Flight of the Pink-headed Ducks and Other Stories by Katie Bagli. Published in 2020 by Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, S. B. Singh Road, Bombay, 400001; website: bnhs.org; email: info@bnhs.org. Pp: viii + 75. Price: Rs 250.
A Wormy Tale by Katie Bagli. Published in 2022 by Alpha Zone (an imprint of Books33), C-24, Vasundhara Enclave, New Delhi, 110096; website: www.books33.com; email: support@books33.com. Pp: 27. Price: Rs 233.
The Insect Concert by Katie Bagli. Published in 2022 by Alpha Zone (an imprint of Books33), C-24, Vasundhara Enclave, New Delhi, 110096; website: www.books33.com; email: support@books33.com. Pp: 29. Price: Rs 300.
What happens when Fiddly the grasshopper gets invited to perform in the Insect Orchestra? Or when Rumka and Lumka, the earthworms, hear a roaring sound and realize that their home is going to be covered with concrete?
What happens when young Daiwik decides to look for fish near a distant island and, instead, happens upon a flock of honking, quacking pink-headed ducks? Or when Hansa finds a tiny chick of the Great Indian Bustard in her field?
There is a single answer for all these questions: lots of adventure and animal magic, Katie Bagli style.
Bagli is a popular children’s writer who injects her passion for nature into all her books. Her three new releases are filled with animals and their stories. Some stories are for younger readers, others for middle-schoolers. Some talk about the bees and earthworms that are part of our everyday life, while other stories talk about animals on the verge of extinction. Even so, they are united by a love for the animal world and its mysterious, wonderful ways.
The Insect Concert and A Wormy Tale are books for younger readers. They tell amusing stories — about a horrid plan cooked up by two hungry frogs who decided to trick a host of insects; and about a family of earthworms forced to constantly deal with danger. Simple though these stories are, they still manage to weave in fascinating details about the animal protagonists. Be it the fact that grasshoppers produce sound by rubbing their wings or that hawkmoths hiss by pushing air out of their abdomens. Or even that earthworms are wonderful assistant gardeners and can transform a drab patch into a flower-filled paradise.
Flight of the Pink-headed Ducks and Other Stories has been published by the Bombay Natural History Society and is meant for middle-schoolers. The book focuses on rare and wonderful fauna like the snow leopard and the Great Indian Bustard. It offers insights into the habitats of these creatures, and the challenges they face from human beings. And, as with Bagli’s other books, it is suffused with tenderness towards and wonder about the magnificent beings with which we share our planet.
S. M.