the son of a British engineer, who lives in India. He has two Indian friends, Anil and Kamal, who make him aware of India’s festivals, food and traditions. Laurie discovers a hidden water pool amidst the mountains. The story revolves around this hidden pool.

Major works: A Flight of Pigeons, Ghost Stories from the Raj, The Blue Umbrella

Also Read: Sahitya Akademi’s Children’s Literature Award to Suryanath Singh, see the full list here