Book review

Ruskin Bond, the master storyteller, is at his inventive best when spinning out yarns for children. For over four decades, the author has conjured up an enchanting literary landscape in which children play an integral role. This collection brings together thirty-seven of his finest stories for children, including some that have never been published in India before.

The themes of the stories are refreshingly simple: the close bond between a young boy and his grandmother and their long trek to buy a new pair of reading glasses in �A Long Walk with Granny�; a bicycle ride which becomes a nightmare for a young boy when he encounters the strange duo of a brother and a sister on a lonely road in �The Haunted Bicycle�; the hilarious adventures of a family travelling on a train with their unusual pets: a tiger, a squirrel, a parrot, and a whimsical python, in �Animals on the Track�. A rich cast of characters exert their magical spell, whether it is uncle Ken, who flits from job to job, living off his doting sisters with great aplomb; or Miss Mackenzie, whose love for flowers becomes a common link between her and a young schoolboy; or Toto, the little frisky monkey, whose exploits make for delightful reading.
PAPERBACK/ 260 Pages

About the author For over forty-five years Ruskin Bond has been writing stories, novellas, essays, poems and children�s books. He has written over 500 short stories and articles, many of which have been published by Penguin India. Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar, Dehradun, New Delhi and Simla. As a young man, he spent four years in the Channel Islands and London. He returned to India in 1955, and has never left the country since. His first novel The Room on the Roof received the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, awarded to a Commonwealth writer under thirty, for �a work of outstanding literary merit�. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1993, and the Padma Shri in 1999. He lives in Landour, Mussoorie, with his extended family.