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...]
Book Club Discussions
We just finished reading Sandy to the Rescue, the first of five books we'll be reading at this edition of my book club. One of the joys of reading the hOle books at the reading programme is that the length is perfect. We have enough time to read and do activities during each session, which, for me, is what a book club is about. In Sandy to the Rescue, six-year-old Aftab hides first under the dining table and then in the bath tub. This made me ask the children, "Where would you hide? If you had to smuggle a friend into your house, what would be a hiding place?" We discussed the storage cupboard, a balcony with newspapers (ideal for a little cushioning) and under the bed. I then led them to another activity - finding a hiding place for something a little smaller, like a secret note, perhaps. What could they write in the note? That led me to an unexpected discussion because one of the … [Read more...]
Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame
Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar left its mark on me. But Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame was something else altogether. I devoured the book. Each chapter made me read just one more chapter, as compelling as the previous one. Meera is an unlikely protagonist, one who seems a far cry from the typical feisty girl one expects at the centre of a story. The book begins with Meera up in a tree, trying to listen in while her father teaches village boys. She is not allowed there. In fact, she was once rapped on her knuckles for being where she was not permitted. As I read that part, I knew that Meera would be my fiery, determined, brave young protagonist. I was wrong. Meera is none of that. She does what she is told. She follows instructions. She knows she is supposed to obey. In some ways, she is like her mother, who speaks of women being as strong as fire and as fierce as flame, but cannot live … [Read more...]
Pinkoo Shergill – Pastry Chef
Two days ago, at my reading programme, we discussed portmanteau words - words created by combining existing words. The children came up with words like roli (a rose and a lily) and brellow (brown and yellow). I must introduce them to Pinkoo Shergill next, with his delightful portmanteau words! Fabtastic! Wowmazing! Spectaculous! Just like those three words there, the book Pinkoo Shergill - Pastry Chef sparkles with energy and life. I love it when there is a sense of urgency in a book. When characters run around, hide, keep secrets and rush, readers experience the same thrill - of something that must happen, and FAST! And when something must happen fast, we turn page after page, eager to know what will happen next. Pinkoo Shergill wants to be a pastry chef, but his Papaji wants him to become a shooting champ. Pinkoo knows that that that was his grandfather's unfulfilled dream, so … [Read more...]
Smash It, Butterfingers!
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 away. What an enjoyable story it was! The book opens with Amar Kishen, aka Butterfingers, meeting P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal - in a dream. With everyone's eyes on the Tokyo Olympics, it was the perfect time for me to read about a sports-mad boy, determined to play, and determined to win! Amar trips over a badminton racquet and sprains his arm. He is utterly delighted. He revels in the drama of being injured and is disappointed that his arm is not broken, just sprained. Feeling almost cheated, he convinces the doctor and his father to get him a fancy sling so that his injury looks more serious than it … [Read more...]
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