Balu's Basket is out now!

It's always lovely when a W&P team member has a success. Here's Chitra, our writing competitions editor who does a wonderful job organising The Slush Pile Challenge with her new bi-lingual picture book.

My third picture book, Balu’s Basket came out in India on 19^th September 2013 and Tulika Publishers had arranged a launch at Just Books, in Chennai. The launch was kicked off by amazing Vikram Sridhar at Just Books.    

Anna Nagar with his super-duper storytelling.

Balu’s Basket is a story about ingenuity  and initiative. It is a story about Indian markets, fruits and people. It is a story about a little boy who goes home to Grandma with a big basket full of fruits. Colours, fruits, numbers – the learning possibilities are endless too.

I wrote a blog post about my experience, working on this book and you can read all about it here. 

Uttara Sivadas's bold illustrations are fantastic and bring the Indian market to life. By chance, I got to meet Uttara when I went to visit my editor - and there she was working on my book.

Balu got a second welcome here in London too. We had a party with friends and family and lots of young people. I poured drinks, passed around nibbles and signed books.

Balu’s Basket is available in 5 bi-lingual editions – and I have brought 4 of those here to London to sell – especially the Bengali and Gujrati editions for expat Indians who still want their kids to be able to read their native language.

I’ve read the story to kids  twice so far and the spread with Balu chasing chickens and rocking a baby are absolute fun for kids.

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Chitra has published over 20 books in Singapore, UK, USA and India. She loves writing picture books, folktales and is also working on fiction for 7+ with a lead character brightly named Aurora. Chitra is a member of the Words & Pictures' editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.