The six months of the year when my writing programmes are on are almost impossibly busy. Add book launches, travel and literature fests to a busy season, and I’ve had barely any time to read! But in the midst of it all, I snatched snippets of time to read the gorgeous Hour of the Bees […]
Mahalaxmi Will Go to Mysore
I’ve been reading so many books that deal with RTE in one way or another! As a teacher trainer, I find that RTE is a conversation topic that some schools want to sweep under the carpet. Others test waters to find out where I stand. Still others are belligerent and self-righteous, even as they talk […]
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 […]
The Big Bad Fight
I just finished reading The Big Bad Fight written by Yamini Vijayan and illustrated by Kruttika Susarla, and what a lovely book it is! We all know what it is like to be an angry child. The injustice of a game like Snakes and Ladders! The unfairness of a sore loser! We get upset, angry […]
Kolam Kanna
October 2023 sees us reading another brand-new book, hot off the press! I read Kolam Kanna just about a month ago, and I loved it. What’s not to love about a kolam-drawing child with friends who stand up for him? Here’s what we’ll do as we read this book. Kolam Have you read Susheela’s Kolams? If we can, […]
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?’ […]
Dum Dum to the Rescue & Yet More Adventures of Little Shambu
I just finished reading book 3 of the Little Shambu series, and it’s just as enjoyable as the others! We meet all the familiar characters–Little Shambu and family, the dog Dum Dum, Little Shambu’s neighbour Shanti, the class bully JJ–as well as several new characters with names that made me chuckle. The drama teacher, for […]
Kolam Kanna
I’ve read two books by Vibha Batra in less than a month, and I’ve loved them both! So many things about Kolam Kanna were utterly delightful that this review deserves to be in bullet points, highlighting everything I loved about it. The name Bharathi! The moment I learned that Bharathi is a boy’s name in […]
In the Bear’s Den & More Adventures of Little Shambu
Life is never humdrum with Little Shambu around, and I loved this next set of adventures too! I remember reading about how the non-violence policy of Shikari Shambu ensured that he never fired a single shot. In fact, he is more a forest ranger than a hunter, and these stories about Little Shambu set the […]
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, […]
Strangus Derangus and Other Adventures of Little Shambu
Much of my childhood was spent surrounded by Enid Blytons and Roald Dahls, Dick King-Smiths and Allen Frewin Joneses. But Tinkle stayed a favourite. I never got drawn to Chandamama or even Amar Chitra Katha mythology the way I was drawn to Tinkle. My grandfather subscribed to the magazine, and every so often, he would […]
Gobi Goes Viral
Gopi compares everybody around him to a vegetable. His world comprises a capsicum, a carrot, a tomato, a sweet potato … The problem, of course, is that the moment he talks about it, he becomes Gobi, or worse, Fool Gobi. Trying to tell the bullies in class that it isn’t Fool, but Phool doesn’t help. […]
The Paper Plane Flew
Don’t you love stories that come full circle? As an adult reader, I was waiting to see how the paper plane that flew would come all the way back to Mithi because it had to, didn’t it? Even so, the last line of the story delighted me. Yes, I expected the last line to be […]
Trunk Call for Ajju
There’s something special about animal stories for children. I’ve never had a pet and I’ve never worked with animals, yet I remember devouring books like the Animal Ark series. There were dozens of others too – Saddle Club, every Dick King-Smith book I could lay my hands on, stories about dolphins, whales, dogs … Something […]
Zen
What a book. I’m not sure I know how to begin reviewing a book as mighty as Shabnam Minwalla’s Zen. It is such a compelling read that even though it’s over 600 pages long, I chose to carry it with me when I travelled, instead of carrying my Kindle the way I usually do. How […]
Read, Write, Race
Over two years ago, we read Hungry to Read by Arti Sonthalia at my book club. The children thoroughly enjoyed the story, and the book discussion was completely different from what I expected. I thought we would talk about stereotypes and about how judging reading speed isn’t ideal … but none of that happened. Instead, the […]
Fortunately, the Milk …
Some time ago, we read Help, My Aai Wants to Eat Me! at my book club. As planned, one of the things we did as we read the book was to make a list of pros and cons, like the protagonist Avi. Look at some of what we discussed. Out of all these ideas the last […]
Terminal 3
When I learned that Debasmita Dasgupta had another graphic novel out, I knew I had to read it. Nadya, which I read several months ago, was a stunning read that effortlessly brought together pithy text and bold illustrations. Visually, Terminal 3 was just as compelling. The colour palettes were gorgeous, and I love that the […]