Susie Will Not Speak by Shruthi Rao was one of the first hOle books I read, and it remains one of my favourites. Jahan and Susie leap out of the pages - sparkling characters that make the story what it is.Susie has a lisp. How can she say even her own name without proclaiming her lisp to the world? There's just one solution. Susie will not speak. Ever. What can her best friend Jahan do? NOT Speaking What if you refuse to speak? How else can you communicate? We can use the chat box, charades, artwork, and even make up a sign language of our own. During our very first class, that's exactly what we'll do! Poems Bullies make up mean rhymes about Susie, but those rhymes don't even make sense. Surely, we can do better! We'll try to make up rhymes about ourselves - and they'll make sense too! Tongue Twisters A noise annoys an … [Read more...]
Other Words for Home
Search for 'verse novels for middle-grade readers', and Other Words for Home is bound to come up. It's a Newbery Honor Book and a New York Times bestseller. However, just like I said when I reviewed Red, White and Whole, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read yet another immigration story.And perhaps that was why it fell short for me. I've read too many of these - Inside Out and Back Again, In the Beautiful Country and Red, White and Whole come to mind immediately. While Other Words for Home is a sweet story, I was not drawn into it the way I was into the last two.When unrest begins to mount in Syria, Jude's family makes a decision. Jude and her mother will move to America, where her uncle lives. But her father and brother stay back. And so begins the story of a family divided by the ocean, struggling to figure out what home is. Jude sometimes feels like her mother doesn't want her … [Read more...]
Mirror to Mirror
Stories about sisters are incredibly special. And sisters who would do anything to win each other's heart? You have me with the premise itself.I read Mirror to Mirror only because I attended an author talk that Rajani LaRocca gave for the Neev Literature Festival Reading Challenge. Listening to her read from the book and then talk about her book, I knew that this was a book I was likely to enjoy.I didn't just enjoy it; I loved it.Maya and Chaya are identical twins. But when Maya tries to hide her anxiety from Chaya and even refuses to let Chaya talk to their parents about it, Chaya knows she must act. She must reinvent herself so that she isn't a shadow, an image pulling her twin down. They must be different, so different that Maya can shine with her own light.Maya, on the other hand, must be perfect. If she isn't perfect, the world will crumble. Even as she creates … [Read more...]
Mascot
Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell is the third and last book I read because it's on the required reading list for an online workshop on revising your verse novel that I will be attending later this year thanks to my Highlights Foundation scholarship. A nuanced story in verse exploring multiple perspectives, Mascot reminds us that activism must be intersectional for it to be meaningful.Ms Williams, an eighth grade teacher, invites her class to debate whether the mascot of the school should stay. Callie is convinced that there's no room for debate. It's absurd that people think it's okay to appropriate to use a copper-toned, muscled, tomahawk-wielding caricature as a mascot. Others, however, believe that the mascot honours Native American tradition and it is absurd to replace it with something else. Six eighth-graders from a variety of backgrounds and beliefs begin to talk … [Read more...]
A Melody in Mysore
With Independence Day just around the corner, it's the perfect time to read A Melody in Mysore by Shruthi Rao, a new addition to the Songs of Freedom series. I've thoroughly enjoyed most of the books in the series, some more than others. Set in different parts of the country in the first half of the twentieth century, each book is a snapshot of what it might have been like to be a child during the independence struggle.Growing up in Mysore, Leela is relatively cocooned from the British rule. Under the Maharaja, many feel safe. The British struggle isn't relevant to their lives. But as the freedom struggle sweeps across the nation, questions emerge. How long will they be sheltered? And if Leela wants to join the movement, how can she?The answer is in the title itself: through music. Music isn't for everyone, but Leela discovers just how powerful it can be. Leela's bond with … [Read more...]
Spin
What if the gods didn't bless Arachne after all? What if, like all mortals, she had to toil, ignored by the gods until she, through her own hard work, achieved a kind of immortality, the only kind that is granted to us?Spin by Rebecca Caprara is the second book I read because it’s on the required reading list for an online workshop on revising your verse novel that I will be attending later this year. I would never have enrolled for this workshop if I had not received the Highlights Foundation scholarship, and I might then never have read this stunning book!Modern and feminist without ever being anachronistic, Spin shows us how power is wielded by those who tell stories. When Persephone is snatched into the Underworld, her own father Zeus is complicit. Helios, the sun, pretends he saw nothing. It is Hecate, goddess of the night, who is relentless in her search for … [Read more...]
Restart
What if you got the chance to start your life all over again? Would you make any changes?Restart by Gordon Korman is a powerful story about getting a second chance. The story opens with Chase Ambrose in hospital. He's fallen off his roof and forgotten everything about who he used to be. And when he returns to school, he doesn't know what to make of the way everyone reacts to him. Slowly, he discovers he was the worst kind of bully. Even as he remembers who he used to be, he needs to decide who he wants to be.I've read just one other book by Gordon Korman, Schooled. Just like in Schooled, it's the characters who drive the story, although the plot is gripping too. Chase Ambrose, erstwhile bully, has us feeling for him, wanting to forgive everything he's done, no matter how bad it may have been. More, each character is vividly drawn--from the other bullies to the girl who's … [Read more...]
Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter
What would you do if your playground was going to be converted into a shopping mall? Would you be okay with your games period being cancelled indefinitely? Petu and his friends certainly aren't going to take it lying down!Petu Pumpkin Freedom Fighter deals with heavy themes in the lightest possible way -- with not just humour, but hilarity. In this book for slightly older readers than the hOle books, Petu and the rest of his Awesome Fivesome have bigger trouble at hand. It's no longer about a tiffin thief or about his friends suspecting that Petu Pumpkin is a cheat. Now, they need to get together and stage a protest because their school playground is slyly being appropriated by people in power. Even though the themes are bigger, Arundhati Venkatesh's trademark humour remains the same!I love to see how themes and ideas overlap across literature. For instance, the children in … [Read more...]
Mini’s Books
Books about books are always a joy to read at my book club! We're reading In the Woof of Time at my reading programme for ages nine and ten and Mini's Books at the one for ages seven and eight.Anyone who grew up on Enid Blyton wanted to eat scones, crumpets and treacle. I was one of them, and so, this book is all the more believable. Mini wants to eat the food the Big Little Monsters in the books she reads eat. And through her summer holidays, she slowly learns more and more about these monsters--and discovers all the surprising consequences of reading books! Thanks to her stories, she makes a friend, becomes a detective, learns to entertain herself and even starts to cook! Monster Stories I love monster stories! The wonderful thing about monsters is that they can take any form whatsoever. They can be tiny or huge, friendly or ferocious. … [Read more...]
In the Woof of Time
A book club mystery - of course I had to explore the possibility of introducing it to my book club!Samar and his friends find themselves in the middle of a spate of thefts - a dog, milk bottles, and even jewellery. They love reading mystery stories, so this they must investigate the mystery that surrounds them! Will they do it in the woof of time? Clues and Puzzles As we read In the Woof of Time, we'll engage in a little code-making and code-breaking of our own. Detective stories and cryptograms go together! Alibis and Red Herrings A lot of words and phrases are associated with detective stories alone. As we read In the Woof of Time, we'll do a vocabulary quiz, testing how many of these words are familiar to us. Creating a Detective Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, the Five Find-Outers and Dog ... So … [Read more...]