Smile Train India Picture Book Series
Smiles That Shine is India’s first picture book series designed to build understanding, empathy, and acceptance of people with cleft lips and palates.
Stories have the power to shape perspectives from an early age. Through simple language, relatable characters, and engaging illustrations, this thoughtful series opens gentle, meaningful conversations about difference, kindness, and belonging.
Why Were These Books Created?
Smile Train India works closely with cleft-affected children and families across diverse communities. We have seen how lack of awareness can sometimes lead to teasing, exclusion, or bullying, often rooted in misunderstanding rather than hatred.
Smiles That Shine was created to address this early. By introducing conversations about clefts during the formative years, these books help:
- Reduce bullying by building understanding and empathy from a young age.
- Help children accept differences among peers in schools and communities.
- Encourage conversations around clefts in a gentle, age-appropriate way.
- Foster self-acceptance, confidence, and emotional well-being among children with clefts.
What You'll Find in the Collection
The Smiles That Shine series currently includes five picture books:
Each story reflects real-world experiences, focusing not on limitations, but on possibility, support, and hope. These books can be used meaningfully at home as in classrooms, libraries, hospitals, and community spaces to start conversations that can lead to lasting change.
To ensure the widest possible reach, Smile Train India has made these picture books freely available on this website (in both English and Hindi). By sharing these stories openly, we aim to extend awareness beyond hospitals and into the everyday spaces where learning and empathy begin.
Explore the collection. Share the stories.
Help create a world where every smile is celebrated.