8 Comfort books all about grandmothers and their sweetness

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Grandmothers. Often the person who saves you from the scoldings of your parents and even your grandfather. Be it your maternal grandmother, who stuffs you with many homemade sweets whenever you go to visit, or your paternal grandmother spoiling you with too much love, the relationship is one of the sweetest ones. And, grandmothers and stories go hand in hand, each story taken from the impossibly large reservoir of her memory. Here’s celebrating that beautiful relationship with our list of incredible titles with grandmothers in them!

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Which literary grandmothers do you love? Comment down below.

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The Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories

Title: The Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories

Author: R K Narayan

Publisher: Indian Thought Publications

Price: 215

Pages: 97

Blurb:

There is no better introduction to R.K. Narayan than this remarkable collection of stories celebrating work that spans five decades.

Characters include a storyteller whose magical source of tales dries up, a love-stricken husband who is told by astrologers he must sleep with a prostitute to save his dying wife, a pampered child who discovers that his beloved uncle may be an impostor or even a murderer. Standing supreme amid this rich assortment of stories is the title novella. Told by the narrator’s grandmother, the tale recounts the adventures of her mother, married at seven and then abandoned, who crosses the subcontinent to extract her husband from the hands of his new wife. Her courage is immense and her will implacable — but once her mission is completed, her independence vanishes.

Gentle irony, wryly drawn characters, and themes at once Indian and universal mark these humane stories, which firmly establish Narayan as one of the world’s preeminant storytellers.

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Grandma's Bag of Stories

Title: Grandma's Bag of Stories

Author: Sudha Murty

Publisher: Penguin Books

Price: 250

Pages: 176

Blurb:

When Grandma opens her bag of stories, everyone gathers Around.

Who can resist a good story, especially when it’s being told by Grandma? From her bag emerges tales of kings and cheats, monkeys and mice, bears and gods. Here comes the bear who ate some really bad dessert and got very angry; a lazy man who would not put out a fire till it reached his beard; a princess who got turned into an onion; a queen who discovered silk, and many more weird and wonderful people and animals.

Grandma tells the stories over long summer days and nights, as seven children enjoy life in her little town. The stories entertain, educate and provide hours of enjoyment to them. So come, why don’t you too join in the fun?

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Ammachi's Glasses

Title: Ammachi's Glasses

Author: Priya Kurian

Publisher: Tulika Publishers

Price: 215

Pages: 28

Blurb:

Ammachi can’t find her glasses one morning and everything goes topsy-turvy!

Page after page spills with drama, humour, detail and local flavour as Priya Kuriyan spins a hilarious tale about a crazy day with unforgettable Ammachi— ‘the archetypal grandmother from memories of my own childhood in Kerala,’ as Priya says. A celebrated illustrator, she is at her best in this her first wordless picture book.

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Grandma and the Great Gourd

Title: Grandma and the Great Gourd

Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Price: 568

Pages: 32

Blurb:

Once upon a time, in a little village in India, there lived an old woman. Everyone in the village called her Grandma. One day, Grandma received a letter from her daughter, who lived on the other side of the jungle. “Please come and visit me,” said the letter. “I haven’t seen you in so long. I miss you.”

And so, Grandma begins a perilous journey to the far side of the jungle. Can she use her keen wit to escape the jungle animals and make it safely home?

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s sharp, rhythmic retelling of this Bengali folktale is complimented perfectly by Susy Pilgrim Waters’s brightly colored, captivating illustrations.

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Leila in Saffron

Title: Leila in Saffron

Author: Rukhsanna Guidroz

Publisher: Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books

Price: 999

Pages: 32

Blurb:

A colorful journey of self-discovery and identity, this sweet, vibrant picture book follows young Leila as she visits her grandmother’s house for their weekly family dinner, and finds parts of herself and her heritage in the family, friends, and art around her.

Sometimes I’m not sure if I like being me.

When Leila looks in the mirror, she doesn’t know if she likes what she sees. But when her grandmother tells her the saffron beads on her scarf suit her, she feels a tiny bit better. So, Leila spends the rest of their family dinner night on the lookout for other parts of her she does like.

Follow Leila’s journey as she uses her senses of sight, smell, taste, touch to seek out the characteristics that make up her unique identity, and finds reasons to feel proud of herself, just as she is.

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Priya Dreams of Marigolds & MasalaPriya Dreams of Marigolds & Masala

Title: Priya Dreams of Marigolds & MasalaPriya Dreams of Marigolds & Masala

Author: Meenal Patel

Publisher: Beavers Pond Press

Price: 1340

Pages: 36

Blurb:

Priya lives in the United States and her family is from India. She feels the magic of the place her family comes from through her Babi Ba’s colorful descriptions of India–from the warm smell of spices to the swish-swish sound of a rustling sari. Together, Priya and Babi Ba make their heritage live on through the traditions that they infuse into their everyday lives.

Priya Dreams of Marigolds & Masala is a celebration of the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren, the threads that connect each of us to our heritage, and the power of sharing our traditions with others.

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My Grandmother's Masterpiece

Title: My Grandmother's Masterpiece

Author: Madhurima Vidyarthi

Publisher: Duckbill

Price: 199

Pages: 88

Blurb:

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Grandmother School

Title: Grandmother School

Author: Rina Singh

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers

Price: 1699

Pages: 32

Blurb:

Every morning, a young girl walks her grandmother to the Aajibaichi Shala, the school that was built for the grandmothers in her village to have a place to learn to read and write.

The narrator beams with pride as she drops her grandmother off with the other aajis to practice the alphabet and learn simple arithmetic. A moving story about family, women and the power of education—when Aaji learns to spell her name you’ll want to dance along with her.

Women in countless countries continue to endure the limitations of illiteracy. Unjust laws have suppressed the rights of girls and women and kept many from getting an education and equal standing in society.

Based on a true story from the village of Phangane, India, this brilliantly illustrated book tells the story of the grandmothers who got to go to school for the first time in their lives.

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Picture of Amritesh Mukherjee

Amritesh Mukherjee

Amritesh doesn't know what to do with his life, so he writes. He also doesn't know what to write, so he reads. Gift him a book if you chance upon him and he'll love you forever.

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