It’s time to introduce another series to my book club – the Gulgul series! I wonder if the book is targeted at slightly younger readers than my book clubbers, but the number […]
Demystifying Publishing
One of the best things about my creative writing programmes is how much I learn on the way. For one, before each class, I research for hours. One hour of […]
The Adventures of Mooli and the Bully on Wheels
Just like the second book we’re reading this time, Yikes! Bikes!, The Adventures of Mooli and the Bully on Wheels features characters some of my book clubbers have read about before. In December […]
Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells
For the first time ever, we’re going to read one of my books at my book club! I am in equal parts nervous and excited. Yes, Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells was […]
Yikes! Bikes!
We had so much fun with The Reading Race a few months ago that I was sure I wanted to do another book from the Ready, Freddy! series sooner or later. Yikes! Bikes! is perfect. The […]
I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018
During my first two writing programmes in 2020-21, one participant (who wrote this poem) recommended the I Survived series. She spoke about it time and again, and somehow, I never ended up […]
A Cello on the Wall
War is a difficult subject to introduce to children, and I’m often unsure of whether it should be introduced at all. Yet, most children are exposed to so much media […]
The Shy Supergirl
When I launched my book club in December 2020, I began with a hOle book, Trouble with Magic by Asha Nehemiah, and somehow, that became a tradition. During each edition of […]
Help, My Aai Wants to Eat Me!
Yes, Help, My Aai Wants to Eat Me! is as mad and fun as it sounds. I know LOTS of people who express affection by saying they want to eat people up. […]
Ivy + Bean
Every so often, at my book club, I choose a popular, internationally loved book. We’ve read The Rise of the Earth Dragon, The Absent Author, The Sheep-Pig … and now, we’ll read Ivy + Bean. […]
Frindle
I read Frindle quite a long time ago, and it’s EXACTLY my kind of book. I didn’t end up reviewing it on my blog because I kept waiting for a time when […]
The Great River Magic
The Great River Magic by Nandini Nayar is one of those books with a message, not usually an obvious choice for me to read at my book club. Yet, as I […]
Petu Pumpkin – Tiffin Thief
We’ve read Bookasura and Koobandhee; we’re all set for yet another book by Arundhati Venkatesh – Petu Pumpkin: Tiffin Thief. Petu Pumpkin. Isn’t it a fun name? And doesn’t it seem apt that he […]
The Editor’s Perspective
The last guest session at this edition of my creative writing programme was with Daphne Lee, consulting editor at Scholastic Asia. It was everything I expected it to be – […]
Reflections: Day Three at AFCC 2022
Day three at AFCC 2022 was the whole reason I was there. Book launch day! Of course, that was the highlight of my day, so even though that did not […]
Reflections: Day Two at AFCC 2022
Day two at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content was on 27 May, but I caught up with all the sessions I wanted to just yesterday. I felt like I […]
The Art of Zines
We just had another rewarding guest session! Niloufer Wadia, an illustrator and Urban Sketcher, covered so much ground in one short hour with my creative writing programme – you can […]
Reflections: Day One at AFCC 2022
It’s been four years since I attended the Asian Festival of Children’s Content. 2016 – my collection of short stories (now published as Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells) was shortlisted for […]
My Grandmother’s Masterpiece
So often, we think of our grandparents simply as grandparents. We are the centre of the universe after all, aren’t we? But Nini discovers that there is more to her […]
The Mystery of the Suspicious Spices
Greetings from Somewhere is a popular series of chapter books, and when I chose The Mystery of the Suspicious Spices for my book club, I hadn’t yet read it yet. The book […]