When kids digest bitter truths

That children hate non-fiction is a misconception. That non-fiction is limited to jargon-heavy, yawn-inducing monotonous reads is an even bigger one. The success of biographies, travel tales, science facts interestingly told and books dealing with issues such as sexual abuse and gender bias is evidence that many children, otherwise stubborn non-readers, are curious about the world around them.

They will make the effort to dig out more information. And Indian parents, most of whom are geared towards academic excellence and want their children to read more fact than fantasy, happily oblige.

Publishers have responded with encyclopedias, quizzes, guides and journals with interesting play of text and graphics. Of late, concerns that were once considered 'too adult' to discuss with kids and were not being addressed in popular fiction are also also being brought into focus as publishers and writers join hands to familiarise children about the scary, dark and brutal.

Take Tulika's Gender Talk: Big Hero... Size Zero (2015), for instance, that taps into children's confusion over their changing bodies and societal norms that dictate how boys and girls must behave. Co-authored by Sowmya Rajendran and Anushka Harihararn, both experts in gender studies, the book tells its story using comic strips and examples from popular culture.

"The book is a reaction to the Nirbhaya rape case to help children make sense of what's going on. My daughter is only four, but she's already heard adults saying 'boys don't like Barbie' and 'girls can't play football'. Such gender assumptions lead to a culture where masculine values are perceived to be better," says Rajendran. "Fiction can be boring if it's written badly too! If a book is written in an engaging manner, it will be interesting no matter which genre it falls under."

Young Zubaan (YZ) — the young-adult imprint of Delhi-based Zubaan Books — also delves into gender issues with Shruti Singhal's My Little Body Book: Keeping Ourselves Safe (2015) which sold 3,300 copies. It deals with issues such as 'from where the pee comes out' and what when touched 'makes me feel unsafe and sad', which publishers never dared tackle earlier.

"We didn't want to shy away from penises and vaginas, but rid the shame and secrecy in our kids' understanding of their own bodies," commissioning editor Ishani Butalia explains, adding, "In India, children read so much, but so much of what they read is written for children in completely different contexts that those contexts themselves are like fiction. It's something else reading strong fiction that is situated in your time and place."

Some publishers are also opting for classic storytelling, a strong point of the novella, to highlight issues in a way that holds a child's interest by not resorting to jargon. Authored by Mathangi Subramanian, YZ's Dear Mrs Naidu (2015) tells the story of a young girl, who in desperation to gain a seat in the same school as her well-to-do friend, studies the Right To Education (RTE) Act to know her rights. An elaboration of the act figures at the back of the book. Similarly, Delhi-based Duckbill Books' Talking of Muskaan (2015) by Himanjali Sankar relies on a fictional tale to discuss the LGBTQ spectrum: a girl discriminated by schoolmates for 'coming out'.

"Non-fiction is the larger market category and such books top the charts more often than any Indian fiction for children. Parents also prefer to get non-fiction for their children for its 'knowledge' value and perceived translatability into 'achievement' or grades," says Vatsala Kaul-Banerjee, head of children's books, Hachette India, which sold more than 20,000 copies of Roopa Pai's The Gita for Children last year.

Biographies, too, are being redefined. Moving away from the standard format of text and photographs being arranged chronologically, Scholastic India's Great Lives series adapts a part-text-part-comic-panel format to identify new role models for kids. Verghese Kurien: The Milkman of India (2014) is one such book. "Not many kids know about Operation Flood and the importance of India's milk exports," shares Shantanu Duttagupta, head of marketing, Scholastic India. Next on their list is a biography of Ruskin Bond that will release this September. While just-released APJ Abdul Kalam: The People's President follows the Great Lives series format, Puffin India's to-be-released What Can I Give? Learnings from My Teacher, Dr Kalam by advisor Srijan Pal Singh treats the subject differently.

Singh's is a first-person narrative, disclosing his teacher's lesser-known habits, stance on politics, lingo, and never-seen-before photographs, that kids will find engaging," says Sohini Mitra, Executive Editor, Penguin Books.
Then there's Hachette's What They Did, What They Said series that features the persons anecdotes and quotes. Sarojini Naidu: The Nightingale, The Freedom Fighter (2014) has poems she wrote for children. This includes In Life, where she writes:
 

Wounded with fierce desire and worn with strife,
Children ye have not lived: for this is life

Stepping away from the travel guides is Anuradha Kumar's Across the Seven Seas: Traveller's Tales from India (2015). "There are a number of books on travellers who came to India in the 18th and 19th centuries, but none on Indians who went abroad," says Kaul-Banerjee.

Part of package of non-fiction fare for children are those on science, encouraging crazy experiments in science. Puffin's Become a Junior Inventor features step-by-step processes and ingredients for kitchen innovations and also information on dissecting pulley mechanisms. Books on substance abuse and bullying are also in the pipeline.

"In a diverse country like ours, such themes are 'controversial' but it's important we talk to children about them. But, whether fiction or non-fiction, Indian children's books don't get the attention that they deserve. The big retail stores don't stock such books. The big lit fests don't include them," says Rajendran.

Flipping pages

Dhruv Tyagi, 11, class five

I started 'serious' reading when I was eight. I was always inquisitive about the what, why, when and how? How did Babur enter India in 1443? Do UFOs exist? I love reading general knowledge books and encyclopedias about new inventions and biographies.

Udbhav Dalal, 15, class nine

I have a great interest in science. I enjoyed Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time and The Theory of Everything, and APJ Abdul Kalam's Wings of Fire, for putting complex concepts in simple words.

Dhruv Mathur, 15, class nine

I received a Horrible Geography as a gift when I was eight. I found it so fascinating, I asked for Horrible Histories. It talks about the Anglo Saxons, Indus Valley and Roman civilizations. The books chronicle history in a story format.