Tata Trusts’ Parag initiative has come up with its ‘honour list’ for 2023, featuring 52 books for children and young adults, including titles by Ruskin Bond, Gulzar and Musharraf Ali Farooqi.
The list, announced on Tuesday, includes 31 books in English and 21 in Hindi from 33 Indian publishers. More than 250 entries were submitted for a spot on the list, which includes books for early readers, young readers, and young adults in the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry categories.
The books are on a variety of topics, including art, environment and climate change, gender, history, and even less explored topics such as philosophy for children.
The English jury consisted of children’s writer Mini Srinivasan, narrator Prachi Kalra and book curator Thejaswi Shivanand. The Hindi panel consisted of poet and essayist Arun Kamal; educationist Gurbachan Singh and theater personality Shaili Sathya.
Amrita Patwardhan, Head (Education), Tata Trusts says “Selected recommended book lists are widely developed and used internationally, helping readers and libraries access quality collections. The Parag Honor List is a first-of-its-kind effort to carefully curate, select and recommend outstanding original books published in Hindi and English over the past year in India”.
Lakshmi Karunakaran, Head of Parag Initiative, says, “Through this list, we celebrate the commendable work done by over 85 authors and illustrators and 15 publishers who are bringing you the best that children’s literature has to offer this year. Shivanand said the selection process was exciting and immersive.
“The time frame of the process gave me space to delve deeper into each book, share it with the children, explore their reactions and document my thoughts.” Besides Bond’s ‘The Enchanted Cottage’ and Farooqi’s ‘Monster Folktales from South Asia’, other books on the list include ‘Who’s Afraid of Z? Not Me!” by Lubain Bandukwal;
“Hunters of History: Chandragupta Maurya and the Greek Onslaught” by Shruti Garodia and Archana Garodia Gupta; “Pedru and the Big Boom” by Nandita da Cunha; “Grandfather’s Tiger Stories” by Anjana Basu; and “Tipu, Sultan Siwaliks’ by Amirtharaj Christy Williams Among the books in Hindi are two titles by Gulzar – ‘Duniya Meri’ and ‘Agar Magar’.
The Parag Honor Roll aims to produce a comprehensive collection of notable literature each year to bring them a wider readership as well as make it accessible to librarians, teachers and parents.
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