A couple of years ago an American friend gifted my daughter a set of nine books by Laura Ingalls Wilder called The Little House series. As we read them, first her and then me and then her again, we were both enchanted by this autobiographical account of a pioneer family. The series starts off when Laura is five years old and goes on through her childhood, adolescence and adulthood until she herself becomes a mother.

Seeing how captivating my daughter found it, I realised that history comes to life and becomes interesting for a child especially if narrated in another child's voice. It need not be a mere string of dates and events.

I looked around for similar accounts of Indian history and found the following series, based in different periods of Indian history.

I wish books like these would be used to teach history in schools!

"Once Upon an India" Series
A Royal Procession
Sailing Home
Raza Meets the King
Marching to Freedom

written by Subhadra Sen Gupta, illustrated by Tapas Guha
(Pratham Books, 2009)

A Royal Procession is set in the times of Emperor Ashoka. Parvati and her brother Laxman, children of a potter, go to the monastery one day to deliver some pots. They bump into a man who tells them he was a soldier who stopped fighting. The children tell him they wish they could also meet the king, like he could. Their wish does come true and what's more, they're in for a royal surprise!

The simple storyline is punctuated with details of what the palace was like and what clothes people wore. There is also a section at the end that talks about fun facts about life in those times.

Incidentally, Sen Gupta has recently authored a book called Ashoka The Great and Compassionate King, published by Puffin Books and geared to older children, as it goes into details of how historians discovered what they know about Ashoka and the Mauryan period.

Sailing Home is about Basava and his sister Sundari, who live in the port-town of Mamallapuram in the Pallava period. When their father, a sailor, doesn't return home when he should have, the children get worried. To find out what happened they go to the port where they meet sailors from foreign lands who do not speak their language. What will happen next?! The "Fun Facts" at the end of the book talk about interesting things. For instance, the fact that people in those days, like some of us do now, dyed their hair and used toothpicks to clean their teeth after meals!

In Raza Meets the King you meet the royal tailor's son who goes to the palace with his father to deliver Emperor Akbar's clothes. The emperor is not happy with his new outfit and Raza uses his wits to save the day. I found this story utterly delightful! In the "Fun Facts" section we learn that Akbar would choose from as many as thirty dishes every meal, and that he enjoyed flying kites.

Marching to Freedom was written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the historic Dandi March. Through nine-year old Dhani's eyes we learn about the thoughts of those who undertook it. Dhani also wants to join in and is gently persuaded by Gandhiji (Gandhi) himself to stay back and do another very important job - that of feeding his goat Binni.

The story illustrates the endearingly simple principles that the Mahatma lived by. The facts about the March at the end make all the more sense after reading the story.

Posted October 2010