I went back and forth and back on a theme for this week’s top ten Tuesday, and it took too long. Anyway here it is: I am celebrating both Madras Day (August 22nd annually) and World Water Week (Aug 20 – 24th this year) with books. Since this week’s theme was a genre freebie, my twist on it is to split it into two lists of a few wondrous books each, and not genres per-se but: city chronicles (reminding me of Chennai/Madras in one way or the other) and water themed books for world water week.

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Cool City Chronicles With Wondrous Books

Madras turned 384 this year!! I have numerous connections to this city that is a cool melding of ancient and modern, of tradition and technology, of filter kapi and modern brews, of katcheris and fusion music, well, of that meeting of varied worlds!

While these picture books are not necessarily or all based in Chennai, they do transport me effectively there by being what they are.

Here is my quick, super-short review for these books (though I have reviewed a couple of them earlier on my blog) – simply amazing!!

• Bhoomi’s Navaratri Golu by Archana Narayanan/ illustrated by Vasudevan Ananthakrishnan (Children’s Multicultural Fiction | 3 – 7 years, and up)  
• Dancing in Thatha’s Footsteps by Srividhya Venkat / illustrated by Kavita Ramchandran (Children’s Multigenerational Fiction | 4 – 7 years, and up | Yali Books | June 30, 2021)
• I’ll Go and Come Back by Rajani LaRocca/illustrated by Sara Palacios (Children’s Multigenerational Fiction | 4 – 7 years, and up | Candlewick | March 29, 2022)
• Keshav’s Kolam by Shobha Viswanath and illustrated by Leeza John (Children’s Multicultural Fiction | 3 – 7 years, and up) 
• My Paati’s Saaris by Jyoti Rajan Gopal and illustrated by Art Twink (Children’s Multigenerational Fiction | 4 – 8 years, and up | Kokila | November 8, 2022)
• Paati’s Rasam by Janaki Sabesh and Dhwani Sabesh/ illustrated by Pallavi Jain and Vaijayanti (Children’s Multigenerational Fiction | 6 – 8 years, and up | Karadi Tales | October 25, 2022)

Wondrous Books of the Water World

Like with the picture books from the previous section, I have read and enjoyed all these books – a lot. You can find my reviews for half of them on my blog (linked below)

• All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon and illustrated by Katherine Tillotson (Children’s Environment Books | 3 – 7 years, and up | Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books | March 22, 2011)
• A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park (Children’s Fiction | 10 years and up | Clarion Books | October 4, 2011)
• Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner and illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal (Children’s Water Books | 2 – 5 years, and up | Chronicle Books | March 7, 2017)
• Plasticus Maritimus: An Invasive Species by Ana Pego and Isabel Minhós Martins / illustrated by Bernardo P. Carvalho (Teen and YA Water Science | Greystone Kids | September 7, 2020) (my thoughts here)
• Thirst by Varsha Bajaj (Children’s Environment Fiction | 10 – 12 years, and up | Nancy Paulsen Books | April 18, 2023). Here is my review.
• Water Can Be by Laura Purdie Salas and illustrated by Violeta Dabija (Children’s Water Books | 5 – 8 years, and up | Millbrook Press | April 1, 2014) (read my review here)

Related Reads

• Baba Budan’s Beans and Beautiful Blue Ever Afters (coffee connections!)
• 9 Great Books for the Indian festival of Navratri (going golu!)
• Kate Messner and Linda Sue Park both made an appearance in my top ten favorite new authors a couple of years ago; and they are now among my must-read always authors

And now, the End ofThis Post

Dear reader, have you read any of these books? What would you pick first? As always, I welcome your recommendations and thoughts on this post.