Little LeafLibrary
Create a picture book ↗
LITTLE LEAF LIBRARY · A free, open bookshelf

A little leaf.
A world of stories.

From first sounds to first independent reads.
Find a story to share, then print it and bring it home.

Discover a story ↗
✓ Chinese & English stories✓ Free to read✓ Download & print
✳
Featured story illustration
Start with a little story today.
Let’s read ↗❧
AI picture-book studio

Love a good story? Create your own.

Bring your imagination to our picture-book creation platform.

Visit the story studio ↗Opens in a new tab
GROW WITH STORIES

Stories for every stage of growing up

Choose by age and reading confidence.

Ages are our editorial suggestions, not publisher ratings. Reading abilities vary.

A STORY FOR EVERY LITTLE READER

Find your next favorite book

Loading stories…
FROM SCREEN TO LITTLE HANDS

Make stories part of life.
Take them home, too.

Explore together on screen, or turn a few sheets of paper into a storybook of your own.

01

Find a story your child loves

Age is a starting point; interest matters most. Let children pick an illustration and describe what they see.

02

Read together, then talk

Turn pages online and switch between Chinese and English. Every book includes a conversation prompt.

03

Print the whole story with credits

Choose “Print book” in the reader. Use A4 landscape, fit to page, and disable headers and footers. You can also print the original PDF.

OPEN BOOKS, CLEAR CREDITS

Free stories. Credit where it belongs.

Each reading page records its creators, source and applicable license or public-domain declaration. Most books use CC BY; one catalogue entry carries a publisher Public Domain Mark declaration. Check the individual edition before sharing, adapting or reusing it. Site layouts and synthetic narration are described separately.

Books come from Book Dash, African Storybook / Storybooks Canada and Pratham Books. Source and language details vary by edition. Age, theme and reading prompts are editorial suggestions. Little Leaf is independent of these organizations.

Chinese story collection ↗About CC BY 3.0 ↗About CC BY 4.0 ↗
YOUR READING MOMENTS

Reader feedback

← Back to the bookshelfDownload printable edition

Bonda and Devi

In the year 2085, Devi’s best friend is a robot called Bonda. When his new feelings overwhelm him, their friendship becomes a story of care and understanding.

Suggested age: 7–12岁 · Reading level L4 · 18 illustrated pages

Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 1, English text included

Read and listen

This book can be read page by page, heard with synthetic Voice 7 narration, downloaded and printed. Enable JavaScript for the interactive reader, or open the story pages below.

In the year 2085, Devi’s best friend is a robot called Bonda. When his new feelings overwhelm him, their friendship becomes a story of care and understanding.

Shared-reading note: Speculative fiction, not a claim that today’s robots have feelings. Discuss mutual care and the difference between a helper and a friend.

Read all 18 story pages
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 1, English text included
Bonda and Devi
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 2, English text included
"Again! Stack them up again, Bonda! I want to try knocking them down from a different angle!" Without hesitating for a moment, without even frowning, Bonda puts one battered box on top of the other for the fiftieth time. The high, shaky, cardboard tower is perfectly balanced, the way only Bonda knows how to build it.
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 3, English text included
I rev up my super-speedy turbo engine – vrooom, VROOM – and gun for it, coming in from the right this time. BAM! I crash through, shrieking with delight, as the tower explodes around me. Bonda laughs, clapping as loudly as he did the first time I did this. Dear Bonda. The best, most loyal friend anyone could have. Especially a 10-year-old in a wheelchair.
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 4, English text included
Hi. I'm Devi, and I'm from the year 2085 AD. My grandfather is always going on about how much the world has changed since he was my age, back in 2016. It's more crowded now, but the air, thankfully, is less polluted, because a great many vehicles now run on electricity or solar power. There are fewer accidents too, because vehicles drive themselves, and they are very careful. There are fewer trees and forests than there used to be, but more are being planted all the time, which is good. But what has REALLY changed, says my grandfather, is technology. There was technology way back in 2016 too, but nothing like what we have now. it has truly made life wonderful. Well, MY life, anyway. It was technology that gave me my best friend.
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 5, English text included
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 6, English text included
Meet Bonda. Best friend forever, cardboard-tower builder, and ROBOT. I see your eyes pop. Ha! You hadn't guessed that, had you? But think about it. Which other friend would cheerfully build you a tower 50 times over without complaining? And which other friend would build it so perfectly every single time? Bonda: I agree! Humans are simply not as accurate or as consistent as we are. And they complain that doing the same thing over and over is “boring” (I've no idea what that word means, so don't ask me!). And they fall ill, and need to go to the toilet a lot. I wonder how they got anything done before we arrived!
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 7, English text included
Building towers is not all Bonda can do, though. I can train him to do many other things – bowl me two dozen fast balls in ten minutes so that I can practise my batting, bring down my secret treasure box from the topmost shelf (which is so high that no one else can reach it without a ladder), lift Baba's heavy desk so I can see where my tiny gold earring has rolled off to (Ma would yell at me for hours if I lost it)... Things like that.
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 8, English text included
Bonda: Like I said, humans are quite useless compared to us robots. The poor things are stuck at their sad little heights, while we can grow taller and shorter at will, by extending or collapsing our arms and legs. Our eyes can be cameras, telescopes, microscopes, or all three rolled into one!
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 9, English text included
How do I train Bonda? By “programming” him. Programming means showing him, just once, how something's done. For instance, the other day, I wanted him to bring me my secret treasure box, the one I talked about earlier. Here's how I did it. First, I directed Bonda to the shelf it was sitting on, drawing the route on the plan of my house he displays on his touchscreen. “Can you reach up and scan the top shelf now, B?” I said when he got there. His arm shot out and up. As he ran his hand along the length of the shelf, the tiny camera inside his finger clicked away, taking pictures of everything there.
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 10, English text included
When he showed me those pictures, I simply touched the picture of the box I wanted. "That's my secret treasure box, Bonda," I said. "Can you bring it down for me?" Now, whenever I need the box, I only have to say, "Secret treasure box!" and off he goes, straight to the shelf. Once he has “learnt” something, Bonda never forgets. His memory is fantastic! Bonda: Fantastic? Only to incompetent humans, who can never remember where they left their keys, their glasses, their phones...
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 11, English text included
Yeah, that's what my best friend's like. And yeah, I am a very lucky girl indeed. Oh, don't get me wrong – I'm not weird. I do have human friends who I play with and fight with and go to school with. But I love Bonda more than all of them, because he doesn't sulk when I have fun with someone else, or get jealous when I beat him at maths, or mad when I forget to wish him on his birthday... Psst! And this is because... Bonda has no feelings ! But don't say that out loud – it might make him feel bad.
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 12, English text included
Bonda: Tsk, tsk, Devi, where's your logical thinking, girl? You say I don't have feelings, and then you worry that I will “feel bad”. Humans can be logical, but when they "feel" sad, or mad, or scared, logic disappears! Pah! Who needs feelings? Wait! Was that a “feeling” I felt just now? My processor tells me it was. It tells me I am feeling something called “disgust”... Hmm... I don't know how to “feel” about that.
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 13, English text included
Oh, and here's the best part – I never have to feel bad that he's having fun with another friend instead of me, because... he doesn't have any! Bonda: Hey, hey, that's not true – I do have other friends! The robot waitress at the cafe always says “Hello” nicely, and so does the robot checkout boy at the grocery store... Wait a minute... I've just processed what Devi has been saying... she only likes me BECAUSE I have no other friends – AND no feelings! Not because of who I am! Oh no! I feel a rush of feels – I'm feeling mad, and sad, and...
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 14, English text included
"Bonda! Are you okay? You're overheating, Bonda – you have a fever! And your auto shut-down is not working! "But don't worry, my friend, I will take care of you like you have always taken care of me. Listen carefully now, Bonda – I'm going to shut you down now so that your system can recover, ok? Don't be scared – it will be like going to sleep, that's all. And when I start you up again, you'll be back, good as new, and we will be best friends again. Do you hear me?" Bonda: Devi's eyes are all wet, like they are when she is sad, or scared. That makes me feel a sad feel. But my processor tells me that her wet eyes mean that she really cares about me. Now I feel a happy feel... So confused... sad- and-happy... happy-and-sad... And shutting dowww...
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 15, English text included
There is a whirr and a hum as Bonda reboots. I fight back my tears. "Bonda?" I say. "Bonda, can you hear me? Do you know who I am? Please tell me your memory isn't wiped out! I want you to remember all the fun we've had this past year, all the love..."
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 16, English text included
Bonda: A-ha! Love. Was that the feel I was feeling, that happy-and-sad feel?
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 17, English text included
Bonda looks at me. "Hi Devi! What would you like me to do for you today? Shall we play Stack-the-Boxes? Shall I bring you your secret treasure box? Do you want to..." "Bonda! You're all right! Oh, I'm glad, glad, GLAD!" I throw my arms around Bonda and hug him tight.
Bonda and Devi — original illustrated page 18, English text included
Bonda: And then I do something really odd, something no one has ever programmed me to do. I wrap my arms around my friend Devi, for no logical reason at all.

Creators and open license

Written by
Roopa Pai
Illustrated by
Jit Chowdhury
Created by
Roopa Pai (author); Jit Chowdhury (illustrator)
Full source attribution and license notices
This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories ​‐ provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link . Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions Some rights reserved. This book is CC ​ -BY ​ -4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The development of this book has been supported by Oracle Giving Initiative. Story Attribution: This story: Bonda and Devi is written by Roopa Pai . © Storyweaver, Pratham Books , 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Other Credits: This book was first published on StoryWeaver, Pratham Books. The development of this book has been supported by Oracle Giving Initiative. This book was created for StoryWeaver, Pratham Books, with the support of Payal Dhar (Guest Editor) and Kaveri Gopalakrishnan (Art Director). Illustration Attributions: Cover page: Girl blowing bubbles and a trail of cardboard boxes behind her , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 2: Robot carrying cardboard boxes , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 3: Smiling girl in a futuristic wheelchair , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 4: Futuristic cars , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 5: Cars in the near-future , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 6: Robot with pink face and extended arms , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 7: robot's extended arm, shelf of boxes , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 8: Robot with extended arm, girl on futuristic wheelchair , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 9: Robot holding a set of boxes, girl looking confused , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 10: Robot thinking about forgetful human beings , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 11: A robot watching two girls play , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories ​‐ provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link . Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions Some rights reserved. This book is CC ​ -BY ​ -4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The development of this book has been supported by Oracle Giving Initiative. Illustration Attributions: Page 12: A robot watching two girls play , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 13: Girl whispering, two robots , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 14: A girl comforting a sad robot , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 15: Worried girl and sad robot , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 16: Robot surrounded with pink hearts , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 17: Robot and girl holding hands and playing together , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 18: Robot hugging a girl , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 20: Man speaking to another man using his computer , by Jit Chowdhury © Pratham Books, 2016. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Source: Pratham Books
Original: Bonda and Devi
License: CC BY 4.0 (story and original illustrations)

Original story illustrations and printed English text retained. Pages rendered from the source PDF; page-aligned synthetic English narration and an editorial introduction added by Little Leaf. Web and printable layout adapted by Little Leaf. Age and reading-level suggestions are editorial. Original stories and artwork belong to their credited creators. Website narration uses the selected synthetic Voice 7.