We're rereading Spellbound by Nalini Sorensen at my book club next month!There are some books that simply must be read at a book club. They're full of possibility, bursting with ideas and imagination. When author Nalini Sorensen visited my online creative writing programme a few months ago, Spellbound was hot off the press, and the reviews I read promised that it would be be one of those books, a delight to work with. And I wasn't wrong. It is everything I expected it to be - a book that wants to be read and discussed.In Nalini Sorensen's story, all poor Prince Freddy was doing was chasing a beautiful butterfly. That's it. It was sheer bad luck that he ran into the witch Weyona, who took great delight in turning him into a frog. Yes, that's a little bit of The Frog Prince right there; it is a fairytale remix after all. But what will saving Prince Freddy involve? Is he going to get a good … [Read more...]
Lucky, It’s Summer!
A story told from the point of view of a Cocker Spaniel--what's not to love about it? As a book club read, Lucky, It's Summer! is perfect in so many ways. The lightheartedness of the story, the repetition, the in-built activities--everything about this book by Nalini Sorensen and Shamika Chaves promises to be fun! Besides, for many children who are part of my book club, it will be the summer holidays as we read the book, so what better time to enjoy it together? Speech Bubbles I often work with role-play at my book clubs and while some children instinctively understand how punctuation works for dialogue, others don't. An activity where children have to write what characters say in little speech bubbles is perfect for this. What exactly does each character say? Can we put the words into the appropriate speech bubbles? Point of … [Read more...]
Writing Stories with Nalini Sorensen
Guest sessions are full of fun! Yesterday, I went on not one, but several writing journeys with children's book author Nalini Sorensen. What did I take back from my journeys? Several things, actually!For one, I love Nalini's phrase 'story eyes'. Just like Nalini, the question I hear most often is 'where do you get your ideas from?' Nalini made us close our eyes and imagine an incredible experience. She took us on a journey to the top of Mount Everest, a journey that's unique, special.And then, she told use that we didn't need experiences like that to create stories. All we needed were our story eyes. Look around with story eyes, and even mundane events can become stories.Already, during my writing programme, children have been concerned about uniqueness. What if we copy someone else's story by mistake? Will we get into trouble? Isn't it possible for more than one person to … [Read more...]
Writing Stories with Nalini Sorensen
Each morning, among the first things I do is visit my creative writing forum. I love it. I love that every day, there are new pieces to read, all shared by young writers who are part of my online creative writing programme. I've done four sessions with one batch and three with another; it's time to bring a little more excitement in - a guest session!I spoke to author Nalini Sorensen, and we finalized things super quickly. I'm delighted to announce a one-hour writing workshop with this warm, lively, award-winning writer. While the event is free for those who have enrolled for my online programme, it's open to non-participants too, on payment of a registration fee.Edit: This event was held on the 19th of November. Look out for all workshop announcements on my blog, or on social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). To receive information about my reading and writing programmes … [Read more...]