A classic coming-of-age story which has held generations of readers spellbound!

Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part in Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging for the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted … and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community.

Rusty is a quiet, imaginative and sensitive boy who lives with his grandparents in pre-Independence Dehra Dun. Though he is not the adventurous himself, the strangest and most extraordinary things keep happening around him. The house in Dehra is full of strange creatures. Rusty has to deal with everything from his grandfather's pet python to the ever-inventive Uncle Ken. Visiting his father in wartime Java, Rusty narrowly escapes enemy bombardment and survives a plane crash in the Arabian Sea. Back in India, he spends his time encountering a ghost in the garden and recreating his grandmother's youthful days from an old photograph. Then, something totally unexpected happens and Rusty is forced to leave Dehra, his future uncertain. This volume of Rusty stories, the first in a series, traces Rusty's development from early childhood to his early teens and is a riveting read for younger and older children alike.

A big and ancient tree—like all old trees that spread their branches and welcome everyone—has seen so much. Children playing, friends sleeping beneath it, little animals that live in it, large predators that hide among its branches. It has seen armies marching and storms breaking. It has seen bright, happy days, and it has seen sad, dark days. And watching the world over many, many years, it has grown wise.

This gorgeously illustrated poem by the inimitable Ruskin Bond will show young readers the many moods and colours of life.