Dadaji's Paintbrush
Age 2+
Picture Storybooks Personal & Social Issues: Death & Bereavement Art: General Interest Family & Home Stories
A heart-warming story of dealing with bereavement and keeping a legacy alive set in a village in India, with a beautiful grandparent-grandchild relationship at its heart.
Discover that bereavement can be a beginning, not an ending, in this beautiful story of one boy's grief when he loses his beloved grandfather.
Dadaji loves to teach others to paint, especially his grandson. But after Dadaji passes away, the boy can’t bear to use the favourite paintbrush his grandfather left for him. When a little girl knocks on the door, the boy discovers how many lives Dadaji touched with his art, and finds a way to continue his legacy.
Creators
Rashmi Sirdeshpande is a lawyer-turned-stroyteller, who was part of the Penguin Random House WriteNow mentoring programme in 2018. As a British Indian child, she didn't get to see many children like her in the books she read, so she is now passionate about writing stories that children from all backgrounds can relate to.
Ruchi Mhasane has an MA in Children's Book Illustration from the Cambridge School of Art. Her ambition is to develop the form of the picture book; in India, children's books usually have few pictures, and her aim in joining the MA was to change this. Ruchi especially enjoys drawing people and children, and her work has a dreamy quality to it. She currently lives in India, where she grew up.