I read Shabnam Minwalla’s When Jiya Met Urmila at least two years ago. I can’t believe I didn’t review it on my blog! I think I was probably waiting to use it at my book club, which didn’t happen for several reasons. I think we’d read too many books by the same writer–Lucky Girl, The Shy Supergirl and Nimmi’s Dreadtastic Detective Days. Whatever the reason, I’m so glad I noticed the book on my shelf again when I was choosing my books for the April edition of my book club!
Peek and Seek
Just like Miss Nutty (aka Miss Rati), we’ll play Peek and Seek at the book club. Maybe I won’t ask the children to find a snail or a shoe flower. But I already have a list of things that we’ll try to find before our time runs out.
Super Similes
As I reread When Jiya Met Urmila, I loved all the unexpected ways in which Shabnam Minwalla uses words. It is foolish to count your flowers before they are plucked. Or the similes–teeth gleaming like butchers’ knives, moaning like a Martian with a sore throat, and dazed as a dead fish. What super similes can we come up with? How do we describe things, especially things that disgust or frighten us?
A Friend
Jiya and Urmila are as different as night and day … or maybe they aren’t. Through a guided writing activity, we will write a little bit about an imaginary friend who seems very different from us but turns out to be quite similar.
Join my book club!
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Do you know that we’ve read over 50 books at my book club for ages seven and eight alone? This is not counting books we’ve read more than once or books I’ve read with older readers!
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