A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post for StoryWeaver about a training programme I have been conducting for the last three years for librarians in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, and the ways in which I use StoryWeaver and Pratham Books for the reading programme they implement in schools. I have grown so much through the workshops I purportedly conduct! Working with a range of librarians with limited resources has been an eye-opening experience for me, an experience that I treasure. Each year, I tweak the programme slightly, trying to make it more accessible to every level of learner and easier to implement. This year, I continued with a theme-based approach, but I chose themes that were clearly linked with the needs of reluctant readers. How delighted I was when I learned about how the librarians took the ideas to their schools! Linking the reading theme with the overall … [Read more...]
Dear Fictional Character
Yesterday, to round off our letter-writing activity, we wrote two more letters. One began with 'Dear Reader', and this is an activity I've done more times than I can count. I tweaked it slightly this time because of the idea of posting their letters to them. Instead of telling them that what they wrote would go into books in the library, I told them their letters would go in the mail to someone else in the room. They enjoyed it tremendously! (Here is an explanation of the activity, plus a link to a video you could use.) The second was a letter to a fictional character. I asked the children to choose any fictional character they love, and write a letter, sharing whatever they liked with that character. Among all the letters to Hermione Granger, Tom Gates, Silky (Faraway Tree) et al, here's one letter I found: I couldn't stop chuckling at this! Of course, I'm thrilled … [Read more...]
Letter-Writing at the Writers’ Club
I've been waiting to do this activity ever since I thought of it, and it was well worth the wait -- particularly because two children said this was the best Writers' Club session ever! Receiving a letter is lovely. I enjoy every part of it - the anticipation, seeing something in the postbox, seeing that it is addressed to me, opening it and reading it. That's why I decided to bring that to the Writers' Club. I asked each of the girls to bring an envelope to class; I brought the rest. For me, the first and biggest surprise was that children don't know how to address an envelope! My instructions were poor - simply because I didn't realise how clueless they would be. Many children wrote the address at the back of the envelope. Several others wrote their names in big bold letters and then somehow squeezed the address in below. Many didn't know that a stamp would normally be stuck at … [Read more...]
The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop
Ooh! That's Polly! Let me wave out to her!Oops. I'm at an auction and I just ended up buying a horse for a thousand pounds. No, I'm not quoting, but this is the lovely premise of a heart-warming story of a racehorse who refuses to gallop. Ten-year-old Charlie Bass loves horses, but she has only ever ridden a cow on her farm. When she accidentally bids for a racehorse that her father must now buy, Charlie is determined to make the purchase of Noble Warrior the best decision ever, even if it means additional expenses on Folly Farm for a while. Charlie ropes her brothers Harry and Larry in and, as a team, they begin to train Noble Warrior, aka Noddy, to become the next winner of the Derby. The Racehorse Who Wouldn't Gallop is a story about friendship - between a horse and a palomino pony, and among the humans in the story. Most of all, though, more than all the … [Read more...]
Characters at the Writers’ Club
Excitement is so contagious! The Writers' Club was full of energy today because of two activities we did based on the idea of how characters come alive to readers. A week ago, I asked the girls to think of a character they would like to present to the rest of the club. We had a few rules and then, because we had about a thousand questions, we had a few more rules. The bottom rule was this: try to make it fun for everybody. To work towards that, we had a few 'suggested' rules: Don't say too much; don't say too littleDon't choose obscure charactersDon't make your speech more than two minutes longDon't read out a speech As we went on, more rules were added, but eventually, today, many of the girls had (of course) forgotten everything. Some had forgotten to think about a character at all, and two were too shy to come forward unprepared. Yet, we had Harry Potter, Geronimo … [Read more...]
After Tomorrow
Flawed narrators make me squirm. When I read a story from the point of view of a character who does not make the right decisions, I often don't know whether to read on. Fictional friends are important to me as a reader. I read to befriend the characters. What if the protagonist doesn't seem like the kind of friend I would like to have? I read After Tomorrow slowly for exactly that reason - it made me uncomfortable. However, the point is that the story is supposed to make me uncomfortable, for it's dystopic, set in a time when the pound is worthless and no one has food. The only thing Matt and his family can do is to try, somehow, to move out of the UK and into France, which is, at least for the time-being, allowing a few refugees in. But Matt resents everything that comes his way. He does not want to learn French; he thinks it is pointless. His stepfather Justin is nowhere near as … [Read more...]
The Island at the End of Everything
Amihan lives with her nanay on Culion, the island at the end of everything. Unlike most of the others - who came by boat to this beautiful, lush green island with blue skies - Ami was born on the island, an island of lepers. Except that they don't use the word 'leper' on Culion; instead, they say that the people there are Touched. Ami's mother, her nanay, is her world, her everything. But Mr Zamora, a government official, has other plans, founded on segregation. Everyone on Culion is to be tested for leprosy. Those who carry the disease must live separately from those who are 'clean'. Worst of all, children under 18 who are not Touched will be taken to an orphanage on another island. And so, Ami, who is not Touched, must leave her mother and go with the evil Mr Zamora to a place she has never visited. She must learn how to make friends and worst of all, she must learn to live as an … [Read more...]
The Boundless
The Boundless starts slowly; I almost did not read it. But that's what made me realise once again how important reviews are: I read on only because Katherine Rundell was quoted as having said, 'WHAT A BOOK!' And though there were parts I skimmed over, and parts that irked me (like the tiny peculiar sentence in Hindi), I have to agree - The Boundless is a phenomenal book in many ways. It's wild, imaginative and breath-taking, full of the kind of danger and adventure that keeps you reading on and on, however much you may skip on the way. The Boundless is the greatest train in history, but for young William Everett, it turns out to be much more than that because several people intend to rob the funeral car, which carries the body of the rail baron and some of his treasures. From sasquatch to the hag of the muskeg, William encounters all kinds of strange creatures during his journey in … [Read more...]
The Charm of Children’s Literature
I read and review books all the time. A glance through my blog shows me that I've written over 300 posts about books! Though I didn't look through all of them before writing this post, I'm sure a majority of them are reviews of children's literature. I've written about fictional teachers, rereading old favourites, writers who have influenced me, and so much more. Last year, I did a series of top ten - picture books, books for young readers, books for middle-grade readers and YA books. This got me thinking. I don't read children's literature simply because I'm a children's writer. There's a lot more to it than that. Children's literature is magical, and I wanted to write about that magic. The Curious Reader was the perfect place to write an essay about it. Do give it a read: I enjoyed writing it! Read another essay of mine on TCR - The Problem with Monster Stereotypes in … [Read more...]
Pig Heart Boy
Cameron's heart is weak. He does not know how long he has to live. But there's a doctor who believes that a heart transplant from a pig will give him a chance. And Cameron decides to take the chance. Pig Heart Boy is an incredible story, overwhelming me with all the ideas it encompasses. Life and death, family, friendship, betrayal, economic hardship, incomprehensible greed, animal rights ... The nuances of the story took my breath away. Cameron's parents fight all the time, and the thirteen-year-old boy hates it, especially as he knows he is central to many of their quarrels. Even when it comes to the idea of going through a 'procedure' and getting the heart of a pig, his mother isn't convinced, unlike his father. Worse, the entire procedure has to be hush-hush because Dr Bryce knows only too well that a transplant of this sort would attract unnecessary attention. Cameron realises … [Read more...]
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