Gobi Goes Viral by Vibha Batra is funny, heart-warming, and altogether believable. We’ve read and loved Kolam Kanna and Pinkoo Shergill at my book club, and I’m happy to introduce yet another book by the same writer to the children I meet. Here’s what we’ll do as we read this story!
Talent Show
How can we read a book about a talent show without having a talent show of our own? Over time, I’ve had children recite poetry, play musical instruments, draw and solve a Rubik’s Cube during our book club. It’s always lovely to see a side of children that I wouldn’t otherwise get to see if we stuck to just reading in class!
Viral
When we read Paati Goes Viral at my book club, we did a fun vocabulary activity, exploring how words come into being. We explored acronyms, verbing, and even made up words of our own. What does “going viral” mean? What other words do children think are of recent origin? Let’s play with words together!
Understanding Difference
There’s an eye-opening conversation between Pari and Gobi in the story; it’s a moment when Pari discovers just how different her life is from Gobi’s. As we read, we will explore differences and similarities. What makes us different from one another? What makes us similar? What differences do we notice easily, and what differences do we ignore?
Join my book club!
Leave a Reply