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Picture books from Tirupati

Books that give children something to talk about.

Value-based picture books and mindful colouring books, written and designed by early-years teacher S.V. Bharathi in Tirupati.

Browse the booksFor schools and gifting

Printed in India · ISBN registered · Ships across India

The Gudiya Stories doll holding an open green book that reads Give wings to imagination

The shelf

Six stories and three colouring books. All written and designed by one teacher.

See every book and set

Tap a spine to take it off the shelf.

Cover of Mystical Landscapes of Donimalai: green hills with a sunflower, birds, butterflies and pink flowers.

Nature · Courage

Mystical Landscapes of Donimalai

Ages 8–13 · 16 pages

₹150MRP ₹199

Real books, real readers

This is what the books look like at home.

Families send us photos and videos of the books with their children. Tap one to open the book.

Watch, with sound

  • Our storybooks with their young readers.
  • Inside the Focus colouring books.
  • What parents say about the storybooks and colouring books.
  • Less screen time, more focus: the three Focus books.

Shop by value

Choose by what matters to you.

Start with the conversation you want to have at home, then pick by age. Each value links to the books that carry it.

  1. 01KindnessFor learning to notice how other people feel.
  2. 02CourageFor trying the hard thing, and trying again.
  3. 03FamilyFor grandparents, siblings and the people at home.
  4. 04NatureFor children who should know where the forest ends.
  5. 05JoyFor laughing out loud at bedtime.
  6. 06FocusFor slowing down with a pencil and twenty quiet minutes.
S.V. Bharathi, author and designer of Gudiya Stories
S.V. Bharathi, Tirupati

The author

Written by a teacher who still sits on the small chairs.

Bharathi has spent more than fifteen years in early-years classrooms. She writes for the questions children actually ask, then tests every story by reading it aloud to them.

She grew up in Donimalai, a mining town in a green valley in Karnataka, and you will find that valley in her books.

Recognition

  • 2022Reliance Foundation Teachers Award, Early Childhood Education, with CENTA, Teaching Professionals' Olympiad
  • 2022Memento for ten years of service since the school's founding, Edify School, Tirupati
  • 2021Progressive Pre-Primary Coordinator, Global Institute of Training and Development
  • 2020Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam International Educator's Honor, Sree Krishna Educare
  • 2020Dynamic Teacher of the Year, International Education Award
  • Best Early Childhood Educator, for innovative curriculum practice, Sree Krishna Educare
Read Bharathi's story

With the books, in person

  • Gudiya Stories picture books, including Rainbows, being presented to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh at a book table
    Presenting our picture books to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
    Presenting our picture books to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
  • A Focus colouring book being handed over at the Gudiya Stories table at an ALEAP exhibition
    The Focus colouring books at the ALEAP exhibition.
    The Focus colouring books at the ALEAP exhibition.

After the story

The book ends. The conversation doesn't have to.

Every book comes with a free printable card of questions to ask once the last page is turned. Written by Bharathi, tested in her classroom.

See the free resources

After the story

Cheers to Monday

Example
  1. 1.What did the girl feel on Sunday night? How could you tell?
  2. 2.What helped her walk through the school gate?
  3. 3.What is one thing you look forward to on a Monday?

Print it, keep it in the book, ask one question a night.

The Focus colouring books

Colour it, tear it out, frame it.

Thirty-six perforated pages on 220gsm drawing paper. Thick enough for sketch pens. Made to be given away.

Or all three as the Focus colouring set for ₹1,099.

Two ostriches drawn in intricate patterns, coloured by hand in pink, green, orange and blue sketch pen
Two ostriches, coloured by hand.

Two ostriches, coloured by hand.

Sketch pen on paper

On the reader's wall

Some pages are too good to leave in the book.

Every feather picked out in a different colour. This is what an afternoon with a colouring page can turn into, and why ours tear out cleanly, ready for a frame.

See the colouring booksSend us yours

More from readers' walls

See the whole gallery
  • A front-facing elephant mandala page with ears and trunk coloured in rainbow stripes
    Coloured by a reader: rainbow elephant.
    Rainbow elephant
  • A mother and baby koala mandala page, coloured in pastel sketch pen and cut out
    Coloured by a reader: koala and baby.
    Koala and baby
  • A seahorse mandala page coloured in coral pink, lime green, orange and turquoise
    Coloured by a reader: coral seahorse.
    Coral seahorse
  • A squirrel mandala page coloured in pink, orange and lime with a patterned tail
    Coloured by a reader: squirrel and acorn.
    Squirrel and acorn
  • A horse mandala page with a mane coloured in every shade of the rainbow
    Coloured by a reader: rainbow horse.
    Rainbow horse
  • A bunch of grapes mandala page, every grape coloured in a different pattern of purple, blue, orange and green
    Coloured by a reader: patterned grapes.
    Patterned grapes

Where the stories come from

The valley is real.

Donimalai sits in a green valley in Karnataka. Bharathi grew up there, and one of her books sends Rani and her friends hiking into it, looking after what they find.

Read about the bookAbout Bharathi

A book doesn't need charging.

Thick pages, matte covers, no notifications. Made to be dropped in a school bag and read under a blanket.

Schools, libraries and CSR

Buying for a classroom, a library or a CSR programme?

We offer bulk pricing from 25 copies, a printed bookplate with your school or company name, and reading sessions with the author.

Plan a bulk order

  1. 25+ copies

    Bulk pricing from the first carton.

  2. Bookplate inside cover

    Your school or company name printed in every book.

  3. Author visit or online

    A reading session with Bharathi for your children.

On Instagram

Follow along at @gudiyastories

Open Instagram

New books, readings in classrooms, events, and pages coloured by readers.

Coloured one of our pages? Tag @gudiyastories and it may be the next one on our wall.

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Two ostriches drawn in intricate patterns, coloured by hand in pink, green, orange and blue sketch pen
Gudiya Stories picture books, including Rainbows, being presented to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh at a book table
Cover of the picture book Winter Wonderland

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