New characters, new stories and comics - today's session at JustBooks Baner was lovely!During the ice-breaker, I met all kinds of new characters. I usually encounter only Geronimo Stilton, Thea, Greg and Harry Potter. Today, I met Xan, Rafe and Joe, whom I don't know at all! And I was also delighted to find the charming Fantastic Mr Fox, Small Fox, Matilda, Bella, Arjun and Chota Bheem ... It was so much fun!Working with listening exercises brought music to the workshop, and then, before I knew it, the morning was over!A note to parents who read this: don't send your children for a workshop if they don't fit into the age bracket! They feel horribly left out! They can't cope; they feel inferior - don't put them through that! … [Read more...]
Fortunately-Unfortunately
Option 1 "I am going to meet a monster today." "Fortunately, it doesn't bite." "Unfortunately, that means it will just gobble you up."Option 2 "I jumped into the swimming-pool today." "Fortunately, the pool was heated." "Unfortunately, I cannot swim." "Fortunately, it was not deep."Which beginning do you find more entertaining? I was very surprised to find that many, many girls at the Writers' Club find the second story more promising. I would choose the first, any day.How does this activity work? It's a hugely entertaining one, which I learned from the book Creating Stories with Children by Andrew Wright. Someone begins the story, and then each of the other participants must contribute one sentence, alternating between beginning with 'Fortunately' and 'Unfortunately'. It helps to introduce the idea of plotting and the wonder of surprising the reader. … [Read more...]
I love limericks!
Limericks are fun! Very often, during a short session on creative writing, we work with limericks. They're good fun, sparking much conversation and laughter. Many, many children love limericks too - one of my students even wrote a short story in limericks, which is part of Flickering Flames - An Anthology of Poems and Short Stories. But that one deserves a post on its own, so I'll come to it some other time.Recently, we were talking about limericks at a workshop for 7 to 10-year-olds. One girl wanted to share a limerick she knew by heart, so she did. It's a famous one by Edward Lear, which may be familiar to many. There was an old man with a beard, Who said, "It is just as I feared— Two owls and a hen, Four larks and a wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!" Very often, though, in a workshop that has a widish age-group of children, I need to … [Read more...]
Reading Challenge at Clover Dale, Aurangabad
I put a ten-rupee coin into the bubblegum machine Soon, bubblegums flew out and hit my head! For a moment, I wondered; then I realised That I'd put a hundred-rupee coin into the machine instead! - adapted from a poem written in about seven minutes by one of the participants at yesterday's workshop.* *If anyone who reads this knows the name of the writer, please share it in the comments below!I love the Reading Challenge, and The Big Friendly Read is among my favourite themes."Could you name a book you enjoyed?" I asked. "Grrr," replied a serious-faced young participant. For a moment, there was silence; then everyone burst out laughing. "I've read it too!" cried one. "Me too!" "Me too!" "I liked No!" said another. "No!"Laughter and madness go hand-in-hand when we explore Roald Dahl, a range of other stories in the collection, and Sir Quentin … [Read more...]
Vidya Valley Literature Festival
If you think children don't find reading interesting anymore, think again. At Vidya Valley School's Literature Festival, it was absolutely delightful to see children running around, roaring with excitement, thrilled to bits with the very idea of a lit fest! This was my second year at the festival, and it was even better than the first.I was asked to talk about my railway adventures to class V, and the experience was invigorating. I was astounded by the number of children who knew how bullet trains run. I didn't know a thing until I began this project! "Magnets," many said, quite coolly. Still others said, even more comfortably, "Mag-lev - magnetic levitation."When I read out an excerpt from The Toy Train, I realised that bullet trains, being new and exciting aren't the only things that are familiar to the children. They knew about the steam engine and the toy trains in … [Read more...]
Creative Writing Workshop at The Story Station
Every time I work with children, I realise how much I enjoy it! They are much more imaginative than others, and much less inhibited. When The Story Station asked me to conduct a writing session with children over the age of eight, I knew it would be fun.For me, the highlight of the session was the story "The Dictionary" from my The Story-Catcher. It's not the first time I'm working with this story, but it's fun each time. I told the story of ten-year-old Sana, off to visit her grandparents for her holidays. In her favourite room at her grandparents' place, the library, she discovers an old, old dictionary, in which she finds three letters. The first is from her great-grandfather, the second is from her grandfather, and the third is from her mother. They all begin with 'Dear Reader'. Charmed, Sana begins to write a letter of her own.At this point, I ask the children … [Read more...]
The author in you
The Story Station turns two!The Story Station is a reading centre in Aundh, Pune, where adults and children can discover the love of books. A space that's always bursting with energy, it hosts all kinds of activities, revolving around reading, storytelling and creative writing.I'm delighted to be part of their birthday week fest. 'The author in you' is a creative writing workshop that I will be conducting this Sunday for children over the age of eight. See you there! … [Read more...]
Reflections: AFCC 2017
The first two days of the Asian Festival of Children' Content were the highlights for me, but sessions here and there stood out too. On the first day of the teachers' congress, I attended a lovely session on reading and empathy conducted by Maria Alessandrino. More than the first half of the session, I thoroughly enjoyed the second half, where we went through all kinds of books that build empathy in the reader. I have a whole new list of books that I am waiting to get my hands on. I ended up buying just one of the books Maria recommended - Where's Grandma? - and I loved it!Here are a few others I want to read ... ... I could go on and on and on!Another session I loved was Elaine Fong's talk on reading in the digital age. Much of what she said does not apply to me in my reading programmes because we don't have a public library system in … [Read more...]
Reflections: Day Two at AFCC 2017
This is probably the only time in my life when I signed a contract, committing to playing Illustrationary, the AFCC version of Pictionary, at a certain date and time. But when have I not enjoyed a game of Pictionary? I'm getting ahead of myself, though, because the highlight of the day was my book launch!This charming little place called My Treehouse was where I launched Bholu and the Smart Card, the fifth in my series of railway adventures for young readers.I began with a Connect the Dots activity, which everyone loved, much to my delight. I enjoyed it too, and was thrilled to see people from so many different countries come together there. Indonesia, Australia, Kenya, Singapore ... It was so exciting! The challenge, though, was that I had a slot at the same time as the launch of the winning Scholastic picture books, so I did not have as large an audience … [Read more...]
Reflections: Day One at AFCC 2017
When I went for the Asian Festival of Children's Content last year, I wondered when - and whether - I would go again. Yes, it was a wonderful experience, but Singapore ... Again ... Expensive, and all that. But my paper 'Writing about Us' was accepted through the call for entries and then, how could I not go?I began by attending a lively session on taking self-promotion back by Amy Ng. I particularly enjoyed the section on how not to write a query letter (and was mightily relieved to find that I've never written one of those!). She spoke about fairly familiar ideas, though, so it was more about reinforcement than learning something new. The big take-away was important, as always - don't network for the sake of networking! That's when it feels icky and forced!Petra Nagyová Džerengová's session on death, divorce and other difficult topics was lovely too. What struck … [Read more...]