Enter the visual storybook

Going old schoolVinod Advani global advisor on luxury travel and wineRecommends Winnie The Pooh and Phantom comicsI grew up reading Winnie The Pooh and Phantom comics in childhood and quickly graduated to Asterix and MAD magazines in my teenage and youth years But I imagine all this would be gobbledygook for todayrsquos kids because growing up as a child in the 1960s all we had was our imagination mdash no TV just radio and books It is a stark contrast from todayrsquos children who are born with mobile phones in their hands With few choices these books and comics fired our imagination gave us mental images of friends doing adventurous things Young adults should try to get their hands on dated editions of The Illustrated Weekly of India that are cerebrally stimulating with great illustrationsAn unbiased worldVaibhav Vishal writerRecommends Tintin Asterix and Amar Chitra Katha ACKI am oldschool but Irsquod still recommend these for young readers I owe a lot of knowledge of history and mythology to ACK and while I feel that ACK can get problematic with respect to their representation of women Muslims and Dravidians itrsquos only us adults who would notice that To kids they still represent a world distant from them colourful and packed with stories Tintin and Asterix are simple reads representing simpler times The humour of Asterix is genius at another level mdash of the PG Wodehouse calibre It is easy for kids to identify with the characters and set out on brilliant imaginary trips Tintin was an underdog who was unafraid to take on the world Hersquos not a superhero and so hersquos relatable to children Kids are constantly bullied by other kids and by adults alike and so reading comics like these gives them a sense of confidenceStart rsquoem youngDr Shehbaz Singh food scientistRecommends Dog Man comicsWe introduced these comic books to our son when he was fiveandahalf years old after randomly spotting them at a local store Hersquos been hooked to it since The storyline and illustrations are captivating Itrsquos about a policeman and his dog where both get injured in the line of duty and on a suggestion of a nurse they join the head of the dog to the policemanrsquos and it becomes Dog Man Itrsquos a funny comic book with quirky characters and funnier villains Dog Man seems to be a new super hero for sixeightyearolds I love reading it tooFor reluctant readersDr Sunita Kolke dentistRecommends The Wimpy Kid seriesThis series helped my resistant teen to begin reading We picked it up at an airport because he liked the cover and the language It is not graphic like most comics but he connected with the main character as itrsquos the story of a young boy and all his insecurities and dreams One of the books in this series focuses on adolescent issues from a young boyrsquos viewpoint that really resonatedThe Guidersquos top 5I See the Promised Land by mdash A life of Martin Luther King Junior by Arthur Flowers and Manu Chitrakar This version of the resilient life of the visionary comes alive thanks to two types of storytelling where lyrical prose of AfricanAmerican writer Arthur Flowers blends with the Patua scroll mastery of illustrator Manu ChitrakarSitarsquos Ramayana by Samhita Arni art by Moyna Chitrakar This visually vibrant telling of the epic is refreshing and looks at the narrative from Sitarsquos viewpoint It offers insight into the challenges she faced while men fought warsTooth and Nail Fur and Scale Fantastic Creatures From the Myths and Legends of Indiis by Anupam Arunachalam Of myth and mythology one can enjoy many cultures their legends and their fantastical and quirky imagination through extremely engaging short stories The illustrations by the author are visual treats of the imagined creaturesGravepyres School for the Recently Deceased by Anita Roy The bookrsquos protagonist Joseph Srinivas is confused by the lessons being taught in his school This phase leads him to find a way to go back to earth while riding a vulture and setting out for the mysterious mountains to find the Seed of Hope The book subtly highlights issues like climate change poisoned rivers and greenhouse gasesMermaids In The Moonlight by Sharanya Manivannan The book is about a conversation between a mother Amma and her daughter Nilavoli during a night boat ride at the Kallady lagoon in Mattakalappu Sri Lanka listening to the mysterious sounds that rise from the deep As Nilavoli listens in wonder Amma dives into folklore and fishes out spellbinding tales of mermaids from acrossthe world