The silly books

There’s an important change happening in children’s literature. Stories are being written, and read out, keeping in mind a shifting consciousness towards gender roles and sexuality. But that also leads to a weight hanging at the back of a parent’s mind, about the social conditioning that may take place through stories.

So when you get three books that promise to just be silly, you lower your guard as a parent and the silly reading voice is brought out in all its glory. Lala’s books, Dear Left Sock And Other Letters, This Is A Silly Book and I’m With Silly, are irreverent, about nothing of consequence at all, except for things like the mystery of god-awful cabbage and mayo turning into glorious coleslaw, the left sock that’s pretty good at playing hide-and-seek, the lactose-intolerant girl who drank the Milky Way or the moon with the nice smile.

The illustrations are simple, uncluttered and attractive with crayon-scribbled backgrounds, and Lala gets children actively involved with the books by allowing them to name each new character—the sillier the name, the better of course. And that’s the beauty of these books which don’t have great, beautiful stories to recommend them, but allow the giggles to break free.

The picture books have been published by Harper Kids and are priced at Rs399 each.