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 […]
The Boy Who Loved Birds
There’s something special about Lavanya Karthik’s Dreamers series. With so little, each book does so much! The Boy Who Loved Birds is about Salim Ali as a boy. What questions did he have? What led him to become a world-famous ornithologist? Like all the other books in the series, the illustrations in The Boy Who […]
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 […]
Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells
For the first time ever, we’re going to read one of my books at my book club! I am in equal parts nervous and excited. Yes, Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award. Yes, it’s been published both by Scholastic Asia and Scholastic India. Yes, it was shortlisted for the Singapore […]
The Adventures of Mooli and the Bully on Wheels
We’re rereading The Adventures of Mooli and the Bully on Wheels at my book club! The book features characters some of my book clubbers have read about before. We’ve read both The Adventures of Mooli and the Sticker Trickster and The Adventures of Mooli and the Blue-Legged Alien. It’s time to meet Mooli again! Mooli […]
Yikes! Bikes!
We had so much fun with The Reading Race a few months ago that I was sure I wanted to do another book from the Ready, Freddy! series sooner or later. Yikes! Bikes! is perfect. The animal shelter in Freddy’s town has organised a fundraiser, one that involves a Bike-a-thon. Max Sellars goads Freddy into making a bet with him, and […]
I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018
During my first two writing programmes in 2020-21, one participant (who wrote this poem) recommended the I Survived series. She spoke about it time and again, and somehow, I never ended up picking up a copy. In June this year, when I travelled to Nagpur for a set of workshops, I ran out of books to read, […]
A Cello on the Wall
War is a difficult subject to introduce to children, and I’m often unsure of whether it should be introduced at all. Yet, most children are exposed to so much media and are aware of so much that is happening around them that I think stories of hope are important. Yes, history is full of war. […]
The Shy Supergirl
When I launched my book club in December 2020, I began with a hOle book, Trouble with Magic by Asha Nehemiah, and somehow, that became a tradition. During each edition of my book club, the first book we read is a hOle book. This time, it’s Shabnam Minwalla’s The Shy Supergirl. The Shy Supergirl is such a lovely, […]
Two Hook Books
Somewhere between picture books and chapter books are the Hook Books, and books for this age-group are so important! One step up from the ‘Read It Yourself’ series, they are slightly more complex than picture books, but still have full-colour illustrations right through. I remember reading hundreds–well, dozens–of Noddy books at an age when I […]
Ritu Weds Chandni
I’ve been wanting to read Ritu Weds Chandni ever since I saw posts by Yali Books two years ago. It seemed like such an important book – a picture book about two women getting married! When I started reading it, however, I did so without reading the blurb. The book opens with little Ayesha getting […]
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 […]
Born Behind Bars
Just like Fish in a Tree and Counting by 7s, I got around to reading Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman thanks to the NLF Reading Challenge. There’s just so much lovely literature out there just waiting to be read! I was a little sceptical about reading Born Behind Bars, though. I’m not a fan […]
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 […]
Love That Dog
Last month, I had the opportunity to pitch a middle-grade verse novel to an editor, and as these things sometimes happen, the pitch turned into a conversation. We spoke about One and The Weight of Water (I prefer the first; the editor I was talking to prefers the second). I had not yet read Clap […]
Clap When You Land
A YA verse novel told from two points of view? Yes, please. And one with a secret at its core? Always. Clap When You Land was a stunning read, one that made my heart ache even as I rejoiced with all the women in the story who emerged triumphant, and stronger than ever. Yahaira, who […]
Ivy + Bean
Every so often, at my book club, I choose a popular, internationally loved book. We’ve read The Rise of the Earth Dragon, The Absent Author, The Sheep-Pig … and now, we’ll read Ivy + Bean. The enemies to friends trope is always fun. Ivy and Bean never meant to like each other. In fact, Bean is quite sure she has enough […]
The Great River Magic
The Great River Magic by Nandini Nayar is one of those books with a message, not usually an obvious choice for me to read at my book club. Yet, as I read this book, I was charmed by the premise. I love stories about families, family traditions, and the ways in which people follow or break […]
Petu Pumpkin – Tiffin Thief
We’ve read Bookasura and Koobandhee; we’re all set for yet another book by Arundhati Venkatesh – Petu Pumpkin: Tiffin Thief. Petu Pumpkin. Isn’t it a fun name? And doesn’t it seem apt that he would be a tiffin thief? The question is: what can his friends do about the fact that Pushkin aka Petu Pumpkin eats everyone’s food? They […]