Marti - Children and Trees
AV Press and others - 1989/….
First mention in this category goes to a series of environmental
books for children, by Marti Mueller and Forrest Corkery. For over ten
years Marti and Forrest have written and illustrated booklets for children
that have animals and trees for subject. The booklets are in black and
white and as such can be used as coloring books. We will give a short
summery of the booklets:
A Child and A Tree
Is about the importance of planting and protecting trees,
and initiating forestation programs. The booklet has also
appeared in Tamil.
Mala
the Mongoose
This is a booklet about water control and land management
through bunding and prevention of soil erosion.
Elephant
and Dragonfly
Is about saving the forests as a home for wildlife and the
protecting of animal species.
The
Secret of the Mango Grove
This booklet is about the diversity of plants in agriculture,
the use of harmful pesticides and the role of women in protecting
the Earth.
Population
Population is a very instructive picture book about over-population.
Designed in a simple black and white format it does not require
translation and can easily be copied all over the world.
Indian
coloring book
This is a very nice coloring book that combines many of the
children and animals that have appeared in the other booklets.
The theme is once more: taking care of the earth, animals
and trees.
What
is a tree?
This booklet has been printed in collaboration with the National
Book Trust of India and has color illustrations by P. Chakravarti.
It explains the importance of living trees and the use of
wood for farmers and fishermen.
For all the above booklets you may contact the Children and Trees
project, at the address of Shanta books (see below) or by writing Marti: marti@auroville.org.in
Agni
- Namaste Savitri
Quadra Press 1995
In 342 colour reproductions of acrylic drawings, against backgrounds of
grainy surfaces, as obtained by spraying of paint, each painting
illustrates a verse of Savitri.
In a large variety of imagery combined
with abstract form, the result is a colorful adventure in what are often
techniques we would call primitive, as in: within reach of many.
Ireno
Guerci - Auroville, A dream
Aaral Graphics 1999
Ireno is a photo reporter with an eye for the uncommon, either in his
surroundings or in the composition of what he sees and photographs. 'A
Dream' is a book that covers Auroville in its day-to-day aspects very
well. As such it shows how the mix of East and West leads to some uncommon
views.
William
Netter - Log of a journey through Sri Aurobindo's Savitri
n.p.t offset Chennai 1999
Netter wrote three guides for the reading of Sri Aurobindo's 'Savitri.
This 'Log' is the fourth and at that a strongly visual approach.
The
cantos of the epic have been supplemented by colorful schemes in often
mathematical configurations. A semi transparent map for each painting
shows the evolution from matter to super mind, as indicated in the
painting.
Narada
Editions - The Gita of Waste
Auroville
Health Centre – 2001
Aurovilians
as well as non-Aurovilians have contributed to this delightful book. True,
the idea was not to include educational books in this page. But then,
there is no denying the wonderful combination of playful text and superbly
comical cartoons by the Aurovilian illustrator Emanuele Scanziani. Other
publications have come from the team working on this book, title of which
speaks for itself. Given the professional quality of the work I would not
be surprised if the booklets find a larger market.
Anthology
- The Auroville Adventure
S.A. Ashram Press 1998
In eleven chapters on various aspects of Auroville, this book is a
collection of articles from Auroville Today (1988/1999).
I would say
that this book tops the list of books on Auroville as of today and is as
such worth mentioning here. The articles cover a wide range of subjects on
collective issues as well as individual experiences. For sphere one might
supplement it with the book of photographs by Ireno (Auroville. A dream)
and the result of careful browsing would result in some knowledge on
Auroville, without actually having been there.
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