Bijal Vachharajani explores ‘cute aggression’ through a child’s wild imagination in a heartwarming tale of trust, family, and hilarious misunderstandings.

Lavanya Karthik’s delightfully narrated and illustrated biography of Janaki Ammal, a path-breaking woman scientist in colonial India, inspires young readers.

Edavalath Kakkat Janaki Ammal was one of India’s first female scientists, but before she broke glass ceilings, she was just a little girl in Kerala’s seaside town of Thalassery. The short, illustrated biography by Lavanya Karthik charmingly captures her story, looking for a dream world away from her hometown with rigid rules.

The book is Janaki’s journey from being a seed to a blossoming forest. The storytelling is captivating even though the narrative is short—there are barely a line or two per page. Even then, the biography perfectly encapsulates the dreariness in Janaki’s life and the angst for more.

Thalassery is beautiful but to Janaki, it’s suffocating. The very first depiction of the town in a beautiful green monochromatic colour scheme, shows Janaki

Simple stories by Shaurya Kabra, an astute high-schooler, who demystifies the scary world of money.

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Shaurya Kabra’s Ek Prayaas takes on a bold journey—giving young individuals financial knowledge through the fairy tales of yore. The book by the 16-year-old presents a short story collection inspired by tales like Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk, but with an Indian context. Named after an initiative by Kabra, the book simplifies concepts like, budgeting, saving, interest, and how money works by creatively using six children’s stories. While the book is a brave attempt at clarifying the complex world of finance, the stories seem a little lacking and could have been better fleshed out.