What are festivals if not – festive! There is a ton of fun around rituals, poojas, relatives, friends, house-hopping for sweets, history, grandparents, cooking, sweets, traveling!
And then, what’s a vacation without some new stories?
And stories definitely work for me when it comes to explaining something new to him, be it about our culture or festivals or general day to day things like values or habits. To add to that, we have reached a stage now where he himself asks us – which story will you tell me today? This makes my task of curating a list of books all the more exciting.
He loves to know more about Indian Gods and mythology (thanks to his fascination for action & adventure and animated television series like Bal Hanuman or movies like Oh My Friend Ganesha), he somehow is hooked on to them as much as Superheroes or Avengers.
Here is a little curated list including some I have read myself as a child. This list is not only specifically on Goddess Durga or Dusshera but also on other characters from Ramayana.
1. Tales of Durga by Amar Chitra Katha
1. Tales of Durga by Amar Chitra KathaWhen it comes to reading something on mythology, Amar Chitra Katha has to be our default choice. After all it’s the publication that fed our generation with lots of interesting content. While the visual taste or preferences of the new generation might have changed but I think when it comes to the vastness of content available with ACK, there is just no comparison.
Tales of Durga is yet another interesting offering from ACK that tells the story of incarnation of Durga and her victory over Mahishasur in a crisp and simple way. My son is anyway fond of action stories a lot, so he loved all the fight sequence of Goddess Durga & Mahishasur and her final victory over the demon.
2. Amma, Tell me about Durga Puja by Bhakti Mathur
Just spotted this book on Amazon and somehow loved the cover and the title. Ordered it
on impulse and I’m glad I ordered it. Quite a nice book on Goddess Durga presented through lively visuals. I especially loved the storytelling style of this book. It highlights the whole concept of Mahalaya to Viajaydashmi in a very interesting way. Look at one of the pictures from the inner pages; the illustrations are nothing less than visual treat for the little ones!
We totally loved this book and I am planning to surely try more books in “Amma, Tell me about…” series.
3. Festivals of India by Om Books International
3. Festivals of India by Om Books InternationalAmazing book! It covers the different festivals of India in a very comprehensive way. The descriptions are apt in length to hold the attention of younger kids along with colorful visuals. For Dusshera / Durga Puja, it has three separate chapters – one covering Navratri, second covers Durga Puja & third one is on Dusshera. The Dusshera chapter also interlinks the significance of Goddess Durga in Rama’s victory over evil. I just read all three of these to my little one.
4. Rama by Amar Chitra Katha
Another content rich book by Amar Chitra Katha. It presents all aspects of Rama’s fourteen years exile, his fight with Ravana and his relationship with different other characters from Ramayana in the form of a visual story. As I said earlier, when it comes to mythology, there is no parallel to Amar Chitra Katha’s length and depth of content.
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5. Chota Kumbhakarna by Arundhati Venkatesh
5. Chota Kumbhakarna by Arundhati VenkateshIt’s actually a cute book.The story of Kumbhakarna is narrated to the main character in this story Kukku by his father. Now, how can Kumbhakaran be cute! Don’t believe it? Check the visuals below. My son just loves this book, we have gone through the pages many times and he doesn’t seem to get bored of it.
This book is available in English too but I picked up a Hindi version as it was the only book left at a book reading session by the author that we had attended last year. And I also consciously wanted to start reading him some Hindi books too.
6. Shiva by Om Books International
While the title reads Shiva, it’s actually more of a story around Goddess Shakti and her fight with demon brothers Chanda & Munda.
This book comes in an interesting shape with rich visuals that easily attracts the attention of younger audience. To add to that, length of the book is such that even my five year old can easily recall the stories page by page.
7. Kumbhakarna by Amar Chitra Katha
7. Kumbhakarna by Amar Chitra KathaOh yes, another book on Kumbhakarna :). As I said my son loves this character for the luxury of long sleep that Kumbhakaran could afford. Of course, he knows the connection with Ravan, Lanka etc. This book apart from the sleeping story of the character also focuses on the whole Lanka fight with Rama & his army. Action yet again and here we go, he loved to listen to it. I think the mommy in me thinks my son loves to read these mythology stories because of all these fights and actions scenes in them!
8. Hanuman by Om Books
8. Hanuman by Om BooksAnother lovely book for bal Hanuman fans like my son. He is fascinated with Hanuman since his toddler days. In fact there was a phase when his favorite gift used to be only & only “gada“. So considering his craze for Hanuman, I knew this book would be totally loved by him. And I was just so right, he loved it. And to add to the charm of the character were those sweet pictures that told us the story from his birth to his part in Ramayana.
9. Dusshera by Diamond Comics
9. Dusshera by Diamond ComicsYet another book that focuses on victory of good over evil through Ramayana story, Rama’s vanvaas, the main fight in Lanka and then Vijayadashami. While the story remains the same but it’s amazing to observe kid’s excitement when it comes to varied visual representation.  Definitely works for me when it comes to reinforcing same story in different ways to my son.
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This article first appeared on Buzzing Bubs written by Kanupriya Sindhu
Wonderful books. They look so informative and I love the colorful illustrations.
Having books to help a child (or adult) understand a new concept is perfect. There are so many different levels and you can find the correct book for their age. I have always enjoyed mythology but haven’t learned much about these gods before.
These would be fun to share with a child. They provide important information and have bright, colorful illustrations. I would be learning a lot to if I read these books since I am not familiar with this subject.
It is great to get kids learning about things like this. These all sound like great choices for learning more about dussehra.
Awesome books, it’s good to learn more about the Dussehra which something I don’t know anything about haha
Great books! I’ll pick up one or two books so I can learn more about this. Nice recommendations! Thanks!
These books look like great choices. However what I really love is that the focuses on educating kids as to why they get the holidays that they do.