Like good wine or a bright mind, children's literature has matured with time. Scheherazade is no longer weaving stories with a moral, she is telling those with a message. It might be one of gender equality, abuse, single parenting, racism, bullying or climate change, but writers no longer sugarcoat or dumb down the truth for children. The intent is that, in the kind of world we live in, they must be acclimatised to the realities of life. Sooner or later, ignorance has to be uncoupled from innocence.
This is not new. As early as the 1980s, children's writers were chipping away at tough topics. Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown’s 1986 book Dinosaurs Divorce: A Guide for Changing Families described to young readers why divorces happen and how to adapt to a new family. Virginia Ironside’s 1996 book The Huge Bag of Worries dealt with mental health when it was still veiled by stigma. However, it is only in the last decade that such children’s stories are becoming best-sellers, and the world is waking up to their allure.
Actor Alia Bhatt's debut children's book Ed Finds a Home fits this mould. She has strewn crumbs throughout her story, tutoring her young readers in environmentalism, sustainablity, kindness and gender equality. (Ed Finds a Home is one of the first picture books in the country to be printed on FSC paper, sourced in a sustainable and environment-friendly manner.)
In the small brown house in which Bhatt's progragonist―a little girl cheekily named Alia―lives, it is her mother who works and her father who cooks, subverting conventional gender norms. Alia has a deep connection with nature. Her superpower enables her to talk with dogs and crows, and communicate her feelings to trees.
“Of course, we can (talk)! People just don’t know how to listen,” says Ed, an abandoned dog that Alia finds. The easy-to-read book is a compelling page-turner for young readers. It ends on a paw-sitive note, with a budding friendship between Alia and Ed. “You are Ed, and now I am your mamma,” laughs Alia. “So together we are Ed-a-Mamma.” Ed Finds a Home is the first in the series The Adventures of Ed-a-Mamma. Incidentally, Ed-a-Mamma is the name of Bhatt's conscious clothing brand for children. Apart from books, the brand is also branching out into toys, baby care and more.
“Ed-a-Mamma was born with the intent to inspire children to fall in love with nature and create a generation of ‘mini-planeteers’ who feel responsible for protecting the environment. But I also believe that to protect, we must connect. That's why my first step was to encourage children to spend more time outdoors and explore the wonders of the natural world. And what better way to do this than through the power of storytelling,” says Bhatt about her debut book, which has been written by her along with Vivek Kamath and Shabnam Minwalla. The illustrations are by Tanvi Bhat.
Sohini Mitra, publisher (children’s), at Penguin Random House India, says, “By weaving themes of friendship and sustainability together, the book not only entertains, but also educates children about the importance of caring for our planet and the creatures that inhabit it.”
As Alia and Ed set out to save the planet, one small step at a time, their adventures have just begun. But then, one small step for them might just be a giant leap for mankind. Who knows, we might soon be living in a planet salvaged by a little girl and her canine companion. And captained by their enterprising creator.
Ed Finds a Home
By Alia Bhatt
Illustrations by Tanvi Bhat
Published by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Price Rs299; pages 40