I finally read the next two books in Lavanya Karthik's series, Dreamers. I read the first two nearly a year ago! Once more, the visuals are gorgeous. And the stories? Simple and delightful.Janaki wants to be like the birds her father loves so much. They lurk in his eyes and make his eyes shine. But her father tells her she isn't a bird; she's like a tiny mangrove seed. Janaki is most offended - she doesn't want to be a seed! But when she learns what it means to be a seed, we see her lighting up. We experience with her the joy of possibility, and the idea that a seed contains a forest. In fact, a seed is a forest. The Girl Who Was a Forest is such a beautiful tale!The Boys Who Created Malgudi made me smile. Lavanya Karthik's portrayal of R.K. Laxman, especially, is exactly how I would imagine the cartoonist to have been as a boy! From the whimsical cover to the words and illustrations … [Read more...]
Fish in a Tree
Just like with Counting in 7s, I ended up reading Fish in a Tree because of the Neev Literature Festival Reading Challenge. I loved listening to Lynda Mullaly Hunt speak. She left me with so much to think about, both as a writer and as a reader. I'd read nothing she'd written, so I made a note of that and looked out for her books. The first one to come my way was the New York Times bestseller, Fish in a Tree. And I loved it.Ally Nickerson is the proverbial fish in the tree. She can't read, and it's mortifying. So, she pretends that everything she does is a joke. That she deliberately makes mistakes while reading. That she wants to be funny. And each time she does that, she grows more and more vulnerable. Why is reading just so hard?One day, along comes Ally's saviour in the form of Mr. Daniels who sees what Ally is desperately trying to hide. He recognises that Ally is … [Read more...]
The Editor’s Perspective
The last guest session at this edition of my creative writing programme was with Daphne Lee, consulting editor at Scholastic Asia. It was everything I expected it to be - informative, detailed, and full of laughter. She answered questions, told us about the publishing process, and shared a manuscript with us, detailing how the editing process works. It was fascinating to see how the book took shape!Here are a few of the questions I asked and the responses we received.Varsha:How do you decide whether to publish a book?Daphne: It's hard to say. Voice is key. Things like grammar and spelling mistakes matter less. To me, even plot does not matter as much as voice. Thoughts and ideas draw me in. Varsha: While I understand that typos and grammar may not be the only things that are crucial, what do you feel about shoddily edited work? Work that seems carelessly … [Read more...]
Reflections: Day Three at AFCC 2022
Day three at AFCC 2022 was the whole reason I was there. Book launch day! Of course, that was the highlight of my day, so even though that did not technically come first, I'm going to begin with it.Book Launch by Scholastic AsiaMy book, Red Eyes, has been a long time in the making. I'll write about the story behind the story (like I did for Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells, The Clockwala's Clues and Sisters at New Dawn) soon, but launching it at the Asian Festival of Children's Content was such a delight! Equally delightful was listening to the other three authors talk about their books. I would love to read them all!The book launch was a public event, so you can still watch it here.Now, I'll come back to everything I attended as a participant, and all that I took away from the festival.When Comics Come to the ClassroomA few weeks ago, I organised a … [Read more...]
Counting by 7s
As part of the Neev Literature Festival's reading challenge, I've been attending as many author interactions as I can. I love them! One session I attended last month was with Holly Goldberg Sloan, who spoke about her book The Elephant in the Room. I haven't read that one, but I have read To Night Owl From Dogfish, one of my favourite books of all time. (During the session, I also asked her about how the experience of co-authoring an epistolary book was. The response was lovely, but that's a story for another time!)I read up a bit about Sloan before attending the session, and of course, I came across the award-winning Counting by 7s. The list of books I want to read is endless, though, so I just tucked this one away for later, well aware that the "later" might never come.But then, less than a week after the interaction, I asked the children at my creative writing programme to … [Read more...]
Reflections: Day Two at AFCC 2022
Day two at the Asian Festival of Children's Content was on 27 May, but I caught up with all the sessions I wanted to just yesterday. I felt like I had a time-turner because I attended three simultaneous sessions, thanks to a virtual AFCC 2022! Here's an overview of how the day was for me.Environmental Advocacy in Children's BooksThis was one of the sessions I attended synchronously, and the experience of doing that is quite different from catching up with an event later.The environmental is a subject close to my heart, and I read a lot of literature about nature and being outdoors. However, I'm a little iffy when it comes to books that are clearly issue-based, no matter what the issue may be. Story, for me, comes first, and advocacy second, not the other way around. I like it when books are subtle, with characters nudging us in particular directions. And that was one of … [Read more...]
The Art of Zines
We just had another rewarding guest session! Niloufer Wadia, an illustrator and Urban Sketcher, covered so much ground in one short hour with my creative writing programme - you can guess what I mean from the picture above! From showing us different kinds of zines to telling us about storyboarding, she led us through the process of illustrating our works, choosing what to draw and helping us understand how to draw it.The zines Niloufer showed us to begin with were lovely. Even though we're going to be creating an e-zine at my writing programme, exploring form and shape was fun! Moving towards helping us sketch on our own, she shared some limericks with us and then proceeded to show us how we could illustrate them. She began with a storyboard with very basic line drawings, and together, we came up with ideas of how to illustrate the set of limericks she chose.I also love it when … [Read more...]
Reflections: Day One at AFCC 2022
It's been four years since I attended the Asian Festival of Children's Content. 2016 - my collection of short stories (now published as Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells) was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award, so I attended for the first time.2017 - I submitted a paper titled Writing About Us, which was selected as part of a panel, so off I went for the second time.2018 - my middle grade book (now published as Red Eyes) was the first runner-up for the Scholastic Asian Book Award, and yes, I attended the AFCC again.I didn't go in 2019 and then, with the pandemic, 2020 and 2021 were out of the question too. This year, Scholastic Asia sponsored a virtual ticket for me, so of course, I've been making the most of it. Attending virtually isn't nearly as exciting as being there in person, but it does have one big advantage - I go back and attend sessions I missed because … [Read more...]
My Grandmother’s Masterpiece
So often, we think of our grandparents simply as grandparents. We are the centre of the universe after all, aren't we?But Nini discovers that there is more to her grandmother than just being a grandmother. A stray conversation leads her to ask her mother to buy a box of paints for her grandmother, her Minima. And then, a journey of discovery begins - for Nini, her grandmother and the entire family.My Grandmother's Masterpiece is a lovely story that celebrates the relationship between grandparent and grandchild, but it's more than that. It's the story of Nini's Minima who is suddenly free to do everything she wants to do all because her granddaughter got her a box of paints. Here's what we'll do with the book at my reading programme. Pictionary There's one section in th book where Nini asks her Minima if she is drawing bhoots. Minima shakes her head and … [Read more...]
The Mystery of the Suspicious Spices
Greetings from Somewhere is a popular series of chapter books, and when I chose The Mystery of the Suspicious Spices for my book club, I hadn't yet read it yet. The book I wanted was not available, and I just went with the idea that this one was popular and available. I knew I would, of course, read it well before my reading programme began.And then, as I read it, I wondered if I wanted my book club to read it. It's set in India and, simply put, doesn't work. The picture of a sari looks nothing like a sari.There's a section where an Indian character eats a paratha and wants to say that it is gross. He exclaims, 'Sakala!' I had to look it up. And I discovered that Google translate had probably been used because yes, the word means 'gross', but in the context of gross weight!How could I possibly read this at my book club?And then, I began mulling over the fact that so many children I work … [Read more...]