Saturday 25 June 2011

The Woman and the Crow

This book is a must pick if you are browsing the collection of books published by Children' s Book Trust (CBT).  It always manages to grab my attention with its attractive cover page and design.

The illustrations inside are amazing. And the story quite interesting: a crow runs away with the woman's roti just as she was about to eat it. She requests the crow to drop it and realises soon enough that pleading won't work. Nor would asking anybody else for help. She then resorts to a bit of manipulation aided by her  dog (the only one loyal beyond logic ) and gets back her roti in the end.

I like the story and I had read it out to my story telling audience of toddlers with good success. But what I love about this book is the art. Subir Roy draws a very life like old woman that we often encounter in our everyday Indian life-- complete with her lathi and brass plate. The crow, the village home,the tree,  and the animals are equally appealing.

It was first published in 1981 by CBT. I am so glad its being reprinted even now. Priced at Rs. 15/-, it can be found at various book fairs where CBT has a stall. I got my copy from Comet Media Foundation in Mumbai.  

To know more about Shankar and CBT, you can visit the website: http://www.childrensbooktrust.com/founder.htm

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