What makes a cartoon different from a regular drawing? What is easier to draw? What do you think is important when you are drawing a cartoon? We had such an enjoyable workshop on cartooning with Vineet Nair, comic book illustrator and Art Director of Tinkle! The first rule, which I loved, but which the participants […]
Roop and the River Crossing
What was the Partition? What ripples do we see today, and how do people in power continue to exploit communal politics? These are difficult questions that one often wonders about whether to discuss with children. In some ways, books that talk about our history help, books like Roop and the River Crossing. Roop and the […]
Wrestling Day
When I went for the White Owl Literature Festival in Nagaland a few months ago, I attended part of an event that the author Theyiesinuo Keditsu conducted on her book, Wrestling Day. She spoke about how traffic piles up on Wrestling Day. People park everywhere, and that’s something that’s perfectly acceptable on that one day […]
A Demon in Dandi
We all know about the infamous salt tax and the march to Dandi. What would the people of Dandi have felt at the time? Were people even aware of this huge political upheaval brewing in various parts of the country? A Demon in Dandi by Lavanya Karthik is part of Duckbill’s Songs of Freedom series, […]
Kadbanwadi Grasslands
Ever since grassland safaris were launched several months (years?) ago, we’ve been meaning to go. Although we’ve been on countless safaris in the forest, the grasslands were new to us, and the idea of seeing a whole range of birds, in addition to the possibility of hyenas, foxes and wolves was exciting! Finally, last week, […]
With the Fire on High
With the Fire on High is my third book by Elizabeth Acevedo, and the first in prose. I loved it! Just like The Poet X and Clap When You Land, it meets difficult, controversial situations head-on, with courage and optimism. Emoni Santiago’s life is not easy. Her mother died in childbirth, and her father, whom […]
Some Places More than Others
Finding your roots can be such a complicated thing. Amara has never visited New York City, where her father grew up, and there’s nothing she wants more than to go meet her father’s family and get to know them. What’s even more intriguing is that even before she goes, she learns tiny things like the […]
Agassi and the Great Cycle Race
Agassi and the Great Cycle Race by Khyrunnisa A. and illustrated by Saumya Oberoi is another fun Silly Billy book! The cover image encapsulates the madness of the book perfectly: a parakeet sitting on an inverted saucepan worn by a boy riding a cycle! Agassi hates his name. Just because his parents are tennis fans, […]
Jumble Sale
Shabnam Minwalla’s Jumble Sale is another delightful Silly Billy Book, a lighthearted mystery, which begins with a missing bottlebrush. Who could have stolen it? An evil crow? A ghost? Or a thin woman with a beaky nose? Jumble Sale takes us through a hilarious whodunnit featuring mischievous children Dina and Dorab Sethna, hapless parents, and […]
The Double Life of Danny Day
The Double Life of Danny Day by Mike Thayer is such an unusual book! I haven’t read anything quite like it ever before, and I loved it! Danny Day is unique. He lives every day twice. As a very young child, he doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. He remembers conversations that never happened, and […]
Nagaland 2025
It’s been ages since I wrote a travel post, although I’ve been thinking about writing one for a while. Often, there’s so much else I want to write that travel posts take a backseat. But Nagaland was special for so many reasons that I decided to write about it even though this post comes almost […]
Ghosts, Thieves and Aha! Adventures
I love the idea of a Silly Billy Book! That’s what the series is called, and that’s what drew me to Ghosts, Thieves and Aha! Adventures by Asha Nehemiah in the first place. With its full colour illustrations, the series is a great addition to books that bridge an awkward gap between age-groups and reading […]
The Hunt for the Nightingale
Gone to a better place. Passed away. Moved on. Passed on. We have so many euphemisms to help us talk about death. But what if, sometimes, you need to hear the harsh truth, unembellished? Anxious, socially awkward Jasper Wilde puts all his faith in just one person–his sister Rosie. Rosie never breaks promises. She sits […]
The Girl Who Played with Numbers – Shakuntala Devi
The Girl Who Played with Numbers by Lavanya Karthik is a lovely addition to her series of biographies for very young readers. A little note tells us that the illustrations in this book about Shakuntala Devi are inspired by the Mysore school of painting. While this isn’t my favourite style, I love the fact that […]
The Bridge Home
Eleven-year-old Viji has had enough. Her mother might believe that her father is repentant and will stop abusing her. But when he hits Viji and Rukku, she makes a decision. However harsh life on the streets may be, it is preferable to being home with a drunken, abusive father. And so, Viji takes her sister […]
The Letter with the Golden Stamp
The Letter with the Golden Stamp by Onjali Q. Raúf is such a heartwarming story! As a lover of letters (psst: my first novel in letters, The Wall Friends Club, is just out!), I was drawn to the idea of a story about a special letter right away. With an enterprising protagonist at the centre, […]
The Astoundingly True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev
It’s been nearly four years since we read The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev by Ken Spillman. We had fun reading it, and I hope The Astoundingly True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev will be as much fun with a new group of book clubbers! Dev is a highly imaginative character. The smallest things set him off on […]
Nimmi’s Bizuper Birthday
Some time ago, we read Nimmi’s Dreadtastic Detective Days, and although it is longer than most of the other books I choose for Read, Write, Explore, we enjoyed it. It’s funny and engaging, and there’s so much we can do with the book! Nimmi’s Bizuper Birthday is no different. Like in Lucky Girl, Nimmi finds herself […]
The Chocolate Touch
The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling is an old book, unlike most of the others I select for my book clubs. Its copyright dates back to 1952! And that’s not the only thing that makes it different from the books I usually choose. Another important distinction is that it has a clear moral, something I […]
I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944
We’ve read one book from the I Survived series at Read, Write, Explore before—I Survived the California Wildfires, 2019. This one, I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944, was written way before that, and from what I can tell, it’s one of Lauren Tarshis’s most popular books. I thought long and hard before choosing to read […]