Presenting my first book - Mahabharata for Kids

I am incredibly proud to announce to the world, my first book - "Mahabharata for Kids". The book has been in the works for the last few months and was formally released at a function in my high school during my recent trip to India. The print version is now available to ship worldwide. Details on how to request your copy are here. The iOS version is available on the iBookStore. The Kindle version is available on the Amazon Kindle Store.[gallery ids="1052,1053,1054,1055"]About the BookThe book was borne out of a simple desire- to introduce the great Indian epic, Mahabharata to my five year old. I searched all over the place to find a version that would be clean, simple and easy to read. No luck. So I thought of creating a one off book for him. I would write it, print it on my computer and staple it together. After a few drafts, I realized there was something here that could be used not just by my son but by so many other parents and their kids. My father, a prolific writer, who has published over 25 books on Hinduism was a good source to tap into and explore the viability of the project.One thing was still missing. With young kids, plain text never works. I needed good art. And I didn't want to be treading on copyright issues. Thankfully my father had a solution. He suggested that we use the wonderful artist who had illustrated much of my father's books to do exclusive art for my book. Once the artist Murugesan agreed and started doing his magic, things started coming together pretty quickly. The book rolled out of the press the day after I landed in India and we launched it the next week. Since then, we have already sold over 500 copies of the book.The CausesAll proceeds from the sale of this book will be sent to my dad's charity, Sri Ranganatha Charities which will use it to support very many good causes ranging from kids education to supporting food, clothing, and education expenses for handicapped schools to providing eye surgery for blind kids. Through my dad's 25+ publications, the charity has collected and disbursed over Rs.20 lakhs ($30,000) in the last 15 years. This book will further that effort.I request you, the reader of the post to consider buying the book for yourself, friends, and family and also to spread the word about it on social networks. Every single dollar goes towards charity. I decided to bear the entire publishing cost so that the charity gets all proceeds from sales of the book.Who should buy?The book is ideal for kids from 5-8. Most of the words in the book are simple to read. The only areas where early readers will need help from the parent is when they get to read and pronounce the long Indian names in the book which was unavoidable.The print version features grayscale line art which can also be used as coloring pages by kids. Alternately, the line art is available for download on the official website. Parents can download individual drawings, print and use them for coloring.The digital version of the book will contain colored versions of the line drawings. The iOS version of the book is being reviewed by Apple as I type and will hopefully be available in the next day or two. The Kindle version is in works and I am hoping to launch that in a week or so.The book makes for a great gift to the budding reader and also for return gifts for birthday parties and such. Every single dollar goes to charity. So please spread the word on the book.Connecting and InteractingOne of the challenges with a complex epic like Mahabharata is to interpret the story in a way that children understand and enjoy. To that effect, I have created a Facebook page for parents to engage in conversations related to the book, the story and other topics. Please Like the page so you can get updates for new posts and such.I am also blogging my experiences with creating, publishing and spreading the word on the book on the official website for the book.Your support for this project and the underlying causes are most appreciated.