#ByRuskinBond

Grandfathers Private Zoo

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

‘The tiger approached the bars and allowed Grandfather to put both hands around his head. Grandfather stroked the tiger’s forehead and tickled his ear, and, whenever he growled, smacked him across the mouth, which was his old way of keeping him quiet.’Animals can teach us more about love than we like to admit. They can often be exactly what you need after a long, hard day. A dog greeting you at the door, a cat curling up next to you in bed, are joys that are incomparable. They are intuitive, large hearted and often can be extremely amusing and can spark curiosity in humans.In Grandfather’s Private Zoo, Ruskin Bond brings together stories and personal essays that speak to this animal–human equation. He takes us into the world of talking crows, tigers who become your best friends, monkeys with an affinity for pearls and many more such amusing, often emotional, tales!

Tales from the Childhood

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

Story 1 Mukesh and his friends decide to start a zoo. The laundryman’s donkey, a bunny, a pet parrot and dog become creatures of display at the little zoo. What adventures and misadventures are in store for the zoo and its owners? Story 2 Nathu, the bank’s sweeper-boy, is upset over not being paid for two months, whines th hi friend. Whispers follow and soon the whole town thinks the bank is bankrupt! How did Nathu’s worries turn into the bank being shut forever? Story 3 Romi hires a young Hari Singh to be his cook and companion. But Hari is upto no good. Will Hari ever learn the real meaning of loyalty, love and trust? These three funny, heart-warming stories capture the pure hilarious innocence of childhood and the lessons we take from them in these wonderfully illustrated stories from India’s mountainous countryside.

The Whistling Schoolboy And Other Stories Of School Life

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

Here is a collection of stories about school life that will appeal to every kind of school-goer. These are incidents from the author’s own life, when he was a shy, quiet boy in boarding school, who chose the library over the football field, and was known as the best cook among the Boy Scouts.

Prankenstein: The Book of Crazy Mischief

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Anthology Illustrator: Lavanya Naidu

Watch out as mischiefs and mischief-makers of all shapes and sizes come tumbling out in this hilarious collection of stories.Is your school a hotspot for jokes? Do your family members regularly fall victim to pranks? Do ghosts and spooks get you into trouble? Find every kind of funny, crazy, impossible mischief in this book. Here you will find the girl who turned into a sloth just for her mother, the horse who went to the library and ate up some classics, the substitute teacher who saw dead people, the play where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and many more amazing tales of pranks and troublemaking!

The Blue Umbrella

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

As soon as Binya saw the beautiful blue silk umbrella she wanted it She wanted it so badly that she was willing to give her lucky leopards claw pendant in exchange No-one in the village had such a fine umbrella and everywhere Binya went the umbrella went too Gradually it faded to a pale blue and was patched in several places but there was still many who envied Binya her treasured possession And the most envious of them all was old Ram Bharosa the shopkeeper who decided that by some means he must own the blue umbrella.

The Cherry Tree

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction Illustrator: Manoj A. Menon

Rakesh plants a cherry seedling in his garden and watches it grow. As seasons go by, the small tree survives heavy monsoon showers, a hungry goat that eats most of the leaves and a grass cutter who splits it into two with one sweep. At last, on his ninth birthday, Rakesh is rewarded with a miraculous sight-the first pink blossoms of his precious cherry tree!

The Room on the Roof

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned, and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part in Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging for the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted . . . and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community.

Getting Granny’s Glasses

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction Illustrator: Sayantan Halder

Mani’s Granny is seventy and can barely see through her old, scratched glasses. With only a hundred and fifty rupees in their pockets and a thirst for adventure, Mani and Granny set off to buy a new pair. On the way, they get drenched in the rain, run into mules and encounter a terrible landslide. Will Granny ever be able to reach the town and get herself a new pair of glasses?

The Room of Many Colours

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

For over five decades, Ruskin ond has written charming tales that have mesmerized readers of all ages. This collection brings together his finest stories for children in one volume. Published previously as A Treasury of Stories for Children, this attractive rejacketed edition includes two new stories, ‘The Big Race’ and ‘Remember This Day’.Filled with a rich cast of characters and superb illustrations, The Room of Many Colours: A Treasury of Stories for Children is the defnitive book for all Ruskin Bond fans and truly a collector’s Item.

Rusty The Boy From The Hills

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

Rusty is a quiet, imaginative and sensitive boy who lives with his grandparents in pre-Independence Dehra Dun. Though he is not the adventurous himself, the strangest and most extraordinary things keep happening around him.The house in Dehra is full of strange creatures. Rusty has to deal with everything from his grandfather’s pet python to the ever-inventive Uncle Ken. Visiting his father in wartime Java, Rusty narrowly escapes enemy bombardment, and survives a plane crash in the Arabian Sea. Back in India, he spends his time encountering a ghost in the garden and recreating his grandmother’s youthful days from an old photograph. Then, something totally unexpected happens and Rusty is forced to leave Dehra, his future uncertain …

The Hidden Pool

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

Laurie, an English boy in a small hill town in India, strikes up an unlikely friendship with Anil, the son of a local cloth merchant, and Kamal, an orphan who sells buttons and shoelaces but dreams of going to college. One day the three discover a secret pool on the mountainside, and it is there that they plan their greatest escapade yet-a trek to the Pindari Glacier, where no one from their town has gone before.This newly illustrated edition of Bond’s magical tale of camaraderie and adventure is sure to win over yet another generation of readers.

Thick As Thieves

Author: Ruskin Bond Genre: Fiction

Somewhere in life There must be someone To take your hand And share the torrid day.Without the touch of friendship There is no life, and we must fade away.Discover a hidden pool with three young boys, laugh out loud as a littlemouse makes demands on a lonely writer, follow the mischievous ‘fourfeathers’ as they discover a baby lost in the hills, and witness the bondbetween a tiger and his master. Some stories will make you smile, somewill bring tears to your eyes, some may make your heart skip a beat-butall of them will renew your faith in the power of friendship.