Late in 1923, Franz Kafka lived in Berlin with his partner Dora Diamant. Herr Kafka had little money and was suffering from tuberculosis. Despite all that, it was the happiest he had been in a rather eventful writing career. One day, walking through the park he came across a young girl who was crying because she had lost her doll. What begins is a three-week relationship during which Kafka writes letters to the young girl on behalf of her doll. Through his prose, he helped heal the mind of a grieving child who had lost her friend and companion. Kafka makes the doll travel the world and write about her adventures. It is said that he devoted as much thought to the letters as he did to his work.
The Legend of Kafka and the Travelling Doll has become so famous that it has its own Internet meme that talks about losing everything you love. In the end though, love will return in a different form.
Like any good overplayed classic rock number, the pandemic prepares to solo its way into year three. Looking back harbors feelings of wonderment, regret, and every other sentiment that comes with a late December flashback.
A bit of scourging around the bookshop made us realise that a reading list that looks forward to 2022 would be an appropriate way to start the year. So, without any further ado, lets raise a toast to 2021: it’s over and never coming back. Like Kafka’s letter-writing doll, lets reflect on the wide world of possible futures available to us, especially for our future generations.
Few books evoke stronger nostalgia than The Little Prince. The classic has been reproduced in an all-new avatar for modern times.
“There is only one rose, said the little prince. Ah, said the fox, the five thousand other roses mean nothing. Only one has tamed you.”
Dazzling illustrations now grace the timeless text reproduced by Louise Greig and Sarah Massini for younger readers.
If The Little Prince took us to outer space, The Darkest Dark helps us conquer our fear of the darkness and void that comes with it. This is the story of Chris Hadfield who as a child jostled for position around the only TV set on Stag Island in southern Ontario. It was July 20, 1969, and man had set foot on the moon. Chris too, had visited Earth’s satellite the night before but only in his dreams. Watching Neil Armstrong and Co. that evening changed Hadfield’s life forever. It would culminate 23 years later when he would be selected as an astronaut.
Hadfield recounts overcoming his childhood fear of the dark and chasing make-believe aliens in a never-ending obsession with becoming his own version of rocket man. In the end he concludes, “Your dreams are always with you, just waiting. Big Dreams, about the kind of person you want to be… Dreams that can actually come true.”
Speaking of dreams, Indian Twitter was abuzz when senator Kamala Harris assumed office as the vice-president of the United States earlier this year. Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea is a book written by Harris’s niece Meena. This is the story of the two young sisters who in the 1970s worked together to turn the unused courtyard in their apartment building into a play area for kids. The book is an early example in the power of organisation and togetherness.
Throughout the book, a recurring line says, “No one could do everything. But everyone could contribute something.” At the back of the book is a neat picture of the future vice-president in her ’70s-styled bell-bottom jeans, while her sister Maya has a red bandana on. In Meena’s words “they’re staring at the camera with fierce determination. They look like they’ve just conquered the world.”
While we’re thinking of the world, Petr Horacek’s hare character asks a pertinent question in The Best Place in the World. Hare asks everyone in the meadow what they think is the best place in the world? All his friends: the rabbits, bear, and duck say it’s the meadow itself. However, owl asks another question, “Why don’t you explore the world and find out yourself?” Hare sets off on a journey that takes him across the sea, mountains, and gushing waterfalls before finally laying down in the desert to stare at the stars above. Does he decide on the best place? Read on and find out.
Earlier in 2021, some schools reopened for senior classes. For most of the juniors though, it was still “study from home”. I was reminded of junior kids when I came across The Invisible Boy, the story of Brian. In class, nobody seems to notice him. They throw birthday parties without him, play games without him, and even form class work groups amongst themselves. Enter Justin, the new boy. Everyone is unsure of being friends with him. They don’t like his food in the canteen and laugh at him. Brian sits at a distance wondering what is worse: being laughed at or feeling invisible? Shortly after the incident, the two become good friends. It is a tale of inclusivity and kindness.
The House by the Lake takes us to cold Germany during the World Wars. On the outskirts of Berlin, beside the shore of a lake stands a house. Over 100 years, this abode sees different occupants. A loving Jewish family, a well-known Nazi composer, wartime refugees, and a Stasi informant. In that time, the house stood still. Unperturbed by the happenstances around. Eventually, the Berlin Wall was built a stone’s throw from the house’s back door. Based on a novel by the same name, this is the true story of a house by the lake and the memories it contains.
Writer of the novel Thomas Harding teams up with award-winning illustrator Britta Teckentrup of Tree, Bee, Moon, Ocean series fame. Together, they piece together memories of a relic that generations call home. It is a stark reminder of how short life is, and how we must value the time given to us, not to mention our personal histories and what they teach us.
Sticking to the theme of war, meet Stubby the dog in Stubby: A True Story of Friendship. Stubby is a stray dog adopted by a soldier going off to war. It is a poignant tale that reads like a movie. The soldier teaches him how to salute to his superiors, smuggles him onto a ship and takes him out to war. He attacks enemy spies and warns his soldier friends of poison gas attacks. Stubby follows them out to the zipping bullets whistling around them on the battlefield.
Tragedy strikes, as he steps on a landmine. Will Stubby be ok? Our soldier protagonist admonishes himself for bringing his four-legged friend to war. Read on to find out the true story of Corporal Robert Conroy who took to Stubby immediately and the pair soon became inseparable.
One lookback at the pandemic in the years to come will be the stories we tell. Stories of ordinary individuals like ourselves who worked around the clock to ensure that our families (and theirs) remained safe. One Hundred Reasons to Hope is a compendium of those stories. Ninety nine-year-old Captain Tom Moore wanted to raise £1,000 by his 100th birthday by walking 100 lengths of his garden. The story is well-known across the Internet. By the time Captain Moore was finished, he had raised more than 38 million pounds. It inspired a host of others with disabilities across the United Kingdom to raise funds for charities during the pandemic. This book is a keepsake. A reminder for our times. There are stories on kindness, working together, and the occasional reminder from Captain Tom himself:
“The sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away. Remember that tomorrow will be a good day”
We conclude our selection with two titles on imagination and wonder, appropriate for the New Year.
My Upside Down World is the latest in a host of books published by Richa Jha of Pickle Yolk fame. One morning, our protagonist, a young girl, wakes up to realise that her world had been turned upside down by her elder brother. Her mother was busy at work, not in the best of moods while her father burnt the breakfast. Should elder brothers be allowed to get away with everything? No way! Discover a delightfully layered tale that brings together the world with the family and its thoughts in this picture book illustrated by Silvana Girlado. I’ve grown up in Calcutta hanging around the author Ken Spillman at school book fairs and signings at bookshops. Over the years he has displayed a fastidiousness for children’s writing like few have. This book is a stark reminder of just that.
Finally, in what seems like a “heavyweight who’s who” Indian kid-lit collaboration, writer Jerry Pinto and illustrator Ashok Rajagopalan team up to ask the question What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up? You can’t help but hear Pinto’s voice when you read the poetry between the lines.
“I might be a banker, I might drive a tanker, Lower an anchor, Or cut off a canker.Whatever I’ll be, let me tell you chappy, I plan to be ext-urr-emely happy. Whatever I’ll be I will be me”
In the New Year, let that thought guide your reading recommendations.
Get your book recommendations on @storytellerkol on Instagram and Twitter.
The author is a freelance journalist and runs the independently-owned Storyteller Bookstore in Calcutta