The year 2023 was remarkably kind to me as an author. It was a year full of lit fests, school visits, and, most importantly, new stories! Uncontrollable What can I say about Uncontrollable, my first verse novel? ‘Addictive.”Unputdownable.”Ambitious and original.’I keep going back and reading all these heart-warming emails I’ve received about it.Yes, it is ambitious. […]
My Favourite Late Middle-Grade and Young Adult Books from 2023
As usual, I begin my list of favourite young adult books wishing I had read more YA last year. Yes, I loved these books, but once more, I hope to read more young adult in 2024! Schooled Schooled is such a delightful read, featuring a quirky, fun character. I read many negative reviews about the book, […]
My Favourite Middle-Grade Books from 2023
It’s only when I began writing this post that I noticed that most (six out of seven) of my favourite middle-grade reads from 2023 have blue covers! How odd! I made a conscious effort to read more middle-grade books this year, also because I want to write more middle grade. It’s an age-group I enjoy […]
The Losers Club
We’ve loved books by Andrew Clements at my book club. Of course, Frindle is a favourite, but About Average was fun too. The Losers Club, which I read about a month ago, came as a recommendation from a parent, and it was quite a lovely choice. A book about books–what’s not to love about it? […]
Schooled
I stumbled upon Schooled by Gordon Korman by chance and read it in one sitting. What a lovely, fun book, full of unexpected twists and turns! Capricorn Andersen (Cap for short) has spent all his life at Garland Farm, homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Rain. When Rain falls off a tree, Cap is launched into […]
Gathering Blue
Gathering Blue opens with an unknown character in an unknown world. Sure, it is a dystopian world, but I found myself wondering, isn’t this the second book in The Giver quartet? I even went back to check that I hadn’t started reading the wrong book by mistake. I hadn’t. Yet, there were no overlapping characters […]
The Giver
Teaching creative writing is always eye-opening. Over time, we’ve worked with mythopoeia, dystopia, fantasy, adventure, and mystery, requiring us to come up with all kinds of mentor texts and examples. During the April to June 2023 edition of the programme, somehow, we kept coming back to The Giver by Lois Lowry, a book I had […]
The Wild Robot
Reading The Wild Robot with one of my book clubbers was quite the experience. ‘Do you think a robot can experience emotions?’ I asked.‘Yes,’ came the confident reply, which took me by surprise.‘Why would you say that?’‘Because it’s artificial intelligence, which learns. If it can learn other things, why can’t it learn to experience emotion?’ […]
Postcard from the Lushai Brigade
What a beautiful addition to the Songs of Freedom series! Reminiscent of Private Peaceful although for a younger audience, Postcard from the Lushai Brigade is the story of a pair of brothers. And just like Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful, it is told from the point of view of a younger brother who idolises the elder, […]
Who’s Afraid of a Giant Wheel?
I remember reading and enjoying Simply Nanju some five years ago. Who’s Afraid of a Giant Wheel?, also by Zainab Sulaiman, is even better. It’s the kind of story that made me wonder what draws me into a book. Is there adventure? No. Mystery? Also no. But did I enjoy the book?Very much. In fact, […]
Ramanujan
What did I like most about Ramanujan?The chapter numbers! Each one is a mathematical problem that uses the chapter number and mathematical operators in such a way that the solution to the problem is, again, the chapter number. That sounds much more complicated than it is, but take a look: Do you see what I […]
A Chera Adventure
I’ve been intrigued by the Girls of India series for a while, but I hadn’t read any of the books in the series until Penguin sent me A Chera Adventure to review. I enjoy historical fiction. And middle-grade historical fiction set in south India? I can’t think of a single example of a book that […]
The Train to Tanjore
It’s 1942 in Tanjore, and Thambi wants to know more about the Quit India movement. Encouraged by his father, he visits the library regularly to scour the newspapers. But there’s precious little in the papers about anything except the war raging in Europe. Thambi wants to know about Gandhiji and the other freedom fighters! Not […]
Misfit Madhu
I wish I’d known that author Divya Anand would be at the Neev Literature Festival; I would have taken my copy of Misfit Madhu along for her to sign! Misfit Madhu is a lovely book – an easy, engaging read that kept me hooked. Madhu is usually invisible. If anyone notices her, it’s only to […]
Nadya
Nadya’s family is perfect, or so it seems. It’s full of laughter and fun, and she knows that no matter where she is, her father will find her. But one day, things don’t seem so perfect anymore. Eventually, Nadya’s father tells her that he’s going away. He promises he’ll be back soon, but that’s a […]
A Conspiracy in Calcutta
A Conspiracy in Calcutta is the third book I’ve read from the Songs of Freedom series, and it’s my favourite so far! For one, Calcutta is a city that is close to my heart. I spent just a couple of years there, but they were important, full years. More than the setting, though (unlike with […]
The Best At It
Rahul Kapoor wants to be the best at it. The best at what? Honestly, anything. Football, acting … anything except Maths. He doesn’t want to fit into the stereotype of the nerdy American Indian. In fact, he wants as little to do with his Indianness as possible. For instance, he doesn’t want to be part […]
That Year at Manikoil
I couldn’t have read That Year at Manikoil on a better day if I’d planned it. I don’t even remember how long ago I bought my copy, but it was today, Independence Day, that I sat down with it. And it was only when I was close to finishing it that I realised what an […]
Fish in a Tree
Just like with Counting in 7s, I ended up reading Fish in a Tree because of the Neev Literature Festival Reading Challenge. I loved listening to Lynda Mullaly Hunt speak. She left me with so much to think about, both as a writer and as a reader. I’d read nothing she’d written, so I made […]
The Chowpatty Cooking Club
Who didn’t want to be a freedom fighter while studying about the independence movement? I know I dreamt of being a heroine – just like Sakina in The Chowpatty Cooking Club. I would do something meaningful and brave. I would do whatever it took! But like Sakina, the question was what? Bursting with humour, innocence […]