Wildlife books for children

Tulika Books (www.tulikabooks.com) have just brought out my first two childrens' books. The first, Riddle of the Ridley is the saga of the olive ridley sea turtles that nest on the Indian coast. The olive ridley is the smallest of the seven species of sea turtles that exist today. Every year, an indeterminate number, perhaps exceeding two hundred thousand, migrate from the Indian Ocean south of Sri Lanka to the off-shore waters of Orissa on India's east coast. Here they climb ashore enmasse to lay their eggs on two or three select beaches. This mass nesting phenomenon is referred to as an ‘arribada’, a Spanish word meaning 'the arrival'. Sadly, during the last 15 years, tens of thousands of these gentle reptiles have drowned in the nets of mechanized fishing boats. Riddle of the Ridley chronicles the fascinating life history of these mysterious creatures, delves into the problems that confront them, and offers some solutions for their conservation. The book contains several unique photographs, and includes pictures by Bivash Pandav and Belinda Wright. Modestly priced, the books are available in English and several Indian languages.

The other book, titled Lai Lai the Baby Elephant is for younger children and has one photograph per page with one line of text. This is part of Tulika’s bilingual series and the text is also in Indian languages (English-Hindi; English-Kannada; English-Bengali etc.)