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Author – Roopa Pai

Those who are 12+ you can be on your own like most of the things in your life while those you are younger can seek the assistance of their parents in reading.

I took a month to pick this book and the full version of Gita I bought from Iskon is lying in the library for six years now.

So we get your resistance.

We also get you are grappling with not one but many issues and emotions in your life as an adolescent. Here is a book which may not help you escape reality for a few hours but help you make sense of your real life. That’s not a bad deal, right? So give it a shot.

Never mind if it gets boring at some places or makes not much sense, it holds the promise to create not one but many breakthroughs. You never know when that happens to you. Each to its own. Through the examples of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, your own life right now which is a mixture of academics, friends, bullies, popular gang, T.V., mobile phone, parents and the pressures that come along with these, you will begin to see how Gita applies to your everyday life. 

Before you judge this bestseller( as the author Roopa Pai calls it) as a religious book, please know that it is the most modern text you shall ever come across. Imagine it says worshipping idols, chanting mantras without knowing the meaning or right intention is sheer darkness! 

Author – Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Recommended for children 10+

“Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is ask for help.”-C.Connors

We are not recommending but literally begging you to pick the book right away. Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt is a must read for every child.

Revolving around the struggles of a dyslexic child Ally, the story gradually moves beyond her and presents the panoramic view of the life of students in middle school. 

Every class has a bully, a follower, a nerd, a rebel, a not so intelligent struggler. As one reads, it is interesting to reflect which role we play in our school life. Or maybe we become different people in different situations. The book will make kids question what kind of person they want to be. Also, are they ready to ‘alter’ themselves to fit in or do they have the courage to be who they are and ‘stand out’? 

There is an uncanny similarity between the book and our homegrown movie Taare Zameen Par. The first instinct is to find which came first. Apparently, the book came 8 years later! Yet, they both have their own place and own way of presenting the insights into the world of children.

Let’s not aim to make our children genius but C-O-U-R-A-GEnious!

Author – Katherine Applegate

Recommended for children 9+

Crenshaw is not a children’s book. To label it like that would mean limiting its depth and impact. I have always believed instead of self help, read Children’s books if you want your mind to open up and create new possibilities. The number of layers we deposit over years make our lens so hazy that we fail to see beauty. It is then that children enter our life like sunshine to show us things we can’t see. In the similar vein, children’s books dipped in innocent questions reveal to us answers we have been looking for.

I found myself slowing down while reading Crenshaw, not wanting it to come to an end. On one hand I was filled with curiosity to decipher what the imaginary cat is all about, and on the other hand I never wanted the mystery to end.

The author Katherine Applegate with great sensitivity brings out the need of the parents to protect their children from harsh reality. In few subtle words, she drills into me that if there is love nothing else matters. Things will come and go. Circumstances will go from good to bad and then back to good, the cycle will go on. But if love is constant, you preserve innocence and spirit of your children.

As convincingly, she whispers in my ears through the imaginary cat three simple words ‘Tell the Truth’. It is with the glue of truth a lasting bond with your children is built. Make them part of your struggle. Let them experience hunger, homelessness, and the uncertainty the way it is and allow them the dignity to deal with them. Let out the anger, let the tears flow, let’s see life in its eye. Only then along with pain, you will find sitting quietly next to it MAGIC!

Author – Eleanor Coerr

Recommended for children 10+

This 60-page book brings out the aftermath of the atom bomb thrown on Hiroshima during World War II. Through the true story of a twelve-year girl Sadako, we come to know how children who were not born or had no memory of the heinous attack in 1945 suffered even after years. Written in a simple language, the heart touching story is a gateway for children to understand loss, pain, empathy, companionship, and hope. Making of the paper planes by Sadako and her friends somehow makes you feel deeply connected with victims of Hiroshima Nagasaki attacks. Where the futility of war hits you every moment, what stands out is that if there are people ready to kill for power there are also many who will stand by humanity. 

‘This is our cry,

This is our prayer;

Peace in the world.’

Narrated in the name, form and shape of demons, One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry is the most unique autobiography I have ever read. After reading, it seems the most natural way of looking back at your life. Is it not demons we all live and grow up with?

Technically it is not an autobiography but reveals the most intimate parts of life and mind of the author. Presented in the form of a comic, it is funny and brutally honest. Right from head lice to heartbreak, from being bullied to becoming a bully, Lynda bares her feelings as she narrates episodes from her childhood and teenage. With no emotional support from her mother, how she dealt with the loneliness and anxiety of being ‘ugly’ and ‘different’ by doing some crazy things.

In her demons, you remember and begin to recognize your own demons. How I wish I had read something like this in my adolescence. I would have felt understood and not alone. That is why it may be a good book for your teenager but it may be even better for you as a parent. You will begin to place your child in the centre and see how she/he must be interacting with various elements in his/her life- school, attractions, teachers, best friend, boy/girlfriend, bullies, looks, abuse, need to prove. Once you draw the picture in your mind, you realize the pressure built up inside your child. It may just evoke the empathy, love and understanding your child may need from you.

Recommended for ages 13+ and all parents

The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo

To have a lion as a pet is unfathomable but Michael Morpurgo in his classic style weaves another magical tale of love and compassion. Filled with loneliness, Bertie finds companionship in a lion cub. The endearing relationship full of play, long walks, conversations and hugs goes on to become the anchor of his life. It is the promise to never have the lion caged ever that keeps Bertie going. In spite of having found love, the thought and concern of the lion who lands up in a circus bothers him. How he manages to find and rescue his lion is sheer serendipity. But the magic doesn’t end here. How the lion becomes a butterfly lion is the part of the book which will move your heart and bring tears. But those will be the tears of joy, hope and faith.

Recommended for children 10+

Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo

Barely thirteen years of age, he rescued hundreds of children from child labour. The story of Iqbal Masih is the story of magic. A magic called human spirit. The magic we all have within us, but few believe in it and put it to use.

Living in a world, where we are free to roam and fly to any place, it is unbelievable that in 1995 there were lakhs of children in Pakistan doing bonded labour in carpet and brick making industry. To pay debt of the moneylender, parents sold away their children in hope they will return one day. But the lines on the slate of each slave were never erased. With mere bread and lentil soup in their stomach they worked from dusk to dawn. Iqbal Masih was also one of them yet he was different. He was not afraid. He raised his voice. Not once but again and again. Till one day activist Esah Khan heard him. Refusing to return to his family, he worked fearlessly with Esah Khan to rescue other children and brought the entire world’s attention to the inhuman situation.

He was killed by the carpet mafia at the age of thirteen. He lived long enough to raise many Iqbals around him.

For children13+