Congratulations to all the winners of the Neev Book Awards for children’s literature, awarded at the Neev Literature Festival last weekend in Bangalore, India. There were four winners in four categories:

Picture Book

Machher Jhol (Fish Curry)

by Richa Jha, illustrated by Sumanta Dey

(Pickle Yolk Books, 2018)

Emerging Readers

When Jiya Met Urmila

Junior Readers

Ahimsa

by Supriya Kelkar

(Scholastic India / Tu Books, imprint of Lee and Low, 2017)

Can one girl make a difference in the destiny of a nation? It is 1942 and 10-year-old Anjali’s mother has joined India’s freedom struggle. Anjali gets unwillingly involved in the turmoil. She has to give up her biases against the Dalit community, or the so-called untouchables, and sacrifice her foreign-made clothes for khadi. When her world turns upside down, will Anjali be able to overcome her internal struggles and summon the courage needed to complete her mother’s social reform work? Inspired by her great-grandmother’s experience working with Gandhi, Supriya Kelkar brings to life the stories of the unsung heroes of India’s War of Independence.

“Kelkar s first middle-grade book is filled with female empowerment, hope, family, and the power of nonviolent resistance. Drawing from her own family history, Kelkar doesn’t shy from the reality that progress is slow and that one must persist even when all hope seems gone. Readers will empathize with this heartbreakingly charming debut about the universal struggle of overcoming fears and biases in order to make the world a better place.” ~ Booklist, starred review

Young Adults

Year of the Weeds
by Siddhartha Sarma

(Duckbill Books, 2018)

Korok lives in a small Gond village in western Odisha. His life is in the garden which he tends every day. Anchita lives in the house which has the garden, and is an artist.

Then one day, the government tells the Gonds they have to leave the village because a company is going to mine the sacred hill next to it for aluminium ore. The Gonds oppose it, but the mighty government, led by police officer Sorkari Patnaik is determined to win. Korok knows a lot about wild flowers, and nothing much about the rest of the world, though the two friends are not going to give up.

But how long will the Gond resistance last, when everybody, from politicians to activists and even Maoists turn up at the little village?

What can a lone gardener and a girl with a computer do against the most powerful people in the land?