Ari

When the teacher announces that the class will stage The Lion and the Mouse, Ari is thrilled. He knows he'll make a wonderful lion – even his name means ‘lion'! But shy little Ari is neither noticed nor chosen. He goes home disappointed, but suddenly in his room a roaring, growling, prowling creature comes to life… and a small, squeaky one too! The flat illustrative style with its strong kitschy palette gets away from usual depictions of the ‘soft, sensitive' child, and captures the energy and fun of play-acting.

Kavita Singh Kale, an animation film designer from NID, Ahmedabad, is a director of Underground Worm animation studio. She also produces public service announcements, commercials and short films. Her imagination and perspective as a filmmaker reflect in her illustrations for children's books. 

Mumbai-based writer Vaishali Shroff is an award-winning author of children’s books. Over 100 of her stories have been published in school textbooks, anthologies, magazines and portals. Though she has an engineering and management background, she loves to write poetry, flash fiction and research-based stories, both fiction and non-fiction. Her travel experiences are reflected in her published works.