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Ruskin Bond Books: 30 Popular Books by Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond has been around the corner for over sixty years. You must have read various Ruskin Bond books and stories in your school or seen his books in the bookstores near you. Known for simple and engaging tales, his stories often take us to the foothills of the Himalaya and there we get chance to peep in the lives of those simple people who remain at a distance from the lights of city life. For this reason, Ruskin Bond is a legendary writer, especially among children. So far, he has penned down over 500 stories in the form of short stories, novels, non-fiction and so on. If you love Ruskin Bond books and feel like to explore his most popular or best books, then here we bring the long list for you.
  • The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond
It is a story of Binya and her obsession for her beautiful frilly umbrella. The story is staged against the foothills of the Himalaya – Garhwal. Binya is a fearless girl of around eleven or twelve – she often takes her cows (Neelu and Gori) out for grazing. One day she stumbles upon a bunch of tourists from city people and there she trades her leopard-claw pendent for the blue umbrella. The story is all-time favourite and takes a benign stand on themes like kindness and compassion. Read on to know what happens when her blue umbrella is stolen by a dishonest shopkeeper.
  • The Sensualist: A Cautionary Tale by Ruskin Bond
The Sensualist by Ruskin Bond is not a children’s book. Rather this book takes a stance on a man who once was obsessed with sex and driving pleasure from women. This book, in particular, discusses the darker aspect of human psyche. The narrator is walking long a river bank while going somewhere up in the hills. As it begins to rain, he seeks shelter in a cave. The cave is inhabited by a man: he is like a saint but of well-built physique. The narrator and the man begin conversation. The saint-like man talks about his past life and how he came into the hills. Both men are nameless in the story; the only names that appear in the story are of women. Liked it, read the full story at your pace
  • Romi and the Wildfire by Ruskin Bond
Romi’s father has gifted him a new bicycle and on it he has come to a different village to collect some medical pills for his father. In the evening, while going back home, he passes through a forest which is under fire, soon he stumbles upon another boy who too is struggling under the forest fire. They both ride the bicycle hard to get out of the forest…but it is a long way. Will they manage to cross the forest fire or succumb to it? A classic tale on wildfire
  • Love among the Bookshelves by Ruskin Bond
In case you are an ardent Ruskin Bond fan, by reading this book, you will get to know why he loved reading books and how those books influenced his life on the whole. Here the stories are not written by Ruskin Bond but by his favourite writers, for instance Love Among the Chickens by P.G. Wodehouse. It is a treasure trove, read all stories at your convenience
  • Grandfather’s Private Zoo by Ruskin Bond
Grandfather’s Private Zoo by Ruskin Bond is a widely held tale among children, for it depicts personal behavior of animals and birds brought home to add to the personal zoo. Rather a tale of a nature (flora and fauna) lover who loves to keep a collection of animals and birds, at time even reptiles. Grandfather’s Private Zoo is a novella consisting nine well-connected stories. Read on to know more... 
  • Grandpa Fights an Ostrich by Ruskin Bond
Grandpa Fights an Ostrich by Ruskin Bond is a short story about his grandfather’s fight with an Ostrich in East Africa. Before joining the Indian Railways, he had worked for East African Railway long time ago. Ruskin’s grandfather was living in a small town in Africa. Well, there is more to the story, but how he did he get into the fight? Read on to know more...
  • Tales of Fosterganj by Ruskin Bond
Tales of Fosterganj by Ruskin Bond is a full-fledged novel based on his living experience in a small town called Fosterganj. He went there to live for some time in 1961. First, Ruskin goes to Mussoorie as a tourist from Delhi. Then, one morning he hikes downhill only to find himself in a slow-paced town called Fosterganj. He liked the place instantly because of less crowd and slow-paced life. Interesting events take place there. Read on what kind of place is Fosterganj
  • A Long Walk for Bina by Ruskin Bond
A Long Walk for Bina is a fascinating story about the people of hills. Ruskin is well famous for taking up themes like wild animal conservation, beauty of nature, and childhood memories. This book is written so beautifully that it consists of all three elements mentioned just now. The best thing about this book is that it does not belong to some particular characters. Here everyone looks equally important and interesting. In the centerline is the understanding of children and a leopard
  • Death Under the Deodars by Ruskin Bond
Death Under the Deodars by Ruskin Bond is a collection of eight murder mysteries. All stories features the adventures of Miss Ripley-Bean, a seventy year old spinster who lives in a hotel in Mussoorie. Either Miss Ripley-Bean investigates the murder mystery accidentally or she narrates the old tales from her time i.e. when she was very young. Well, all stories are terrific in intensity and will never take you till the last page. Interested? Here is your chance to meet Miss Ripley Bean
  • Getting Granny’s Glasses by Ruskin Bond
Getting Granny’s Glasses is a short story by Ruskin Bond based on the tender relationship between maternal grandmother and her grandson Mani, an eleven-year old boy. His mother passed when he was one year old. Since then, Mani and his father are both under the care of grandma. She is seventy but performs all the chores of home as she is a young energetic girl. Well, the problem is that granny’s glasses are not functional – will she get the new pair? Find out
  • The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond
Ruskin Bond wrote this book when he went abroad for four years in search of career. He was seventeen at the time of writing this book. Spiraling out of his personal experiences, the major theme of the book is teenage rebel – Rusty an orphaned English boy struggles for freedom while staying with his cruel guardian. It is an interesting book about loneliness and friendship and many more aspects. You will love this book for sure. Get it here
  • Time Stops at Shamli by Ruskin Bond
Shamli is a small-village kind of place in the foothills of the Himalayas. Whenever the narrator (Ruskin) travels to Delhi from Dehradun or vice versa, train stops at Shamli exactly for five minutes. Strange is that no one gets down or boards the train. Then, why does it stop there? He is inquisitive about this place. He wants to know what lies behind the station walls, behind the forest that starts immediately after the station platform. Several times he wished to get down to seek answers arising out of curiosity, but he could never muster up that courage. Will he find out more about this place? Go and find out yourself
  • Gracie by Ruskin Bond
Gracie is a lengthy story covered in the book Secrets by Ruskin Bond. Gracie is a story of a woman in the heat of World War Two. She was a pretty lady of seventeen or eighteen with English, Portuguese, Burmese and Indian descent. The narrator Ruskin is younger to her by a decade but still he falls in love with her. Well, all love stories aren’t that straight. Read on to know more
  • Over the Wall by Ruskin Bond
Over the Wall is a lengthy story covered in the book ‘Secrets’ by Ruskin Bond. It is a soulful story with themes like compassion and humanity. The time period of the story is of around ten years, like from pre-independence to post independence of India. The narrator is a ten-year-old boy who comes down to Dehradun from Shimla to spend three-month long winter vacation at his granny’s bungalow. They are Anglo-Indians. Around the granny’s house, he sees two more bungalows from over the wall. Melvilles’ bungalow has vibrant environment: in that house people come and go and parties take place. The second bungalow is of Johnsons. Their front and backyard is not neat and tidy, grass and shrub have been grown all over the corners. Except dhobi and cooks, no other people enter their premises and evening parties never take place. In the backyard, at a distance of some yards, there is a hut-like cottage and the window of that cottage opens up at the time of receiving food otherwise it remains shut. The boy grows curious to find out what lies there; what’s inside? Yes...let's take a look inside...
  • The Cherry Tree by Ruskin Bond
The Cherry Tree by Ruskin Bond is a very nice book promoting the importance of nature through a very cute boy Rakesh, aged six. Rakesh casually throws three seeds of cherry in his garden and in some time he sees a cherry plant coming up. But, he is obsessed about its growth and height. He wants to see it growing but well before that there are obstacles in the way. What are those obstacles? If you have green fingers, find out yourself
  • A Flight of Pigeons by Ruskin Bond
In the heat of war, civilians and innocents are doomed to get singed. A Flight of Pigeons by Ruskin Bond is one such story which underlines the agony of miserable people amidst the war days. At the time of sepoy mutiny of 1857 in India, the time was building around to free the country from the clutches of the British Raj. And because of this mutiny, Ruth Labadoor and her family sees the worst days of their lives…her father is dead, now what next? Very gripping story! Take it forward from here on
  • The Road to the Bazaar by Ruskin Bond
The longest novella in the Children’s Omnibus is ‘The Road to the Bazaar’. However, The Road to the Bazaar is not a rhythmic story; rather it features a collection of Bond’s favorite characters such as Suraj, Koki, Ranji, Anil, Amir, Teju, Nathu and many more. And all protagonists of the stories are children - which indeed is rare in the Indian literature arena.
  • The Night Train at Deoli by Ruskin Bond
We all would like to meet or see someone worth remembering later in life. And normally this urge is very high when we travel on a train. The Night Train at Deoli is one such story where a young boy of around eighteen meets a poor and beautiful girl on a lonely platform. Find out whether he will get that girl or not?
  • A Face in the Dark by Ruskin Bond
A Face in the Dark by Ruskin Bond is a very popular short story that has been passed on from one generation to another. It falls in the purview of mystery and suspense genre. Through this story the author asserts that even people powerful and non-believers of evil spirits go blank or have their heart attack when confronted by strange and horrible situations. Well, this story tests the guts of Mr. Oliver. Can he survive the shock... 
  • Vagrants in the Valley by Ruskin Bond
Vagrants in the Valley by Ruskin Bond is a wonderful book dealing with the loneliness of Rusty–Ruskin Bond’s favorite character–and to some extent Rusty is the reflection of Bond’s early life spent in many North Indian cities. The book is a sequel to the book ‘The Room on the Roof’ and is also a part of the Rusty series books. It is a great book for orphans - how they struggle and live in the society. Read about his discover of self...
  • Angry River by Ruskin Bond
Angry River is a beautifully written novella by Ruskin Bond. The main theme of the story is nature. When nature causes havoc, humans find it tough to avert. Though this story is of a poor little girl – she is too innocent and out of world to create any damage to nature, well she is concerning the voice of many who get stuck with the ways of nature. Continue reading to know her little story
  • Dust on the Mountains by Ruskin Bond
Dust on the Mountains by Ruskin Bond subtly highlights the grim issues of deforestation on the mountains in the wake of modernization. The protagonist Bisnu, a young lad, leaves his village for city to find work in order to feed his family. Read the story to know his struggle...
  • The Woman on Platform Number 8 by Ruskin Bond
This story is, for sure, will touch your heart. The story is about love and affection beyond all relations. Arun, a young boy, while waiting for his train at a railway station meets a woman. She acts like his mother and Arun, too, for some time forgets his own mother and feels a deep affection for her. Very nostalgic in its essence. It is a must read
  • Binya Passes By – Ruskin Bond
It is a love cum ghost story. The narrator, a struggling writer, lives in the hill but so often he hears a mignon voice of a girl. And soon he sets himself to find that singer. Will he be able to trace her or not? Well, you can definitely find out
  • Escape from Java by Ruskin Bond
The story is staged against the WW-II, especially when the power of Japan and its allies were increasing. With Singapore fallen to Japanese, positive rumours are that soon Java will be in the grip of Japan because Dutch is not as strong as the British to resist the mighty Japanese. All outsiders are busy escaping Java; no one is interested in saving it from Japanese. Will they come out of that island? May be...
  • The Eyes of the Eagle by Ruskin Bond
Jai a young boy has come up over the hills at his grandparents to while away his autumn. When Jai and his dog go out with herd of cattle, they are confronted with terror of two eagles. Will Jai and his dog fight to save his cattle? Probably,yes...
  • A Handful of Nuts by Ruskin Bond
A Handful of Nuts means a few friends who roam around the small town and make each other’s lives tough, if not hell. It is a story of Ruskin Bond by Ruskin Bond – especially when he newly entered into the vertices of adolescent. The story is set in Dehradun – of 1950s – where the narrator lives alone and to accompany him are a few friends who like him are ambitious but empty on pockets. Thus, he being a struggling writer often gives them his money, which he not so frequently receives from newspapers or magazines that publish his work. The only worry of his life is that the pay cheques don’t come regularly. Despite having less money, his life is at large good and going. Meet his crazy friends
  • Rusty Goes to London by Ruskin Bond
Rusty Goes to London is a throwback of Ruskin Bond’s yesteryear, highlighting his dream to become a writer at a very young age. So, through this book Ruskin (as goes Rusty) tried to explain the kind of struggle he had to become an established writer. Read on to know his struggles
  • Delhi Is Not Far by Ruskin Bond
The story is about lower-middle-class yet busy people who live in a town and manage day-to-day difficulties. It features a slew of characters – all ambitious but tied to their native town Pipalnagar in more than one ways. Let’s peep into their lives
  • At Sea with Uncle Ken by Ruskin Bond
Young Ruskin is going to England and to assist him throughout the voyage he has a company of his uncle named Ken. Well, instead of helping young Ruskin smoothing out his journey, Uncle Ken invites trouble unwittingly. If you love humorous tales, go for it


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