Bibliotherapy, Librarianship, Resources, Teens

Indian Picture Books and Novels

Posted by RPJ on

indian books

Books about Indian culture, with Indian or Indian-American protagonists, or exploring the country’s beautiful mythology and heritage:

Picture Books:

  1. Arenson, Roberta. Manu and the Talking Hand.
  2. Arnett, Robert. Finders Keepers? A True Story in India. Illustrated by Smita Turakhia.
  3. Atkins, Jeannie. Aani and the Tree Hugger. Illustrated by Venatius J. Pinto.
  4. Bajaj, Varsha. T is for Taj Mahal: An Indian Alphabet. Illustrated by Robert Crawford.
  5. Bannerman, Helen. Story of Little Babaji. Illustrated by Fred Marcellino.
  6. Bash, Barbara. In the Heart of the Village.
  7. Brucker, Meredith Babeaux. Anklet for a Princess. Illustrated by Youshan Tang.
  8. Chopra, Shweta. The Diwali Gift. Illustrated by Anna Koan.
  9. Chitrakar, Swarna. Monkey Photo.
  10. Chokshi, Roshani. The Star Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen #1)
  11. Demi. The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna.
  12. Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Grandma and the Great Gourd. Illustrated by Susy Pilgrim Waters.
  13. Ekster, Carol Gordon. You Know What? Illustrated by Nynke Mare Talsma.
  14. Ganeri, Anita. Hindu Stories. Illustrated by Carole Gray.
  15. Hamilton, Martha. The Ghost Catcher: A Bengali Folktale. Illustrated by Kristen Balouch.
  16. Hemnani, Ritu. Gope and Meera – A Migration Story. Illustrated by Samidha Gunjal.
  17. Heine, Theresa. Elephant Dance: Memories of India. Illustrated by Shelia Moxley.
  18. Jendresen, Erik. Hanuman: Based on Valmiki’s Ramayana. Illustrated by Li Ming.  
  19. Joshi, Anjali. Let’s Celebrate DiWali. Illustrated by Tim Palin.
  20. Krishnaswami, Uma. Chachaji’s Cup. Illustrated by Soumya Sitaraman.
  21. Krishnaswami, Uma. Monsoon. Illustrated by Jamel Akib.
  22. Lendler, Ian. Little Sid: The Tiny Prince Who Became Buddha. Illustrations by Xanthe Bouma.
  23. Lewin, Ted. Sacred River: The Ganges of India.
  24. Makhijani, Pooja. Mama’s Sari. Illustrated by Elena Gomez.
  25. Maranville, Amy. Ganesh and the Little Mouse. Illustrated by Anjali Joshi.
  26. Menon, Sandhya. When Dimple Met Rishi.
  27. Milbourne, Anna. Stories from India. Illustrated by Linda Edwards.
  28. Mohan, Anthara. Let’s Go!
  29. Nanji, Shenaaz. Indian Tales. Illustrated by Christopher Corr.
  30. Navaneeth, Arthi Anand. Ranganna. Illustrated by Kavita Singh Kale.  
  31. Nayar, Nandini. What Did You See?
  32. Nayar, Nandini. What Shall I Make?
  33. Pai, Anant. Amar Chitka Katha.
  34. Patel, Sanjay. Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth. Illustrated by Emily Haynes.
  35. Rajagopalan, Ashok. Gajapati Kulapati.
  36. Ravishankar, Anushka. One, Two, Tree! Illustrated by Durga Bai.
  37. Ravishankar, Anushka.To Market! To Market! Illustrated by Emanuele Scanziani.
  38. Ravishankar, Anushka. Tiger on a Tree. Illustrations by Pulak Biswas.
  39. Rao, Sandhya. My Mother’s Sari. Illustrated by Nina Sabnani.
  40. Ray, Shukumar. Abol Tabol: The Nonsense World of Shukumar Ray.
  41. Ruddra, Anshumani. Dorje’s Stripes. Illustrated by Jung Park.
  42. Sehgal, Kabir. A Bucket of Blessings. Illustrated by Jing Jing Tsong.
  43. Seghal, Kabir. Festival of Colors. Illustrated by Vashti Harrison.
  44. Sharma, Vishnu. Panchatantra. Illustrated by Pereira Gil.
  45. Sheth, Kashmira. Monsoon Afternoon. Illustrated by Yoshiko Jaeggi.
  46. Sheth, Kashmira. My Dadima Wears a Sari. Illustrated by Yoshiko Jaeggi.
  47. Sheth, Kashmira. Tiger in My Soup. Illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler.
  48. Shyam, Bhajju. The Night Life of Trees.
  49. Singh, Vandana. Younguncle Comes to Town. Illustrated by Manjunath Kamath.
  50. Somaiah, Rosemarie. Indian Children’s Favorite Stories. Illustrated by Ranjan Somaiah.
  51. Spagnoli, Cathy. The Greedy Crows – A Tale from Northern India.
  52. Spillman, Ken. The Auto That Flew. Illustrated by Ajanta Guhathakurta.
  53. Sunita, Sunita. Gobble You Up! Illustrated by Gita Wolf.
  54. Vaid, Vaneeta. Ancient Tales: Read Aloud.
  55. Williams, Marcia. The Elephant’s Friend and Other Tales from Ancient India.
  56. Yoo, Paula. Twenty-Two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank.
  57. Zia, F. Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-Ji. Illustrated by Ken Min.

Middle Grade and Young Adult Novels:

  1. Agarwal, Deepa. Caravan to Tibet.
  2. Arni, Samhita. Sita Ramayana. Illustrated by Moyna Chitrakar.
  3. Alter, Stephen. The Cloudfarers.
  4. Atani, Jay. The Leaving of Things.
  5. Banerjee, Anjali. Looking for Bapu.
  6. Banerjee, Anjali. Maya Running.
  7. Bond, Ruskin. The Blue Umbrella.
  8. Bond, Ruskin. Prankenstein: The Book of Crazy Mischief.
  9. Bosse, Malcolm J. Ordinary Magic.
  10. Chadda, Sarwat. Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress (Ash Mistry Chronicles #1).
  11. Chanani, Nidhi. Pashmina.
  12. Chari, Steela. Finding Mighty.
  13. Chokshi, Roshani. Aru Shah and the End off Time (Pandava Quartet #1).
  14. Coven, A. Alone (Hill School Girls #1).
  15. Dalal-Clayton, Diksha. Adventures of Young Krishna: The Blue God of India.
  16. DasGupta, Sayantani. The Serpent’s Secret.
  17. Deshpande, Shashi. The Narayanpur Incident.
  18. Divakaruni, Chita Banerjee. The Conch Bearer (Brotherhood of the Conch #1).
  19. Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Neela: Victory Song.
  20. Gavin, Jamila. The Blood Stone.
  21. Gavin, Jamila. Three Indian Princesses: The Stories of Savitri, Damayanti, and Sita.
  22. Gavin, Jamila. The Wheel of Surya (Surya Trilogy).
  23. Gupta, Subhadra Sen. Waiting for Tansen.
  24. Hidier, Tanuja Desai. Born Confused.
  25. Hiranandani, Veera. The Whole Story of Half a Girl.
  26. Kelkar, Supriya. Ahimsa.
  27. Krishnaswami, Uma. Naming Maya.
  28. Krishnaswami, Uma. Shower of Gold: Girls and Women in the Stories of India.
  29. Krishnaswami, Uma. Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh.
  30. Lasky, Kathryn. Jahanara: Princess of Princesses.
  31. Master, Irfan. A Beautiful Lie.
  32. Mohan, Anshuman. Potato Chips.
  33. Nair, Anita. The Puffin Book of Magical Indian Myths.
  34. Nanji, Sheenaz. Child of Dandelions.
  35. Natarajan, Srividya. Bhimayana.
  36. Patel, Sanjay. Ramayana: Divine Loophole.
  37. Patil, Amruta. Adi Parva – Churning of the Ocean.
  38. Perkins, Mitali. The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen.
  39. Perkins, Mitali. Secret Keeper.
  40. Perkins, Mitali. You Bring the Distant Near.
  41. Ramani, Madhvi. Nina and the Travelling Spice Shed.
  42. Rushdie, Salman. Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Khalifa Brothers #1) Illustrated by Paul Birkbeck.
  43. Sheth, Kashmira. Blue Jasmine.
  44. Sheth, Kashmira. Keeping Corner.
  45. Singh, Nikita. Right Here Right Now.
  46. Sreenivasan, Jyotsna. Aruna’s Journeys.
  47. Staples, Suzanne Fisher. Shiva’s Fire.
  48. Suresh, Revathi. Jobless Clueless Reckless.
  49. Tekriwal, Gaurav. Math Sutras from Around the World.
  50. Tomlinson, Heather. Toads and Diamonds.  
  51. Uberoi, Meera. Puffin Book of Classic Indian Tales.
  52. Urveti, Ramsingh. I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tale.
  53. Venkatraman, Padma. A Time to Dance.  
  54. Verma, Jatinder. Prince of Fire: The Story of Diwali. Illustrations by Nilesh Mistry.
  55. Whelan, Gloria. Homeless Bird.
  56. Wientge, Kristi. Karma Khullar’s Mustache.

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