... and Children Learn to Dream Again

Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet 
By Rajat Chaudhuri
Niyogi Books, Pages:111, Rs.295

Rajat Chaudhuri’s Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet is not just a collection of stories for children but a gentle invitation to reimagine our relationship with what is now a fragile Earth.

The three allegorical short stories, brought to life with Isha Nagar’s charcoal illustrations, are about ordinary children trying to make sense of a world under extraordinary threat. 

The fact that all of us are under the darkening clouds of environmental doom worldwide makes the story all the more real.

These are stories about ordinary young children trying to understand how the world is under extraordinary threat.

The children here witness the dangers of climate change and are made to see the importance of conservation. They are not passive onlookers, as many of us adults have become. 

It is inexplicable how we have become insensitive and uncaring as environmental dangers lurk around us. 

A book of this kind can trigger debates and discussions around what children can do to ensure a better, safer world. Also, how collective action can work wonders.

Rajat Chaudhari’s playful world-building holds subtle allegories about the fast-changing perils of climate change. 

Hopefully, it will encourage children and adults to think of their contribution to destroying or protecting the environment. 

It shows how collective action can produce results as two people at a task is better than one.

At a time when climate narratives are often bleak and overwhelming, these stories can spark curiosity, empathy, and hope without turning away from the seriousness of the crisis. 

Especially, when the President of the United States, Donald Trump, tells an international gathering that climate change is one of the biggest scams!

The book contains three stories, each taking a different approach to tackling climate change. 

Tina and the Light of the World is the most straightforward, with its solar-powered metaphor of light emerging from neglected places. It is simple, direct, and hopeful like a modern parable. 

It is good that Rajat Chaudhari added “Learning Notes” after his stories. It definitely makes it easier for very young children to understand, especially since there is an allegory that many can miss if not pointed out to them.  

It can also help teachers use these stories to drive a point home to their students.

While writing for children, authors must always try not to be complicated, as then the whole point of communicating a message to children is lost. Allegories can be engaging, but they also have to be easily understood. 

In today’s day and age, the span of attention is very poor, and it is getting worse daily. Every author needs to understand that.

The second story, The Seventh Sense, features a neurodivergent boy whose unusual sensitivity to the natural world becomes a form of ecological empathy. 

It is a tender, moving tale, showing how difference can be reimagined as strength in the context of environmental stewardship. The story stands out for its inclusivity and the way it resists despair; it celebrates resilience and perception rather than burdening children with fear.

The third story, How Did the Oceans Vanish? is the most ambitious. Told from a futuristic perspective, it imagines a world looking back at the catastrophic disappearance of oceans. 

What could have been a heavy-handed cautionary tale is instead enlivened by imaginative twists and a refusal to end in despair. 

By framing the narrative as a questioning, open-ended parable, Rajat Chaudhuri nudges readers towards curiosity rather than helplessness.

Isha Nagar’s charcoal illustrations lend the book a whimsical yet grounded tone.

Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet refuses to panic or preach. Instead, it leans on the timeless power of storytelling to show that imagination can be a force for change even in an age of melting glaciers and disappearing oceans. 

Whether read aloud in a classroom, shared at bedtime, or used as a conversation starter about our climate reality, these tales remind us that the future depends on how we teach our children to dream.

As these three stories grapple with concepts like renewable energy sources, growing urbanization and its effects, and how there are sustainable ways of coexisting with nature, this little book might make you pause, wonder and reimagine the world we are destroying.