A brand-new hOle book for a brand-new edition of my book club! Left-Out Paru is a book that struck a chord with me because even though I’m not left-handed, I’ve thought about lots of things designed for right-handed people. Scissors. Cameras. Desks. Here’s what we’ll do as we read this book by Bijal Vachharajani and Rajiv Eipe […]
Left-Out Paru
Why is the word left associated with so many negative things? Gauche in French, sinistra in Italian, and of course, phrases in English like being left out, having two left feet … I could go on and on because there are just so many examples—dextrous, adroit, being right are all corollaries of the same thing. […]
Puppy Trouble
Amit wants a puppy. He wants a puppy. He wants a puppy. He wants a puppy. But his parents refuse. For me, that was the hook. And thanks to my book clubs and the number of conversations we’ve had about wanting pets but not being allowed to get them, I know that this is practically […]
When Fairyland Lost Its Magic
We need more illustrated middle-grade books! I read When Fairyland Lots Its Magic on my way to Kolkata for the Junior Kolkata Literary Meet, and there was so much to love about it! The way Bijal Vachharajani plays with fairytales (like Gretel and Hansel), the comments about odd names (Little Red Riding Hood? Who names […]
Green Stuff and Nonsense
What a fun session we had on green writing with Bijal Vachharajani! In a single hour, we spoke of a million creatures from elephants to frogs, ferrets to spiders, lion-tailed macaques to slugs that aren’t slugs. Bijal’s workshop was a guest session at my writing programme. We’ve just reached the end of our poetry module, […]
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. People like Avi’s Aai who thinks Avi is so adorable that she wants to eat him. The problem is that Avi thinks she’s for real. […]