Wildwitch Wildfire. The name seems to hark back to an earlier time, a time when magic was different, ancient, unknown. Yet, the cover, with its bright red, and a cat staring a girl down gave me the idea of something almost modern. I picked it up, curious about what it would offer--and put it down when I had finished reading it. Wildwitch Wildfire won me over with the wonder of its storytelling. A beautiful story, simply told - is there anything more fulfilling than that? Clara Ash is mauled by a huge cat on her way to school, but that's hardly an excuse she can offer her scary math teacher for being late. With an incident that simple, the story begins. Clara's mum never cries, but when she hears about the cat, she begins to cry. It is time for Clara, little Clara Mouse, to visit her Aunt Isa, a wildwitch. For Clara is a wildwitch herself and needs to learn how to … [Read more...]
Septopus: Trouble on the High Cs
Question 1: How many books have you read about octopuses?Question 2: How many books have you read about an octopus with seven and a half tentacles?Question 3: How many books have you read about an octopus band - an oct-estra - playing Mozart? The answers to those questions will show you how unusual, unexpected and quirky Septopus: Trouble on the High Cs is. As octopuses have eight tentacles, all of them have names that end with '8', so this book features Rot8, Irrit8, Imit8, Emul8, and my favourite - Po8 (say it aloud a few times if you don't get this one immediately). For convenience sake, though, the '8' is dropped. Rot, the seven-and-a-half tentacled octopus is on a mission to save Sea World from sabotage. His clues include red and yellow sneakers, smelly socks and the symbol of an octopus. Where can he go with these? Lots of places, including the top of a coconut tree, … [Read more...]
No. 9 on the Shade Card
When I started reading No. 9 on the Shade Card, I was not sure if I would enjoy it. I liked the idea, and I was fascinated by the fact that we never seemed to learn the narrator's name. We know her so well, but we don't know her name - unless I just missed it because I got too involved in the story. Yet, as I went on, I realised that I was enjoying the book thoroughly. I kept telling myself that I would read 'just one more chapter' and if that isn't a sign of how engrossing the book is, I don't know what is. In fairness ads, models have a shade card, and their pale skin classifies them as number 1 on the shade card, and who does not want to be number 1, right? But the narrator is number 9, and her Ajji is convinced that this is a problem. From yucky besan mixtures from the freezer to green pastes, the narrator is blackmailed time and again to try … [Read more...]
The Night Diary
Recently, I revisited a review of a book I loved - My Name is Rose. The book made a particularly powerful impression on me because the lead character cannot speak, not because she is mute, but because of the weight of the world on her shoulders. Nisha from The Night Diary is a character just like that. Already overcome by crippling shyness and enormous social inhibitions, life does not do Nisha any favours. There are only two people in the world Nisha feels comfortable talking to - her twin Amil, and their domestic help who is practically family, Kazi. To top it all, it is the year 1947 and everything is beginning to change. Nisha, all of 12, is puzzled by how swiftly things seem to fall apart. India, still under British rule, is growing more and more polarised, and she finds that the way she looks at people is beginning to alter. As the weeks go by and she hears whispers of … [Read more...]
The Diamond of Drury Lane
I love Julia Golding. There were a couple that I didn't end up writing about - The Glass Swallow and Ringmaster (Darcie Lock Book 1), but there were others that I devoured and simply had to gush about. Here are four that come to mind: Empty Quarter (Girl on the Run Book 2)DragonflyCat's CradleThe Middle Passage And now, The Diamond of Drury Lane, which begins with the wonderful lines: Reader, you are set to embark on an adventure about one hidden treasure, two bare-knuckle boxers, three enemies and four hundred and thirty-eight rioters. It is told by an ignorant and prejudiced author - me."Cat Royal - orphan, adventurer, actress The Diamond of Drury Lane is the first of Cat Royal's adventures, and it's delicious. As a reader, characters are everything to me. If I fall in love with the character, I'm much more likely to fall in love … [Read more...]
Dead Man’s Cove
The cover of Dead Man's Cove, the first of the Laura Marlin Mysteries, has a snippet from a review, proclaiming that the book will delight Enid Blyton fans. And so, even though I read the second book, Kidnap in the Caribbean, some time ago, I began this one with different expectations. The most wonderful part was that those expectations were met. As a child, I was convinced that smugglers were exciting. Anyone who has read Five Go to Smuggler's Top and The Secret of Spiggy Holes will, I think, have similar responses. Ooh! Smugglers! What fun! Smugglers, for me, were equated with adventure. Even when people spoke to me of binoculars and cameras being smuggled into India, I had the same kind of starry-eyed reaction. As a child who lived vicariously through books, Enid Blyton's stories came with a sense of security. … [Read more...]
Creative Writing Workshops
What's better than a creative writing workshop with enthusiastic children?Two creative writing workshops with enthusiastic children! On Saturday, I did a workshop at Meridian Kids Club for the first time. New place, new children - it's always fun! An activity I love is creating monsters together, and this time was no different. We played a game during which the children came up with a huge greenish monster with twenty heads, a hundred eyes, one tooth, no noses and just one foot. The interesting thing about this monster, though, was that he was ugly and good. He would clean up the world. Good and ugly was a wonderful combination, and I'm glad it came up. (I've written earlier about attempting to investigate why all the monsters children create at my workshops are black and fairies are blond.) I asked the children to create the monster's enemy too, for conflict is central to a … [Read more...]
The Writers’ Club 2018-19
Another year at the Writers' Club has come to an end, and what a wonderful session we had to bring a creative year of stories to an end! We began, as always, with an announcement of the winners of this year's Writers' Club competition. Competitions are such fun! They create a mood of anticipation and celebration, which ensures that the energy stays high throughout the session. As before, two girls from a previous batch evaluated the entries, for I feel that learning to critique work is an important part of growing as a writer. Their responses and comments were heart-warming, as they paid attention to detail and identified why they liked what they liked. The highlight of the session, though, was our special guest, Dr Sreeja Nag, dear friend, ex-student of St. Mary's and research engineer at NASA. She was wonderful, warm and expressive, and we had a lovely hour with … [Read more...]
Me and Mister P
There are times when only a polar bear will do ..."Arthur and Liam's Mum I'm still smiling as I write this review, even though I finished reading Me and Mister P yesterday. It's such a charming read, one that reminded me of Nurse Matilda and Mary Poppins. Except that there's no nanny here - because there are times when only a polar bear will do, right? Arthur is fed up with the fact that his brother Liam, who is specially abled, gets all the attention from his family. Everything is now about Liam. Liam cannot take the school bus because he does not like crowds. Arthur cannot watch the football match on TV because Liam is upset. Liam is embarrassing. He sings loudly, hums all the time, dances--and Arthur can't take it anymore. He hates it when other people make fun of Liam because he feels that they're making fun of him. So, he decides to run away. Except that … [Read more...]
Reading and Data
Adults love data. They love graphs and statistics and numbers. During workshops with adults, the moment I put up a graph, I have everyone's attention as if I'm finally saying something 'real'. And that's why I started working with real-time polls through Mentimeter. I show my audience a question and all those with smart phones (usually nearly everyone in the room) vote. And they see numbers, which makes everyone happy. Question One: What do you read most often? For this question, I allow participants to choose more than one option. This helps them feel comfortable, not pinned down to choosing one and being 'wrong'.I give them four options: Blue - Newspapers, magazines, etc.Yellow - Facebook/WhatsApp postsGreen - StorybooksRed - Other As you can see, there's nothing really, solidly conclusive about this. Yet, on the whole, have a look at this graph, which combines the … [Read more...]
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