Finding books suitable for children of a young age is difficult enough but searching for books based on Hindu mythology for the same age is well nigh impossible. So it is doubly delightful to come across 'The Story of Ram & Sita' - The Origin of Diwali by Nirmal Hirani.

Retelling the story of The Ramayana - which is one of the most convoluted Hindi mythologies with a myriad of human and animal characters - in a stylistically straightforward and entertaining way is a monumental task, one that Hirani achieves remarkably well. Too often authors fall into a translation trap, using the complicated sentence structure of the original, which only confuses young readers. Hirani has interpreted the original texts and retold the story in simple language in this entertaining book.

Melanie Crawford's glorious illustrations should be applauded in their own right. Full of colourful detail and relevancy, very young children will enjoy just looking at the pictures while an adult retells the story.

I can only applaud this venture into Children's Book publishing. If other Mansi books are as good as this one the company will deservedly flourish.

ABOUT MANSI BOOKS

Nirmal Hirani founded Mansi Ltd in 2002 with the encouragement and support of Errol Lloyd, the successful author, playwright and Illustrator. Hirani was frustrated by the lack of high quality, multicultural books from around the world. She felt that her children were reading books set to a formula so she up Mansi to focus on this niche within the children's book market.

Mansi was established with a mission "to produce high quality books for children with unusual stories from around the world. Through books, Mansi aims to give children a greater appreciation of the world they live in, and of their value and place in it."

Mansi is keen to encourage and promote talent. It supports the work of new writers and illustrators who have few opportunities to break into the world of publishing. It considers stories for publication from all countries and from writers of most persuasion who wish to tell good tales that grip and challenge a child creatively.

Hirani also believes that businesses have a duty to support humanitarian causes. The company aims to donate 10% of its profits to charitable causes. The major recipient of this funding will be the Street Children support programmes run by the charity Medecins Sans Frontier.

ABOUT NIRMAL HIRANI

Nirmal Hirani is 32, married with two children and has lived in North London for the last 12 years. She was born in Kutch, India and moved to Kenya as a young child where she completed her schooling. At 18, she moved to the UK where she trained and worked as a teacher and later completed her studies in Addictive Behaviour at Imperial College, London. She has worked with a number of London-based agencies involved with the rehabilitation of people with alcohol and drug related problems and programmes involving the reduction of HIV transmission within high-risk communities.

Nirmal has always had a special interest in story telling and writing. She regularly travels to India and Kenya and spends much time listening to and finding out about local religious and traditional roles. She is also an avid collector of books and has a large collection of stories and literature from around the world.

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