TELLING TALES
Forget princesses in towers. Today’s children’s books are helping preteens navigate the world around them — from militancy in the Valley to female infanticide, girls kissing girls to life in a wheelchair
What does it matter to us whether the prince was in the tower or Rapunzel?
The issues that Indian children grapple with as they transition into adulthood relate more closely to the news than to fairy tales — issues like terrorism, disability, the criminalisation of gay sex.
It’s a gap that children’s books are filling in interesting ways.
From relatively passive stories about subjects such as death and divorce — where did grandma go; what happened to the pet hamster; why don’t mummy and daddy live together anymore — the past decade has brought a sense of action and agency to the child protagonist.
“These are strong characters who have a voice and are dealing with issues themselves,” says Padma Baliga, a professor of literature from Bengaluru with a PhD in children’s literature.
So you have a young girl in Mumbai grappling with a hatred of Muslims after her father is killed in a terror attack (Like Smoke by Paro Anand); a teen coming to terms with the fact that her friend Sahil is in love with her brother (Slightly Burnt by Payal Dhar); two 15-year-old girls who must decide how they feel about their kiss (Talking Of Muskaan by Himanjali Sankar).
Also, a young girl coming to terms with disability; a boy trying to understand why there’s a bunch of girls’ faces in the well behind his home.
It’s not easy telling such tales to children — Anand’s books have been banned from certain school libraries in DelhiNCR, following sustained protests by parents; Sankar has been sidelined by principals in Mumbai during litfest events.
It helps that publishers are willing to back the authors.
“The target age group for Anand’s books is 12 to 14,” says Priya Kapoor, editorial director at Roli Books. “Children in that age group understand public violence and should read books about it because that’s when they will begin to come to terms with their reality.”
Himanjali Sankar, associate publisher at Bloomsbury India, adds that when they choose to publish a book, they are looking for quality and sensitivity. “Slightly Burnt helps sensitise children about homosexuality and is written very well.”
Tanu Shree Singh, an author who runs the Reading Raccoons Library for children in Faridabad, believes it is vital to talk to kids about understanding and appreciating all kinds of differences. “And what better way to do this than read to them about it,” she says.
She bought Talking Of Muskaan for her 11-year-old son, because she thought it had an interesting theme and she and her sons had recently discussed homosexuality at home.
“I found the plot mildly shocking,” her son Vivaan says, laughing, “but the plot taught me to respect sexual orientation of friends and everyone.”
Buoyed by their successes and the responses of their young readers — many say the books help them understand a community better; respect differences; empathise with those who are different, such as the disabled — authors are charging forward.
Anand’s Like Smoke was preceded by No Guns At My Son’s Funeral — a 2005 book about a teen who finds himself drawn towards militancy in the Kashmir Valley — and she is now working on one about a child realising that he is transgender.
Ranjit Lal, author of Faces in the Water, is taking on the issue of stalking.
As Kapoor of Roli Books puts it: “If the content is well-written and promising, it will be published. These are important subjects, and books do not have to suit all the ideas of the masses.”