The Caterpillar Who Went on a Diet and Other Stories  By Ranjit Lal. Illustrations by Rahul Datta Puffin, India, 2004, Rs.175.00 Rusty Goes to London  By Ruskin Bond. Illustrations by Kallol Majumdar Abol Tabol: The Nonsense World of Sukumar Ray  Translated by Sampurna Chatterji. Illustrations by Sukumar Ray Goopy Gyne Bhaga Byne: The Magical World of Upendrakishore Raychoudhury  Illustrations by Dipankar Bhattacharya All published by Puffin, India, 2004, Rs.199.00 each. The Boy Who Became King  By Arup Kumar Dutta. Illustrations by Viky Arya Rupa & Co., Delhi, 2004, Rs.95.00 I know that one, especially at my age, must not judge a book by its cover but, then human as one is, that is indeed what one ends up doing! And here the four Puffins stand out with eye catching covers, The Boy Who Became King is pale green  with a line drawing of a young boy in the foreground and  an elephant in the background—it is most unimaginative by comparison and I wonder if it stands a chance in the gloriously colour filled shelves of a bookstore. According to one child that I spoke to it looks like a history text book—DULL. But this is to pass judgement before we have even glanced at the contents and that will not do!      The most wonderful and scintillating of the five is the collection of 14 stories told by Ranjit Lal in The Caterpillar Who Went on a Diet. With a title like that your imagination is tickled and begins to run riot at once and with the very first story (of Nimbu the caterpillar who is convinced by the stick insect, Ms Twiggy, that she needs to go on a diet and shed her extra pounds) there is no way that you can escape the wonder of the world that he has so skillfully created. Lal’s meticulous research into the insect world, his fine tuned sense of humour, his feel for situations and his wonderful descriptive powers are all on display here. It is a collection that will enchant young readers and even the more jaded adolescent of 16 or17 who scoffs at ‘children’s books’. My personal favourites were most definitely, The Great Cockroach Caper and The Dung Beetle Dhamaka. Another reason that makes this a collector’s treasure, something that you would like to hand down to younger siblings and children both your own and those of siblings, is the superb illustrations. ...