"Rusty and the Leopard" follows the adventures of a young boy named Rusty who experiences the beauty and challenges of life in the hills of India. One day, he encounters a leopard, which sparks a series of events that lead him to understand the delicate balance between nature and humanity. As Rusty navigates his friendship with animals and grapples with his emotions, he learns valuable lessons about courage, compassion, and the importance of coexistence. The story beautifully captures the themes of childhood innocence and the wonders of nature, all while reflecting the rich vividness of Bond's storytelling. [Generated by language model - please report any problems].

There are 158 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2014 by Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd .

Born in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh) in 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar (Gujarat), Dehradun, New Delhi and Simla. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, written when he was seventeen, received the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written over 500 short stories, essays and novellas (including Vagrants in the Valley and A Flight of Pigeons) and more than forty books for children. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in India in 1993, the Padma Shri in 1999, and the Delhi government's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He lives in Landour, Mussoorie, with his extended family.