Last year, St. Mary's School had its first lit fest, and I was delighted to be part of it. Talking to starry-eyed children is an experience like no other, and that's why lit fests in school are special. After addressing the children who were gathered together in the hall, we visited a few classrooms, met the girls and looked at the work they had put together. It was good fun, and I wished I had more time with each child. In an hour, I could do no justice to 150 very different reading-related projects. Stories, 3-D projects, book reports, reviews ... These girls from classes I to III had them all! (Some very honestly told me, 'My father and I made this' or 'My mother did everything and I did the colouring'.) Many of the children I met are now in my Writers' Club, and I'm delighted to be working with them all year on their writing. They were excited to meet me again, … [Read more...]
Moin and the Monster
Moin and the Monster has been on my list of books to read for a long time, and I finally got around to reading it mainly because of the essay I did for The Curious Reader on "The Problem With Monster Stereotypes In Literature". Of course, it was impossible to read every book on monsters for a 1000-word essay, but finally, I had the perfect reason to put everything aside and read this one. It was excellent: deliciously funny and wholly unusual. I chuckled at Moin's uneasy relationship with a monster that is full of rules that it spouts all the time. Moin is, unfortunately, stuck with this monster who loves to sing, for one of the rules states that a monster must stay with the human who gives it shape by drawing it. From joining singing class so that he can justify the constant singing from his room to trying to explain away the disappearance of hundreds of bananas, … [Read more...]
Before We Were Free
All of us know stories of the Holocaust. Recently, I read something on social media that claimed that The Diary of a Young Girl is among the ten most widely read books in the world. Don't get me wrong; stories of the Holocaust are crucial. They teach us lessons that are horrifyingly relevant today. Yet, when we read stories about Germany, Hitler and the Jews to the exclusion of stories of horrors that have occurred - and continue to occur - in other parts of the world, we feed into the age-old problem of Eurocentricism. We need other stories so that we don't think of the Holocaust as one terrible period in history, which is over and done with. Before We Were Free is the story of a child living under a dictator in the Dominican Republic. Twelve-year-old Anita does not believe that she is not free. What does that even mean? She lives with her extended family and … [Read more...]
The 13-Storey Treehouse
Have you ever read a book that was not at all "your" kind of book, but you ended up enjoying it anyway? The 13-Storey Treehouse was exactly that, for me. It was a gentle reminder that I never know what my "kind" of book is until I read it. Why was it not my kind of book? Two reasons immediately come to mind. One, I don't like books with so many pictures unless they're picture books. Two, I often don't like the kind of humour we find in The 13-Storey Treehouse. Why did I pick it up? One huge reason: children love it. When I conducted workshops for the British Council's Big Friendly Read Reading Challenge, everyone's favourite book was The 13-Storey Treehouse. This was several years ago, but the number of children who said it was the best book in the collection made me remember the title and look out for it. Even when I picked it up, I … [Read more...]
The Explorer
With some writers, I feel I just cannot go wrong. Katherine Rundell is one of them. Sure, I like some books more than others, but at the end of each one, I find myself smiling, deeply contented. I didn't write about the first two books I read by Rundell (The Girl Savage and Rooftoppers), but I did review The Wolf Wilder, which was one of the top ten middle-grade books I read in 2018. The Explorer began slowly, just like The Wolf Wilder. I took a while to get into the story and feel for the characters - I even read another book in between. Yet, when I came back to The Explorer, I stayed, sucked into the secrets of the jungle. A six-seater plane crashes into the Amazon rainforest. The pilot dies, leaving four children who barely know one another. There's Lila, who is fiercely protective of her five-year-old brother Max. Then there's Con, who seems … [Read more...]
The Case of the Candy Bandit
There were so many things I liked about The Case of the Candy Bandit! For one, I enjoyed the fact that the Superlative Supersleuths were a pair of girls - aided (temporarily) by another girl. I liked the seriousness with which Rachita went about the business of being a detective, and I loved all the sprinklings of humour, particularly the outrageous hypotheses the girls came up with. Could the candy bandit be the counsellor conducting some sort of secret research experiment on the children? At Rachita and Aarti's school, to encourage the children to finish their lunch, the counsellor suggests that they be given a treat--which is to be denied if the children do not eat their lunch. One day, though, many of the treats disappear. And this happens not once, but a number of times. Aided (maybe ... somewhat ...) by the idea of the centre of gravity, Rachita must … [Read more...]
His Royal Whiskers
I giggled and gasped at how imaginative this crazy story is. Full of puns and clever humour, I chuckled at Empurrer Alexander, six-year-old prince who is turned into a cat by a young alchemist, Teresa. It could have been a CATastrophe; instead it was purrfect. I know lots of people would not recommend this book to children; I wonder whether I would have enjoyed it as a child, for there are parts that are gloomy, other parts that are gory, and still others that are gruesome. Yet, I enjoyed the book. Sam Gayton's imagination is incredible! The first book I read by him was Lilliput. I loved it, but somehow ended up writing just a one-line review. I later read The Snow Merchant, which I enjoyed too, though not as much. His Royal Whiskers was a roller-coaster ride for the imagination, with every twist and turn as plausible as the previous one, but as gasp-worthy. Teresa and Pieter … [Read more...]
Operation Eiffel Tower
Jack hates it when his parents row. He wants to hide away from all the shouting, crying and smashing of plates. It is no different for his little sister Ruby. When their parents fight downstairs, Ruby sneaks into Jack's room, afraid and anxious. Jack knows that somehow, he has to get his parents together again. They were in love once; what changed? Is it ... could it be ... that there are too many children? Are Lauren, Jack, Ruby and little Billy the real problem? Lauren and Jack, being the oldest, come up with a plan to get their parents together again, a plan called 'Operation Eiffel Tower'. Paris is the most romantic place in the world and Lauren's teen magazine tells her that dinner in Paris is guaranteed to bring the spark back into any relationship. The problem is that the children need to put together two hundred pounds to make it happen. Operation Eiffel Tower is the … [Read more...]
Karma Fights a Monster
Karma Tandin is a monster hunter, and he is determined to capitalise on it. With his friend Chimmi's help, he makes posters advertising his services. Among other things, he hopes to impress pretty Dawa, who, for whatever reason, continually seems disappointed in him. Unfortunately, the poster does not turn out very well; the photograph of him is awful. Additionally, his mother (incidentally one of my favourite characters in the story) notices that Karma has put his number wrong. So much for that. With this promising beginning, Karma embarks on his first adventure -- and I loved it. I enjoyed the story so much that I would go as far as to say Karma Fights a Monster is among the best middle-grade books I've read this year. The characters, the writing style, the wholly unique plot - everything was lovely. When I started reading it, I hoped there would be 'real' … [Read more...]
Catching Up – Reading
Picture books The thing about picture books is that I read so many delightful ones one after the other, particularly thanks to Storyweaver. I finish one, another is recommended to me and I read it ... And so, I don't end up writing about any of them! Here are a few that stayed with me. The Best House of All, written by Natasha Sharma and illustrated by Kaveri Gopalakrishnan, is a delightful read, with the best kind of protagonist of all - an enterprising little girl. I love the repetition and the illustrations, and I think the book is perfect to use in class too. The Grand Patch-up, written by Karthika G and illustrated by Tasneem Amiruddin is another lovely story, a story of friendship, quarrels and making up. Quarrels may be simple, but to the children involved, they're always silly. Sometimes, a little extra effort is required to make up after an argument - and … [Read more...]
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