12 books to keep children engrossed in the summer holidays

By Neha Kirpal

As the summer sun scorches the sky, and children are forced to spend more and more time indoors, we bring you a curated list of some latest ‘kidlit’ titles. From environment to space, history, dogs, friendship, horror and wellbeing, we’ve got little ones of all ages covered for the summer vacations!

Wellbeing for Kids: Making Kids Smarter, Happier (5+ years)
By Kate Daniels & Victoria Pugh (Harper Collins India, INR 499)

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns around the wellbeing of children have grown. This series of three workbooks is filled with tools, activities and exercises to build the wellbeing and emotional health of children.

Topics in the books include among other things identifying and managing emotions; developing healthy habits; establishing healthy relationships with peers; being a part of a community; how to stay safe in school, at home and online; how to cope with change; and how to live sustainably and ethically.

Mira’s Resolve (5+ years)
By Abhinav Seth & Aahira Seth, illustrated by Maurin Singh (Indiepress, INR 199)

This book is a special project that has been created by a father and his five-year-old daughter. In a forest filled with bees, Mira wakes up one morning to find that all the bees and birds are missing. She realises that trees are being cut and chemicals are destroying farms. Determined to bring her friends back home, Mira learns an important lesson – that even the tiniest beings can bring about change in the world.

Zooni’s Alarm Clock (5+ years)
By Vibha Batra, illustrations by Pankaj Saikia (Duckbill, INR 250)

Zooni’s brother, Iqbal, is a beatboxer who makes all sorts of sounds all day, using his mouth, lips, tongue and voice – disturbing the peace at home. All through the holy month of Ramzan, their grandfather goes from door to door, waking people for seher with his big drum.

When the drumhead tears for the first time in 40 years, Zooni has a plan – a human alarm clock mimicking roosters to wake up the town!

The Little Book of Indian Dogs (6+ years)
By Anusha Ramanathan, illustrated by Chandrima Chatterjee (Harper Collins India, INR 599)

Runi and Baba feel that their pet dog is lonely and needs a companion. That begins their search for a new dog – among all the many choices that are available.

With the help of descriptive illustrations, the book goes onto explain readers the characteristics of various species and breeds of Indian dogs, such as Chippiparai, Rajaplayam, Kombai, Jonangi, Rampur greyhound, Bakharwal, Bully Kutta, Tibetan Mastiff and the Indian Pariah Dog. A must-read for all young dog lovers!

Go Go Flamingo (6+ years)
By Devashish Makhija & Priya Kuriyan (Tulika Books, INR 275)

Every summer, a flock of pink flamingos flies south in search of food and drink. They forage the not-so-blue sea water, and are shocked by all kinds of dumped garbage that they find – bags, medical equipment, packing material, plastic bottles, wires, tyres, pipes, nets, masks, tapes, mirrors, shoes and ropes.

Being birds, they comically have fun and play around with these objects – until they forget why they’d flown all the way in the first place.

Astro Chimp (8+ years)
By David Walliams, illustrated by Adam Stower (Harper Collins US, $16.99)

A funny space opera that’s illustrated in bright colours, this is a book about all kinds of animals that humans have sent into space since the 1940s – most of which have never returned.

Chump, the chimpanzee, is sent into space for a dangerous mission. Orbiting the earth in a rocket, he creates history by becoming the first ape in space. Along the way, he encounters fruit flies, cats, rats, dogs, tortoises, spiders and gerbils. All the characters in the book are based on real animals that humans have sent into space over the years as guinea pigs.

The Wall Friends Club (8+ years)
By Varsha Seshan, Illustrated by Denise Antao (Harper Collins India, INR 175)

Two 10-year-olds begin corresponding with each other through letters that they leave in a park. Over the course of the letters, they discuss their likes and dislikes, favourite characters, poems and craft projects. As they get to know each other better, differences and disagreements arise too.

The book evokes nostalgia, and takes one back to an era when we would write and post letters to “pen pals” whom we had never met in person. Do they ever get to meet? Find out in this fun book – which also teaches how to write in code among other things.

Song of the Asunam (9+ years)
By CC Salamander and Rajiv Eipe (Harper Collins India, INR 499)

This is a graphic novel set in a sleepy south Indian village where man and monster live side by side. A strange boy called Vetri learns all the secrets of hunting from his grandmother’s journal, practising his skills daily.

So, when a huge scary beast comes to his village, Vetri manages to hunt him down – but later decides to take him back to his home across the river, along the valley, over the cliffs and through the forest. Many adventures await them along the way, depicted via beautiful illustrations throughout the book.

History Unpacked: The Why, When and What of Ancient India (10+ years)
By Saisudha Acharya, illustrated by Rohit Bhasi (Duckbill, INR 399)

Filled with quizzes, timelines, maps and cartoons, this book is about Indian history, specifically prehistoric and ancient Indian history, from around 10,000 BCE to 650 CE. In 10 chapters, it covers among other things various important periods in history, such as the Vedic Period, the first Agricultural Revolution, the Harappan Civilisation and the Stone Age.

“History can be as interesting as any good story and is sometimes wilder and more dramatic than a novelist can imagine,” writes Acharya in the book’s Introduction.

Bee-Witched (12+ years)
By Aruna Sankaranarayanan & Brinda S. Narayan (Hachette India, INR 599)

This is a compelling coming-of-age tale set against the high-pressure world of competitive spelling bees. At its centre is Neel, a driven Indian-American teen with a formidable vocabulary and even fiercer family expectations. But his path to glory is complicated by the arrival of Meher Khan – his intellectual equal, emotional foil, and the unexpected disruption to his carefully ordered world.

As the stakes rise, both on stage and at home, the novel explores the tension between ambition and identity, competition and connection. What begins as a spelling showdown gradually reveals itself as a deeper exploration of adolescence, cultural pressure, and the words we struggle to live by.

Scare Walk (13+ years)
By Andaleeb Wajid, illustrated by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya (Harper Collins India, INR 499)

This horror graphic novella is about four friends who decide to go on a “scare walk” in a haunted house located on the outskirts of the city.

The experience at the eerie house of horrors seems every bit real, and has everything from creepy snakes to dogs, random ‘people’ and even an ocean with sharks. Until finally, all the four youngsters want to really do is find a way to get out. Like in all good graphic novels, many of the book’s pages consist of only great pictures, with no dialogues or other text.

The Best of Katha Utsav 2024 Vol. 1 (8 – 13 years)
By fearless young minds (Katha)

The Best of Katha Utsav 2024 is an anthology of carefully curated short stories, poems, and essays by children aged 8 to 15 from across India. Selected from thousands of entries to Katha’s annual writing workshop, the pieces offer a wide range of perspectives on social, cultural and environmental issues.

The collection stands out for its authenticity and imaginative range. These are not polished adult imitations but original works that reflect how young people perceive and interpret the world around them. With this volume, which will be released this month, Katha continues its commitment to nurturing young voices and highlighting the value of children’s perspectives in contemporary discourse.