One Day Elsewhere is such a lovely series! Looking at events in history from a child's point of view is always special. Yes, we know people were arrested during the Dandi March. But what of the children of those arrested? How did they make sense of things happening around them?Each book in this series is a story woven around a significant event in history, and each story has a child at the centre, making the event more accessible to young readers. My Father's Courage 4/5 A beautifully nuanced story about community, solidarity and bravery, My Father's Courage looks at the Dandi March from the point of view of young Aslam, who witnesses his father's arrest. There are so many layers to this story, which make it a heartwarming read.For one, I love the question that bothers Aslam, Why? Why was my father, … [Read more...]
Rattu & Poorie’s Adventures in History: 1857
A book about a pair of sisters, where the protagonist is the younger sister ... of course I was intrigued! Additionally, historical fiction has attracted me for a while, and I have come across very little in the genre for seven and eight-year-olds. Rattu & Poorie's Adventures in History: 1857, shortlisted for the Neev Book Award for Emerging Readers 2020, is quite engaging, providing glimpses of three major events that comprised an uprising that all of us study in school - the revolt of 1857.The links between Rattu's life in modern India and historical events are interestingly created. Rattu wishes for a soldier with a sword and encounters Rani Lakshmibai and Jhalkari Bai, who encourage her to play a game of make-believe based on the siege of Jhansi. When bullies steal the sisters' ice-creams, whom should they encounter but Azimullah Khan and Nana Sahib, who teach them how to deal … [Read more...]
Reading, Reading, and Reading Some More
Yesterday, we came to the end of yet another batch of my reading programme for ages nine and ten. I wrote about our 'raise hand' anecdote, and thinking about that made me realise - again - that the main reason I conduct reading programmes is that I enjoy them so much! Yes, I spread the love of reading and all that, but more, I love what goes into each programme. I love choosing my books, planning my activities, and then, seeing how, despite all the planning, children take the workshop in whatever direction they like!This time, we read Karma Meets a Zombie, The Hodgeheg and When the World Went Dark. Each one was delightful in its own way. Karma Meets a Zombie I wrote about being a little nervous reading this one with my book club. Would it be too scary? Detachable hands, the undead - how much is too much?Ultimately, though, it … [Read more...]
Rise of the Earth Dragon (Dragon Masters #1)
I love introducing children to book series. It's heartwarming to see children come back to a subsequent edition of my reading programme bursting with excitement because they're reading the next book of a series to which I introduced them! It's happened with the hOle books, Amelia Bedelia, the A to Z Mysteries, Moin and the Monster ... More often than I can count!And the Dragon Masters is a fun, exciting series too! Rise of the Earth Dragon is the first of the series, the book where Drake discovers that he is a Dragon Master. But-but-but dragons don't exist! They do? But what if he can't connect with his dragon at all?Rise of the Earth Dragon is a lovely story about new experiences, making friends, adventure and magic!Here's what we will do with it at my book club.Diary of a Dragon Master What if you were a Dragon Master? Write about your dragon! What is its name? What … [Read more...]
No Nonsense Nandhini
What do you do when circumstances force you to let go of your dream? You create another dream. And another. And another. Hold on to your sense of humour and don't give up.At least, that's Nandhini's way.No Nonsense Nandhini, shortlisted for the Neev Book Award for Junior Readers 2021, is a book about resilience, about never glossing over the fact that life is hard, and about having the power and flexibility to change routes when life throws obstacles in your path.Nandhini is a powerhouse of energy and determination, plus she is full of fun and mischief. As a child, she dreams of being a Collector. She is a good student and studies hard at school, but a week before her board exams, she falls off a guava tree and injures herself so badly that she has to skip her exams. That's just the first of many things that go wrong. When she appears for her exams the following year, she is … [Read more...]
Cricket for the Crocodile
I launched my online reading programme for ages seven and eight in December last year, which means that this is the sixth edition of the programme. Each time, I've focused on Indian books - books written by Indians, published in India or set in India - usually all three. On the whole, I've tried to avoid the big names in children's literature, mainly because one of the goals of the book club is to introduce children to books they might not otherwise read. Yet I have included well-known names - Roald Dahl and Dick King-Smith twice each, for instance!And so, this time, I'm introducing a book by Ruskin Bond, Cricket for the Crocodile. It's shorter than the books we usually read, but that should give us more time for bookish activities!Ranji is determined to be a Test cricketer, and his team comes from different parts of town. Sometimes, they even need to let the adults take … [Read more...]
A Big Splash
Dhivya loves swimming.But when her brother nearly drowns, she isn't allowed to swim in the lake anymore.Dhivya enjoys playing cricket with her friends.But they don't seem to want to play with her anymore.Now what?A Big Splash is a sensitively told story about a thirteen-year-old who blossoms not just into a champion swimmer, but into a sensitive human being. I love flawed protagonists, and Dhivya is exactly that - driven and passionate, but rather careless when it comes to letting her temper fly.Like all the other books in the PARI series, A Big Splash begins in a small village. The village tank is the only place where Dhivya is permitted to swim, and so, naturally, she has little to do with the world of competitive swimming. When she finds out about a district competition, however, she jumps at the opportunity. Swimming is everything to her, and here's her chance to … [Read more...]
No Ticket, Will Travel
For ever so long, I didn't even know what the general compartment of a train was. When I saw people lining on station platforms, I assumed that they couldn't plan their travel in advance and so, they didn't get tickets. I knew all about not getting tickets because each year, we would stand in line at the ticket counter for hours, months in advance, to buy our tickets for the summer. Sometimes, even after our long wait, we would have to change our travel dates because no tickets were available.Years later, getting into the general compartment was an eye-opener. There were so many people! Where were they going? How did they manage? And how did so many people share four toilets?No Ticket, Will Travel is a collection of six stories about people who have no choice but to travel. Getting caught travelling ticketless is a risk they take because hard-earned money cannot just be spent … [Read more...]
House of Uncommons
We all know about the House of Commons. What could the House of Uncommons be? I didn't want to read up about the book to find out, so I picked it up and dived right in.The book started slowly, and I frowned as I read about Krishnan travelling with his Chikkappa to Snehagao. I didn't know where the story was going. Until we get the first indicator of the uncommon. The protagonist Krishnan sees Raman, his soon-to-be roommate, and realises that Raman is like him. What does that mean? We, as readers, don't know yet, but we find out soon enough. In Krishnan's new school, all the children have HIV. And for once, it seems like they are not going to be shunned for it.What do we even know about HIV? At Krishnan's age - about 13 - I knew next to nothing. I knew what it stood for because I had to learn it at school. I equated AIDS with HIV, and had no idea that there was any difference … [Read more...]
Book Spotting!
When my first book, The Story-Catcher, was published, we started playing a game. We would go to every bookstore in every city we visited and try to find a copy of the book. It was impossible. And yet, it was exciting. I even got a spreadsheet from my publishers, listing the stores in which my book would be available, and we went to those stores in the city, hunting.I never found my book. Not even when it was on display like this:This was at Crossword, Mulund. Look at the number of copies on the shelf. You guessed right. I didn't see them.This was in the shop window of Chapter and Verse (now shut down), and I didn't see it. When I went for the Asian Festival of Children's Content in 2018, I knew my book Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells would be in print. I had not yet received my sample copies, and I didn't even know how the book looked. I hunted … [Read more...]