To Tulika, with love

We are deeply touched that people take the trouble to write and tell us how much they love our books and why. It gives us our energy shots!

On Tulika

Every Friday afternoon, in the village of Suviseshapuram, a classroom is transformed into a library. Many of the parents at the Kalnagar Elementary School are scavengers, making their living by picking through garbage and cleaning public toilets. On weekends some of the students work alongside their parents. Mothers started noticing the new library books their children were bringing home. With captivating illustrations and intriguing stories like Gadagada Gudugudu and Vaalameenkku Kalyanam, curiosities rose. One by one, parents with some reading skill started dropping by Kalnagar to see if they could check out books — for themselves. The new libraries are not just for the schools. They are also for the village or the neighborhood—broadening and expanding worlds for their communities.

Jane Koons , ALC School Library Programme in association with HRF (Hippocampus Reading Foundation)


One thing that has emerged in this “repeated reading” of Tulika books with my daughter is that in addition to the story the visuals in these books provide a very rich opportunity to connect experiences in our everyday lives in India with what we are reading. The context of life in India is present in the visuals waiting to be experienced, discovered and made connections to :)

Anita Balasubramaniam, Educationist, Chennai


I am overwhelmed as a mother and a vivid reader myself to see the diverse subjects you have published. The text and the illustrations of every book is eye catching. My daughter loved the books. Thank you Tulika for being so thoughtful for Indian children of today. Our generation unfortunately had to rely only on the foreign authors and Indian literature was mainly limited being regional due to the language bar (like Tagore being read mainly by Bengali kids).
  
Chandrima Pal, Scientist, Pune


The beauty of the edition you created continues to find its way to new languages, new readers, and it is not unrealistic to hope that it will outlive those who created it.

Alice McLerran, writer


Our state wide campaign on spreading the importance of reading for the better  future of children has been successful. With your books we have been able to enhance the reading skills of children in schools and communities... After the campaign children now appreciate the importance of
developing their reading skills.

Suseela, State Co-ordinator - RSEN


For all of us at Bookworm, Tulika books are a staple diet. They are the books we use and use well. They have the stories that allow us to make story telling engaging and learning experiences, they are the books that inform us and show us how a good book should be.

Niju Mohan, Bookworm


FoL (Fountain of Learning) has been working with isolated and neglected schools across Ladakh, towards both the Indo-China and Indo-Pakistan borders to empower children with the gift of education and these books helped provide a better overall quality of reading in these regions.

Deachen Yangdol, Avalokitesvara Trust


The Tulika books are very seductive and beckon loudly from the shop shelves with their vivid colours and imaginative illustrations. They are especially lovely to hold and feel… Apart from the aesthetic appeal, the choice of subjects, the bilingual approach, and the strong links to a 'sense' of India – contemporary, urban, rural and folk – make a very strong case for me to always consider a Tulika title with seriousness!

Anita Roy, Commissioning Editor, Young Zubaan


The Tulika series (Takdir, the Tiger Cub, Lai-Lai, the Baby Elephant) is filling an urgently needed niche. The general public is surprisingly unaware about wildlife issues, and this series could go a long way to programme in Uttaranchal and the tiger book in our programmes in Sundarbans and central India…

Belinda Wright, OBE, Executive Director, Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI)


Marion Sneyd and I purchased two sets of books from you, in both English and Tamil, for the Child Haven International Home in Kaliyampoondi. I wanted to send you this email to thank you for these books and to tell you that the Tulika books are one of the highlights of the library. We were surprised that even the older children loved your books, both the text and the beautiful illustrations.

Susan Ayela, Educator, Canada


Some weeks back I bought your bilingual book THE SEED by Deepa's Balsavar (Tamil translation by Karkuzhali) and enjoyed reading it several times to my three year old grandson Vedant. It is a brilliant production with excellent scripts and pictures.  Last week .... I gave the script to the dancers for poetry appreciation and analysis without revealing the source and the context. The discussion went on for nearly half an hour and everyone agreed that it was a poem and a fit subject for dance!

Sujata Vijayaraghavan, Dancer, Chennai


I recently visited my friend in Berkeley, California. She’d just returned from Chennai and bought a collection of Tulika books for her two daughters.....I too loved the books and immediately checked out your website. I was drawn to your philosophy on children’s books and it was wonderful to see such a great collection of innovative children’s book. I loved reading the profiles of your authors and illustrators and marveled at the awesome talent you have.

Ria Patel, California


It's cause of them [Tulika] that my son just loves Karimuga and Bajrangbali and not chhota bheem.

Rachna Koppikar, Entrepreneur


To me, the treasured moments of my daughter's childhood are the times we spend together pouring over an aesthetic book — mostly Tulika's! Thanks for the happy moments.

Jackie Schimdtke, Oklahoma, USA


We've found your books to be amazing… your books have been part of engaging children in regular enjoyable reading, who otherwise would not be. I feel if more people knew how good Tulika Gujarati books are – more people would buy them.

Gautam and Krutika Patel run a Home Learning Centre


I'm interested in the way certain individuals try to keep the cultural / spiritual / emotional heritage of India alive for coming generations. I see you do that through your publications. Commendable.

Devashish Makhija, Writer, Filmmaker and Director


One weekend when we were visiting some close friends, Amrita got a lovely gift from them… a stack of books published by your firm. And every single book from that collection has taken her on a new journey, especially books like Malu Bhalu, Eecha Poocha and The Runaway Peppercorn, which were her favorites. Now that we are back home, her only connection to those memories are through those books… it also fondly reminds her of  those special cozy afternoons she shared with her grandma telling her similar stories. I am very glad to know that FINALLY there are some books out there, which can make a difference, and more importantly these are books, which our children, here in the USA can relate to. I applaud you for taking this step and putting out such great products…there is obviously a dearth of good and wholesome books/authors for children’s reading. We have a huge, urban, educated middle class in India but pathetically not enough literature is being created for children. Books are typically written to enhance reading skills… but equally important is the need to foster good values, critical thinking and appreciation for our rich folklore and culture in the young minds of our children.

Anuradha Gokhale, Parent


The simple language and the use of just a few lines per page make it a great resource both for reading out to children and for shared reading by the children in class. Apart from this is the high quality of paper and printing which one rarely gets to see in Hindi books.

Amrita Patwardhan, Pune, India


Thank you so much for When Ali Became Bajrangbali -- I enjoyed the book very much, in its play of narrative and image, both very sophisticated (it's the most difficult mandate to achieve that refined simplicity which compresses a great deal and yet conveys pleasure and sense), and in the way it conveyed some profound insights into Indian culture and politics. Congratulations to Devashish Makhija and to Priya Kuriyan.

Ranjit Hoskote, poet and theorist, Mumbai


On newsletters

Your news letters are very refreshingly amazing, nice to see that your books are  a fantasy of childhood imagination  in  this metallic  world of concrete materialism, and plastic emotions, a runaway route from  hard reality.  During my teaching career my writings for children were an escape  route for relaxation.  I have forwarded a manuscript titled FLIGHT TO FANTASY, to you a year back, where animals get into humanised situations to make it hilarious. You are doing a great job, as you are truly opening a   world of fantasy, good wishes and regards to your entire team.  

Soma Banerjee


Thank you very much for your wonderful ideographical newsletter. Highly Commendable! Congratulations also for fast development in educating and reaching the needy and deserving. I feel really happy on seeing new programs and aids for easy educating system.

Basil Pereira, Educator


On birthday packages 

It's been a great experience dealing with Tulika. Great customer service is really rare in India, so you folks really stand out... Once again, both I and my wife are super-impressed by the speed, thoughtfulness and attention to detail from Tulika and we'll wholeheartedly recommend you folks to all our friends :)

Rohin Dharmaprakash, Bangalore

Thank you for the beautifully wrapped books and extra thank you cards and the gift for my daughter, the mom book!!!!! She was so happy and the book is so beautiful. So very thoughtful of you.

Shubha Gajanan, Parent