8 charming picture books for your child’s first read

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Ammachi can’t find her glasses one morning and everything goes topsy-turvy!

Page after page spills with drama, humour, detail and local flavour as Priya Kuriyan spins a hilarious tale about a crazy day with unforgettable Ammachi— ‘the archetypal grandmother from memories of my own childhood in Kerala,’ as Priya says. A celebrated illustrator, she is at her best in this her first wordless picture book.

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This beach on the South Indian coast is full of activity. By day you can see fishermen bring in the catch, women selling fish, people and animals going about their business…but then, when the sun starts to set, the beach becomes a different place – now it’s time for everyone to play, talk, sit around, eat and have fun…until the fisherfolk go to sleep, and all the others go home. French artist Joelle Jolivet takes you through a day – and night – on an Indian beach. Have fun exploring, colouring, and adding to this never-ending book surrounded by the sea!

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Oh-oh! Ammama’s sari has a hole in it! So she gets down to some snipping and stitching. And the sari becomes a pretty curtain, a snug baby-sling, a perfect plaything for the cat . . . Niveditha Subramaniam’s stunningly textured cloth collages weave through the pages of this wordless picture book with the touch and feel of the sari. To her, they evoke comfortable sensory memories of her own Ammama — the grandmother for whom upcycling was as natural as being in a sari.

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Junali and Rimjhim are off to see Bhaona, the traditional drama on the river island of Majuli. But shadows loom everywhere! A mischievous story that celebrates this wonderful folk practice of Assam.

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Told entirely through pictures, this is the story of the struggle of two ants to take a piece of ladoo into their home.

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Indian artist Anpu Varkey displays such whimsical memories in her latest work – Summer’s Children. Three years in the making, the monochromatic silent comic recollects Varkey’s own childhood memories in rural Kerala, a southern Indian state known for its verdant landscapes. From fish making visible ripples in the water to a coconut falling, Varkey manages to recall and translate to paper these fond memories of nature, all hand drawn in the pointillist method (a technique where small, distinct dots are applied in patterns to form an image). The self-published graphic novel has no words, except a few that illustrate sounds.

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Blurb:

When young children pick up a book, they like to start where it opens. This set of books encourages them to do just that. In physical as well as narrative structure, these books are cyclical. No beginning, no end, no first page, no last page. No text too, just pictures that tell many stories. Handy sized, easy structured and brightly illustrated, these loopy books are endlessly entertaining.

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