Ruskin Bond is known internationally as one of India's most prolific writers in English for children, young adults, and adults. This literary biography analyzes the impact of personal, social, geographical, political, and literary influences on Bond's worldview, aesthetic principles, and writings. Connecting the development of Bond's writing career over the past 50 years to the evolution of the publishing industry in India, Khorana details the author's pioneering work in the field of children's and young adult literature, and his contribution to diasporic and postcolonial/post-independence literatures. She concludes that it is Bond's versatile, original, and elegant writing in a variety of genres that continue to endear him to readers around the world. According to the author, despite Bond's British background, he does not write about India from a Eurocentric perspective. Having lived the majority of his life in India, he knows the country as an insider, writing with an authenticity and emotional engagement about the land and the people of the Himalayas and small-town India. Khorana analyzes his novels and short stores, and highlights his juxtaposition of his protagonists' individual dramas against larger social, moral, and metaphysical issues. In addition, she reveals how the autobiographical and regional elements in Bond's work provide insight into universal themes such as the tension between past and present, city life versus rural values, the dignity of ordinary folk, preservation of the environment, and living in harmony with nature.

While much critical attention has been given to adult literature, African literature for children and young adults remains a neglected area. As the United States becomes an increasingly pluralistic society, it becomes all the more important for children and young adults to be exposed to books set in Africa. This bibliography includes entries for nearly 700 books written in English by both African and Western authors and published between 1873 and 1994. An additional 120 books are either discussed or mentioned in the annotations.

The entries are organized in six chapters. The first chapter includes general works, while the others are devoted to particular geographic regions. Within each chapter, entries are further grouped according to genres, such as traditional literature, biography, poetry, drama, fiction, autobiography, and informational books. Entries are then listed alphabetically. Each entry includes an annotation that provides a plot/content summary, thematic analysis, literary evaluation, and sensitivity to multicultural and international issues; an indication of the recommended grade level for the book is included. The books are carefully selected to give fair representation to the various regions and countries of Africa, literary genres, prominent authors and books, and literary phases; the author has tried to include all available books published in the 1980s and 1990s. The introductory essay provides an in-depth analysis of the social, political, cultural, and literary contexts of the three phases of African children's literature: colonial, postcolonial Western, and postcolonial African. This bibliography is intended for scholars, teachers, librarians, parents, students, and general readers.

The first work of its kind, this bibliography examines literature for young people concerning the Indian subcontinent and associated areas: Bangladesh; the Himalayan kingdoms of Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim, and Tibet; India; Pakistan; and Sri Lanka. Meena Khorana presents the dual perspective of authors native to the region as well as non-native authors, mainly western, and her book reflects the rich folklore and traditional culture of the subcontinent, its checkered history of civilizations and colonizations, and post-independence efforts to foster pride in traditions and stimulate confidence for facing modern challenges. An extensive introductory essay traces the development of children's literature in the region since 1947 in the context of historical, political, social, and economic influences and reviews the major themes and trends in western children's literature about the subcontinent. Included are all available pertinent books written in or translated into English for preschool to twelfth-grade students. The more than 900 entries are organized into five chapters according to country or subregion, and each chapter is subdivided by genre: traditional literature, fiction (historical, realistic, and fantasy), poetry, drama, biography and autobiography, and informational books. Further access is afforded by indexes of authors, illustrators, titles, and subjects. The annotations provide plot summary, thematic analysis, and literary criteria, Khorana also considers a work's sensitivity to multicultural and international issues. Every source was personally read by the author, whose goal was to offer a reference guide to this material for teachers, scholars, librarians, and students.