I love it when you can begin a series with absolutely any book! I have been eyeing the Butterfingers series for a long time, but I somehow never got around to any of them. And so, when I was asked if I would read and review the seventh one, Smash It, Butterfingers!, I agreed right […]
The Great Big Lion
I work with young writers all the time. Sure, not with children as young as Chryseis Knight when she wrote The Great Big Lion, but seven and eight-year-olds often send me stories and poems to read. Sometimes, especially with slightly older children – about the age of 11 or 12 – I am amazed at the […]
Dreamers
Dreamers. What a beautiful title for a series of illustrated stories about children who dared to dream and then dared to live their dream. The first two books in the series are about light and song, and I found that quite lovely too. Richly illustrated with stark, contrasting colours, The Boy Who Played with Light and The […]
My June Reading Programmes – An Overview
“Ooh! I see something suspicious!” one child cried out, holding up her copy of The Monster Hunters. “Look! A monster at the window! Page 2!” “On page 33 of Bookasura, Bakasura is so big. How did he become so small on page 39?” “I don’t think Mr Hoppy should have lied to Mrs Silver about Alfie. […]
Karma Meets a Zombie
Karma Meets a Zombie is probably the most ambitious book I’ve chosen for my reading programme for ages nine and ten. I read Karma Fights a Monster some time ago and I loved it. I even wrote about it in an essay on monsters and stereotypes because I was struck by how unusual the monster is. Karma Meets […]
The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev
Daydreaming! Sigh. You can be what you want to be. You can do what you want to do. And Dev is the ace daydreamer. In The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev, the boy embarks on three adventures. He climbs Mount Everest, travels along the Amazon and then across the Sahara. Each adventure is real to […]
Another Reading Programme Comes to an End!
“Moin and the Monster was my favourite book because there’s a sequel!” said one child, holding up Moin and the Monster Songster. “Mine was The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop,” said another. “It was mysterious and magical!” “I liked Fantastic Mr Fox. But my all-time favourite is The Witches.” And in the midst of all that, one child held […]
Sandy to the Rescue
Another reading programme, another delightful hOle book! I remember reading a YA book by Rupa Gulab, Daddy Come Lately, and I enjoyed it. How would a chapter book be?The answer? Lovely. Sandy, aka Sandip when his mother is angry, makes a new friend, Aftab, who needs rescuing from Mrs Gupta, the witch next door. The problem […]
A Pinch of Magic
Asha Nehemiah’s Trouble with Magic was the very first book we read at my very first reading programme. And I loved it. So, when I learned that after all these years, there was a sequel … Writing a sequel to a lovely book is challenging, even more challenging than writing a new book–because there are […]
Nida Finds a Way
I stare at my laptop screen, wondering how to write about Nida Finds a Way. It’s such an important book. A book that makes me oh-so-curious about how a child would respond. What would children say that this story is about? Would they giggle and keep reading on and on to see how Nida balances […]
Five Picture Books I Recently Loved
Once more, I’ve been so busy with so many things that I haven’t had the time to read much or write. Each day, I spend such a large chunk of time planning what to do during my reading and writing sessions that I end up unwinding by doing something that rests my eyes, instead of […]
What I’ve Been Reading on StoryWeaver
Every so often, I write about books I’ve read on StoryWeaver that have left an impression on me in one way or another. Free books are precious! And over 30,000 free books? Priceless! Here are a few I read and loved recently. In the past, most of the books I’ve read have been Level 1 […]
The Tigers in the Tower
I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve written about Julia Golding’s books – the Cat Royal series, the Peril trilogy, the Dragonfly trilogy, the Darcie Lock series … And now, The Tigers in the Tower. I would not say it is my favourite work by Julia Golding – not even close – but […]
Mirror, Mirror
Fat shaming. It’s so rooted in society and family that it often goes unnoticed. Sometimes, it wears the garb of concern – oh, you’ve put on so much weight; is everything okay? At other times, it’s downright cruel. Ananya, the protagonist of Mirror, Mirror, faces the second kind. The words she hears echo through her […]
Queen of Fire
When I started reading Queen of Fire, I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy it. I expected to read something new and captivating, even though I knew that the protagonist was the rani of Jhansi. But all the opening scenes were familiar to me. We’ve studied the history of the independence movement in India […]
On Reading a Series, Reading Snobbery and Binge Reading
I often come across parents who complain that their children read only Geronimo Stilton, or only Wimpy Kid. Or only Dork Diaries, or … what else? If social media had existed when I was a child, parents would probably have been fretting about children reading only Enid Blyton–except for the fact that snobbery around the […]
At Least a Fish
I love Anushka Ravishankar’s books. Whether it’s Moin and the Monster or Captain Coconut or At Least a Fish, I find myself chuckling as I read, shaking my head at her wacky humour. Ana, the protagonist of At Least a Fish, wants a dog. She really wants a dog. But her parents go and get her fish instead […]
Esio Trot
Who doesn’t love Esio Trot? Teg reggib, esio trot, teg reggib! There was a time when I knew the book so well that I could say the whole chant that Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver to deliver to little Alfie. Have you come across the tweet about how children’s books should not be given star ratings […]
Looking Back at Another Reading Programme
I love sharing stories with children, and this time’s batch of seven and eight-year-olds was even more fun than most. With each workshop I conduct, I treasure the stories we create together. The little anecdotes, the bubbles of laughter, the wide-eyed astonishment – these make workshops special! I wrote about a class where we spoke […]
Fantastic Mr Fox
Fantastic Mr Fox is a classic. And the combination of Roald Dahl and Sir Quentin Blake is magic. I’ve never yet chosen a Roald Dahl for my reading programme because I reckoned that most children would already have been exposed to his books, and a book club is about discovering books you haven’t read before. […]