Suggested Books

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Roald Dahl, 1988, Puffin Book, London

Genre

Juvenile Fiction

Pages

240

Main topic

One of the main topics of the book is that you always get what you give and good always wins over evil. Roald Dahl also explores power and revenge through the dichotomy big/small. The book conveys a negative view of adults and a positive one of children. Moreover, the author seems to be promoting reading and discouraging TV watching. The main character, Matilda loves reading and is smart. Reading helps her display intelligence in school.

Plot

A grouchy couple are parents to a very sweet girl, Matilda. Unlike her bratty brother and mean parents, Matilda becomes a very sweet and extremely intelligent 6 year-old girl, who is very keen to go to school and read books. After a while, her parents send her to school with the worst principal in the world, a very sweet teacher, and good friends. While trying to put up with her parents’ and principal’s cruelty, she starts to unwittingly unleash telekinetic powers, destroying a television and making a newt fly onto the principal. With enough practice, Matilda starts to learn to control her telekinetic powers and soon using them on her principal so she can drive her away from the school.

Link

http://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/stories/1980s/matilda

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1911, United Kingdom, Heinemann

Genre

Children´s novels

Pages

375

Main topic

The central symbol of the book is Mary’s growth and her love for the garden.  The author also deals with rejuvenation and portrays the relationship between landscape and well-being. Magical realism could be also found in the book since some characters, such as Robin the bird, are acting as a real people and guardian spirits. One of the main topics of the book is resilience and opportunity of overcoming trauma, as the author explains her audience how trauma can affect children. She also says that children can learn from their sufferings when their minds are turned away from the dark, and focus on the endless summer of the secret garden.

Plot

A young British girl born and raised in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She returns to live in England live at her uncle’s estate. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and neglected. Aided by one of the servants’ brothers, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Monisha Rajesh

Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 1^st Edition 2012 

Genre

Travel diary

Pages

288

Main topic

A travel through India by train that allows the author to discover the country.

Plot

 In 1991, Monisha Rajesh’s family uprooted from Sheffield to Madras in the hope of making India their home. Two years later, fed up with soap-eating rats, severed human heads and the creepy colonel across the road, they returned to England with a bitter taste in their mouths.

Two decades on, she turns to a map of the Indian Railways and takes a page out of Jules Verne’s classic tale, embarking on an adventure around India in 80 trains, covering 40,000km – the circumference of the Earth. She hopes that 80 train journeys up, down and across India will lift the veil on a country that has become a stranger to her.

Along the way, Monisha discovers that the Indian Railways – featuring luxury trains, toy trains, Mumbai’s infamous commuter trains, and even a hospital on wheels – have more than a few stories to tell, not to mention a colourful cast of characters. And with a self-confessed ‘militant devout atheist’ in tow, her personal journey around a country built on religion is not quite what she bargained for.

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Mohandas K. Gandhi – Autobiography

U.S.A. authorised edition with forward by Sissela Bok

Beacon Press

1993, reprint

Genre

Autobiography

Pages

100

Main topic

The book covers Gandhi’s life from early childhood up to 1921. It was written in weekly instalments and published in his journal Navjivan from 1925 to 1929.

Plot

The book is divided in five main sections, in which Gandhi tells his story from his childhood to the end of his imprisonment.”My purpose,” Mahatma Gandhi writes of this book, “is to describe experiments in the science of Satyagraha, not to say how good I am.” Satyagraha, Gandhi’s nonviolent protest movement (satya = true, agraha = firmness), came to stand, like its creator, as a moral principle and a rallying cry; the principle was truth and the cry freedom. 

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

AP J Abdul Kalam

Sangam Books Ltd; 1 edition (1999)

Genre

Autobiography

Pages

180

Main topic

India journey to self-reliance in technology

Plot

It is an autobiographical novel that tells the readers a story about unlocking their inner potential. Kalam does a great deal to throw light on his journey to igniting the fire within himself. The book is divided into seven parts.

The readers are provided insights into the birth, childhood, and education of Kalam.

This autobiography comes with 24 photos taken at different times in Kalam’s life. It has also been translated into 13 languages, which include Chinese, French, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, and Oriya. 

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 1943, U.S.A., Reynal & Hitchcock 

Italian ed. Il Piccolo Principe, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, 1949, Bompiani

Genre

Novel

Pages

123

Main topic

It is a tale in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince fallen to Earth from an asteroid. From there, a travel through different asteroids and characters starts.

The story includes many topics: friendship; use of time; power; etc.

Plot

A pilot crashes in the Sahara desert where meets a children whom he refers to as the little prince. The little prince tells the pilot all the adventures and the people met during his travel around the outer space.

1. The prince begins by describing life on his tiny home planet: an asteroid named B-612. The prince wants a sheep to eat the undesirable plants infesting his planet, but the pilot informs him that a sheep will even eat roses with thorns. Upon hearing this, the prince tells of a rose he nourished and felt in love with, but they do not understand each other. So, he left his planet in search of a sheep.
2. He visited 6 other asteroids, each of which was inhabited by a single, irrational, narrow-minded adult, each meant to critique an element of society:

• a vain man, who believes himself the most admirable person on his otherwise uninhabited planet;
• a lonely king who likes to give orders even if he hasn’t subjects;
• a drunkard who drinks to forget the shame of being a drunkard;
• a businessman who is blind to the beauty of the stars and instead endlessly counts them in order to “own” them all;
• a lamplighter who wastes his life blindly following orders and extinguishing and relighting a lamp once a minute;
• an elderly geographer sitting on a table without knowing how is his planet, because there are no explorers who can analyse the land. He recommended the prince to visit Earth.
• a yellow snake that claimed to have the power to return him to his home, if he ever wished to return;
• a desert flower;
• a whole row of rosebushes, becoming downcast at having once thought that his own rose was unique. He began to feel that he was not a great prince at all, as his planet contained only three tiny volcanoes and a flower that he now thought of as common;
• afox who desired to be tamed;
• a railway switchman, who told him how passengers constantly rushed from one place to another aboard trains, never satisfied with where they were and not knowing what they were after; only the children among them ever bothered to look out the windows;
• a merchant selling a pill that eliminated thirst, which was very popular, saving people fifty-three minutes a week.

The eighth day after the narrator’s plane-crash, the narrator is dying of thirst and he and the prince find a well. The narrator later finds the prince talking to the snake, discussing his return home and eagerness to see his rose again. The prince bids an emotional farewell to the narrator and states that if it looks as though he has died, it is only because his body was too heavy to take with him to his planet.

The story ends with the narrator’s drawing of the landscape where the prince and the narrator met and where the snake took the prince’s life.

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Gianni Rodari (1st ed. 1959), ed. 2010, Turin, Italy, Einaudi Ragazzi

Genre

Tale

Pages

182

Main topic

Difference between appearance and reality

Plot

The tale is about a boy who ends up in a country where the king imposed to lie, truthful people are put in mental hospitals, cats are forced to bark and dogs to meow and all must praise the king. Thanks to the help of some friends, he is able to bring back truth in the country.

These friends are:

• a cat called Zoppino;
• the painter Bananito;
• an old woman, aunt Pannocchia.

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Leonardo Sciascia (1^st ed. 1961), ed. 2002, Milan, Italy, Adelphi

Genre

Crime novel

Pages

137

Main topic

Mafia: the novel has been written in a time in which even the government denied the existence of Mafia.

Plot

Salvatore Colasberna, owner of a small construction company, is shot while getting on the bus to Palermo.

When Carabinieri (i.e., Italian national gendarmerie) arrive, the passengers leave the area and only the driver and the ticket collector remain there. However, they deny having seen the murderer.

The Carabinieri captain following the case, Bellodi, discovers a link that does not stop in Sicily, but goes onwards towards Rome and the Minister Mancuso and Senator Livigno.

It seems that Colasberna had been warned that he should seek protection (i.e., he should have paid an amount of money to get this protection. In Italy it is called pizzo) from mafia members, but he refused. Although his company was only a very small one, the local mafia decides to make an example of him by killing him.

Other murders follow the initial killing, each one apparently connected to the original crime. Bellodi is undeterred by the growing agitation caused by his investigation, which he pursues in a manner both surprising and unconventional.

The novel ends with Bellodi recounting his time in Sicily to his friends in Parma—who think that it all sounds very romantic—and thinking that he would return to Sicily even if it killed him.

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Tuf, Sasa Sema Publications, 1998

Genre

Comic

Pages

36

Main topic

Tribalism

Plot

Manywele stands for hair in Swahili. This is a graphic novel written in Swahili by the legendary cartoonist, TUF. It comes in full colour and it is 36 pages long. It was published in September 1998. Manywele explores complex themes such as tribalism in rural Kenya, religious hypocrisy, and a strange disease reminiscent of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. People affected by this disease grow hair over their body, laugh uncontrollably, and die.

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

NA

Kenyan comic book

Genre

Comic book

Pages

—

Main topic

Different

Plot

It is a Kenyan magazine starring Boyie, a high school graduate who has created an FM radio station in his mother’s basement. Broadcasting in secret “DJ B” befriends a diverse crew of youth, with whom he trades advice on how to make money and improve their lives.

Link

http://www.behance.net/gallery/15200125/shujaaz-Fm-Radio-Frequency-Advert-In-Shujaaz-Magazine

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Janet Stevens, Aesop

Genre

Tale

Pages

30

Plot

There is a hare that is very arrogant, and often boasts about his speed. One day, a tortoise comes along, and challenges him to a race. The hare gladly accepts, taking a great lead early in the race. He then stops to nap, and is passed by the tortoise, who takes the race slow and steady. By the time he wakes up, the tortoise is at the finish line, and has won the race.

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Tereza Žerdin;

Ljubljana : T. Žerdin : Svetovalni center za otroke, mladostnike in starše, 2016, Slovenia

Genre

Children’s book

Nr. of pages

93

Main topic

40 stories for children who do not like to read (or have difficulties with reading)

Plot

It is a book about a boy named Lucky and his adventures. At the beginning, the stories are short and use everyday words. In the text, the same words are repeated several times. Lines are short, each phrase and sentence is starting in a new row.  Thus, children have the feeling they read faster, which is important for motivation. Stories have about 22 short lines. The stories try to show a certain understanding for children’s emotions and feelings. The boy describes everyday events, tries to interpret the actions of both parents and children, and offers some pieces of advice. The book also includes Q and A exercises.

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Janja Vidmar

Ljubljana: Undara studio, 2013, Slovenia

Genre

Children’s book

Pages

135

Plot

A combination of real photographic material and narrative fiction combined in 18 short stories. Short sentences and minimalist dialogues are overlapping with lyrical inserts, which with its gentle tone skilfully recreate the atmosphere of stories and pass sometimes into prose.  The result is a very lovely and authentic children’s book about children from different countries and with different backgrounds. Each story forms a unique micro-world. Younger children experience the book through the words of adults. They will realise that there is a world outside of their home.

Older children and teenagers will discover and appreciate diversity and the lives of their peers in different parts of the world. They will broaden their young horizons.

Key words: diversity, children, childhood, multiculturalism

Link

http://www.otrocisveta.si/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/otroci_sveta_web_preview.pdf*

*only a preview

Author, year of publication, publisher city, State, publishing company

Mojiceja Podgoršek;

Založba: Damodar, 2007, Slovenia

Genre

Children’s book

Pages

64

Main topic

Reading

Plot

Children will read this picture book with great curiosity, even those who suffer from with dyslexia and other reading/learning disorders as the book incorporates special features that make reading easier. The book is targeted at all the children who attend the first three grades of primary school. By reading stories about a teddy bear that is trying to discover the meaning of certain words, children will enrich their vocabulary and get additional motivation for reading. The book offers a new approach towards reading – the book is not intended just for reading but also for learning new words as children can explore incorrect words in the text in a fun and different way.