I’m conducting a two-day reading workshop at Bengaluru! Highlights: >Read aloud >Act out a story >Develop a love for reading >Imagine and create >Play a vocabulary game >Learn about book-publishing >Understand what copyright is Age-group: 8-12 years Dates: 4th and 5th July, 2015 Time: 11 am to 1 pm Total duration: 4 hours Fee: Rs […]
Cauldron Spells
What happens when a foolish dragon falls into a cauldron and makes it too misshapen for it to function normally? What happens when the bottle of frogspell that you thought you were carrying turns out to be blueberries mixed with porridge? What happens when a young girl sets out to become a squire? Cauldron Spells was delightful, full of […]
The Indian in the Cupboard
I picked up The Indian in the Cupboard full of apprehension. For a long time, I have intended to read this book. Yet, I have realised of late that I have read so much modern writing that older writing seems dry and slow. 1980 is rather a long time ago, and I was not sure how much […]
Sea of Tears
The cover illustration of Sea of Tears was just lovely. The wake of a boat curving into a big ‘S’, a little girl looking out at the sea … It was a cover I could keep looking at. The book could have been better, though. I enjoyed much of it, but there were parts that left […]
Berlin Olympics
I picked up Berlin Olympics assuming it was about a real person. Sure, I expected historical fiction, but my knowledge of Olympic swimmers is not good enough to have known that Eleanor Rhys Davies is not a real person. In the beginning, I was disappointed. I don’t know why; I don’t know what I expected. Yet, as I […]
Storytelling at the British Council Library, Pune
Summer holidays are nearly over; here’s my last activity before school begins. This storytelling session is for the little ones at a venue I always love! Date: Sunday, 31 May 2015 Time: 3.00 to 4.00 pm Venue: British Council Library,Pune Overview: Stories are magical. When young children listen to stories, they develop into readers as they grow […]
Reading and Writing Workshop
I have one photograph with the children at Cedarwood!
Reading and Writing Workshop at Cedarwood
Half of my reading and writing workshop at Cedarwood is over, and I’ve finally convinced myself that I am not going to be taking any photographs. I keep intending to, and then I get so involved in everything we’re doing that somewhere along the line, I forget. We’ve done so much in the last few […]
Pippi in the South Seas
No, I have not yet Pippi Longstocking. Maybe I should apologise. In my defence, I have wanted to read it for very long. When I read Pippi in the South Seas, I realised why it’s so famous and why so many people love it so much. Pippi is a classic in a world of her own. She […]
Billy the Bird
Dick King-Smith is an author I love. Whenever I pick up a book by him, I do so with complete faith in the story. As usual, I was not disappointed. Billy the Bird is the story of a little child who becomes weightless when the moon is full, but can remember nothing of his nightly flights […]
Sovay
A book that promised to be exciting, I think the best thing I can say about Sovay is that the story made me curious enough to keep reading until I finished the book. As I turned page after page, though, I found myself skipping large sections of the book because I wanted to know how it would […]
The Truth about Leo
It’s unfair to compare any book with any other book, I know that. Yet, I could not resist comparing The Truth about Leo with Moon-Pie. The subject was similar – a dead mother and a drunk father. But Moon-Pie moved me in a way that The Truth about Leo did not. Leo spends each day covering up for his father Dr Rake. […]
Language and Literature Workshop, VPEMS
A hectic, lovely month came to an end with a heart-warming valedictory function and the last session with each of the nine batches I worked with at Vidya Pratishthan’s English Medium School. As usual, I got too involved with the workshop to take any photographs, but my mind is full of pictures. Children ran to me […]
Summer Camp – Cedarwood Afterschool
For all those who have been asking me whether I have any workshops planned for the summer … I’m doing four exciting weeks under the banner of the Cedarwood Afterschool Program at Magarpatta City. The modules I’m conducting include – – A five-day reading workshop for the age-group 7-12 – A five-day writing workshop for the […]
Session III – Language and Literature Workshop
A few photographs from Session III of the Language and Literature Workshop at Vidya Pratishthan’s English Medium School, Baramati.
Language and Literature Workshops
Each activity during the Language and Literature workshop revealed something new and delightful. The second session with nine batches of children at Vidya Pratishthan’s English Medium School, Baramati, is over! “What did you learn during today’s session?” I asked them. Promptly, a child responded, “We learned that there is so much to read! So many stories!”
Drama
Children love to act. All of us love to act, or Dumb Charades would not be such a popular game. One thing I stress during all my workshops is the importance of copyright. I insist that children don’t just rip images and articles off the internet, print them and use them. In keeping with that idea, I […]
Little Red Riding Hood
In the first session of a workshop, particularly one with a heavy name like “Language and Literature Workshop”, I like to start on a light note. Humour is a great place to begin, and I turn to an all-time favourite – Roald Dahl. This time, I chose five of my favourite poems – “The Crocodile”, “The Porcupine”, […]
Language and Literature Workshops in Schools
Moving on from reading workshops in libraries to Language and Literature Workshops in schools is a lovely step! Working with 250 children was a whole new experience for me …
Spellbound
Too much telling and too little showing. Never mind. I’ll read some more. This is strange and unbelievable. Never mind. I’ll read some more. That is exactly how I ventured into Spellbound. And before I knew it, I had finished reading it. Athene and Zach are opposites in every possible way. They just happen to be brother […]