Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts on Feb 8 announced the 3rd edition of the Parag Honour List for the year 2022. This robust list features a wide range of original writings across categories like picture books, chapter books, and young adult books. This year, Parag received books from 23 Indian publishers, published between October, 2020 to September, 2021 with over 200 entries, 38 of which were in English and 9 books Hindi across genres we selected.
| HINDI BOOKS FEATURED IN THE PARAG HONOUR LIST 2022 | ||
| BOOK | AUTHOR | PUBLISHER |
| Lightning | Prabhat | Jugnoo Prakashan |
| Betiyaan bhi chahein Azaadi | Kamla Bhasin | Pratham Books |
| Machhali Nadi Kholke Baithi | Sushil Shukla | Eklavya |
| Ye Sara Ujala Suraj Ka | Sushil Shukla | Eklavya |
| Basti mein Baadh | Maya Yadavan, Neha Patel, Tinam Nishad, Pooja Singh | Shaheed School |
| Bees Kachodi Poodhi Tees | Shriprasad | Jugnoo Prakashan |
| Kerala ke Kele | Prayag Shukla | Jugnoo Prakashan |
| Ek Kahani | Vinod Kumar Shukla | Jugnoo Prakashan |
| Gyarah Rupaya ka Fountain Pen | Amit Datta | Jugnoo Prakashan |
| ENGLISH BOOKS FEATURED IN THE PARAG HONOUR LIST 2022 | ||
| BOOK | AUTHOR | PUBLISHER |
| Animal Alphabet | Manjula Padmanabhan | Tulika Publishers |
| Asamo, is that You? | Canato Jimo and Ogin Nayam | Pratham Books |
| How I Feel | Varsha Seshan | Pratham Books |
| Ikru’s First Day of School | Sunaina Coehlo | Pratham Books |
| Jamlo Walks | Samina Mishra | Puffin Books, Penguin Random House India |
| Our World Hamari Duniya | Sandhya Rao | Jugnoo Prakashan |
| Sometimes Mama, Sometimes Papa | Nandini Nayar | Puffin Books, Penguin Random House India |
| The Grand Chapati Contest | Asha Nehemiah | Duckbill, Penguin Random House India |
| This is Where We Live | Manjari Chakravarti | Pratham Books |
| Tiger, Tiger, Where Are You? | Mujahid Khan | Pratham Books |
| When Adil Speaks, Words Dance | Lavanya Karthik | Puffin Books, Penguin Random House India |
| Who’s Next? | Mini Shrinivasan | Eklavya |
| Home | Author Fausto Aarya De Santis | Pratham Books |
| Coming Home | Priti David | Karadi Tales in partnership with PARI |
| Kashmir! Kashmir! | Deepa Agarwal | Scholastic India |
| My Name is Gulab | Sagar Kolwankar | Tulika Publishers |
| No Nonsense Nandhini | Aparna Karthikeyan | Karadi Tales in partnership with PARI |
| Noon Chai and a Story | Adithi Rao | Tulika Publishers |
| That Night | Bijal Vachharajani | Pratham Books |
| Have You Met the Parsis? | Anastasia Damani | Puffin Books, Penguin Random House India |
| Hop On: My Adventures on Boats, Trains and Planes | Ruskin Bond | Talking Cub, Speaking Tiger Books |
| Nature Society Series – Maharashtra, Odisha, Lakshadweep and Rajasthan | Yemuna Sunny | Eklavya |
| The Boy Who Played with Light – Satyajit Ray | Lavanya Karthik | Duckbill, Penguin Random House India |
| The Grass Seeker | Uddalak Gupta | Pratham Books |
| The Secret World of Mehlli Gobhai: The Man Who Found Art Everywhere | Jerry Pinto | Pratham Books |
| Bena’s Summer | Shibal Bhartiya | HarperCollins Publishers India |
| Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame | Supriya Kelkar | Scholastic India |
| The Blue Horse and Other Amazing Animals from Indian History | Nandini Sengupta | Hachette India |
| The Teenage Diary of Abbakka – The Warrior Queen of South India | Kavitha Mandana | Talking Cub, Speaking Tiger Books |
| 10 Indian Heroes Who Help People Live with Dignity | Somak Ghosal | Duckbill, Penguin Random House India |
| A Germ of an Idea | Charudatta Navare | Eklavya |
| Gods, Giants and the Geography of India | Nalini Ramachandran | Hachette India |
| How to be a Writer | Ruskin Bond | HarperCollins Publishers India |
| Postbox Kashmir: Two Lives in Letters | Divya Arya | Duckbill, Penguin Random House India |
| Queen of Fire | Devika Rangachari | Duckbill, Penguin Random House India |
As part of the criteria for creating the Parag Honour List, all leading publishers of children’s books are requested to submit their select titles for review. In turn the books are reviewed by a panel of eminent educationists and bibliophiles, with the very best finding their way to the Parag Honour List.
With a focus on curating a comprehensive collection of remarkable literature in English and in Hindi, the list aims to promote access to good quality children’s literature that librarians, teachers, parents and children can refer to and read. The work of Parag spans over sourcing, publishing, disseminating and promoting good quality children’s literature in India. Over the years, Parag has catalysed the children’s literature ecosystem towards encouraging joyful reading.
Amrita Patwardhan, Head of Education at Tata Trusts, shared her views on the initiative, she said, “With the number of books being published for children on the rise, it is important to help readers including librarians and parents with recommendations of good books. The Parag Honour List is a first of its kind effort in India, of an annual independently curated list of noteworthy books published in Hindi and English across genre and age-groups. An Independent jury with a deep understanding of children’s literature reviews a number of entries and curates PHL.”
As part of the criteria for creating the Parag Honour List, all leading publishers of children’s books are requested to submit their select titles for review. In turn the books are reviewed by a panel of eminent educationists and bibliophiles, with the very best finding their way to the Parag Honour List.
