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Level 1	Book and Author Name: Jhilmil The Butterfly by Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj Illustrator: Rahul Chaudhury ISBN: 81-7993-051-3 Cover price: Rs 50.00 / US $3.00 Publisher: Terrapin. Teri Press.
	Book and Author Name: Flight With Birdy by Sharmila Sinha Illustrator: Archana Singh ISBN: 81-7993-061-0 Cover price: Rs 50.00 / US $3.00 Publisher: Terrapin. Teri Press.
Level 2	Book and Author Name: The Tree Party by Nandini Oberoi Illustrator: Rahul Chaudhury ISBN: 81-7993-060-2 Cover price: Rs 50.00 / US $3.00
	Book and Author Name: Saving The Gulmohur by Nandini Oberoi Illustrator: Vidya Saxena ISBN: 81-7993-063-7 Cover price: Rs 70.00 / US $4.00 Publisher: Terrapin. Teri Press.
	Book and Author Name: A Drop In The Lake by R P Subramanian Illustrator: Sanjay Sundram ISBN: 81-7993-062-9 Cover price: Rs 70.00 / US $4.00 Publisher: Terrapin. Teri Press.

Egypt does it through Bakkar, a popular cartoon series that from time to time promotes environmental awareness amongst children. Bakkar is the result of a unique public-private alliance between Cairo Cartoon, the Middle East’s first private animation studio, and the AED Center for Environmental Strategies. The task at hand is sustainable development for the Red Sea Coast.

For children who watch Cartoon Network, Captain Planet used to be a superhero with a difference. Created by Red Turner and produced by Jane Fonda, the series did its bit to promote environmental concerns amongst children and, as a spin off created the Captain Planet Foundation where children could write in with their suggestions on how to save the planet. It was universal in its approach since the supporting cast including young people from across the globe whose powers, united, brought Captain Planet into being.

While there are not too many environmental cartoons extant, a book in print has many types of competition. Children’s books abroad before the age of environmental consciousness delivered environment friendly messages in many different ways. In the Narnia series, CS Lewis brings back the dryads of Greek myths, the willowy wood goddesses who die if the trees they inhabit are cut down. The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley also perpetuated the myth of freedom and natural elements. However there was nothing called environment directed literature in those days. Now with the consciousness of pollution and natural decline growing there is a need to get the message across as quickly as possible without diluting the subtext. The Devil in the Dustbin dramatized the experiences of a Brahmarakshasha who lived in a tamarind tree and promised more such fantasies to come. Sadly, however Indi Rana apparently has not written nay more books. Her style promised a combination of environmental consciousness with storytelling that few children’s authors in India seem to deliver. Preachiness proliferates and children tend to be suspicious of books with apparent designs on them.

Anita Desai in The Village by the Sea delivered a different kind of message, talking about a need to adapt to circumstance though that was social rather than environmental since the fishermen in her village were threatened by a new way of life as represented by a factory.

Environmental concerns in India have been delayed in evolving, but there is every sign that a movement has begun. To help induct children into an awareness of nature and the animals around them, Teri Press had recently brought out a series of books under the Terrapin imprint. The books come in three levels—level 1 for kids between 4 to 7, level 2 for 8-11 year-olds and level 3 for 12-14. So far seven of these have been printed, since 2004, when the Terrapin imprint was set up. Five more are still in the pipeline.

The books have colorful illustrations designed to appeal to the youngsters, though they might prove a little too young perhaps for the 8 to 11 year olds. They follow the tried and tested story telling approach to convey vital environmental messages." In Anju and the Stream, by R.P. Subramanian, for instance, the feisty little girl Anju takes on Yuck Industries, which is spreading pollution in her neighborhood. "The book makes the kids aware of some technical terms and involves local issues as well. Here, it's not only the factory, which is at fault, but the local populace as well which uses the stream for washing their clothes and bathing their animals," says K.P Eashwer, Area Convenor, TERI Press.

Author Subramaniam believes that the trick is to use the language that the kids themselves do, to draw them into the causes. Which is why he uses phrases like ‘chee chee’ when referring to the polluting of a stream. Sharmila Sinha, another Terrapin author, is however worried that there are few Harry Potter style children’s books in India. The cause needs cult books of the Potter status to be effective. ‘‘We need to educate children so they can be crusaders of the cause,’’ she says. Sinha’s Flight with Birdy has little Priyam taking an educational flight with the Great Indian Hornbill which brings her face-to-face with environmental concerns like global warming.

Harry Potter the books definitely are not. They are slim things, for one, possibly with an eye on the fact that most children these days are not readers. Saving the Gulmohur, one of the books for older children, has a group of children who start a crusade to save the gulmohur in their backyard and occasionally one finds a boy taking part. For the most part, however, girls are very definitely the heroines in this series, as Flight with Birdy and Jhilmil the Butterfly testify. That could be important given India’s male gender bias as a recognition of the fact that it is easier to sensitize girls to issues like the environment.

From an NGO with a record of greening programs and initiatives to deal with climate warming issues, the attempt is laudable. The 4-7 read aloud series will probably find more takers than the later ones, since children, as they grow tend to prefer to make their own choices. Most mothers however will be delighted at the prospect of finding affordable educational literature so easily at hand.

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