Karadi Tales Blog

Do you have a tribute to Uncle Pai?

2012-02-17T12:24:00.000+05:30

Remembering Uncle Pai: Join us in remembering the life and work of Uncle Pai. We are making a graffiti board with all our memories and tributes to him, and we’d like you to join us. Every week, we’ll put them all up on a graffiti board.

Leave your tribute as a comment here!

Happy Valentine's Day from Karadi Tales!

2012-02-14T08:39:00.001+05:30

Portrait of a Small Boy Reading

2012-02-09T13:42:00.000+05:30

Ah, the little joys in life!

Regional Language Nursery Rhymes

2012-02-04T13:49:00.000+05:30

We need your help again! We're looking for cool, funny rhymes that you heard in your childhood - any language is fine. Our editor remembers growing up with an utterly absurd rhyme in Tamil that goes like this:

Blucka thooki mela potta settiyar veetu nandoo,

Nandae thooki mela potta nagarathna paambu,
Paamba thooki mela potta pancha varna kili,
Kiliya thooki mela potta krishnaroda Kondai!

(Rough translation:

If you toss the palanquin up, you'll find a crab from the Chettiyar's house.

If you toss the crab up, you'll find a jewelled snake.

If you toss the snake up, you'll find a five-coloured macaw.

If you toss the macaw up, you'll find Krishna's tuft of coiled hair!)

It's strange and insane, but so much fun. And now we want more like these. So if you remember any rhymes from your childhood (or your adulthood!), send us the words and a translation. If you can sing it, that's even better. Send us an MP3 file. We want as many weird, quirky, hilarious Indian rhymes as possible. Won't you help us with our very special project?

Leave a comment on this post or drop us an email at contact@karaditales.com if there's a rhyme you think will fit the bill.

Happy Pongal from Karadi Tales!

2012-01-15T10:28:00.000+05:30

Pongal Celebrations at Karadi Tales!

2012-01-13T14:35:00.000+05:30

More pictures here on Facebook!

Karadi Characters!

2012-01-13T14:24:00.000+05:30

A sneak peek at five fabulous upcoming Karadi characters!

Karadi Kids - a new blog!

2012-01-13T10:49:00.000+05:30

Can't get enough of Karadi Tales? Check out our newest page for kids. Find a wealth of free resources - colouring and activity printables - to engage and stimulate your child. Follow our new blog now!

Saturday Stories at The Cancer Institute Children's Ward

2012-01-12T12:27:00.000+05:30

On 31 December 2011, we decided to ring in the New Year with a very special event at the Children's Ward of the Mahesh Memorial Trust at the Cancer Institute (WIA) in Gandhinagar Chennai. Our storytellers told the stories Fish Friends Three, The Monkeys and the Capseller and The Lion and the Mouse and the kids had a ball!

Here are some pictures from the event.

More pictures are here!

Top 12 Children's Books of 2011

2012-01-02T11:57:00.001+05:30

2011 was filled with top notch reads from some of India’s leading publishers of children’s books. Many of these reads found their way into the hearts of children and adults alike. Some were much blogged and talked about. We take a quick look at the top 12 children’s books that made for excellent reading, and won hearts and accolades on the way.

Karadi Tales

Dorje’s Stripes

By Anshumani Ruddra •Illustrated by Gwangjo and Jung-a Park

Appropriate for Ages 5+

Dorje is no ordinary tiger. He’s a tiger that has lost its stripes. In this haunting tale set in a monastery in Tibet, find out what caused Dorje to lose his stripes. This is a story about exploitation and unexpected hope that is a must read for all tiger lovers who believe in a future where tigers will thrive. The soft watercolors are enticing and set the mood for this insightful story.

Whose Lovely Child Can You Be?

By Shobha Viswanath • Illustrated by Christine Tappin

Appropriate for Ages 7+

The story deals with the delicate issue of adoption. Little Gulgul finds out that she is adopted and is confused as well as saddened by it. The various members of her large family try their best to make her feel happy and loved again.

Pratham Books

A King Cobra's Summer

By Janaki Lenin • Illustrated by Maya Ramaswamy

Appropriate for Ages 7+

Set in the verdant Western Ghats, this story brings to life all the strange life forms that Kaala the king cobra comes across when he finds himself far away from his home in the areca nut plantation. This vibrant story sensitizes children to the plight of the forests and the king cobra.

Kallu's World

By Subhadra Sen Gupta • Illustrated by Tapas Guha

Appropriate for Ages 7+

This series introduces readers to Kallu, a mischievous young boy who keeps getting in and out of scrapes. In the first book – In Big Trouble Again – he finds himself in need of a good story when he’s late to class. Again. In the second book, Monkey Business on Stage, Kallu gets drawn into Masterji's yearly stage show of Ramlila.

Scholastic

A Magic Mirror Mystery: A Visionary Voyage
By Luther Tsai and Nury Vittachi • Paperback, 104 pages

Appropriate for Ages 9+

Miranda and Marko's parents are away on a business trip when their grandfather disappears. As they try to figure out what to do, a mysterious package containing an old bronze mirror arrives by post, setting in motion a series of events that take the brother and sister to fifteenth century China and on board the fleet of the famous Admiral Zheng He. A thrilling mystery complete with time travel, pirates and treasure ships, this first novel in the series sets the stage for the many more magical journeys into the past.

Zain & Ana: Ghosts Don't Eat

By Anushka Ravishankar • Paperback, 124 pages

Appropriate for Ages 4+

Do Ghosts Eat? Nothing surprises Zain and Ana. The way they see it, a dog can be a fish and ghosts can have teeth. Zain finds a new friend in the gameboy addict Nikhil, and discovers that a strange being inhabits Nikhil’s house. Zain and Ana soon unearth several clues that confirm their worst suspicions about the strange creature. It really might be a ghost and it really might be eating. The second book in the Zain and Series will surely delight fans all over again.

Tara Books

Excuses, Excuses!

By Anushka Ravishankar • Illustrated by Gabrielle Manglou

Appropriate for Ages 4+

Meet Neel, who has the noblest of intentions, all of which have a strange way of going wrong … 'Excuses, Excuses!' captures the gleeful childhood dilemma of knowing the importance of rules, but delighting in breaking them.

The Great Race

By Nathan Kumar Scott • Illustrated by Jagdish Chitara

Appropriate for Ages 4+

'The Great Race' is an exciting retelling of an Indonesian folktale, featuring the trickster Kanchil. Illustrated in the Mata Ni Pachedi style of ritual textile painting from Gujarat, this is the first time that this rare form of traditional art has been used to tell a children's story.

Tulika Books

Siri's Smile

By R. Amarendran • Illustrated by Bhakti Phatak

Appropriate for Ages 3+

Little Siri slips away from home one day and goes around asking whomsoever she meets
to smile. Find out why in the pages of this bright and cheerful book that evokes a world of colour
and things to discover.

Black Panther

By Aravind Krish Bala • Illustrated by Ashok Rajagopalan

Appropriate for Ages 6+

Arvind Krish Bala and his friend, Natarajan, an Irula tribesman, were at a waterhole waiting to sight a tiger, when Natarajan shared the story of his first encounter with a black panther in the Anamalais, 'elephant hills', in the Western Ghats running through Kerala and Tamilnadu. Though Natarajan had been roaming the Anamalais for more than forty years this was the first time he saw a Black Panther.

Zubaan Books

Icky, Yucky, Mucky!
By Natasha Sharma • Illustrated by Anitha Balachandran

Appropriate for Ages 4+

Maharaja Icky is the most disgusting King you’ll ever have the misfortune to meet. The ruler of the kingdom of Icktapur has utterly vile table manners. Banned from using spoons or nail cutters, the people of Icktapur are at their wits’ end. Icky, Yucky,Mucky! will have children squirming in their chairs and yelling with delight. And perhaps, learning a lesson or two in table manners!

Tales of Historic Delhi

By Premola Ghose

Appropriate for Ages 4+

Join the animals of Janwar Dosti — Tunnu the tiger, Zero the giraffe, Lucky the rabbit and all their jungle friends — on a magical history tour through Delhi. Premola Ghose’s fabulously rich and amusing paintings are the perfect way to explore the wonderful monuments of Delhi and discover new places to see and things to do. Tales of Historic Delhi is the perfect guidebook for families visiting the city, and a whole new way to bring history alive.

New Year Wishes from Karadi Tales

2011-12-31T12:20:00.000+05:30

Saturday Stories at Pappadum

2011-12-29T12:55:00.000+05:30

Last Saturday, we did a storytelling session of The Lion and the Mouse and Monkeys on a Fast at Pappadum in Chennai. Here are some pictures from the sessions!

For more pictures, click here!

Merry Christmas from Karadi Tales!

2011-12-24T16:02:00.005+05:30

Christmas Wishes from Karadi Rhymes!

2011-12-23T11:48:00.002+05:30

Saturday Stories: 24 December 2011

2011-12-21T13:15:00.002+05:30

Saturday Stories at Bamboola

2011-12-17T12:45:00.003+05:30

What a fun time at Bamboola! Authors Shobha Viswanath and Kaushik Viswanath read out Monkeys on a Fast. The audience sang 'Chips and Chocolate', chanted Om Namah Shivaya and laughed at all the monkey antics! Little Vinayak followed with his looongggg trunk, and had everyone out of their seats and dancing.

Don't miss the photos of all the Karadi clan fun!

For more pictures, click here!

Saturday Stories at Hippocampus

2011-12-12T10:38:00.000+05:30

Last Saturday, we did a storytelling session of Kutti and the Mouse and The Moustache Man at Hippocampus in Chennai. Here are some pictures from the sessions!

And you can see more pictures here!

The Reading Child

2011-12-08T11:08:00.000+05:30

The Spring and Zoom Centre for Literary Arts recently conducted a conference called The Reading Child. We conducted a workshop called Reading Masterchef - a recipe for a young and enthusiastic reader and took part in a panel discussion called Hooked to Books. Overall, it was a very fun learning experience for everyone. Teachers, parents, publishers, educators and writers came together to talk about the importance of reading in the life of a child.

Tharini Viswanathan of The Book Lovers' Program for Schools wrote a lovely report on the conference which was published on the Pratham Books blog. Do check it out!

And here are some pictures from the conference.

You can see more pictures from the conference here!

Karadi Reads!

2011-12-07T13:35:00.000+05:30

Pictures from our storytelling session at Eureka Bookstore in New Delhi last month! Uncle Andy reads When the Earth Lost its Shapes to a group of enraptured kids!

Festive Offer

2011-12-06T11:51:00.004+05:30

Go to our website to know more about the offer! Visit our Facebook page to see more product images!

Saturday Stories at V-Excel

2011-12-05T12:33:00.000+05:30

On World Disability Day (3 December 2011), Karadi Tales joined the kids of V-Excel Educational Trust for Special Children for a storytelling session at Indira Nagar Youth Hostel in Chennai. Here are the pictures from the session!

You can see the rest of the pictures here!

Kids' publishers take baby steps in digital world

2011-12-05T11:39:00.000+05:30

Karadi Tales covered in Times of India!

Karadi Tales on Mint Lounge

2011-12-03T12:24:00.000+05:30

December 2011

2011-12-01T08:00:00.002+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the December 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Saturday Stories from Karadi Tales!

2011-11-18T15:41:00.002+05:30

Storytellers Wanted!

2011-11-16T16:17:00.001+05:30

We're looking for volunteer storytellers in Chennai. Previous experience is not necessary. A love for children and stories is! If you can sing, that's even better. Your skills will probably be required every Saturday for an hour. Transport will be reimbursed. We will also be very nice to you.

If you're interested, please write to contact@karaditales.com.

Happy Children's Day from Karadi Tales!

2011-11-14T10:05:00.002+05:30

The Karadi Tales Chennai Team!

2011-11-10T11:54:00.000+05:30

Recently, our good friends from Saffron Tree asked us for an office photograph... and we realised that we did not have one! So we decided one day to take a quick picture of our entire office just so you all know that we're not just a bunch of bears operating out of a jungle.

Psst! If you haven't seen it already, this is our office!

Eid Mubarak!

2011-11-07T11:58:00.000+05:30

And don't miss the festivals song from Karadi Rhymes!

A Review of The Moustache Man

2011-11-05T11:04:00.000+05:30

Here is a review of The Moustache Man, a new picture book from Karadi Tales, on Young India Books, a website dedicated to news about books for young people from the subcontinent!

You can buy this book and other picture books from Karadi Tales here.

And don't forget to enter our reviews competition here!

November 2011

2011-11-01T08:00:00.001+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the November 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Notes from Frankfurt

2011-10-31T13:53:00.000+05:30

Now that you know how we got there, here are some notes from the actual book fair!

The Frankfurter Buchmesse, as the Frankfurt Book Fair is known, is the largest trade fair for books in the world, attracting around 300,000 visitors each year. The book fair is over 500 years old, the earliest fair being held by local German booksellers soon after the invention of the Gutenberg press. It's a centuries' old tradition and we were delighted to be a part of the book fair once again.

I think our annual trips to these book fairs are propelled by a search for beauty - beautiful books, beautiful places and beautiful people. Of course, it's business as usual, and our days are jam-packed with meetings to discuss translation rights and distribution deals and foreign licenses. We met publishers from all over the world for a week that was as populated with serious discussion as it was with fun and revelry.

Our books met with much interest, and that's always gratifying to note. We had pinned up gorgeous posters across our stand, and passers-by would often stop by, simply curious or fascinated by the posters.

There was also a palpable difference when compared to last year in terms of the amount of space taken up by digital applications and services. Large designated "hotspots" could be found all around the messe, where discussions on print and digital publishing took place. Several exciting gadgets could be seen everywhere, each more complicated and outlandish than the previous.

These are pictures of our beautiful stand lined with picture books and posters:

And you can see more pictures here!

On Getting to Frankfurt

2011-10-28T13:55:00.000+05:30

What can I tell you about the Frankfurt Book Fair that I didn't tell you last year? Instead of telling you about the fair itself, I decided this year to talk about our struggles to actually get to the book fair, which are just as interesting.

We dutifully registered for the book fair well in time and booked ourselves a stand in Hall 3.0 where the children's publishers usually are. It's a lively, cheerful hall, one of the old favourites at the messe, and we knew that was where we wanted to be. We got our paperwork together and completed all formalities and our stand was confirmed.

Then, on 9 September 2011, we began to apply for our visas.

Day 1: Having got all the necessary papers together, I arrived at the VFS in Chennai to apply for a visa. It was around 11 in the morning and my mind was already preoccupied with thoughts of our chaiwallah, who usually turns up at the office around this time. When I finally presented our papers around an hour later, I was informed that the earliest interview date available was 12 October (by which time the fair would have already begun in Frankfurt!). Upon further enquiry, I was told that the reason for this was that the embassy was restricting the number of applications this year. I then investigated the possibility of a visa without an interview for my colleague (since she is a holder of two Schengen visas in the past year). I was told that the VFS was accepting only 2 non-interview cases per day due to the aforementioned restrictions and since I did not arrive early enough, I was not among those two. Disappointed, but not hopeless, I went away.

Day 2: Since the VFS opens at 8 in the morning, I decided to arrive at 7:30 and attempt to be one of the early applicants. When I arrived, I was the twelfth person in line. Apparently, eleven others had had the same idea.

Day 3: I was sure today was going to be the day. I set my alarm clock for 5:30 in the morning and was at the VFS by 6. I was the eighth in line. "What time did you get here?" I asked the sleepy gentleman in front of me. "5 am," he said. I resolved to wake up even earlier.

Day 4: True to my word, I set ten different alarm clocks to make sure that I would wake up in time and managed to drag myself to VFS by 5 in the morning, a time when late night partiers with more active social lives than me were probably dragging themselves home. "Why are you going so early?" my grandmother asked. "Auspicious time," I replied, "The visa gods won't grant visas unless I go at the auspicious time." She nodded wisely. "The gods are like that sometimes." I contemplated carrying a yoga mat there and performing the surya namaskar (which, of course, I don't know how to perform, but how hard can it be?). I walked up to the VFS at 5 am and there were already four others in the queue. This queue, mind you, was out on the street and not on the actual premises of the VFS. By now, I was a familiar face on the street. Joggers and pakoda sellers waved good morning. The guard at the VFS smiled at me sympathetically. Once again, I turned and returned home forlornly.

Day 5: Foolish as it seemed, I decided to try one last time. This time, I took precautionary measures. I asked a colleague to take a 3 am shift and I arrived to relieve him at 6 am. This time, we were successful - I was the second person in line (some hapless soul had taken the trouble to spend the night there!). I finally managed to make the application. Exhausted but victorious, I left VFS, hoping I'd never have to come back.

Day 6: No such luck. Since I was only able to make my colleague's application as a non-interview case, I had to return to make my own, of course. By this time, the earliest available interview date was 16 October, which happened to be the last date of the fair. But I had a few tricks up my sleeve. We had somehow managed to pull a few strings with the embassy and, through some rather diabolical means that I will not currently elaborate on, I was able to get myself an interview date on 4 October. Yes, I am that well-connected.

Of course, the interview went well and I received a one-month multiple entry visa, although my colleague somehow ended up with a 7-day visa (for the exact duration of the book fair) and could not extend her trip even if she wished to. Later, a fellow publisher told us that his visa was rejected because his hotel booking was "not close enough to the messe grounds".

After many, many sleepless nights, we did finally make it to Frankfurt - and as a gorgeous bonus we managed to get bumped up to first class on our way there! And the book fair was wonderful as always, although every now and then we would smile at each other, knowing how close we were to not being there at all.

p.s. Don't worry, a more detailed report with photos etc. will follow!

A Review of Dancing Bear

2011-10-28T10:32:00.000+05:30

Here's a review of Dancing Bear a new picture book from Karadi Tales on a blog called Topsy Turvy Life!

You can buy this book and other picture books from Karadi Tales here.

And don't forget to enter our reviews competition here!

Shubh Deepavali from Karadi Tales!

2011-10-25T16:35:00.000+05:30

Saffron Tree celebrates with CROCUS 2011

2011-10-18T12:03:00.000+05:30

Saffron Tree is turning 5, and this is how they party!

Saffron Tree turns five this year. Five. It has a nice ring to it. Mainly because five is an important number in many traditions. There is of course the ancient pentagram or the five pointed star, incidentally, dating back to the Vedas too, as a symbol of man, the five wounds of Christ, the five times a devout Muslim is called to prayer, the five symbols of Sikhism and not so sacred but oh so important, the five fingers on a hand. We at Saffron Tree however, decided to narrow our focus to Aristotle's five classical elements, namely, water, fire, earth, air and ether.

As is usual, we bring you a veritable bonanza. Reviews, art and craft, our very popular Crocusword and interviews galore, of arborists, archeologists, environmentalists and more. Even as I type this I wonder if I've given you too much of a peek. Perhaps I have. So I'm going to stop here and leave you thirsting for more. What I will share with you, is our lovely banner, designed by the very talented Lavanya Karthik. Feast your eyes on it, folks and brace yourself for the smorgasbord ahead. As ever, spread the joy, share the beauty of the written word and tell the world that CROCUS 2011, is almost here.

Follow the Saffron Tree blog as they celebrate their birthday with CROCUS 2011.

Telling Stories with Pictures

2011-10-18T11:27:00.001+05:30

Karadi's five new titles are featured in The Hindu, with word bytes from Shobha Viswanath, publishing director of Karadi Tales and author of two of the books in the series.Read it here!

Karadi's new "app"-etite!

2011-10-14T11:35:00.000+05:30

Karadi Tales is charting new horizons with its venture into the world of iPad apps. Here's what the Hindustan Times has to say about it in their article Karadi tales now on the iPad. Featuring word bytes from Karadi Tales Creative Director, and author, Shobha Viswanath, the article explores Karadi's new path.

Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

2011-10-10T11:08:00.000+05:30

Tarie Sabido's lovely blog, Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind, which reviews and features the very best of children's literature from across Asia, now lists the 5 latest picture book titles from Karadi Tales. Check out the blog post here!

Thanks, Tarie!

Reviews of Dorje's Stripes

2011-10-05T15:42:00.000+05:30

Dorje's Stripes is a book from Karadi Tales about a royal Bengal tiger. Here are some recent reviews from international magazines, journals and blogs!

The Midwest Book Review writes:

Beautiful watercolor, delicately tinted paintings help tell the story of Dorje's Stripes" in an unforgettable way. Surely "Dorje's Stripes" will help to sensitize the world to the plight of the threatened Royal Bengal Tiger and help motivate action towards its protection as a species.

Read the entire review here.

Biblio Reads writes:

Wonderful! A tale that succinctly targets the plight of the Royal Bengal Tiger in an imaginative and magical story.

Read the entire review here.

Jaci Miller of Kids Books Central writes:

Gently and sensitively told, the fictional Dorjes Stripes communicates the plight of the endangered Royal Bengal tiger through Dorjes experiences in the wild. Readers should be aware that a bit of eastern mysticism trickles into the story as Master Wu travels into Dorjes dreams to learn his background.

Read the entire review here.

The School Library Journal writes:

This heartwarming story is enhanced by stunning watercolors that add to its peaceful tone and suggest a quiet beauty as well as depict the actions and emotions of each character.

The original link is available only to subscribers, but you can read the review here.

Publisher's Weekly writes:

Working in brilliant, seeping watercolors, the Korean illustrating team plays up the mystical elements of the story, while underscoring the dangers the tigers face. But the new stripe on Dorje means he has found a female companion, bringing hope for Royal Bengal tiger populations. A closing note about the tigers’ vulnerability adds urgency to this subtle story about preservation and survival.

The original link is available only to subscribers, but you can read the review here.

Kiss the Book, a book-blog, writes:

The text is simple and easy to understand. The illustrations are beautiful. This book would be a good read aloud for preschoolers who like tigers.

Read the entire review here.

Tasha of Waking Brain Cells writes:

Ruddra’s tone is one of respect and awe for this creature. He takes his time to tell the story to its fullest, offering inspiration along the way. The illustrations are glowing with bright colors that capture the coat of Dorje and the world of the monastery. The watercolors have been allowed to bleed a bit, creating auras around things. At other times, the painting is tight and controlled. The two play against each other, showing the wild next to the tame. This is a lovely and inspiring book about threatened species. It captures the plight, the loss and the recovery in one beautiful story.

Read the entire review here.

On In the Pages, a review of several books including Dorje's Stripes:

What a great multi-cultural story - Master Wu, a Buddhist monk in Tibet, tells this story about why the tiger has no stripes and how he may yet get his stripes. I liked this - it is totally different than other picture books and gives us a wonderful glimpse into the culture of Tibet.

Read the entire piece here.

On Paper Tigers:

This powerful and majestic animal is now one of the Earth’s most threatened species, but the story of Dorje is one of hope. “Dorje only knew cruel men before he met us,” explains Master Wu, but just as the tiger – and perhaps eventually his clan – recovers under the monks’ care, so can future generations work to change the fate of this beautiful animal.

Read this write-up on the book from Paper Tigers!

For more details on the book, click here. You can also buy the book from Karadi Tales here.

An Interview with Karadi Tales on Saffron Tree

2011-10-04T13:48:00.001+05:30

One of our favourite websites on children's literature is Saffron Tree. Here's an interview feature on Saffron Tree with Karadi Tales!

Here is a peek into the exciting world of Karadi Tales. The makers of the most relevant Indian rhymes in recent times and all those lovely audio and picture books that are a treat to listen to and make a perfect gift for any occasion.

Read, Review, Blog!

2011-10-03T14:51:00.000+05:30

Are you ready for the competition of the month? Read, Review and Blog! Karadi Tales is excited to announce our October contest where you review one book and win four! You read that right. Pick up any one of the five titles released this month, review it, post the review on your blog and send us a link by leaving a comment on this post.

The two best blogs will be chosen, and winners will take the other four books home. So, grab yourself a book and get blogging.

The five new titles are available at all retail stores and online from Karadi Tales.

Contest closes Saturday 29 October 2011.

Gandhi Jayanthi Wishes

2011-10-02T09:00:00.001+05:30

It’s a special day, it’s Bapu’s day!

This Gandhi Jayanthi, learn more about the man who made history with a gentle smile. Karadi Tales brings you The Story Of My Experiments With Truth (book + Audio CD) to help you remember him. Gandhi’s autobiography is in an abridged form, with a seamless narrative that provides the backdrop of pre-independent India. Interspersed with the Mahatma's favourite songs, the audiobook is a remarkable listening experience.

October 2011

2011-10-01T08:00:00.000+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the October 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Whose Lovely Child Can You Be?

2011-09-26T11:19:00.001+05:30

Gulgul is not really sure where she comes from – then her entire family decides to tell her the story of the magical day she entered their lives. And Gulgul realises that she’s far more special than even she knew! This tender story in rhyme by Shobha Viswanath is illustrated in acrylic by Christine Tappin and talks about the wonderful experience of having a child in your life.

The artist Christine Tappin graduated in 2007 from Christ Church University in Canterbury, Kent, where she studied for her degree in Fine Art. She currently works from her Kent-based studio, painting pictures for children's books and making greeting cards.

We interviewed Christine about the illustration process and her general thoughts on the story.

Did you like the story? Why?

I loved this story right from the start! I can easily relate to whose lovely child as my aunt and uncle were in the process of adopting when I first started this project. Now that the book is about to be published, I'm thrilled that I can share this story with my new cousins! We are so happy that they are a part of our family, a true blessing for us. I hope that when we read this story to them, they can understand how special they are.

What medium did you use in the illustrations? Why?

I like to create my images using Photoshop as it allows me to continue experimenting right up until the last minute. I find that working on a canvas sometimes means that you are committed to shapes and colours as soon as you lay them down. Photoshop definitely allows you more freedom.

One of the most unusual things about the artwork in the book is the use of perspective. Is this part of your natural style or is it something that you evolved for this book? How hard was it for you to maintain exact dimensions when showing characters (and their shadows) from different viewpoints?

I really like to draw images from unusual angles, as I feel it lends my pictures a dream-like quality. I find that this is one of the benefits of working in digital media, as its very easy to move the characters around, and adjust them to how you visualize it in your mind. It can be challenging to find the correct angles, and does take a lot of experimenting and patience, but its definitely worth it in the end.

Adapting your artwork to Indian characters and milieus must have been a challenge. Have you ever been to India? What reference points did you use?

I've never been to India unfortunately, but would really love to go some day. I'm very lucky that my best friend Sophia is from India, so she was able to help me out a lot with this project. It was a little challenging at the beginning, as I wasn't sure what the traditional attire was for the characters, especially the women! I used the internet a lot and also watched a few Indian films to give me a better sense of the fashion and culture.

Any last thoughts on the book or the process?

I hope that the readers can enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed working on it!

On Bilingual Titles from Karadi Tales

2011-09-23T15:51:00.000+05:30

Have you seen this article on bilingual books in the Times of India?

What Karadi Tales titles are available in languages other than English? Quite a few, actually!

The Karadi Tales Junior series is a popular series of audiobooks aimed at very young children (ages 2 to 4). The audiobooks were first made available in English (narrated by Saeed Jaffrey). Once we discovered how popular these books were, both in schools and in the general retail market, we converted them into bilingual titles in 2004 – English/Hindi and English/Tamil.

The Hindi audio is narrated by Tom Alter and the Tamil audio is narrated by Nasser.

Some Karadi Tales titles were already available in Hindi as Karadi Katha and Tamil as Karadi Kadhai, aside from English, but this was our first foray into dual language books.

Chitra is an imprint of Karadi Tales that makes picture books from around the world available to Indian children. In 2007, we wanted to make the beautiful Eric Carle titles available in the English/Hindi bilingual format and we negotiated the translation rights to do so. The 4 titles were The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, The Mixed-Up Chameleon and The Tiny Seed.

Our Eric Carle bilingual titles are extremely popular in urban milieus, probably because the creator is already well-known in these circles and the bilingual aspect makes these books a novelty in the genre. Here, the motivating factor is probably the fact that parents want children to get comfortable with their mother-tongues. Look at this email sent to us by a bookshop owner based in South Bombay on the bilingual titles.

These books are purchased both as extracurricular reading to help a child gain academically in language skills and to help the child repossess her mother tongue and think imaginatively in a language other than English. While the former is important in schools, the latter is more important in the home setting. From our experience, we can tell you that bilingual titles are popular both through academic channels and through the retail market. The aspect of language-learning through bilingual books is one that definitely cannot be ignored. But more than that, from the perspective of a child, the bilingual book can be very exciting. In the case of audiobooks and video products, the tones, sounds and accents differ so much from one language to the other that it is often like getting two different stories! Take a look at this article written by our CEO, C. P. Viswanath for the Times of India a few years ago.

When we brought out Wings of Fire by Abdul Kalam as an audiobook, we were so struck by its popularity that we also decided to bring the audiobook out in Tamil and Hindi as well. The Hindi audiobook is called Parwaaz and the Tamil audiobook is called Agni Chiragugal.

Aside from audiobooks and picture books, we have bilingual DVDs as well. The Karadi Tales animated series and the Mythology animated series is entirely available on DVD as home video products in the bilingual format as English/Hindi titles with voices from several of our popular narrators.

For the future, we’re always on the look-out for stories that lend themselves to the bilingual format. Additionally, we have been looking at bringing out books that are simultaneously in two languages, i.e., when two different languages are interspersed within the text of the story, rather than reproducing the same text separately in the two languages. For children who are naturally bilingual and who have a tendency to switch effortlessly from one language to another during regular conversation, these books definitely strike a chord. For now, the languages we are most comfortable with are English, Hindi and Tamil, although this may also change in the future. We’d like to bring out the 4 Eric Carle titles in the English/Tamil format as well.

Another Birthday Card for Uncle Pai!

2011-09-17T15:20:00.002+05:30

Happy Birthday, Uncle Pai!

2011-09-17T11:32:00.000+05:30

Had he lived, today would have been Uncle Pai's 82nd birthday. He was the visionary behind Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle and he deeply inspired several publishing houses in the country including Karadi Tales. For those of us who grew up on his creations, our very idea of Indian history and mythology was defined by this man's vision. He is not just a loss to ACK Media, but to our country.

Look, ma, another language!

2011-09-16T11:04:00.000+05:30

In the Times of India, an article on bilingual books for children that talks about Karadi Tales. Do check it out!

Why Should Your Child Read?

2011-09-12T11:32:00.000+05:30

Karadi Tales CEO, C. P. Viswanath, writes on the importance of reading in this very special post in lieu of International Literacy Day, which was 8 September:

The average seven-year-old is a computer whiz. Parents are astounded at the ease with which he uses gadgets. But is he a fluent reader? Parents may ignore this. After all, he’s so smart with the computer. But they often do not realise that computers are designed to be mastered by anyone. With their natural intuition, every kid would figure out how to operate them. This should not be viewed as an extraordinary ability.

Through the 1900s, the USA was one of the most creative and productive societies. In the 21st century, however, that has changed. America has begun to realise that their young population entering the workforce is ill-prepared to continue this rich legacy. A generation that grew up on a diet of excessive television, computers and video games and too little time reading is now facing extraordinary limitations. In a passionate address talking about the reemphasis on reading in the education policy Barack Obama recently said:

India is today where the USA was 20 years ago. With the proliferation of cable television, computers and video games in Indian society over the last few years, our children are now achieving reading proficiency almost 2 years later than the previous generation did and reading much less. This will result in children who grow up to function intellectually and emotionally well below their potential.

We are now being told to pay huge sums of money for premium preschools and schools that bombard children with visual information through televisions, computers and ‘smart’ classrooms. Television and computers are fabulous learning tools for older children. However, for younger children, the simple act of reading is the key to nurturing their creativity and intelligence.

A common misconception is that children today are much smarter than children of previous generations. In an age where information is so widely available, it is only natural that children absorb much of it. So their information bank is, perhaps, greater. But unless a child knows how to productively use that information, it is of little consequence. Information, since it is so freely available, is no longer valued as highly as creativity, the ability to think out of the box, the ability to use information to evolve innovations.

For example: A group of 40 Class III students was given a verbal description of an unusual creature from a Harry Potter book and asked to draw the creature. Children who had not seen the movie came up with highly individual pictures. Children who had seen the movie came up with an image resembling what they had seen in the movie. What would you rather have, 1 idea or 40 ideas?

Reading stimulates the theatre of the mind. Each child evolves his or her own unique theatre and that is the root of your child’s creative growth. Why do educators all around the world stress so much on reading? The simple activity of reading is a virtual brain gym. It enables the growth of multiple intelligences.

Reading stimulates both the right and left sides of the brain. In fact, it is one of those few simple activities that triggers the growth of both intuitive and logical intelligence. Studies have shown that early readers not only have better language skills, they are also better at grasping mathematical and scientific concepts, are emotionally well adjusted and are generally happier kids.

So the next time anybody says that reading may not be that important in the computer age, think again. Help your child become an early and enthusiastic reader and you have empowered your child more than you can imagine.

It's World Literacy Day!

2011-09-09T11:04:00.000+05:30

Over 70% of the words in the English language are sight-words. This means we are expected to recognise the word as soon as we see it. The best way to initiate a child into sight-reading is for the child to see a word and hear it at the same time.

Audiobooks are the perfect way to do that! Have you heard the Mouse stories?

This series is all about fun. The new titles in Karadi Tales Junior feature an extremely wily and unusual protagonist – a mouse! – in four hilarious, laugh-out-loud stories brought alive with charming music, hilariously vivid illustrations and a dramatic narrative. With these stories, reading becomes a participatory process – the child can engage with the stories through the written form, the audio and the artwork.

Brought alive with rich music by Anil Srinivasan, the audio has a dramatic narrative with voices from theatre company Evam. Vivid illustrations by Malavika P. C. add to the hilarity of these stories by Lavanya R. N., Pankaja Srinivasan and Shobha Viswanath.

One of the 4 Mouse Stories is available online for you to hear and read along with. The Lion and the Mouse is now fully available through Issuu!

The audiobook editions of The Mouse Stories (Book + Audio CD) carry an MRP of Rs. 145 each and are available through all major online and offline retail chains.

Happy World Literacy Day!

Vinayaka Chaturti Wishes

2011-09-01T08:37:00.001+05:30

September 2011

2011-09-01T08:00:00.000+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the September 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Eid Mubarak from Karadi Tales!

2011-08-31T08:30:00.003+05:30

Announcing the Karadi Book Club!

2011-08-23T17:19:00.000+05:30

Are you in the club? We are happy to announce a new group created specially to discuss all things Karadi - The Karadi Book Club. Please join us for news, views, author/illustrator rants and raves and everything under the sun that is Karadi!

Wishes for Janmashtami

2011-08-22T09:00:00.001+05:30

Independence Day Wishes

2011-08-15T08:00:00.001+05:30

I Salute My Flag
- Karadi Rhymes

Advance Independence Day Wishes from Karadi Tales!

2011-08-12T15:42:00.000+05:30

Five New Picture Books!

2011-08-12T10:44:00.000+05:30

Five exciting new picture books from Karadi Tales - coming soon to a store near you!

The Lion and the Mouse: A Review

2011-08-11T11:31:00.000+05:30

Young India Books reviews The Lion and the Mouse, a Karadi Tales audiobook written by Lavanya R. N., illustrated by Malavika P. C., narrated by Karthik Kumar and set to music by Anil Srinivasan. The review says:

There are many historical facts recorded about this fable. Children find this story especially appealing because, in characteristic fable style, the main characters are animals that act and talk like people but retain their animal traits. The story of The Lion and the Mouse has always been popular. This audio version, published by Karadi Tales, India, with its’ teaming of talented artists and delightful narration, is an exceptional endeavor utilizing modern-day technology.

Read the complete review here. You can also buy the book at our website or view the e-book here.

A Storybook Success

2011-08-10T11:53:00.000+05:30

Times of India talks about the success of children's publishing in India:

If the hallelujahs over the supercalifragilistic growth of Indian publishing ever pipe down, a tiny jubilatory chorus will be heard from an unsung corner – children's writing. Business here too is booming, if anyone cared to know. "It's growing at 7.5 percent a year," offers Manasi Subramaniam, editor of Karadi Tales. Evidence of this can be had at the bookstore, where children's shelves have multiplied like Biblical loaves over the last year. Old hands like Young Zubaan, Tulika, Tara, Pratham, Katha, Karadi Tales, have found new company in indie outfits like Little Lattitude and Fun OK Please, as well as imprints like Little Squirrel put out by distributor Leadstart Publishing.

"Indian children's writing has spiraled in the last two years," reports Sivaraman Balakrishnan, marketing manager at Crossword. "While Ruskin Bond and Anita Nair were some of the few writers you could earlier recall in this category, now there are at least ten you can rattle off the top of your head." A couple of years back, you had to tunnel deep to find contemporary Indian writing for children. "Now, Indian writers account for 22 percent of our total stock of children's literature," says Balakrishnan.

Read the entire article here.

A Friendship Message from Karadi the Bear

2011-08-07T08:00:00.001+05:30

Happy Friendship Day!

2011-08-04T08:00:00.000+05:30

This friendship day, watch and listen to the friendship song from The Four Friends from the Karadi Tales Animated Series!

The complete DVD is available from here.

August 2011

2011-08-01T08:36:00.002+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the August 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Let's Play On!

2011-07-21T14:21:00.001+05:30

The Hindu profiles author Anshumani Ruddra, who has written two titles for Karadi Tales - Dorje's Stripes and Crickematics!. Anshuman talks about the writing process and his deep connection with games and storytelling. And yes, that's Dorje's Stripes that he's holding in the picture!

Crickematics! is available at all leading bookstores and online book retailers in India. You can also pick it up from our website here.

Dorje’s Stripes, a story about tigers illustrated by Korean artists Gwangjo and Jung-a Park, is a book that is now available through Kane/Miller Books in North America and the Philippines. The book is also available in Mandarin through Virginia Publishing and in Bahasa through Kid Classic. You can also pick it up from Amazon.

Read the whole article here.

Everything You always wanted to know about publishing but were afraid to ask

2011-07-14T12:41:00.000+05:30

Publishing Perspectives publishes a two-part article on the Indian publishing industry by Akshay Pathak of the German Book Office New Delhi. It's a great overview, offering several deep insights into a complex sector.

Part 1: Publishing in India Today: 19,000 Publishers, 90,000 Titles, Many Opportunities

Part 2: Publishing in India Today: Growing Imports/Exports, Territoriality, Piracy and Digital

Karadi the Globetrotter

2011-07-07T11:19:00.000+05:30

Books published by Karadi Tales have begun to travel the world. Several international publishers have picked up titles from the Karadi Tales catalogue of picture books and had them translated to make them available to children of the world. Our books now travel and are available in a number of different foreign editions. Here are some of the titles that have done particularly well in the international market.

The Lizard’s Tail, a story based on a Tamil folktale adapted by Shobha Viswanath with brilliant palette knife art by German illustrator Christine Kastl, is available in French from Ocean Editions and in Korean from Maeng & Aeng Publishers. Extremely popular and well-loved for its sophisticated artwork and charming plot, the book is doing extremely well in Europe and Korea. Interestingly, the Korean edition of The Lizard's Tail has been highly commended by Jangone, a popular bi-weekly educational magazine for children in Korea, because of the values and principles the book subtly espouses, as well as the lyrical, simple language used.

In Korea's thriving children's picture book market, two more titles have found a home. Maeng & Aeng Publishers also publish a lovely Korean translation of When the Earth Lost its Shapes, written by Shobha Viswanath and illustrated by Christine Kastl.

The Rumour, a hilarious folktale adapted by Anushka Ravishankar and vividly illustrated by Munich-based artist Kanyika Kini, is also available in Korean from Bookhouse Publishers.

The Rumour and When the Earth Lost its Shapes are, in fact, among our most popular books. When the Earth Lost its Shapes is also available in German from Editions Bi:Libri and in Mandarin from Virginia Publishing.

The Rumour is available in North America from Tundra Books, in Spanish and Catalan from Editorial Juventud and in German from Edition Orient.

Another book now available in Spanish is The Blue Jackal adapted by Shobha Viswanath and illustrated by Dileep Joshi. Narval Editores makes a Spanish edition available, while Lineadaria publishes an Italian edition of this book.

Dorje’s Stripes, a story about tigers by Anshumani Ruddra and illustrated by Korean artists Gwangjo and Jung-a Park, is another book that is now available in North America. It is available through Kane/Miller Books in North America and the Philippines. The book is also available in Mandarin through Virginia Publishing and in Bahasa through Kid Classic.

Kid Classic in Indonesia also makes Super Hathaman (written by Kaushik Viswanath and illustrated by Chetan Sharma) available in Bahasa.

Monkeys on a Fast, a Buddhist tale retold by Kaushik Viswanath and illustrated by Shilpa Ranade is available in the UK and Ireland through Hogs Back, in Mandarin through Virginia Publishing and in Danish through Forlag Actum.

Other books available in China through Virginia Publishing are The Moustache Man (written by Priya Ramanathan and illustrated by Garima Gupta), Bookworm (written by Lavanya R. N. and illustrated by Shilo Shiv Suleman) and The Boy Who Drew Cats (written by Anushka Ravishankar and illustrated by Christine Kastl).

We hope to soon make many more of our titles available in as many languages as possible, and have our stories reach children across the world.

July 2011

2011-07-01T07:51:00.002+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the July 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Bilingual Books in SoBo

2011-06-24T10:44:00.000+05:30

Sangeeta Bhansali, director of Vakils, Feffer & Simons Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai sent us the following email recently (on 17 June), and we’d like to share the email with you (mildly edited):

Kahani Tree is a division of Vakils, Feffer and Simons Ltd. that promotes children's books and is dedicated to inspire a life-long love of reading in children. It supports independent publishers of children's books from all over India.

Audiobooks and picture books from Karadi Tales are available at Kitab Khana (Flora Fountain). On Sunday 29 May, a children's event was organized by Kitab Khana on trees, as part of World Environment Week. About 15 children were present, ages ranging from 2 to 7 years. We had a reading session combined with a craft activity.

Prior to the event, I provided Kitab Khana with a list of books on the environment and volunteered to help by talking to the parents while their children were involved with the activities. Since I am familiar with the content of most of these books, I figured I would be able to support the sales staff of Kitab Khana during the event.

The Karadi Tales bilingual Chitra series was prominently displayed on a table, separate from the bookshelves because they were attractive and directly relevant to the topic. The 4 titles – The Tiny Seed, The Grouchy Ladybug, The Mixed-Up Chameleon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar written and illustrated by Eric Carle – sold out in minutes… and not in singles, but in sets, sometimes 2 or 3 together. Eric Carle was obviously well known to the customers of KK and the quality of books was impressive. The bilingual aspect with the English / Hindi combination was also appreciated.

The huge problem, though, was that Kitab Khana had ordered only 3 copies of each title. And in events like this, word spreads like wildfire. Some parents were even buying the books for their children who were probably too young simply because they had not seen books of this kind before! I heard comments like: ‘Who knows when we'll see this again, it's so rare to find good unusual books!’ and ‘I cant stop myself from buying good books for the children, when I see them, even though I have a space constraint.’ and ‘What a unique concept... Hindi and English with Eric Carle's wonderful illustrations!’

And before we knew it, the books were all gone and we were hugely disappointed that we could not meet the demand. I sent Kitab Khana 5 copies each on Monday 30 May, just in case some of the parents did return!

Another experience was at the Cathedral School Hindi Book Fair held on 19 and 20 April. Around 450 parents attended the book fair. Bilingual books were a huge hit! Twenty copies each of all these books sold out on the first day! A lot of Hindi and bilingual audiobooks were also sold, especially as gifts for overseas family / friends, just before the start of the summer vacation.

In my opinion, South Mumbai is certainly hungry for Karadi Tales and wants to see more!

Thanks, Sangeetha!

From Blogosphere

2011-06-20T10:58:00.000+05:30

A lovely article on our audiobooks from 'Buzzing!' writes:

Many stories involve animals and carry a strong moral that a toddler can understand. A very cool element of Karadi Tales is that most of them come with an audio CD where the story is narrated in a very engaging manner. The voice of Karadi is of the highest calibre- Saeed Jaffrey , Girish Karnad or Naseeruddin Shah. The rest of the characters are very well vocalized.

Read the entire piece here!

Picture Books and Early Learning

2011-06-15T10:21:00.002+05:30

Notes from Singapore Part 4: Our editor, Manasi Subramaniam, promises that this will be the last of her reminiscences on the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) 2011 held in Singapore last month.

I really wanted to share this with the children's publishers, educators and young parents out there. One of the sessions I attended was on picture books and learning by Susan Harris Sharples, the former Dean of Education at Wheelock College, USA. Among several other very interesting things, Susan spoke about the importance of picture books in early childhood development. This is something that I think we all should recognise and take very seriously into account while considering a child's education and development.

Why is it important for a child to be exposed to good picture books? Aside from the obvious factors of imagination, creativity and artistic development, Susan talked about how a child connects words with pictures and automatically starts reading between the text - that is, the child sees things in the pictures that are not a part of the text, and begins to create a world that is not just textually depicted. Each picture is certainly worth a thousand words, says Susan, and for early readers, it's better to let the artwork do the real talking.

Susan added that the two questions that a publisher should ask before choosing a story are: ‘Will this story capture the child’s imagination and interest so that she will actually want to interact with the story?’ and ‘Do the illustrations go beyond the words so that each page is a world of discovery for the child each time she reads it?’

She also talked about the importance of holding a book in your hand while telling a story to a child. That’s the only way the child will actually go back to the book after hearing the story once. The oral tradition is one of retelling. But if we want a child to read, holding a book is the real key.

In another session, Susan made a presentation on supporting young children's writing development by encouraging developmental spelling was a well-researched and thought-provoking session, especially for people interested in early learning and development. Her entire presentation is available for download here.

Also read:
Part 1: 'Connecting with Connected Kids'
Part 2: 'Potato Chips and Arsenic'
Part 3: 'Asian Content for the World's Children'

Asian Content for the World's Children

2011-06-10T10:06:00.001+05:30

Notes from Singapore Part 3: More musings on children's publishing after the Asian Festival of Children's Content 2011 (AFCC) from our editor, Manasi Subramaniam:

Through the course of the conferences and seminars at the AFCC, there was a lot of learning involved for me, especially in the sessions that talked about current publishing trends and future predictions for publishing. The focus on Asian content, at least as far as the book publishing industry was concerned, was refreshing. A lot of publishers provided us with perspective on the kind of books that travel well internationally, sell well domestically etc., all of which is relevant to an industry that caters to a global audience.

The focus of the publishing seminars was ‘Asian Content for the World’s Children’ and I think this was approached very systematically. Bringing in publishers from the West who talked about the kind of Asian content that works for the West was a nice touch.

Among several other things, I was keenly interested in trying to understand why Asian content doesn’t always work in the Western market and what we can do about it. In a session called 'The Global Market for Asian Children's Books: What Travels, What Doesn't and Why', American editor Neal Porter of Neal Porter Books addressed this issue thoroughly. He talked about both the content we produce and the way we produce it. In another session by literary agent Kelly Sonnack of Andrea Brown Literary Agency in the USA called 'The Children’s Market: What Has Changed and What Sells Now', this was briefly covered once more.

From these sessions and from others, I've gathered three valuable suggestions on how a book can be made more 'universal'.

Firstly, it's probably time for us to stop moralising. Asian content tends to be didactic and heavy on morals. This is something that doesn’t work for an international audience. This deep moralising is, I think, one of the remnants of our fable culture – we like to end stories with a moral. While western culture shrugged themselves off Aesop and Grimm and even Beatrix Potter and have moved comfortably on to stories that deal with human problems in a more contemporary and realistic manner (look at Pippi Longstocking, for example), Asian content is a little caught up in the notion that a good story must have a good moral. This is clear especially from the number of books in the market that end with 'And the moral of the story is...' I think that we must ask ourselves - whatever happened to reading for the sake of reading?

Research has also shown that anthropomorphic characters (talking animals) are passé. Asian content tends to give animals human characteristics and often even has animals and humans interacting with each other. It's hard for me to understand why this doesn't always work, especially since talking animals have been a staple part of children's content since the Aesop days. But the contention was that children of the world are interested in character-driven stories - stories that they can identify with. And they can best identify with other children.

Another suggestion was to stop regurgitating the same stories over and over again. Folklore and myth may have been important at some point. But in creating multicultural content, international publishers are more interested in contemporary stories than in old folktales. Walk into any bookstore in India and the children's section will be filled with dozens of different retellings of the Panchatantra and the Jataka. In fact, a lot of Karadi Tales titles are inspired from a rich history of folk stories. But I've begun to wonder - while these may be the stories that we want to tell our kids, are these the stories that they want to hear? Unless the adaptation is truly unique, there's nothing that really 'stands out' about a folktale retold.

Of course, this begs the question of why we should bother creating content for children of the Western world when so many of our own need books to read. But I've come to believe that there is such a thing as universality of the human spirit and that it is possible to achieve that kind of universality while maintaining an authentic voice and a sense of territory.

These are ideas that I'm very keen to explore in the kind of picture books that we have lined up on our publishing agenda.

Read Part 1 on 'Connecting with Connected Kids' and Part 2 on 'Potato Chips and Arsenic' of our AFCC report!

Potato Chips and Arsenic

2011-06-06T15:44:00.081+05:30

Notes from Singapore Part 2: On returning from the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) in Singapore from 26 to 28 May, our editor, Manasi Subramaniam, writes about her revelations and hopes for children's publishing in Asia:

Fresh from the AFCC, all I can think about is how wonderful it is to be a creator of children’s content. We are the guys who are most closely associated with the future of the world – and that’s pretty awesome! Above and beyond that, there’s also a lot to be said about the Asian market in particular. Like all other industries in Asia, publishing is growing in leaps and bounds and it’s changing almost every single day.

One really important topic that I connected very deeply with was the question of mass versus class. In the words of Liz Rosenberg, American writer and reviewer of children's books:

‘Potato chips are really popular. They’re not healthy or good in any way. But they’re still really popular. There’s a lot of junk out there and obviously people love it. But the important thing to remember is that you can’t really live on it. So what you need to ask yourself is this: Do you really want to be known as the guy who made potato chips or the guy who made beautiful wholesome meals? While you can’t completely ignore the sensational stuff like the Twilight series, you just need to be aware that it isn’t great literature. And you can’t overdo it either. Because then you’re just eating arsenic!’

I agree wholeheartedly with Liz. And I’d rather make salad than chips!

It’s important for us to realise that content really is king. After the AFCC, I truly believe this with all my heart. Fancy packaging and marketing gimmickry can only get a book so far. As one publisher that I met said, to assume that your buyer is foolish is just sheer arrogance.

Glossy paper, famous names and funky fonts don’t sell a book. Beautiful stories and beautiful artwork are the best salespersons that we can have. To think that anything else will work is to disrespect the people for whom we create books, to assume that they are stupid and have no taste, discrimination or sophistication. We cannot trick people with fancy packaging.

The thing that really struck me about many of the publishers that I met in Singapore (from all parts of the world) was their sincerity. They all genuinely believe in creating beautiful books – and they love their books too much to ever allow them to be ruined by bad design or gimmickry. Most importantly, they believe that whatever they do it needs to be done well. No successful publisher creates books half-heartedly – everyone reiterated this at some point or the other.

Either way, we have to recognise that the future of children’s publishing is in high quality storytelling, no matter what the format is.

Connecting with Connected Kids

2011-06-03T11:53:00.001+05:30

Notes from Singapore Part 1: After a rewarding three days at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) in Singapore from 26 to 28 May, our television producer, Shubhadeep Bhattacharya, talks about his experiences, his learnings and his thoughts on the future of digital content production in India:

The leitmotif for this year’s AFCC was ‘Connecting with Connected Kids.’ And hence a significant part of the discourse and dialogue was dedicated to exploring how technology is changing the way kids are reading, learning and socialising; and the way publishing and the media landscape are responding to these developments. Buzzwords at this year’s conference were apps and transmedia content and collaboration, and the mood was decidedly digital.

Chris Cheng, a prolific Australian children’s writer, demonstrated how self-publishing tools, social media and new media have empowered tech-savvy and enterprising writers and illustrators to publish, collaborate and experiment. Chris negotiates licensing rights to his work separately for different platforms. He makes his content available in English, Spanish and Chinese, the three most popular languages in the app space.

I attended a session called ‘Developing Your Book as an Animation Property’ conducted by a Singapore based producer, KC Wong. KC is CEO of an animation company called Sparky that has been able to penetrate US, UK and Australian markets, with content that is co-produced in collaboration with local players. Interestingly, the idea of the book forming the seed of a TV series became a recurrent theme through the course of the conference. KC believes that the big screen today necessarily demands 3D. But a young child watching a show on TV will be happy with 2D. And if there is a lot of fast action and detailing, 2D is surely a preferred option.

The keynote address of the Asian Publishers’ Symposium for the day was given by Julia Posen of Walker Books, UK. The keynote covered the changing face of the publishing industry. She talked about how non-publishers like Google, Amazon and Apple now shape the future, and the opportunities and challenges these changes present. The digital trend was discussed through the following developments:

Amazon declaring that it has sold more ebooks than printed books
Kindle sales touching 12 mn units
iPad sales crossing 15 mn, with over 350,000 apps listed on iTunes
ePub 3.0 that allows standardised publishing of picture books
Google e-bookstore’s promise to offer 3000 titles free
Google's challenge to Amazon’s 9.99 USD pricing policy for ebooks.

The sessions that followed the keynote also discussed similar issues, such as the popularity of the Print-On-Demand option and the challenges of gaining visibilty in a crowded digital space. The lucrative option available to authors of self-publishing was reiterated. Amazon now offers a writer 70% royalty on her e-books, if she lists and sells her books through their store.

One interesting case study was how the popular game Angry Birds gained visibility. The strategy adopted by Angry Birds was to first list the app in small markets such as the iTunes stores in Finland and Iceland. This was complemented by intense promotions. The popularity in these small stores caught the attention of Apple who then hot-listed the app across stores in larger markets like the UK and USA.

On more than a few occasions, speakers cited how very young kids nowadays reach out to all electronic screens, such as a TV or a computer monitor, and start swiping their fingers over it, expecting all screens to respond to touch!

Tim Levell, a producer with CBBC, shared his experience about a TV series he produced, which gained wide popularity in the UK. The audience engagement with the TV series was fueled by a set of cross-platform activities that included online games, activities, videos, extras, interaction, public service engagements etc. Tim laid a lot of emphasis on games as the primary device for engagement, particularly factual games that are not very expensive to develop.

Other broadcasters represented at the conference were Okto and Nickelodeon. Syahrizan Mansor of Nickelodeon Asia shared how when commissioning any project, they evaluate its shelf life beyond television; such as its potential for live shows, mall activation, school programmes, merchandise etc.

The festival had very good speakers, and the programme was well structured and topical. I gained from the experiences shared by publishers and producers. It was certainly a useful exposure.

June 2011

2011-06-01T08:34:00.000+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the June 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Have You Heard This?

2011-05-24T11:44:00.004+05:30

In this Open magazine article about audiobooks in India, Karadi Tales CEO C.P. Viswanath explains the popularity of children's audiobooks.

Excerpt from the article:

CP Vishwanath, director of Karadi Tales, which through its imprint of Charkha Audiobooks has more than 50 titles in its catalogue, has an explanation for the popularity of children’s audio books. Because they are for children, the stories are usually limited to 20 to 30 minutes. An adult novel would need hours to listen through to completion. “Adult fiction is in the range of 20,000 plus words. It requires continuity. In India, we don’t really have long drives—we have an hour or so of stop-and-go traffic snarls. Worldwide, fiction is ‘read’ on interstate highways. In switching on and off while ‘reading’ fiction, you lose the book experience. The consumption demographic for adult fiction in India is very difficult,” he says.

On the other hand, children’s audiobooks is a competitive market with many players. It takes an entirely different creative approach to tell the story. “The script, the narration, background music, songs, illustrations, etcetera, have to be right from the word go. The child has many options today and so your product has to be very strong to get noticed. That’s the reason why many people haven’t entered this category,” says Vishwanath.

Read the whole article here!

Singapore Calling

2011-05-18T11:04:00.000+05:30

From 26 to 28 May 2011, Karadi Tales will be present at the Asian Festival of Children's Content 2011 in Singapore. If you're around, you should drop by and see us! The festival takes place at The Arts House on Old Parliament Lane and it promises to be lots of fun. Won't you come and see us?

Also, watch this space. We'll soon put up pictures and a report of how the event went!

May 2011

2011-05-01T06:00:00.000+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the May 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

A note from our editor on submissions to Karadi Tales

2011-04-05T12:46:00.003+05:30

Almost everyday, I receive manuscripts, resumes and portfolios from aspiring writers and artists. I love receiving them. In fact, Karadi Tales actively welcomes unsolicited submissions and we're always hoping it will lead us to something extraordinary. Sometimes, that happens, and the thrill we receive from that is incomparable. But sadly, more often, this is not the case.

On our website, we have a Submissions page which answers most queries and makes our requirements pretty clear. Despite this, I'm always receiving enquiries and submissions that do not fit these requirements.

Don't be your own worst enemy. Take the trouble to read our requirements. This really does help your case. As a publishing house, we expect you to both follow and respect our requirements - and it speaks poorly of you that you're unwilling to do so. So, I made this list - and I hope you'll take it in the spirit it was intended with.

Things I will judge your submission on:

Don't format your text. We're not interested in pretty fonts and colourful manuscripts. It's still a manuscript and we want it to be easy to read. Single-space it, justify your text and make neat paragraphs. Italicise where necessary. You're not a typographer. We don't expect you to be one. I will judge your submission on the basis of the fact that you think it can't carry itself on its own merit.
Our submissions page mentions several times that we do not accept attachments larger than 3 MB. We are, in fact, serious about this and we rarely even open attachments that are larger than 3 MB. I will judge your submission on the basis of the fact that you didn't bother to read the fine print.
Grammar is important. So is spelling. I'm not willing to capitalise your sentences and fix your commas at the manuscript stage. I will judge your submission on the basis of the fact that you didn't take it seriously enough to run it through a spell-check.
I always read covering notes. They're important because I want to know a little bit about you, your submission and the nature of your enquiry before I actually read the submission. And if you're submitting a manuscript for consideration by us, I will judge you if your submission uses SMS language on the covering note. "Thks" is not "Thanks" and "u" is not "you" and "shd" is not "should". You're a writer. Write like one.
At least 50% of the enquiries I receive are mere prefaces: "Do you accept submissions?" or "Can I send you my story?" or "Can I illustrate for you?". Take the trouble to look at our website. Our submissions page will answer these questions and tell you exactly what you need to send to us. You're wasting your energy and my time and I will judge your enquiry because it's ridiculous.
Karadi Tales has a strict policy of reading and responding to all enquiries and submissions. But we do not acknowledge emails or provide feedback. We respond only with acceptances and rejections. If two days go by and you have not heard from us, wait. We have lots of things going on and this may not be our priority. Bombarding us with emails won't help your case and I will judge your submission on the basis of your impatience.

There. I just needed to get that out of my system.

April 2011

2011-04-01T06:00:00.002+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the April 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Sneak Peek

2011-03-25T09:48:00.003+05:30

Here's a sneak preview into the books we'll be presenting at the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2011!

Karadi Tales is exhibiting at the Bologna Children's Book Fair at Hall 29 Stand D43. If you're around, do drop in and take a look at our wonderful titles! The dates of the Book Fair are 28-31 March 2011.

The Rumour

Author: Anushka Ravishankar

Illustrator: Kanyika Kini

Dorje's Stripes

Author: Anshumani Ruddra

Illustrators: Gwangjo and Jung-a Park

Monkeys on a Fast

Author: Kaushik Viswanath

Illustrator: Shilpa Ranade

The Blue Jackal

Author: Shobha Viswanath

Illustrator: Dileep Joshi

The Lizard's Tail

Author: Shobha Viswanath

Illustrator: Christine Kastl

When the Earth Lost its Shapes

Author: Shobha Viswanath

Illustrator: Christine Kastl

The Last Bargain

Author: Samita Aiyer

Illustrator: Garima Gupta

To know more about these books and our other titles, download our Rights Catalogue!

Bologna: Call for Illustrators

2011-03-23T13:30:00.000+05:30

If you're attending the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2011 next week and if you're an illustrator, we want to meet you!

Freelance Writers

2011-03-17T17:17:00.000+05:30

We're looking for a Chennai-based freelance marketing communicator to create some material for a performance-arts project we're collaborating with. Minimal design skills and excellent writing, research and communication skills are required. The candidate will need to work on a freelance basis for approximately 3 months.

If interested, please email contact@karaditales.com with your resume.

National Typography Day 2011

2011-03-16T11:31:00.000+05:30

Senior Visualiser from Karadi Tales, Vandana Shah, attended the typography workshop at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, conducted earlier this month. Here’s a report from her on her experiences!

Day 1 began with registration at the entrance of NID. We received welcome kits in the form of vernacular paper bags, making it a creative beginning to the whole experience. From the entrance to the auditorium was a pleasant walk with glimpses of the campus.

At ten, the welcome session began with Tarun Deep and G. V. Sreekumar. It was a promising and a heartwarming welcome address, which promised us that we will have a great time… and we did! The auditorium started filling up and soon it was so full that a few participants had to sit on the side steps, the excited students and professionals were looking forward to three days of learning with fun.

A kadak chai session followed and the first speaker was Mr. Rafel from Peru, who spoke about identity and explained how culture plays a great role in creating type.

This was followed by Professor Fikret Ucar Turkey. His approach was very natural. He presented the organic typography approach which he and his students had explored. Several organic / natural materials and shapes were used to create type without the use of computers. Lot of interesting typefaces were created, the one that’s registered is a letter form out of folded books.

The day moved on with speakers from across the globe with extremely interesting approaches towards typography. People from Sri Lanka, Iran and hamara India spoke about their national languages and their nuances while creating the type. A font called Meeti Mayek created by Neelakash took my attention as he created the script and got it officially approved by the Government of Manipur and included the font in the academic curriculum of the state.

The refreshing tea breaks were the need of the hour. Back with josh, we had Nooper Datye who spoke about her very interesting organization called Aksharaya, which had conducted an outstation camp on Indian letterforms in 3D with participants from the industry. The outcome projected a new insight to Indian scripts and how we as individuals can sustain our culture and creativity. Their 2011 calender was a visual treat.

The day ended with an interactive session between the speakers and the audience. The drive back home via law garden was nostalgic one and ended the day at a smiley note.

The next day began with the session from the most respected speaker of Indian typography. Mr. Mahendra Patel, also known as father of Indian typography, started the session by talking about the impact of technology in creation of the type.

Erin McLaughin session had a fresh approach towards the Devnagri script which was based on research and her journey of creating them made us think beyond boundaries.

From boundaries to point of view via Felix Ackerman was the best session of the morning. This creative mind explored perspective type with an approach to 3D. He spoke about perspective type which displays three different words from three different points of view. This is possible only when the exact placement and orientation of each character allows the viewer to read the message from 3 viewpoints. His understanding of perspective was mind boggling!

A sure tea break was required to register the loaded gyaan.

We then had Yogita and Sreekumar from Bangalore, who started on an intersecting subject – correlation between the Devnagri script and the Bharatnatyam dance form. But to me, the correlation seemed forced and their entire talk was fairly vague.

Following this was Chan Chung’s vibrant mix of Chinese and Western cultures. He brightened up the session speaking about influences of copywriters using multilingual writing to attract the target audiences and designers exploring the creative typographic expression in visual communication.

After a sumptuous North Indian lunch, we returned to a session from South Indian speakers, which was a cultural contrast in itself. Hasin from Kerala spoke about the Malayalam script. Tthe purpose and the complexity faced while creating type was presented. Hasin is a star of Malayalam typeface as his type family is used in the most widely read paper of Kerela ‘Malayalam Manorama’. He has also created the typeface for Matrubhumi, another famous Malayalam journal.

After our Mallu neighbours’ presentation, it was namma Chennai by Rathna Ramanathan, who pepped up the half sleeping north Indian audience by playing nakka mukka song at the beginning of her talk. She very simply explained relation of typography with cultural context and history. She also focused on how certain types of the family are being ignored while the creation of the new typeface designers and are slowly being removed from the script family. The best point of her interaction was how we need to be local at heart to grow international which hit the audiences so hard that they couldn’t stop applauding.

Next was Udaya Kumar, the creator of the new Indian Rupee symbol, whose session was one to remember. He gave all the designers in the auditorium a spectrum of his visual representation of the Indian rupee symbol by sharing his journey from the scratch. He was the most interactive speakers in the whole event. There were many questions from the audience and he answered each of them with ease.

A lot of creative understanding about typography as a subject was understood by me and I got a wide spectrum of creative references in field of graphic design and typography. It was an extremely creative tour as I could meet, learn and interact with so many creative masterminds under one roof.

I'm Just Like You

2011-03-11T10:52:00.000+05:30

Have you heard the Karadi Rhyme 'I'm Just Like You'? If you haven't you should!

Here's a selection of videos of children getting together to perform the song for various occasions. These kids are totally adorable!

First, here's a video from the Independence Day celebrations in 2010 as celebrated at LB Shastri Nagar, Bangalore with a series of performances by children. In this performance, the children of Sarovar Apartments dance to the tune of the Kardi Tales Rhyme "My name is Madhavi", highlighting the theme of Unity in Diversity in India.

Here's another lovely video of kids performing the same song at the 2009 Asia Coalition Tallahassee!

Here's a video where the kids from Padmavati Society, IIT Powai have fun with the song during the Ganpati Festival 2010. The song depicts the diversity and culture of India. Children in costumes depicting various regions of India, adds to the celebration.

And here's the original video from the Karadi Rhymes DVD!

You can pick up the Karadi Rhymes audiobooks here or the DVDs here.

Illustrator-Hunting

2011-03-07T16:00:00.001+05:30

So the good news is that we have lots of projects lined up for the coming months and they're all very, very exciting indeed. The better news is that we're very actively looking for illustrators for all of these projects.

So here's the quick update on the projects:

(1) A 4-part series of picture books about a little girl with a tendency to get lost. This series follows one little girl as she explores a variety of Indian places, gets lost repeatedly and almost always has an extraordinary adventure with the people she meets along the way. We would like one illustrator for all 4 books in the series so that the books have some level of continuity and consistency.

Target age group: 4+

Size: 16.4’’ x 11’’ (open book size) with 17 full colour double spread illustrations per book

(2) A picture book revolving around a little girl who steals a temple elephant. This story is very minimalist in terms of text and depends heavily on perspective and artwork.

Target age group: 4+

Size: 16.4’’ x 11’’ (open book size) with 15 full colour double spread illustrations

(3) A slightly more grown up picture book with a lot of abstract imagery. This story is based on a Kannada folktale and its characters are mostly abstract. We're looking for heavily stylised composition with strong, well-developed characters.

Target age group: 8+

Size: 18'' x 8 '' (open book size) with 15 full colour double spread illustrations

(4) A multiple-ended story. This is a story that is spread across 4 endings and is quite heavy on text. We're looking at really simple and appealing artwork for this story (perhaps even single-colour or pen-and-ink). We're looking for an artist to conceptually design and illustrate the book.

Target age-group: 6+

Size: 18'' x 8'' (open book size)

Most importantly, for all these projects, we're looking for artists who paint the old-fashioned way - with their hands and not their computers.

Karadi Tales works on the basis of royalty-free agreements. We offer a flat one-time payment for all artwork. All agreements are time-bound and contractually binding.

If you’re interested in any of the 3 projects, to begin with, take a look at our Submissions Page and our Catalogue. If you feel that your style would suit our requirements, please write to us on our generic email address.

Also, please help us by spreading the word!

March 2011

2011-03-01T06:00:00.000+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the March 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

Remembering Uncle Pai

2011-02-28T11:14:00.000+05:30

At Karadi Tales and Amar Chitra Katha, we mourn deeply the loss of Anant Pai - Uncle Pai, as we knew him. He was the visionary behind Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle and he deeply inspired several publishing houses in the country including Karadi Tales. For those of us who grew up on his creations, our very idea of Indian history and mythology was defined by this man's vision. He is not just a loss to ACK Media, but to our country.

Here's a note from our director, C. P. Viswanath:

More than one generation of Indians are aware of their roots because of Amar Chitra Katha. The 100 million copies is nothing - the number of people who actually read each copy, the kind of enduring impact the storytelling had on the reader, the agelessness of the storytelling - Sri Anant Pai's contribution is immeasurable. At this time, it is also relevant to remember Sri G.L.Mirchandani who had the vision to back him.

Karadi Tales is hugely inspired by him. In the context of our own endeavours, we realise the immensity of his legacy and silent influence. As inheritors of this legacy, our collective responsibility is now even bigger.

Uncle Pai lives on.

Our creative director, Narayan writes:

Anant Pai defined generations through Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle and has been a huge inspiration for Karadi Tales. As one renowned artist said yesterday, no contemporary Indian storyteller, artist or animator has been untouched by his creative influence.

In the hands of a vibrant team at ACK Media, Amar Chitra Katha and Anant Pai will always be with us.

The IBH team in Chennai drew this sketch as a tribute to Uncle Pai:

Ashish Goel of ACK Media charts out Uncle Pai's legacy:

Uncle Pai was an inspiration for an entire generation, and the guiding light for our organization. The legacy of Uncle Pai will continue to live on. All of us at ACK Media have the onus and responsibility to carry on his vision.

I would like to take the opportunity to remind ourselves of a small part of his many and varied achievements:

Uncle Pai started the comic book series Amar Chitra Katha based on stories from the India epics, mythology and history after he witnessed a quiz contest in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek history but were unable to answer simple questions about India. This was in 1967; at the time he was working in Times Of India; he decided to leave his job and after facing many rejections he finally found a partner in the late G. L. Mirchandani of India Book House. They launched the imprint with Mr Pai in the role of writer, editor and publisher. With his commitment to high quality research and authenticity the comics won over not just children but educators and parents as well. The series went on to become a publishing milestone selling over 100 million copies of about 440 titles and continues to be a bestseller today.

In 1980, sensing a growing need for a general-purpose fun magazine for children Mr Pai launched Tinkle. After about a year of teething troubles the magazine established itself as the leading English language publication for children. The magazine is home to some of the most loved homegrown cartoon characters like Suppandi, Shikari Shambu and Tantri the Mantri.

Mr Pai’s success was a result of his intuitive flair for storytelling, his foresight in cultivating outstanding artists like Ram Waeerkar who gave the comics a unique look and his tireless energy in promoting the

stories. He traveled to schools across the length and breadth of India and was responsible for several marketing innovations (e.g., BEST buses painted with ACK characters, school newsletters) that were ahead of the times. Mr Pai had the unique gift to communicate and connect with children as a true friend. He believed that every value and knowledge could be communicated to a child through the medium of story-telling.

He remained committed to the idea of telling stories from the vast ocean of Indian sources in whatever form was most popular with children. In 2007 after Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle became part of ACK Media he was named Editor Emeritus and was keen on the new animation projects that the company had launched to realize his characters in new forms for the new generation. Mr Pai continued to develop new ideas till the very end – for the last three years he was working on his favorite project - Glimpses of Glory that brings to life 60 defining moments from Indian history.

We'll miss the man - and we'll try to keep his vision alive.

Bookaroo 2010 - photos

2011-02-23T11:54:00.000+05:30

It's a little late, but we figured it's better late than never! Here are some photos from the art sessions conducted by Malavika P. C. at Bookaroo in November 2010!

An Interview with Shobha Viswanath

2011-02-19T10:59:00.000+05:30

An interview with our publishing director Shobha Viswanath

in Define magazine.

Click on the images to read the complete interview!

Looking for writers for our new Animated Shorts project

2011-02-16T12:55:00.000+05:30

Karadi Tales is developing a series of short animation films based on the exploits of Suppandi and Shikari Shambu. We're looking for writers who are familiar with these characters, and can develop existing comic sketches into scripts for a 3-minute animated short format.

We're looking for a good creative writer with

a wacky sense of humour,
some experience in screen writing
and the ability to churn out at least 50 fantastic scripts a month

It of course helps if you are a Tinkle fan.

Interested writers please get in touch. Send us a sample script based on any existing Shikari Shambu sketch! Email - contact@karadiatales.com

Please spread the word.

Cheers,
Team Karadi

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-13T13:07:00.006+05:30

Happy Valentines Day!

Click on the card to read our special message to you!

Illustration by Malavika P. C.

From 'Intergalactic Idol'

A soon-to-be-published title from Karadi Tales!

Videos from AfterSchool Convocation

2011-02-05T14:00:00.001+05:30

Do take a look at some videos from our AfterSchool convocation performed by the lovely kids from The Yellow Bus!

Here's little Riya overcoming her shyness and becoming an elephant called Bablu from the story Bablu and the Mouse!

Here's the first scene from their performance of the story Fish Friends Three!

And here are all the kids singing the 'Will You Read With Me?' song!

Take a look at the original song here:

For more information on Karadi Tales AfterSchool, click here.

Karadi Tales AfterSchool Convocation

2011-02-02T12:57:00.003+05:30

On 26 January 2011, the first batch of the Karadi Tales AfterSchool SuperStory programme at The Yellow Bus, a dynamic children’s centre in Besant Nagar, Chennai, graduated – and with flying colours! They kids presented a vibrant performance based on their creative learnings through the course of the programme.

Here’s a note from Mrs. Hema Chari of The Yellow Bus.

The jungle came alive in the presentation in different mediums of expression - art, music, theatre and dramatic reading. Every parent who registered their child for the SuperStory program came to me asking for only one thing – ‘My child is very shy, kindly make my child open up a little more.’ Today, after seeing the presentation of their child in front of an audience, the parents were amazed to see the sea of change in them. They were unanimous when they said that all the children showed great confidence all through the presentation on the convocation day.

When we wanted to put up the show, we truly wanted everything to be ‘of the children’ and ‘by the children’ but ‘for the parents’. We didn’t want to leave out any activities that the SuperStory program offered.

So our first thought went to the backdrop for the event. We decided to have a common backdrop which would depict both the eeriness of the forest and the currents of the ocean. In that direction, our art facilitator and the children worked side by side in the making of the backdrop. And the world of paints and brushes set the stage for the event.

We began the evening with the musical presentation of the Karadi song ‘Welcome to my Jungle’ performed by all the children. Since the SuperStory program is designed to develop language and reading skills, we followed this with a dramatic reading of the story Bablu and the Mouse by Ashwat and Sumukhi in which Riya acted as the elephant.

This was followed by the evening’s main feature – the theatrical presentation of the story Fish Friends Three. Anwesha acted as Timsi Machili. Bucki Mach was played by Rene. Pradyumna took to playing Moti Meen.

The two fishermen were Pranesh and Tarun while Ashwat and Sumukhi were the narrators.

We found that the children quite easily slipped into different characters. They related to the story very well even as it was dealt with during the sessions.

In order to show our parents how fun-filled and energized each of the sessions were, our theatrical facilitator demonstrated a fun game called 'Zip-Zap', used during the theatre activities.

We concluded the evening with the musical presentation that highlights the importance of reading books and a rendition of the ‘Will You Read With Me?’ song.

After the concluding song, certificates were distributed to all the children by our Chief Guest Mrs. Shashikala Sriram, Principal of Bala Vidya Mandir.

February 2011

2011-02-01T06:00:00.000+05:30

Here's your calendar for February 2011!

What do bears dream of?

2011-01-21T10:25:00.000+05:30

From the Pratham Books blog: What do bears dream of?

Pratham Books recently conducted a competition called 'Mumtaz Embroiders Her Dreams'. Check out a guest post from Karadi Tales for the contest!

Mouse Stories reviewed!

2011-01-19T10:43:00.000+05:30

This wonderful review appeared in the November 2010 edition of The Book Review. Click on the image to read the review.

The Mouse Stories are available at all leading bookstores and through the Karadi Tales website.

Storytime with Karadi Tales

2011-01-03T11:01:00.000+05:30

On 30 December 2010, Karadi Tales had a wonderful storytelling session at Landmark at Apex Plaza in Nungambakkam (Chennai) conducted by storytellers from iloveread. The exciting interactive session featured two of our favourite tales - Little Vinayak and The Lizard's Tail.

Watch this video clip from the event:

Here are some pictures from the event:

January 2011

2011-01-01T06:00:00.003+05:30

In 2011, we'll be giving you a calendar for every month with artwork from one of our books. Here's the January 2011 calendar. We hope you like it!

New Year Wishes!

2010-12-31T10:37:00.002+05:30

Happy New Year!

Click on the card to read our special message to you!

Illustration by Aashish Mall

From 'Markandeya's Vision'

A soon-to-be-published title from Karadi Tales!