When I was in school, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was accorded one paragraph in our history textbooks. He was the Father of the Indian Constitution and India's first Law and Justice minister. There was no mention of the fact that he was 'a visionary, an economist, a revolutionary and a lifelong reader.'

I'm not sure if things have improved significantly in our history textbooks 25 years later, but thankfully there are some books for children that recount Dr. Ambedkar's life.

The Boy Who Asked Why : Sowmya Rajendran and Satwik Gade

Why do I have to sit separately in a corner of the classroom?

Why can't I drink water from the tap like the children?

Why do the teachers never touch my books?

Sowmya Rajendran and Satwik Gade's book published by Tulika is a straightforward telling of Dr. Ambedkar's life. Sowmya's writing is direct but sensitive, and the illustrations by Satwik Gade really are beautiful.

Even at the age of five, Dr. Ambedkar knew what the rules were: he could not sit with the rest of his class. He had to sit in a corner with the other untouchables. The teachers wouldn't touch his slate. And yet, he still wanted to go to school. The book traces his life from school to college to studying in America to returning to his country and realising that nothing has changed for him and his people. He decides to go to London and study Law, determined 'to return to India and bring justice to his people.'

Rajendran ends the book knowing that millions of people in India today still do not have the opportunity for an equal chance at life, and asks Dr. Amedkar's question: 'Why?'

B.R Ambedkar: A Life in Books by Yogesh Maitreya and Nidhin Shobhana

This book published by Pratham Books looks at Dr. Ambedkar's life through his love for books. A reader through and through, books were his companion: as a young boy who didn't have many friends in school to a BA student in Mumba who 'drowned himself in books, in every possible way.'

Nidhin Shobhana's black and white illustrations are detailed and intricate and Yogesh Maitreya's words in rhyme show us how books are salvation and that the purposed of education is not just to learn 'but to act for humankind's freedom'.

Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability by Durgabai Vyam, Subhash Vyam, Srvidya Natarajanm S. Anand

This is a stunning, detailed book: both in it's scope and execution. A graphic novel illustrated entirely in the Pardhan Gond style it weaves the contemporary and the historical. The book opens on a conversation at a bus stop between two young people, with one of them blaming reservations for his inability to find a job and saying it isn't 'fair'. His companion says that caste isn't fair and tries to draw his attention to the Khairlanji atrocity which is has no idea about.

From here the book goes back to Dr. Ambedkar's childhood and traces his life, while documenting several stories that young people will rarely get to read in textbooks, like the Mahad Satyagraha and is interspersed with articles and news stories.

Till our history lessons teach our children about the life of Dr. Ambedkar, these books should be in every classroom, library and home in this country in the mother tongue of the learners.