Ahimsa has been on my TBR list for a long time and finally, it was my first read of 2021. What a lovely, lovely book.When I started reading it, I was a little puzzled. We've studied about the independence struggle several times in school. We know about Gandhi, his fasts, the swadeshi and boycott movements and his call for ahimsa or non-violence. We know about freedom fighters having been imprisoned and about the Hindu-Muslim riots that erupted all over the country. There seemed to be nothing new in Ahimsa, nothing that would make readers everywhere to talk about the book for so long.And then, Ahimsa went on to be so much more. We do know about social reformists and about Gandhi moving from the word Untouchable to the word Harijan. Ahimsa goes deeper. Was Harijan an acceptable word to people who felt rejected by the god that supposedly created the caste system? Was change even … [Read more...]
Lucky Girl
Lucky Girl is a hilarious book. It's imaginative, wacky and full of surprises. Sumi is a lucky girl. With her pink bed, a window that overlooks the sea, soft toys and a chef for a mother, she must be a lucky girl, right?Wrong.As I chuckled my way through this hOle book written by Shabnam Minwalla and illustrated by Tanvi Bhat, I knew I had to work with it at my reading programme! Here are a few things I plan to do with the book.Funny recipesPammi Gupta makes pumpkin peel muffins and furry leaf parathas for Sumi. Yuck! What kinds of things would you put together to make an imaginative meal? Would you eat the things you can see on the cover of the book? Once you know what the ingredients are, would you still eat them?PoetrySumi takes part in a poetry writing competition organised by Fab Foods. Her friend Priya wants to write one kind of poem while she wants to … [Read more...]
Online Reading Programme – Second Edition!
Registrations are now closed for this reading programme. I was just about halfway through my first reading programme when parents started reaching out to me to check if there will be other batches. Even when I launched the first one, I knew I would continue the programme if enough people expressed interest. And so, here it is - the second edition of my online reading programme! What does a reading programme involve? Essentially, reading. As there are four books spread across 12 sessions, we take roughly three sessions per book. Naturally, this means that we do not read the entire book together. We read excerpts from the books together during each session, and then the children read in their own time before the following class. During each online interaction, we do not just read; we also imagine, create, play and talk. We do activities around the books and try … [Read more...]
Top 14 Picture Books I Read in 2020
I read so many picture books each year that I'm sure I've missed out at least a few that I read and loved in 2020. Also, I find it difficult to review picture books in detail, so this is just a list, with links to earlier posts I wrote about the books, or, in the case of books I read on StoryWeaver, links to the books themselves. The Manasa Series I love meeting the same character again and again, so the Manasa series is special!Manasa Finds a RainbowA Hairy ProblemWho's That in the Mirror? Art is Everywhere Imaginative and fun - I love all three books in this series too!Art is Everywhere - Here, There and in Everyday ObjectsArt is Everywhere - Here, There and in FoodArt is Everywhere - Here, There and in Trash More Books on StoryWeaver This is a random assortment, including a wordless picture book and one book in Hindi!Ikru's First Day of … [Read more...]
Top Six Young Adult Books I Read in 2020
I've already shared two lists of books, but I think it's important to say - again - that reading levels differ widely, and in multiple ways. For instance, I know that as a child, my linguistic level (in English) was higher than that of some of my peers, but I often read books for children who were younger. I was still reading what was clearly children's literature, while friends of mine had 'graduated' to murder, romance and thrillers. A list of any kind must be taken with a pinch of salt, and this one is no different.With that out of the way, here are six young adult books I read and loved last year. Ben's parents want to conduct an experiment. They want to study different aspects of the same thing - his father is a behavioural scientist who is convinced that chimpanzees can learn a human language if the environment is conducive, and Ben's mother is writing a … [Read more...]
Top Nine Middle Grade Books I Read in 2020
I love middle grade reads, so this is my longest list this year. In no particular order, here are the books to which I gave a five-star rating in 2020.This is a book for keeps.More often than not, in India, books that address homosexuality are categorised as young adult or adult books, but with this book more than any others before, I disagree. To Night Owl from Dogfish is clearly a middle grade book. The characters, the themes, the tone - everything, for me, is middle grade. Avery and Bett learn that their dads are going to get married, and they start exchanging emails, laying plans to ensure that they don't get to know each other. They don't want two families to become one, thank you very much. They don't want to become sisters.Their fathers want to send them to summer camp together. They want to refuse to go and when that fails, they determine not to talk to each other. … [Read more...]
Top Five Chapter Books I Read in 2020
At the beginning of each year, I make a list of books I read and loved in the previous year, and I always begin with the same disclaimer - these books were not necessarily published in 2020. They came my way in 2020, and so I read them.One thing that I'm doing differently this year, however, is that I'm not listing ten books for each category. Rather, I'm just compiling the books that got a five star rating from me in 2020. It works better for me this way! So, here goes - in the reverse order that I read them. Manya dreams of becoming a famous actor. And of course, it's never to early to prepare your Oscar acceptance speech, is it? So, she practises it, tweaking it here and there, adding a bit, making sure she thanks the right people and slyly brings notoriety to those who pull her down...The first step towards achieving her dream is the school play, an … [Read more...]
Half Brother
About a year ago, I read Kenneth Oppel's The Boundless. I did enjoy it, but it wasn't a book that wowed me. I read it, quite liked it and moved on. That's why Half Brother was not high on my list of books to read. I knew I would read it, but it sat on my shelf for a bit, while I read other books, including Nomad's Land and To Night Owl from Dogfish.And then, Half Brother made me sob the way only the best books can. Just like Pig Heart Boy, it raises all kinds of questions - about experiments on animals and human selfishness.Thirteen-year-old Ben's father is a behavioural scientist. He is convinced that chimps, being closest to humans, can be taught to use language to communicate. And he's determined to prove it. Ben's mother, who is doing her thesis on cross-fostering, is delighted with the experiment. They bring home and eight-day old chimpanzee, whom they call Zan, and begin … [Read more...]
To Night Owl From Dogfish
I love epistolary novels. I think I've always loved them; they intrigue me. Off the top of my head, I think about Dear Mrs Naidu, Ketchup Clouds, Daddy Long-Legs and The Night Diary, though I'm sure I'll think of several more by the time I finish writing this blog post.To Night Owl from Dogfish is right up there with the best of them. It's crazy, full of laugh-out-loud humour, and poignant (yes, I did cry over it). Dogfish, aka Bett, loves snooping on her father. She checks his email and discovers that he is in a relationship with Avery's father, Sam Bloom. In fact, the relationship is so serious that they want their daughters to get to know each other.Bett writes to Night Owl, aka Avery. It's a crisis. They don't want two families to become one! They're happy by themselves and determined to cast a spoke in their fathers' wheels.In the way of stories - and real life - … [Read more...]
The Sheep-Pig
A few months ago, one of my publishers, Mango Books, began a series of posts on social media about books authors read when they were young. The book I chose was The Sheep-Pig, a delightful chapter book by a favourite writer, Dick King-Smith.Dick King-Smith's stories are a treat. I loved The Sheep-Pig, the sequel Ace and so many more - Saddlebottom, A Mouse Called Wolf, The Hodgeheg ... Every time I went to the library, I would look out for his books, hoping to discover at least one more book I hadn't read.Why is this book part of my reading programme?Obviously, the first reason is that I love it. Here's what I said to Mango Books about it."The Sheep-Pig is a delightful story, and I'm so glad I read it as a child! The book left me with the feeling that anything is possible. More than that, I loved the idea that kindness and courtesy can help you achieve … [Read more...]