Little Shambu is such fun! I read In the Bear's Den and Other Adventures of Little Shambu some time ago, and at my book club, we read the first book in the Little Shambu series earlier this year. Short stories are fun! I'm looking forward to reading more of this young animal lover's adventures with my book club! Dialogue Role play for dialogue reading is something that I repeat frequently at my book club. Paying attention to paragraph structure and punctuation, and understanding how we know who says what is an important step towards creating stories as the children grow older! Drawing an Animal When we read Ostrich Girl, we discovered that drawing an ostrich isn't actually very difficult. What about a bear? We'll draw a bear together and perhaps a couple of other animals too! Unscramble I know that unscrambling words … [Read more...]
Paati vs UNCLE
We're rereading Paati vs UNCLE by Meera Ganapathi at my book club! It is a delightful combination of funny and serious, action-driven and character-driven, making it a perfect book club read.Inju is all set for a quiet, boring holiday with his Paati. That's just the way he likes it. Unfortunately, from the moment he gets to Parijat Retirement Colony where his grandmother lives, he realises that it's going to be an exciting, adventurous holiday, not a quiet, boring one. It isn't what he wanted, but when his Paati is upset and angry, what can he do except take charge? Making Posters Inju makes a poster inviting people to join PAATI - People's Association Against Thieves International. Someone else puts up a poster about a missing parrot, Gangaram.Posters are always fun to make! What if you want to get people to adopt kittens in your society? And … [Read more...]
The Magic Finger
I typically shy away from very well-known books at my book club because I feel that children will come across these books through schools and bookshops anyway. But I've always loved Roald Dahl's work, and what is a book club for if not to spark the joy of reading? We've read Fantastic Mr Fox and Esio Trot. Next month, we'll read The Magic Finger! Anger While all of us might wish we had a magic finger to zap someone who makes us angry, that isn't practical, is it? What do you do when you're angry? What makes you angry? Superpowers Discussing superpowers is a great way to get creative. What superpowers would you like to have? What would you do with those superpowers?Taking this further, what superpowers would you need to solve specific problems that we see around us? Book Review With my book club for ages seven and … [Read more...]
The Great Escape
Each time Menaka Raman posted about The Great Escape events, she urged participants to bring a spoon.And then, when she autographed my copy, she wrote Spoontacular Varsha.How could I not be intrigued? What's the big deal about a spoon anyway?You have to read The Great Escape to find out, and that's why it's the first book we'll be reading at my book club in December. Sachit wants to escape from school. And the best thing about finding a friend is that you can lay devious plans together, and do your best not to get caught as you execute those plans. A fun, mad read, I think the best part of the book is the way it ends, but I'm not going to give that away! Spoons We'll do our spoon activity before we start reading The Great Escape. What I used to find (and perhaps still find) most exciting about a spoon is that you're upside-down in there! And … [Read more...]
The Best Idea of All
I'm always nervous about reading my books with my book club! I wonder if and when I'll get over that. We've read Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells, The Prophecy of Rasphora, Dhara's Revolution and Flipped, and now, we'll read The Best Idea of All.A story about festivals and the climate crisis, The Best Idea of All explores how children can and do find ways to make a difference. As I discovered through the many author events I did with The Best Idea of All, there's so much I can do with the book! And especially as my book club runs online, we can bring in elements that would be rather difficult to do at an in-person session - like making natural colours. Book Discussion What is the climate crisis? And what can we do about it? The cover of The Best Idea of All reveals what festival the story is about - Holi. But in the middle of the worst … [Read more...]
Dungeon Tales II
We're going to reread Dungeon Tales II by Venita Coelho at my book club! And thanks to the Neev Literature Festival, I have an autographed copy!Short stories work well with my book clubs, especially as we read just excerpts in class. Both volumes of Dungeon Tales were wonderfully received by the children, so I'm excited to read three more stories from this volume! Roman Numerals I loved Roman numerals as a child, and I always waited for the chance to use them. Letters that are actually numbers? Fascinating!We'll look at numbers, why the introduction of zero was important, and see how difficult it is to add XCIV and VI, for instance, while 94 + 6 is as easy as it gets! Structure Stories within a story within a story - I love the idea! What unique structures have writers played with? Is it possible for us to write a story using chat … [Read more...]
The Talking T-Rex
We've read two books from the A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy; we're all set to read another!Before picking up The Talking T-Rex, I wondered whether it would be a scary book--that's what the cover leads us to believe. But it's not! We know from the very beginning that the T-rex is a machine; in fact, we first see it before it is assembled. The mystery revolves around the T-rex, yes, but it's about who stole money from the T-rex's belly. It isn't about a T-rex going rogue! And the simplicity of the story makes it a perfect book club read. Inventions A talking t-rex is an exciting invention! If you could invent anything at all, what would you create and why? How would it work? Alliteration 'Alliteration' is a word that I introduce to my book club over and over again because it's such fun to play with! The Talking T-Rex. The Canary Caper. … [Read more...]
Just Harriet
Harriet isn't your typical protagonist. She lies, she's selfish, and she's often sulky and bad-tempered. Even as I read Just Harriet, I mulled over whether to introduce it to my book club. We've read and loved two books by Elana K. Arnold - A Boy Called Bat and Bat and the End of Everything - but this one's quite different. The protagonist is younger; she's just finished third grade. More, she behaves a lot younger; she's not the sophisticated child we often see around us. But doesn't that make her more real?The answer, to my mind, was yes. And that's why we're reading Just Harriet at my book club for ages nine at ten next month. Names Harriet is named after the protagonist of Harriet the Spy, but whenever grown-ups make the link, she's quick to say that she's "just Harriet". Names are important to all of us! What does your name mean? Who … [Read more...]
Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter
We need more books this length! Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter is perfect for my book club for so many reasons! For one, it's a book about agency and creating change, while also being a humorous read featuring familiar characters. For another, since it's just about a hundred pages long, we have enough time to read as well as do activities based on the book. Interviews Petu Pumpkin and his friends gather quite a crowd as they protest outside their school gates. This is a good prompt for us to explore how interviews worked. What questions would we ask an interviewee? Just like when we read Sita's Chitwan, I look forward to interesting interviews of my book clubbers! Campaign What would you campaign for? What makes you angry, and what do you feel is unjust?With Petu Pumpkin, we'll look at a few elements of a campaign from discussing … [Read more...]
Susie Will Not Speak
Susie Will Not Speak by Shruthi Rao was one of the first hOle books I read, and it remains one of my favourites. Jahan and Susie leap out of the pages - sparkling characters that make the story what it is.Susie has a lisp. How can she say even her own name without proclaiming her lisp to the world? There's just one solution. Susie will not speak. Ever. What can her best friend Jahan do? NOT Speaking What if you refuse to speak? How else can you communicate? We can use the chat box, charades, artwork, and even make up a sign language of our own. During our very first class, that's exactly what we'll do! Poems Bullies make up mean rhymes about Susie, but those rhymes don't even make sense. Surely, we can do better! We'll try to make up rhymes about ourselves - and they'll make sense too! Tongue Twisters A noise annoys an … [Read more...]