SIXTEEN middle-grade books stood out to me last year! When I looked at my list, I did a quick count of how many books I read in all. I lost count at sixty! Of course, that includes picture books and chapter books that make for quicker reads. Here's my list, beginning with the books I gave five stars and then moving to those with 4.5. Willodeen What can one say about Katherine Applegate's writing that hasn't been said before? Willodeen is a stunning book, richly textured and beautifully detailed. It's a work of fantasy that brilliantly touches upon ideas and themes that are relevant to our very real world. Through hummingbears and screechers, she shows us what havoc we're wreaking on the world around us. Book review Gossamer Gossamer by Lois Lowry is another gorgeous book. I often find myself thinking that I … [Read more...]
The Space We’re In
Have you ever read a review that describes a book as being “full of heart”? Katya Balen’s The Space We’re In is exactly that–a book full of heart. It bursts with love and emotion, raw and authentic. And the voice? Perfect.Ten-year-old Frank sometimes resents his brother Max. Max has changed everything with his humming and hand flapping and his meltdowns. (Frank has no idea why they’re called meltdowns, though, because there’s no melting in that rigid, furious body.) His mother has no time to paint, and she looks tired all the time.And yet, when Frank hates Max, he feels a surge of guilt, of shame. Because there’s so much to love about his little brother, about the way he shines with happiness and the way you never need to wonder what he’s feeling or thinking because he has no artifice.The Space We’re In navigates Frank’s feelings, and right through the book, I love that the … [Read more...]
My Year in Writing: 2022
What can I say about a year when I FINALLY managed to take my books to audiences? At lit fests in Gurugram, Vadodara, Jaipur and Pune, I shared my books, interacted with children, and did school visits once more. Almost all through 2022, I was on a high!And yet, the true highlight of the year as a writer was the publication of a book I started writing in 2015, after I visited the beautiful forests of Nagzira. Red EyesRed Eyes is an environmental thriller, and it is one of the very few books I've written that was never rejected. I started writing it in 2015, but I'm what they call a pantser. I muddle about, writing what I can, letting the story take the lead. So, in the beginning, I had nothing but an assortment of tales told to us by guides we met in Nagzira and Tadoba.Guide tales? Interesting, sure, but I wanted more. So I started putting them all together in a story told … [Read more...]
My Favourite Late Middle-Grade and Young Adult Books from 2022
I just looked back at the post where I listed my favourite young adult books from 2021. When I wrote that, I resolved to read more YA in 2022. And that didn't happen. In fact, I read fewer. Just one of the three books on this list is a YA book; the other two would be classified better as late middle-grade. The reason I include them here rather than on my MG list is that I know I would have enjoyed them more as a young adult than as a middle-grader! Clap When You LandI love it when I chance upon a book that I've never heard of and love it! I was scrolling through recommended reads on Kindle Unlimited, and I came across Clap When You Land. It had nearly 5,000 ratings. That was all I looked at before I downloaded and read it.And I loved it. Verse novels, when well done, are brilliant. I love their sparseness - no beating around the bush, no unnecessary details, just … [Read more...]
My Favourite Middle-Grade Books from 2022
I read and loved so many middle-grade books in 2022! While some of these are early middle-grade books (I've read four of them with my book club for ages nine and ten), others are for ages ten and above. When I review a book, I usually indicate what age-group I think it is suited to, but do remember that reading levels vary widely! Secret Friends Secret Friends is heartbreaking, and that's the only reason I haven't introduced it to my book club. I meet children just twice a week, and online at that, so it's tough to see how affected a child is by a book. With my regulars, I know I can introduce a book like this as long as I include a trigger-warning. With newcomers, not really.Secret Friends is about the need to fit in, and about how we are willing to go to any lengths to belong. The problem is - how far can a child go? Read a … [Read more...]
January Reads
In December, I visited a books by weight sale, and I couldn't resist picking up seven books that were in near-mint condition! I couldn't finish one, but I read the other six, some of which I quite enjoyed, and others that I loved. Here they are, listed in an unusual way for me - from the one I enjoyed least to the one I enjoyed most. 3.5/5 Fan Fiction, Feminist, Ages 10+I enjoy reading spin-offs of classics. Off the top of my head, the ones that come to mind are Wide Sargasso Sea, Wishing for Tomorrow and Lilliput, though I'm sure there are many more that I've read and loved.Hook's Daughter was the first Peter Pan spin-off I've read! After I finished reading it, I learned that it is the first of a series of revenge stories by Heidi Schulz, but it works well as a standalone story too. Captain Hook doesn't … [Read more...]
My Favourite Middle-Grade Books from 2021
I didn't read as many middle-grade books as usual in 2021, something I hope to remedy in 2022. Of those that I read, however, these six stood out. The first two are early middle-grade books, while the other four are for more advanced readers. Roughly, I would set the age-group for all six as 9-12. As with my favourite chapter books, I've included only those that I read for the first time last year, not well-loved rereads! The Golden EagleThe Golden Eagle by Deepak Dalal is a gorgeous book, with stunning illustrations by Krishna Bala Shenoi and a thrilling story to keep us hooked. One of the children at my book club told me it is his favourite read so far!The white-headed squirrel Shikar wants to know about his parents, about where he came from and how he came to make friends with the birds. And so, Lovey and Dovey set out to tell him a story, the story of the golden … [Read more...]
Top Nine Middle Grade Books I Read in 2020
I love middle grade reads, so this is my longest list this year. In no particular order, here are the books to which I gave a five-star rating in 2020.This is a book for keeps.More often than not, in India, books that address homosexuality are categorised as young adult or adult books, but with this book more than any others before, I disagree. To Night Owl from Dogfish is clearly a middle grade book. The characters, the themes, the tone - everything, for me, is middle grade. Avery and Bett learn that their dads are going to get married, and they start exchanging emails, laying plans to ensure that they don't get to know each other. They don't want two families to become one, thank you very much. They don't want to become sisters.Their fathers want to send them to summer camp together. They want to refuse to go and when that fails, they determine not to talk to each other. … [Read more...]
Welcome to Nowhere
When I read books like Welcome to Nowhere, part of me reads with a sinking heart for I realise that I don't have the courage to tell stories like this. Yes, I do know that every story matters and each one has a role to play, but powerful books like this are in a class of their own.Elizabeth Laird's books are exceptional. Look at Oranges in No Man's Land, set in Lebanon, or The Witching Hour, a wonderful work of historical fiction. Then there's the wonderful YA book Red Sky in the Morning and the very different Paradise End.Welcome to Nowhere is set in war-torn Syria and told from the point of view of twelve-year-old Omar, an enterprising youngster with dreams of becoming a big businessman. He's smart, friendly and confident, so the stage is set for him to achieve his dreams.Except that civil war breaks out. Omar has always been advised not to talk about politics, but it … [Read more...]
The Misfits
The story of how I got my hands on The Misfits is a tale in itself. I ordered it during the Zubaan Women's Day sale, and it was dispatched about a week later. With the lockdown and then Nisarga, it never came. There was no way to track it and quite honestly, I didn't try very much. It was too tiny a problem to worry about when it felt like the world was collapsing around us. I just gave up, figuring that I would order the book again some other time.And then, out of the blue, on the 14th of June, a little over 3 months after I placed my order, I got a call from a courier company saying my parcel was at the gate. The cardboard cover was slightly worse for wear, but my books were intact!And I loved The Misfits. It was perfect in so many ways. It's the story of very real children in a very real school. We see two misfits in particular: one who tries to belong and one who realises that … [Read more...]