Monsoon Afternoon by Kashmira Sheth, illustrated by Yoshiko Jaeggi

From chapters.ca:
This warm, multigenerational story offers a glimpse into the distinctive culture and customs of India, while reinforcing universal themes of love and the importance of family. It is monsoon season in India. Outside, dark clouds roll in and the rain starts to fall. As animals scatter to find cover, a young boy and his dadaji (grandfather) head out into the rainy weather. The two sail paper boats. They watch the peacocks dance in the rain, just as the colourful birds did when Dadaji was a boy. They pick mangoes and Dadaji lifts up his grandson so he can swing on the roots of the banyan tree, just as Dadaji did when he was young. Finally, when the two return home, hot tea and a loving family are waiting.

Taj Mahal: A Story of Love and Empire by Elizabeth Mann

From chapters.ca:
Shah Jahan, ruler of India, murdered three of his brothers in his bloody rise to power. Yet when his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, suddenly died, the grief- stricken emperor built the world's most beautiful tomb as a monument to her memory. Shah Jahan was the fifth emperor of the Mughal dynasty. The Mughals combined the brute force and fierce ambition of their legendary ancestor Genghis Khan with a delicate artistic sensitivity. Theirs was a world where even forts were architectural gems, where emperors had their life stories told in exquisite miniature paintings, and where each new ruler competed with the previous one by building a grander palace, fort, mosque and city. The Taj Mahal tells the story of this remarkable dynasty through its greatest artistic achievement. From the soaring domes, to the marble columns inlaid with precious gems, to the vast gardens, to the perfect symmetry of its design, the Taj Mahal expressed the power, grandeur, glory and beauty of the Mughal world.

It Takes a Child by Craig Kielburger, illustrated by TurnStyle Imaging

From chapters.ca:
It was an ordinary morning like any other. Twelve- year- old Craig Kielburger woke to his alarm clock and hurried downstairs to wolf down a bowl of cereal over the newspaper's comics before school. But what he discovered on the paper's front page would change his life - and eventually affect over a million young people worldwide.
It Takes a Child is a fun, colourful look back at Craig's adventures in taking global action. Craig invites young readers along on a rollicking, eye- opening journey through South Asia, learning about global poverty and child labour. Along the way, he and his friend Alam brave wild rickshaw rides, meet world leaders and befriend kids just like them with heartbreaking stories of bravery.

Glass Slipper Gold Sandal by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Julie Paschkis

From chapters.ca:
Once upon a time, in Mexico...in Ireland...in Zimbabwe...there lived a girl who worked all day in the rice fields...then spent the night by the hearth, sleeping among the cinders. Her name is Ashpet, Sootface, Cendrillon...Cinderella. Her story has been passed down the centuries and across continents. Now Paul Fleischman and Julie Paschkis craft its many versions into one hymn to the rich variety and the enduring constants of our cultures.

My Mother's Sari by Sandhya Rao, illustrated by Nina Sabnani

From the back of the book:
One long stretch of cloth is what Mother always wears - elegant, yet so graceful. The mystery of the sari can be magical for a child, winding and weaving, just like the connection between mother and child.

King Akbar and the Poor Brahmin told by Champaka Basu, illustrated by Goviner Ram

From the back of the book: One of the many stories from India featuring King Akbar and his favourite minister, Birbal. In this particular tale, the King offers a reward to anyone who will stand in a freezing river from sunset to sunrise without warming himself in an way - a challenger which is taken up by only one man, a poor Brahmin.

The read King Akbar, who ruled from 1556-1605, was one of the great Mughal emperors of India, and many fold tales are told about him.

Urdu text is also on the page with the English text.

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Mowgli is brought up by a pack of wolves in India where he learns jungle lore from the many inhabitants of the Jungle.

The Jungle Book also contains stories about the other animals in India. Rikki-tikki-tavi was one of my favourites as a child.

The Second Jungle Book continues Mowgli's adventures.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

From Wikipedia:
Haroun and the Sea of Stories is an allegory for several problems existing in society today, especially in India and the Indian subcontinent. It looks at these problems from the viewpoint of the preteen protagonist Haroun.

Haroun's father is the famed storyteller Rashid Khalifa, the Ocean of Notions or the Shah of Blah, but his wife tires of his imagination and elopes with Mr. Sengupta, a dull and dreary clerical drone. This leaves Rashid heartbroken, and unable to continue his profession of storytelling. Haroun feels he started the problem (by asking his father "What's the point of telling stories that aren't even true?") so he must fix it and help his father.