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 dried up. It isn't as if I didn't do workshops for other organisations; I did. But as I look back, only one paid workshop comes to mind - a session on my book, The Best Idea of All, for an online lit fest, Vishwarang.Everything else was an independent venture, and looking back fills me with joy and pride. I launched my reading and writing programmes for children in October 2020, and they've grown in leaps and bounds! Book Club for Ages 7 and 8 I just counted. In the year 2021, I read 21 books with 29 seven- and eight-year-olds from … [Read more...]
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 Andrew Clements.Jordan is about average in every way, or so it seems to her. She isn't short or tall. She isn't pretty or ugly. Her grades are average too. Soon, she will graduate from elementary school, but she still hasn't discovered what she is good at. It seems, somehow, that she isn't good at anything! She's average, and that's all there is to that.But then, with her orderliness, her niceness and her simple attention to detail, she discovers during a crisis that maybe, just maybe, she isn't about average. In fact, simply because of her ordinary, … [Read more...]
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 waiting to be read, why plough through books I have to push myself to read? Five YA books stood out to me, though, and I can't help seeing both how similar they are and how very different. Postbox Kashmir This is probably the first time a work of nonfiction features on a list of my top reads! Postbox Kashmir was not a quick read, no. However, for all readers, I think some books are just worth reading, however slowly you need to read them. With Postbox Kashmir, there was so much for me to process that I wanted to take my time over it. A balanced, objective story … [Read more...]
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 child, I took a while to bring myself around to the idea of introducing a scary book to the children I meet.Yet, The School is Alive is the perfect mixture of thrilling and comforting. When Sam Graves becomes the hall monitor at Eerie Elementary, he has no idea that the school is hungry to eat its students! Sam finds an unlikely ally in the caretaker Mr Nekobi, and together with his other friends, he's more than a match for his school!Here's what we'll do with the book at my reading programme. Creepy Alphabet This is an activity I never tire of … [Read more...]
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. As with my favourite chapter books, I've included only those that I read for the first time last year, not well-loved rereads! The Golden Eagle The Golden Eagle by Deepak Dalal is a gorgeous book, with stunning illustrations by Krishna Bala Shenoi and a thrilling story to keep us hooked. One of the children at my book club told me it is his favourite read so far! The white-headed squirrel Shikar wants to know about his parents, about where he came from and how he came to make friends with the birds. And so, Lovey and Dovey set out to tell him a story, the story of the golden … [Read more...]
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, but the best laid plans often go awry. When Thatha dies in his sleep, Paati no longer has the will to keep doing everything that makes her happy. Her family coaxes her into travelling alone, and everything goes well until Paati loses her camera. A camera that belonged to Thatha. It's social media to the rescue as the world comes together to recreate Paati's memories of her solo tour in this heartwarming book about helping one another.Here's what we'll do as we read the book together! Viral What do you think the word means? Do you think it is a … [Read more...]
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 do with the book. As there are so many books, I decided not to include those I reread last year, sticking only to those I read for the first time in 2021. Muggie Maggie This one is such a delight that I've held on to my copy of it, in the hope that one day soon, bookstores will let me know that it is back in stock and I can introduce it to my book clubbers.Maggie is determined not to learn cursive. Unfortunately, her teacher has other plans: sneaky, ingenious plans. I love fictional teachers like her! In some ways, Maggie reminds me of Dick King-Smith's Sophie. She has … [Read more...]
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, brown monster. Even worse is that she simply cannot understand what her piano teacher means when he tells her to play with feeling. How is she supposed to play with feeling when the only thing she's feeling is hungry?Humour and excitement come together in this lovely little hOle book. Here's what we'll do with Peanut Vs the Piano at my reading programmes! Likes and Dislikes As this is the first book we will be reading at the February edition of my reading programme, talking about what we like and dislike is a fun way to begin. I often find that talking … [Read more...]
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) to long, beautiful stories that are more suited to older readers. I've tried to arrange them on the basis of reading level, but with 18 books on the list, I kept shuffling the order because children and their reading levels are so different! My Street My Street, written by Sadaf Siddique and illustrated by Habib Ali, is a lovely wordless picture book that I read nearly a year ago now. It's such a treat!It's a perfectly ordinary day in a familiar neighbourhood - but even an ordinary day is full of colour and adventure.I ‘read’ with round eyes until I reached the end. What more could I ask for from a … [Read more...]
Art, Music and Movement with Veda Aggarwal
Yes. Each time I invite a guest to speak to my creative writing programme, I realise that the session is as much for me as it is for the children. As a writer, I am often caught in a capitalist circle, writing with a clear goal in sight. What is the purpose of a piece? What do I want my audience to feel? Yet, sometimes, writing is just writing. The arts are interconnected and once in a while, we need to be reminded of that. When we were children and teens, Veda and I spent hours talking about art, music and literature. We read Shakespeare and made notes (which I probably still have somewhere). We discussed Giotto and Matisse, Van Gogh and Gaugin. Veda painted and drew; I didn't. When Veda was ten (I think), she started playing the guitar and we began to listen to classical music together. We talked about Vivaldi and Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven. We thought about and spoke … [Read more...]
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