Three years ago, when I read No. 9 on the Shade Card, I came across the concept of a shade card for the first time. As a child, conversations about skin colour bounced off me. People spoke of how one person was lighter or darker than another; they talked of having tanned too much after […]
Rain Must Fall
Rain Must Fall by Nandita Basu is such a beautiful read! I devoured it in one sitting, and I loved it. Anya, Rumi’s best friend, asks whom Rumi would like to go on a date with. Rumi makes the mistake of being honest and saying ‘you’. After all, you can be truthful with your best […]
January Reads
In December, I visited a books by weight sale, and I couldn’t resist picking up seven books that were in near-mint condition! I couldn’t finish one, but I read the other six, some of which I quite enjoyed, and others that I loved. Here they are, listed in an unusual way for me – from […]
Green Reads – Part 2
The Golden Eagle. With its gorgeous pictures and gripping storyline, it drew us in. “I think I’m going to like this even more than The Butterfly Lion,” said one child. Just by chance, all three books we read during this edition of my book club featured animals. Manolita has seals; the title The Butterfly Lion […]
Green Reads – Part 1
On social media, I’ve been seeing posts about book club facilitators introducing green reads to children. “What a lovely idea,” I found myself thinking. I’ve always loved stories about the environment. I read post after post, and then I stopped. Wait a minute! I’m reading green reads with my book clubbers too – A Very […]
Careers in Writing – Fergusson College
A career in writing – what does that mean? As part of UGC’s STRIDE (Scheme for for Trans-Disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy), the English department of Fergusson College invited me to talk about making a career in creative writing. What I loved was that I didn’t speak just to students of the English department; […]
Pench – December 2021
Should we even consider travelling? Maybe we should just cancel and stay home. We haven’t gone anywhere for so long! Surely, a jungle is safe! Where else will we actually be able to stay socially distant? What if we have to do an RT-PCR before taking our flight back. Will we have to spend a […]
Adventure on Wheels
Adventure on Wheels is such a rollicking read! The book opens with two thieves stealing a van that belongs to an orphanage. The theft itself is simple enough, but when they discover three children hiding in the van, they’re up against more than they’d bargained for. At once heart-warming and hilarious, Adventure on Wheels is a fun […]
Beginning 2022 On a High
And there, having looked back at the year that went by, I can’t have asked for a better way to begin 2022. In December 2021, I travelled after nearly two years. The forest had been calling me for months, but I knew I had to bide my time. We went back to Pench, the place […]
My Year in Writing: 2021
The year 2020 was such a boost to me as a writer! With a poem published by OUP, a picture book, a chapter book, a middle-grade book and a collection of short stories, how could 2021 even hope to compete? Even so, with two publications, an award shortlist, a book going into reprint and tons of […]
My Father’s Dragon
I rarely choose to read classics at my book club, and My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett is, without doubt, a classic. I’m waiting for those wide-eyed comments about it having been published in NINETEEN FORTY-EIGHT! But this is one of those classics that I’m convinced will be good fun to read with my book club. […]
My Year in Workshops: 2021
The year 2021 was such an affirming year for me in terms of work! Since 2014, I’ve been freelancing. I’ve done workshops for children with the British Council, teacher training for Ratna Sagar, and I’ve been invited by schools and organisations to do workshops here and there. After nearly a year of the pandemic, these […]
About Average
I read Frindle some time ago and loved it. I considered using it for my online reading programme, but it’s so well known that I figured that many children would have read it, or at least heard of it, already. How about something by the same author, but less known? And that’s how I stumbled upon About Average by […]
My Favourite Young Adult Books from 2021
I didn’t read very many young adult books in 2021, and several that I did read proved to be disappointing. With some, I know I was probably being unfair because I have high expectations of authors I’ve read and loved. I left a number of books unfinished; when there are so many books out there […]
The School is Alive!
This is the first time I will be reading a spooky book with my book club for ages seven and eight! One of the British Council reading challenge themes was Creepy House, so I’ve worked extensively with slightly scary stories for all age-groups, but because it was never one of my go-to genres as a […]
My Favourite Middle-Grade Books from 2021
I didn’t read as many middle-grade books as usual in 2021, something I hope to remedy in 2022. Of those that I read, however, these six stood out. The first two are early middle-grade books, while the other four are for more advanced readers. Roughly, I would set the age-group for all six as 9-12. […]
Paati Goes Viral
Paati Goes Viral by Prabhu Vishwanathan is such a sweet book! At my reading programme, I like to begin with a short book because it gives us the time to get to know one another and warm up. Also, when the book is short, we have more time for activities! Dhruv’s grandparents are excited about travelling, […]
My Favourite Chapter Books from 2021
Thanks to my book clubs, I read so many chapter books and early middle grade books in 2021! Of the 30-40 I read, here are nine books that stood out to me. I’ve shared most of them with my enthusiastic young book clubbers, and the review link will take you to activities that you can […]
Peanut vs the Piano
Peanut is such a lovely character! Peanut thought she enjoyed playing the piano. But with piano exams around the corner, piano practice is just one more thing added to an endless list of things she has to do when she would rather play outdoors. Soon, she begins to think of the piano as a big, […]
My Favourite Picture Books from 2021
Each January, when I look through my blog posts and my shelf on Goodreads, I realise how much I’ve read! As always, many of these books weren’t published in 2021; I just read them in 2021. Through the course of the year, I read a range of picture books from wordless ones (which I love) […]