Anushka RavishankarBesprekingen

About how a baby elephant gets lost in a storm, meets a herd of cows and becomes a part of the herd.
When the time to make a choice whether to go back to the elephant herd or cows, it chooses the cows.
About emotional connect and where one belongs. The choice of that Illustrations are unique.
"Graphic feel with the old-fashioned woodcut style of an earlier era" - from back cover

Loved this funny story about a rampant crocodile and the villagers that try to catch it. A village girl figures out how to lure it away, thus oversetting all the know-it-all older men who took more forceful (and unsuccessful) approaches.

This is a circular story, beginning with the same words with which the story ends. While the words are few and the illustrations graphic and bold, a listener or reader might be delighted by the verse and the opportunities to actively read. The type works in tandem with the graphic illustrations to give another dimension of movement and volume to the illustrations. The tiger is timid and the people interested. Will they trap the tiger? Will they paint it electric blue? Will they keep it in a zoo? Old and young will delight in the outcome of this engaging and minimalist story.

To encourage writing I thought this verse could introduce the idea of simple rhymes and the ways in which they could guide dialogue or the storyline. For readers considering how to write their own story this could pose an intriguing challenge. Something out of place, or interacting in a new environment. What do people do when they encounter this new creature or thing? Is it resolved? Do the people agree? What happens in the end? I found the simple illustrations appealing for this challenge as well with the idea that simple, but empathetic illustrations with strong line work and graphic quality can go a long way. With only three colors the illustrator manages to convey the tigers timidity, fear, confusion, and eventual joy at being set free.½

Indian children's author Anyshka Ravishankar retells a traditional Japanese folktale in this engaging picture-book. A young boy with a penchant for drawing cats at all times, Akiro is the despair of his parents. Eventually they send him to the local priest to be educated, but eventually this man concludes that Akiro doesn't have the right temperament. Traveling to another village, the boy finds a seemingly abandoned temple, and draws cats all over the rice paper screens, before going to sleep in a cupboard. Overnight, the cats come to life and slay the rat-demon haunting the temple, thereby restoring it to its owners. Turning down an offer to be trained as a replacement for the head priest of this second temple, Akiro continues with his cat-drawing ways, eventually becoming a famous artist...

The story contained in The Boy Who Drew Cats is a well-known one, and I have seen it retold many times. Here in the west, the most famous retelling is probably that done by Lafcadio Hearn, although I have also encountered it in Natalia Belting's collection, Cat Tales, as well as in picture-book versions by Margaret Hodges and Aki Sogabe, Arthur Levine and Frédéric Clément, and David Johnson. I enjoyed Anushka Ravishankar's telling here, and appreciated German illustrator Christine Kastl's accompanying artwork. Having read a number of American versions of this Japanese tale, it was interesting to encounter an Indian one, demonstrating how folklore travels, and how appealing it can be, across cultural and geographic boundaries. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, as well as cat-lovers.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful and match the tone of this story. They are done in thick ink in a style that was famous in early Japanese history. This story shows that even if people do not understand your talent, not to give up, because everyone has a purpose to match their passion.

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Age Group: 6-12
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I found the message of this story to be very beautiful and inspiring. I also read it to my class for inspiration. The colours are all muted and look old, like they could have been from ancient Japan, so that the story has an ancient feel and is fun to read. It sends a good messages to children who are interested in art, maybe they are always drawing.

Response - This is a very funny graphic novel. I read it to my fifth graders, who enjoyed it immensely. Captain Coconut and other characters have distinct, yet quirky personalities. The graphics are great. I can't wait to read more adventures of Captain Coconut!

Curricular connections - read aloud, characterization, math for young readers

Dès 3 ans

This was a perfect book for 2nd graders to read at the start of the year. They loved it.

“Elephants Never Forget”
I REALLY liked this book for a few reasons. One of the reasons was that the text was poetic and every page rhymed. This always makes for an engaging story for young children to read or listen along. I also liked the layout of the book. When picking it up I thought it wouldn’t be interesting but grabbed it anyway, but the text is not just straight lines across the page but the text has somewhat of a motion of the sounds of the story. For example on page says, “The reason they’d run was suddenly clear… R O A A R! The elephant trembled in fear.” The “roar” portion on this page was spread out large across the tiger that had come along in the story. I also enjoyed the plot of the book because it is not predictable and ended in a way that is very unique by having the elephant decide that he wants to stay with the buffalo in the end. The main message of this book is friendship and how important long lasting friends can be in someone’s life.

This is a book about an elephant who becomes lost in the forest and ends up becoming a buffalo. When he sees elephants again what will he do. This is a great book about fitting in and finding your place even though you may be different. This would be a great book for any elementary children and provides a great story and teaching point.

A young girl accompanies her mother to market, supremely conscious of the money she has been given for a treat. What will she buy? A pet, perhaps? A toy? The choices are endless, and as the girl explores the many stalls, imagining herself as everything from bangle-seller to fish, she forgets all about her purchase...

This lovely picture-book, featuring rhyming text and colorful artwork, offers young readers a joyous portrait of one girl's imaginative play. Described in a 2006 Horn Book article as the author who has introduced India's children to the genre of literary nonsense, Ravishankar delivers an immensely readable tale in To Market! To Market!, while Italian illustrator Emanuele Scanziani's artwork fairly leaps off the page, adding to the sense of motion and fun.

Sparse, uninteresting text combined with unappealing, blurred illustrations make this book a real flop. There is no real plot or interest to be had anywhere in this tiny book.

Anushka Ravishankar's simple rhyming text - "Sunny cats / Sad cats / Greedy cats / Bad cats / Grinning cats / Cats with scowls / Chinless cats / Cats with jowls" - is accompanied by illustrations taken from the work of a variety of tribal and folk artists from India in I Like Cats, a charming little picture-book ideally suited for feline fanciers young and old. Whether the idiosyncratic portraits reproduced here are from the Ghond people or the Sohrai, the Warli or the Meena, the result is arresting: a visual feast of kitty-cats - stylized, intricately decorated, and all immensely appealing!

There's not enough of a text to make a story, but the sing-song narrative of I Like Cats, with its inevitable conclusion, makes this one a fun little book to read aloud. The artwork definitely holds the attention, offering the reader something they will want to savor. It's another winner from innovative Indian children's publisher, Tara Books!

Anushka Ravishankar - whose recent To Market! To Market! was such an entertaining read-aloud - delivers another picture-book winner with Catch That Crocodile! When Falguni Fruitseller comes upon a crocodile in a ditch, chaos ensues, as everyone from Probin Policeman to Bhayanak Singh, the wrestler, attempts to catch it. Finally, it is little Meena who comes up with a solution...

With a rhyming text that is a pleasure to read aloud - "Wh...what! H...how? Wh...why? Wh...which? / CROCODILE! CROCODILE! In the ditch! / Where did it comes from? How did it come? The river is far - It couldn't have swum" - and bold illustrations in black, white and green, this appealing picture-book is another example of why I love Tara Books' children's catalogue. Creative artwork, innovative and high-quality design, and engaging narratives, are all to be found in their titles, and Catch That Crocodile! is no exception! Young readers with a taste for fun nonsense rhymes will definitely appreciate this one!

Lovely, whimsical handmade collection of felines by tribal and folk artists of India.

My word and design freak boy loved it . . . Read on the 5 min drive home from the library and then to me the second we waked in the door. I swear, I'd marry Tara Books if publishing house -human unions were legal.

Ravishankar, A. (2012). The rumor. (Ill. By K. Kini). Toronto, ON: Tundra Books. 32 pp. ISBN: 978-1-77049-280-6. (Hardcover); $17.95.
The Rumor, is a story about the village of Baddbaddpur. The people in the story like to tell stories and spread rumors; it is like the game “telephone”. By the time the story gets back around, it is completely different than the original story. I enjoyed reading this book and I think the lesson is beneficial to children: don’t spread rumors or tell stories that are not true. I also loved the fact that Ravishankar used humor to get her message across. This book would be great for first and second grade children because it is a bit long and does have some advanced vocabulary. It is a better book to read aloud to your class rather than a silent, independent read. Although the colorful pictures fill up the entire pages, there are still many words on each page; therefore, not only does it tell a good story, but the pages will look appealing to young children. -Katie

Loved this funny story about a rampant crocodile and the villagers that try to catch it. A village girl figures out how to lure it away, thus oversetting all the know-it-all older men who took more forceful (and unsuccessful) approaches.

elephant grows up with water buffaloes, when elephants are met years later, he decides he will stay with the water buffaloes. Nice rhyme.

The author uses simple text to explain the traditional paintings and drawings of cats included to illustrate this book. I’d like to know more about the traditional paintings and drawings than the brief line about the origin of each listed in the back of the book.

“Worried cats

S l o w cats

Hurried cats

Thin cats”

I first discovered this author in Catch that Crocodile! While I admit the artwork isn't my favorite style, and my library patrons don't seem to be very interested in checking them out, when I've pulled the books and read them in storytime the kids love them.

Each of these stories has a strong rhyming pattern and include many opportunities to get the kids involved in the story, asking what happens next, trying to answer the questions asked by the text, etc. Elephants Never Forget also has excellent opportunities for practicing elephant toots and buffalo bellows. They each seem to follow a pattern of a misplaced animal - a crocodile in a village ditch, a tiger in a village tree, and an elephant among buffalos. The artwork is blocky and can be difficult to discern the actual pictures, although Elephants Never Forget, which is illustrated by Christine Pieper rather than Pulak Biswas, is more conventional. You may have to actively push these stories at patrons - but once they've tried them, they'll love them!

Verdict: I recommend Elephants Never Forget and Catch That Crocodile. Have a crocodile and/or elephant themed storytime and introduce your patrons to something different!

Catch that crocodile
ISBN: 978-8186211632; Published March 2008 by Tara; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Added to my personal wishlist

Elephants never forget
ISBN: 0618997849; Published March 2008 by Houghton Mifflin; Borrowed from the library; Added to my personal wishlist

Tiger on a tree
ISBN: 978-0374375553; Published March 2005 by Farrar Straus & Giroux; Borrowed from the library

I first discovered this author in Catch that Crocodile! While I admit the artwork isn't my favorite style, and my library patrons don't seem to be very interested in checking them out, when I've pulled the books and read them in storytime the kids love them.

Each of these stories has a strong rhyming pattern and include many opportunities to get the kids involved in the story, asking what happens next, trying to answer the questions asked by the text, etc. Elephants Never Forget also has excellent opportunities for practicing elephant toots and buffalo bellows. They each seem to follow a pattern of a misplaced animal - a crocodile in a village ditch, a tiger in a village tree, and an elephant among buffalos. The artwork is blocky and can be difficult to discern the actual pictures, although Elephants Never Forget, which is illustrated by Christine Pieper rather than Pulak Biswas, is more conventional. You may have to actively push these stories at patrons - but once they've tried them, they'll love them!

Verdict: I recommend Elephants Never Forget and Catch That Crocodile. Have a crocodile and/or elephant themed storytime and introduce your patrons to something different!

Catch that crocodile
ISBN: 978-8186211632; Published March 2008 by Tara; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Added to my personal wishlist

Elephants never forget
ISBN: 0618997849; Published March 2008 by Houghton Mifflin; Borrowed from the library; Added to my personal wishlist

Tiger on a tree
ISBN: 978-0374375553; Published March 2005 by Farrar Straus & Giroux; Borrowed from the library

I first discovered this author in Catch that Crocodile! While I admit the artwork isn't my favorite style, and my library patrons don't seem to be very interested in checking them out, when I've pulled the books and read them in storytime the kids love them.

Each of these stories has a strong rhyming pattern and include many opportunities to get the kids involved in the story, asking what happens next, trying to answer the questions asked by the text, etc. Elephants Never Forget also has excellent opportunities for practicing elephant toots and buffalo bellows. They each seem to follow a pattern of a misplaced animal - a crocodile in a village ditch, a tiger in a village tree, and an elephant among buffalos. The artwork is blocky and can be difficult to discern the actual pictures, although Elephants Never Forget, which is illustrated by Christine Pieper rather than Pulak Biswas, is more conventional. You may have to actively push these stories at patrons - but once they've tried them, they'll love them!

Verdict: I recommend Elephants Never Forget and Catch That Crocodile. Have a crocodile and/or elephant themed storytime and introduce your patrons to something different!

Catch that crocodile
ISBN: 978-8186211632; Published March 2008 by Tara; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Added to my personal wishlist

Elephants never forget
ISBN: 0618997849; Published March 2008 by Houghton Mifflin; Borrowed from the library; Added to my personal wishlist

Tiger on a tree
ISBN: 978-0374375553; Published March 2005 by Farrar Straus & Giroux; Borrowed from the library