When Piotr's father is suspected of having stolen celebrity actor Betty Massino's diamond necklace, the boy's world seems to fall apart. For Piotr, the UK is home, but his father is fed up of being treated with suspicion simply because he is Polish. He is suspended from his job as a security guard, though he has not officially been charged with the crime because no incriminating evidence has been found. Yet, Piotr's parents have made their minds up. They're going back 'home' to Poland.Piotr is horrified by the idea. When he tells his friends that he is moving to Poland forever, they know that the only way they can prevent Piotr's family from leaving is by proving conclusively that Piotr's father is innocent.And so, the Marsh Road investigators begin to look for clues. They interview suspects and take notes. With Piotr's tickets booked, solving the mystery of the diamond necklace … [Read more...]
Catching Up: Writing
On the writing front, things are moving slowly, as usual. I have lots of things in the air, waiting to become either concrete or virtual. In their own time. Older books continue to bring me joy, though, in their own ways.The Prophecy of Rasphora - A New ReviewVery few things make me happier than a review of one of my books. At the Writers' Club yesterday, one of the students from my previous batch handed me this - my first child-review of The Prophecy of Rasphora.WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERSTranscriptionTitle:- The Prophecy of RasphoraAuthor:- Varsha SeshanPublisher:- Mango DC BooksIllustrator:- Lavanya KarthikThe Main Characters:- Afreen, Tara, Vandana, Miss (a dog), Avamel, Efferin, Safir, Terrine, Coutim, Anita, AnandThe Story is Set in:- Monkey Hill and RasphoraSynopsis of the Story:- This story is about 3 girls named Afreen, Tara and Vandana and … [Read more...]
Catching Up: Workshops
The more workshops I conduct, the more I realise how much I learn from them and enjoy them. The last workshop post was about a guest at the Writers’ Club, but a lot has happened since then.Writers’ ClubAt the Writers’ Club, I am constantly struck by the role experience plays in the way I organise my sessions. For at least the last three years, in an attempt to get children to explore different genres of writing, I also push them to explore all kinds of stories when it comes to reading. To do that, I choose a theme for each month, and the theme for the first month was adventure. When I corrected their notebooks, look at the lovely surprise that awaited me!The girl who reviewed it picked up a copy from the library. Unfortunately, the book is currently unavailable, which is why I haven't linked it here.Omkar CBSE SchoolA workshop on grammar can either be dull or great … [Read more...]
Catching Up: MG and YA Books
So many wonderful, wonderful books and so little time! Here are a few middle-grade and young adult books I read in the last couple of months.Gorilla DawnI know a little about gorillas being endangered because I began to read up bits and pieces about it when I saw articles linking the fate of gorillas to the largescale use of palm oil. But even in the articles I read, I had no idea about coltan and its use in every electronic device we use. The threat that mining poses to gorilla habitat is real and frightening.(And so, first of all, all those who've been telling me I need to get a new phone, read this book.)I read Gill Lewis's White Dolphin years ago, but it stayed fresh in my mind because it is such a powerful story. I also had a fan girl moment recently when Gill Lewis retweeted a review I posted of Me and Mister P. Sky Hawk has been on my … [Read more...]
Seven Fictional Teachers I Love
It's Teachers' Day - the day when every teacher goes home with a mountain of cards. As a writer and teacher, how can I not celebrate all the fictional teachers I love?When I started writing this post, I thought, first, of all the teachers I've created in my stories. The Story-Catcher has very few; offhand, I can think of just the nameless coach in "The Nationals".Dragonflies, Jigsaws, and Seashells has three; perhaps because I started teaching a lot more ...? Mr Kaushik Natraj from "Treasure-Hunt", Miss Philips from "A Drawing Lesson" and Miss Kala Ramdev from "A Retired Teacher": I like Mr Kaushik most!Edited to add: My latest book Sisters at New Dawn is a school story, so it's full of teachers. I would love to know who your favourites are!Naturally, I then went on to think about all the fictional teachers I love, particularly in children's fiction. Here … [Read more...]
Touching Spirit Bear
I'm usually not one of those readers who sits and finishes a book in a day. Unless a story is really compelling, I get distracted easily. I have a hundred other things to do each day, and I do them without being drawn back to my book. I also usually keep track of a storyline, so I can return to a book a month later and continue where I left off.But Touching Spirit Bear drew me in and held me in the story. It moved me to tears more than once and was compelling enough to keep me reading, pushing away the guilt I usually feel when I ought to be doing something else but find myself reading instead.First off, I need to say that I am no one to talk about whether the references to Tlingit traditions are true or not. I honestly have no idea. Before this book, I had no clue about the concept of Circle Justice.I loved the story because it struck a chord. The rawness of emotion wrung … [Read more...]
A Guest at the Writers’ Club
I love inviting people to talk to my Writers' Club - I think a new person brings a new kind of energy. With this being my fifth year with the Writers' Club at St. Mary's, I've started planning my sessions better, and involving previous batches each time we do something new and different.Yesterday, I invited Samiksha Deshpande, an ex-Writers' Club student, to talk to the girls. She was part of my very first Writers' Club batch and wrote two stories for our sesquicentennial collection, Flickering Flames. More recently, her poem was one of the nine winners of the Book Trotters Club #SummerWriting2019 competition, which received 93 entries.Samiksha chose to do a session on limericks. I love working with limericks, so I was delighted when she chose that as her topic!I sat at the back of the class for a large part of the session, interfering only later to work with the girls … [Read more...]
Words and Worlds at the Vidya Valley Lit Fest 2019
I was unwell and could not stop coughing. Yet, armed with my enthusiasm (and a pill), I went for the Vidya Valley Lit Fest--and came back energised. The excitement pulsing through the school kept me going - and of course, the thoughtfulness of the team of parent volunteers in organising a mic helped!Every time I speak to groups of children at lit fests, I realise how different one group is from another. During my three sessions with Class VI at Vidya Valley, I was struck by this yet again. One group was noisy and enthusiastic; the second was almost unbelievably good; the third was full of questions. And each session was wonderful.'Words and Worlds' - that's what my sessions were called. Working with the beautiful land of Rasphora was delightful, but we did so much more. We spoke of language itself and how we use our words to create worlds in literature.Describing my journey … [Read more...]
The One and Only Ivan
I just went onto Goodreads and saw that The One and Only Ivan has over 110,000 reviews. I'm not surprised, though. It's exactly that kind of book, the kind that makes you want to tell everyone about it. It's achingly sweet: a lovely story that leaves you sad, happy and everything else in between. Things aren't perfect, but somehow, in the only possible way given the circumstances, amends have been made.Ivan is a gorilla who deludes himself into believing that the glass cage in which he lives is his domain. He is a silverback, the leader of his troop. Except that in his new domain - with a tyre swing and paintings of nature - there are no other gorillas. Instead, next door, he has Stella the elephant, who has a sore foot, a remnant of her time in a circus. She does tricks to entertain human visitors.Ivan, who watches TV and draws, never gets his hopes up too high. He has learnt … [Read more...]
Using StoryWeaver in Class
I've been resisting writing this post for ever so long because it sounds like some sort of advertising campaign. I promise it's not. It's just that I've used StoryWeaver so many times during workshops that I really wanted to share how easy it is to bring such wonderful resources into the classroom.Why StoryWeaver?The first answer - it's wonderful material that is free for use. Is that two answers already?Considering the amount of material teachers require for class, free resources are a boon. We need them. We need to be able to share stories and ideas freely and easily.Two, I can download and use resources from StoryWeaver offline. Many workshops I conduct are in places where the internet is patchy, to say the least. The last workshop I conducted, for instance, was at a school in Bhusawal. Earlier that day, when I was trying to check my email, I took 20 minutes to open … [Read more...]