Mahatma Gandhi for Children

Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869. We are observing his birth anniversary today.

Popularly titled 'Bapu', Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is unchallengeably the greatest Indian born during the last one thousand years.

He was rightly called 'Mahatma' (the great soul). His ideals of peace (shanti), truthfulness (satya) and non-violence (ahimsa) will continue to inspire people as well as nations.

Though Gandhiji's life is a beacon of light for all, the children must read more about his life, work and ideals. Some recent books on him, especially written for children, throw light on his life in a detailed manner. Being Gandhi by Paro Anand is a young adult novel that should be read by all children.

It is about a child who was asked to act as Gandhi in a school play. He began to read about Gandhiji inasmuch as he adopted the Gandhian way of life. The Mahatma and the Monkeys is by film actor Anupam Kher.

It has 20 chapters titled 'caring for others', 'telling the truth', ‘the wonder years', 'doing things yourself' and 'everyone is equal'. He has included a fun quiz for children towards the end of the book.

Author Sandhya Rao has written the book Picture Gandhi. This captures the life of Mahatma in pictures which have been sourced from Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Smriti and carries speech bubbles.

It begins with these simple lines: "Once upon a time there was a man who lived a life so ordinary, he died without a paisa to his name. He was a man of peace who believed in the force of truth and love…” My Gandhi Story has been written by three persons i.e., Nina Sabnani, Rajesh Chaitya and Ankit Chadha.

The book can be read aloud to children as young as five. This book reveals several facets of Gandhi in his own words. For example, to a question whether "Gandhiji worked hard in School too".

The answer provided is: 'I was not lazy, but I was not very good at studies. I found multiplication very difficult....".

Author Muthanna Singh and Mamta Nainy tell the story of Gandhiji's life in 150 anecdotes and incidents. The book is titled Gandhi in 150 Anecdotes. Aditi De has authored a book titled Great Lives: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Pictures have been provided by Pooja Pottenkulam. After every descriptive text, the story is told in comic book format too. Mahatma Gandhi: The Father of the Nation by Subhdra Sen Gupta sets the reader reflecting about the times Gandhiji lived.

It describes his food habits to be extremely simple, so simple that people often avoided sitting next to him because he would offer them bland mash of boiled vegetables cooked without salt, oil or spices and bitter neem chutney.

Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar captures the accounts of Gandhi's life as related by great grandmother of the author Anasuyabai Kale who worked with Gandhi.