ConfigurationGD - Global Description
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## Age Group: 3 - 15 years
*Children*: Most of these books are meant for 3-11 years age group.
*Teens & Youth*: A few books, especially Amar Chitra Katha and some non-pictorial books are for teens and youth.
*Parents*: Parents will surely enjoy reading these books to their children. Books meant for youth are also really good.
## All Reviews are by me
All reviews are by me, except when specified.
## The process of reviewing books
I have read many of these books fully and many I read only 50%. In case of spiritual books, I look for spiritual inspiration. In case of other books, I focus on the pure feeling the message brings. Quality of illustration and overall book quality are also important, but only if the content is good.
## A High-level review of Books (Category wise)
### Books by Ramakrishna Mission
These books are the best among the lot in terms of spiritual focus. They are mostly written by monks of Ramakrishna Mission. Ordinary books focus on illustrations and paper quality but these books focus on divine qualities shown by the saint on which the book is on. The monastics know the importance of kindness, compassion, and other qualities, which are abundantly exemplified by the saints.
Drawback: The quality of paper and illustrations is generally just average in such books. That helps in keeping the book's cost low.
Many of these books are available in Hindi also.
**How to save money?**
To buy them at a low cost, try buying from the ashram websites. These books cost much higher through Amazon.
### Books by Amar Chitra Katha (ACK)
Many of these books are good and have a spiritual focus. For ex: The one on Sri Ramakrishna.
Some of these books are more like a collection of historical facts.
Availability of these books in Hindi is limited.
**How to save money?**
Subscribe to read any book by ACK:
[Three months Digital Subscription (Rs 799)](https://www.amarchitrakatha.com/product/amar-chitra-katha-app-subscription-3-months/)
[One year Digital Subscription](https://india.amarchitrakatha.com/products/amar-chitra-katha-app-subscription-12-months)
[Other types of Subscriptions](https://www.amarchitrakatha.com/product-category/subscription/)
### I DO NOT EARN FROM THESE RECOMMENDATIONS
Please note that I do not earn anything from these recommendations.
### Ramayana, Mahabharat and books on Saints
Ramayana is a good book to read for children because of its story. It focuses much less on war compared to the Mahabharat and for children, the principles are easier to understand in a story form than reading some other scripture like Gita.
I have noticed that the best of all Ramayanas for children is the one by Shanti Publications. It seems authentic and seems to retain some of the original spirit and simplicity of Ramayana.
Modern books on such Spiritual topics spoil the message by over-emphasis on the outer looks of the book - illustrations, paper quality, binding, cover, etc. The content writers also seem to completely miss the fact that these stories need to awaken devotion and spirituality in readers. The book ends up looking more like a warrior or a superhero book or sometimes like a history book instead of a spiritual book. They do not inspire the readers towards spirituality, towards compassion, towards devotion, towards being good, and other spiritual qualities.
Mahabharat books are generally full of war so I tend to stay away from them. I reviewed a couple of books on Bhagavad Gita (like the Roopa Pai book) but could not find any good ones. The one by Amar Chitra Katha is fine. The problem is that Gita has a bit dense and difficult message to give and that is difficult to present in a comic book. And Gita is difficult to grasp even for adults.
### Om Kidz
Many books by this publisher "Om Kidz" are available. In general, they have very good illustrations but the story telling is not inspiring. They generally get low rating from me or I reject them completely from the list.
### Other Books
There are many more books. Individual reviews for each book are given below.
## A major emphasis is on Parent-Child Love
Love, time, and patience of loving parents are the most essential needs of a child. In our overly career-oriented times, children are often not given enough time as they used to be given in the past.
Do read these books with your child and EXPRESS love.
**Here are some quotes by one of Yogananda's spiritual-son, Anandamoy:**
(He was an architect before becoming a monk and had worked with the world-famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, who was known as "the greatest American architect of all times".)
"Love is more important to a child than all the money in the world and toys."
"Children need to be loved. They need to be caressed. They need to be cuddled."
"Children, particularly in this country (US), they get everything materially- money, toys, cars, everything.. and many of them do not get love. And I have seen it. I have seen the tragedies from such a neglect.
Love is more important to a child than all the money in the world and all the gifts in the world and toys. Some of those people come from so-called good families/well-to-do families. They got everything materially from their parents, they did not get love and they grow up as cripples- emotional cripples."
"...sometimes you find in poor countries, very poor countries, those children they are cuddled, they are caressed as babies and as children, they are given attention and no toys, no expensive stuff but they grow up into healthy adults. It’s more important than anything else - love - EXPRESSED LOVE."
## How to read these books effectively?
**a. Don't just read. Make it practical.**
Cuddle and kiss your child when you talk about Love. When you talk about a virtue, like Fearlessness, give an example from real life too. When you see an animal in a book, remind him of real-life animals he has seen. When you are seeing a movie with your child, help him point out positive character traits of the people in the movie.
**b. You can't teach a child something, a virtue or habit, that you yourself do not have.**
Teach something that you yourself do. Or when you study the book with your child, start working on improving your own life as well, as you help the child to work on himself. That means, if you are teaching 'Kindness' or say 'Will Power', try to cultivate it in your personal life also. Be sincere. Sincerity matters a lot when teaching virtues to your children. If you are trying to cultivate a virtue in yourself, you will know what pitfalls one can fall into while practising that virtue and you will be able to help your child better & you will have more understanding towards him when he fails. Also, children are smart enough to find out if you yourself do not practise a virtue. They know that instinctively. If you speak the truth and you are convincing the child to speak the truth, you will have a conviction in your eyes that would affect him.
**c. Whatever you are studying with your child, bring it up in real life also.**
While you are travelling in a car, talk about the virtue. When a child is talking aggressively with someone, remind him of the virtue of Kindness. Make Character development a regular part of the discussion. But that is not a good idea if you do not have the same character traits that you want him to have. Children learn more from what they see parents and others do than the instructions they hear.
**d. Friends**
Children are greatly influenced by the children and people they mix up with. Friends need to be carefully chosen. Even maids & nannies should be chosen depending on how cheerful and well-mannered they are.
**e. Environment- Healthy and positive**
We are constantly taking in poisons from outside into our bodies. Everything that goes inside the body is having poisons. Whether it is polluted air, junk or regular food, or even all the noises that we hear in daily life, everything is poisonous to our biological system.
Air contains many harmful chemicals. Especially if you are living in India, the air quality is much poorer than recommended for human inhalation.
Food these days has high amounts of poisonous pesticides which can not be removed even by washing thoroughly. Ask any farmer, and they will tell you!
If you visit a hill station (or a distant farm), it is all quiet. Just by being there, you feel peace. Almost zero noise pollution is one of the main reasons for that. In cities, outside noise like the noise of traffic affects the harmony of our minds and creates some amount of restlessness in the brain.
Whatever we take in builds our bodies, especially food and air. If we take in poisons, that accumulates in our bodies and affects the day-to-day functioning of the system.
The good thing is that science is making huge progress in increasing the life spans and fixing health issues.
**f. Posters**
Home or at least the room of the child can have posters on Kindness, Will Power, Positive Thinking, etc. These will act as constant reminders.
**g. Focus on positive**
Do not find faults with the child out of frustration or when you are upset. At these times we often overdo instead of saying what the child is capable of handling. His tender mind grabs negative thoughts quickly and even a decade later he will think he can never be good in a particular area of life because his parents often criticised him for that.
**h. Handle your stress and give your heart's LOVE**
Dealing with a child while you are under stress is like doing a legal crime against the child. A child does not need a bigger house, a bigger car, more sophisticated toys, and so on. He needs his parent's love.
I know, they do want the things I just mentioned. But if we are living a relaxed & simple life ourselves and have loving communication with a child, we can convince him to be satisfied with what he has. This can be managed in many cases. Friend circle matters and simpler alternatives to expensive toys can be used.
![[Hindi] Sri Ramakrishna -- Amar Chitra Katha](https://rdl.ink/render/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.papertrell.com%2F005%2F835%2F005835725_480X320FW.jpg?width=350&height=&ar=16:9&mode=crop&format=avif&dpr=2)
![[Hindi Video] Guess How Much I Love You](https://rdl.ink/render/https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FuBJ0r4EibVY%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg?width=350&height=&ar=16:9&mode=crop&format=avif&dpr=2)
