Another History of the Children’s Picture Book: From Soviet Lithuania to India

Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, V. Geetha

At a particular period in Indian history, cheaply available Soviet picture books, in English and vernacular translations, changed the way Indian children read. Meanwhile, a different and more problematic kind of cultural ‘globalization’ was underway in the regions governed by the Soviet State, and Lithuania is a rich case in point. This book calls for a re-imagining of global picture book history: a result of an unusual collaboration between Indian social historian, V. Geetha, and Dr. Giedrė Jankevičiūtė from the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute. A sumptuous and unusual archive of art has been mined to go with this history: from socialist realist art to classic examples of the Lithuanian primitive modern, many of the images in the book are featured in an English language publication for the first time.