Enjoyable and engaging
Simran Luthra
Most millennials and older generations grew up on a steady diet of children’s literature in English from the West. However, India has long nurtured its own tradition of children’s literature in English, with celebrated authors such as Satyajit Ray, R.K. Narayan, Mahasweta Devi, and Ruskin Bond making lasting contributions. Over time, the landscape of children’s literature in India has expanded and evolved, with vibrant works emerging not only in Indian English but also in regional languages. Sudha Murthy, Poile Sengupta, Bijal Vachcharajani, Geeta Dharmarajan, Sowmya Rajendran, Paro Anand, Natasha Sharma, Shals Mahajan are a few authors who have contributed significantly to Indian children’s literature in English in recent years. Vibha Batra is another name that can be added to this list.
Kolam Kanna and Lights Out illustrated by Jemma Jose and Sahitya Rani respectively are two of author Vibha Batra’s latest books. The former has been published by Puffin Books while the latter has been brought out by Karadi Tales. Both books cater to slightly different age groups. While Lights Out is suitable for readers of 6+ and above, Kolam Kanna is apt for children between 8-12 years. Honestly, however, both books are delightful reads for any age group, including adults.
Set in Pothakkudi, a small village in Tamil Nadu, Lights Out is the heartwarming story of how the village community members choose to inconvenience themselves to ensure that the lives of a sparrow and her newly laid eggs are protected from any harm. The fact that it is based on a true incident that took place in a village in Sivagangai district in Tamil Nadu, something the author reveals in the epilogue, is even more heartening to learn.

Author: Vibha Batra
Publisher: Karadi Tales Company Pvt. Ltd.
No. of pages: 32
Price: INR 295
Where to buy: www.karaditales.com
Lights Out is a big book. The text is in large font and the illustrator has deftly depicted visuals of the time after sunset, with the village lights out. It is a great book to hold up for young readers to visually engage with while an adult reads aloud from it. The author reveals that while it was a robin and her young ones in the real case, in the book, the robin has been replaced with a sparrow to raise awareness about this species of bird that is increasingly threatened by habitat loss.
Kolam Kanna, on the other hand, is a little book. It is replete with captivating artwork that makes the adventures of three friends from an apartment complex come alive. The story revolves around Bharathi, the son of an istriwallah (laundry man), and his two friends from the complex, Tabassum and Alagu. Bharathi is a gifted artist, especially adept at making kolam or floor paintings. A kolam designing ‘kontest’ in the apartment complex is the backdrop of the story in which Bharathi’s friends rally for him to be able to participate in the contest despite his caste and class.
Batra’s use of alliteration in her prose, along with the occasionally expressive typography, irreverent humour, and strong characterization make Kolam Kanna highly enjoyable. The little asides in brackets that provide additional commentary for the reader generate much humour and break the formal structure of the narrative. They add to greater intimacy between the author and the reader and enhance the overall sense of amusement and pleasure of reading.

Author: Vibha Batra
Publisher: Puffin Books
No. of pages: 136
Price: INR 250
Where to buy: www.amazon.in
The names of the characters, evocative imagery, and illustrations provide a strong sense of place; rural in the case of Lights Out and a city milieu in Kolam Kanna. The use of Tamil kinship terms and expressions provide a sense of rootedness in specific cultures that make the books enriching to read.
As mentioned earlier, both books are great reads for adults as well. There lies a gentle indictment of adults who lose touch with the magic of childhood. The messages that we share the world with animals or how to overcome prejudices rooted in class and caste are equally or even more relevant for adults. Both books emphasize the joys of what is increasingly referred to as ‘slow living’ with a focus on nature and community life outside of the immediate family. In a high-speed technology-driven world, it is exposure to a slow, meditative pace of life that children need most exposure to.
Showing friendships across class, caste, and religion remains a crucial part of the educational agenda in India and both books do this well. But perhaps what the books do most importantly is highlight the agency that children have and exercise. The characters also demonstrate the importance of dialogue and problem-solving, so much so that they are able to influence adults. The irreverent humour combined with critical values and skills ensures the books do not become preachy.
Besides being delightful reads on their own, the books can serve as tools for engagement in the classroom. Here are a few ways in which teachers and interested adults can use the books:
Lights Out
- Use the big book to hold up and allow young readers to enjoy the illustrations as you read from it.
- Use the names of relations in Tamil to spark a conversation on what the same relations are called in the readers’ mother tongues, fostering multilinguality and inclusiveness.
- Initiate a discussion around endangered birds and animals.
- Utilize the book as a platform to encourage activities like organizing neighbourhood watches or engaging in bird-watching.
- Ask readers what issues bother them and encourage them to brainstorm what actions they can take and how they can collaborate with adults to make a difference.
Kolam Kanna
- Employ the book as a starting-point for more research on art forms, especially Indian art forms.
- Adapt the book into a play as it offers ample opportunity for rich characterization and dialogue delivery.
- Use the premise of the Kolam ‘Kontest’ for having a kolam or rangoli contest.
- Encourage readers to share their experiences with friends in their colony or society through various mediums such as oral stories, written narratives, photographs, or videos.
- Ask readers to write character sketches of their friends.
- Draw readers’ attention to linguistic devices such as alliteration, metaphors, humour, etc., used in the book. Invite readers to write stories of their own in which they use similar devices.
- Encourage learners to pick new words that they enjoyed, and actively use those words in their day-to-day conversation over the next week or fortnight.
The reviewer holds a PhD in Education from the School of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. She also has a Master’s in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and a Master’s in Education from TISS, Mumbai. A former Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at Stanford University (2013-14), Simran has over a decade of experience in the field of education. Currently based in Pune, she continues to contribute to education through her research, teaching, and writing. She can be reached at simranluthra@gmail.com.