Updated
Books in English with Tamil kids and families, most set in Tamil Nadu. The picture books come first, then the middle grade novels.
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My Paati's Saris
Jyoti Rajan Gopal
A Tamil boy spends the day with his grandmother before a party and loves wearing her saris.
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Where Three Oceans Meet
Rajani LaRocca
A girl, her mother and her grandmother travel to Kanyakumari, the southern tip of India, where three bodies of water meet.
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Sona Sharma, Very Best Big Sister?
Chitra Soundar
Sona isn't sure she wants a new baby in her busy three-generation house in Tamil Nadu. A short chapter book with pictures.
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Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom
Sangu Mandanna
Middle grade fantasy. Kiki, a worrier, draws a city from Indian mythology that comes alive.
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Climbing the Stairs
Padma Venkatraman
Vidya lives in Madras in 1941. After her father is hurt at a protest, her family moves in with relatives who don't think girls should go to college.
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A Time to Dance
Padma Venkatraman
Veda is a Bharatanatyam dancer in Chennai who loses a leg in an accident and learns to dance again. A novel in verse.
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Born Behind Bars
Padma Venkatraman
Kabir has lived his whole life in a Chennai jail with his mother. At nine he is let out alone and goes looking for his father.