The Canary Caper
It’s been 25 years since The Canary Caper was published, and it’s still such a joy to read! We read the first of the A to Z Mysteries, The Absent Author, in April 2021. When I met the some of the same children again in June, several of them were devouring the rest of the series. I’m now looking forward to introducing the series to a new set of enthusiastic 7- and 8-year-olds!
As I read The Canary Caper, I was struck by many little details. On the one hand, I was upset about the animals in the circus. Of course, this is something we will discuss at my book club–animal rights. On the other hand, I was delighted that Ruth Rose pooh-poohs the idea of becoming a car salesman because she wants to be President! And then, she rubs it in by adding that it’s saleswoman, not salesman. Reading the book with my book club is going to be such a delight!
Alliteration
An activity always accompanies the introduction of the word ‘alliteration’ to my book club! The A to Z Mysteries all have alliterative titles. How many others can we think of? If we had to create an alliterative book title with our own names, how would we do it? And finally, can we take alliteration further to create a tongue twister?
Puzzles
A detective story is really a complex puzzle. The clues are in front of us; we just need to put them together to solve the mystery. This is the perfect way to introduce other puzzles – a code, a word search puzzle, and so much more!
Writing a Simple Detective Story
A detective story is arguably the most satisfying kind of story to read. Using a story worksheet, we’ll try to write a simple detective story of our own.
Join my book club!
An Alien in the Jam Factory
An Alien in the Jam Factory is such a fun read! A book that celebrates ideas is the best kind of book to read with children. The very first page is filled with doodles and ideas–like a jam slice, which is like a cheese slice that you can put straight into a sandwich. What else can we do as we read the book?
Food Ideas
Create your own wacky jam recipe! Scooter, the protagonist of An Alien in the Jam Factory, creates wasp-repelling jam, Brussels sprout jam, cherry bomb jam and more. What can we make? What kind of jam do the children at my book club think will be fun and delicious? Waiting to find out!
Alien
Creative writing is an integral part of my book club for ages nine and ten, so let’s imagine aliens of our own. If an alien landed in your balcony, what would you do? What problems would you face and how would you solve them? Would you be willing to go visit their planet with them?
Persuasive Writing
We worked with persuasive writing during my creative writing programme last year; it’s always fun. Scooter wants to convince his mother to let him keep a pet–this is a common argument children have with parents! What if you wanted a pet? How would you convince your parents to let you get one? What promises would you make?
Join a book club!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Trunk Call for Ajju
Even when I read and reviewed Trunk Call for Ajju in June 2023, I knew it would be one of my book club reads soon enough. A book about children and animals always holds a special place in my heart, and elephants are extra special. Here’s what we’ll do as we read the book.
Money-Making Ideas
Children’s business ideas are fascinating! If you had to raise money for a cause you believed in, what would you do? How do you think you could make money?
Just like Making Millions and Amelia Bedelia Means Business, Trunk Call for Ajju is the perfect book to explore entrepreneurship!
Talent Show
Ajju and his best friend Karthik take part in a talent competition that they’re determined to win. What would you do to win a talent show? In the past, at my book clubs, we’ve had all kinds of performances – piano, solving Rubik’s cubes, the flute, recorder … It’s time to step out of our books and find out about one another’s talents again!
Animals
When we read A Very Naughty Dragon, I asked each child to tell me a little about an animal they love. I’ve done a similar activity with the children at my book club for older readers too, and I’ve learned about all kinds of creatures. Since this book is about an elephant in Zimbabwe, we’ll focus on African animals. What animals do we find in Africa? And in which country are these animals found? Let’s explore!
Join my book club!
When the World Went Dark
I read When the World Went Dark one year after our first lockdown. And I wondered about including it at my book club. Grief is deeply personal. No one feels the way you feel. It almost feels unfair when people do.
Even so, we do want to talk about our grief. Additionally, with any book, we take away what we want to take away from it. The lockdown, online classes and the fear of the virus are so real that I want children to read this, a book about their lived reality, one that acknowledges that not all adventures happen outdoors when we are free to run about and play.
Book Discussion
For When the World Went Dark, the discussion will lead the way. Children will want to talk about lockdown, loss, online school and more; I am sure of it. When the cook of one of the children at my book club caught covid, the child was so horrified he could not stop talking about it. And in all these months, I’ve met just ONE child who likes online school more than physical school! With a book like this, the conversation will lead itself.
Detective Stories
Swara, who is almost nine years old, shares a special relationship with her Pitter Paati. They find clues and solve mysteries together, so much so that Pitter Paati calls her Little Miss Marple. Unfamiliar with Agatha Christie’s detective, Swara checks that PP does not mean Little Miss Muffet, and eventually settles with Little Miss Marble.
What famous detectives do we know? From Sherlock Holmes to Poirot, the Secret Seven to the A to Z Mysteries, let’s discover what detective stories have in common before we write our own!
Puzzles and Clues
Swara wants her Pitter Paati to send her a clue, any clue that will help her find her missing grandmother. Because she cannot believe that Paati is gone. The girl hunts for clues everywhere – in the lights flashing in the picture hanging on the wall, in socks, in everything.
Solving puzzles based on clues is immensely satisfying! I love logic and logical puzzles myself, so I provide participants with a set of clues based on which they have to solve small mysteries of their own!
Join a book club!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
A Pinch of Magic
We’ve read Trouble with Magic at my book club; it’s time to read the sequel! A Pinch of Magic is a fun read, full of surprises. I read and reviewed the book some time ago, and I’m excited to be introducing it to my book clubbers. Here’s what we’ll do with it.
Innovative Address
One of the first things that made me chuckle as I read A Pinch of Magic was the Maha Guru’s highly accurate address. And this leads us to our first activity. How would you write your address if you did it in a similar fashion?
I love linking screen time with the world around us. Looking around them, I want the children to tell me: what tree is closest to them? What is the shape of tree near the gate? How tall is the tree at the end of the lane? Together, we’ll create an innovative address for each one of us!
Label Design
We thoroughly enjoyed creating different kinds of chocolate when we read The Chocolate Touch. We took it step by step, choosing our ingredients, creating a recipe, naming the product and pricing it.
With A Pinch of Magic, I want the children to take a name from the book – Simply-Dab Cavity Repair Gel or Baby-Soothing Gum Jelly – and design a label for it. I know the children will surprise me with their creativity!
Measurements
A book that is all about a broken pinching spoon is the perfect introduction to the idea of measuring tiny things. Drawing from a journal-writing activity I did at my writing programme recently, we’ll write a few details about ourselves, measuring as we go along. How long is your little fingernail? Do you have any scars? Measure them! Use a string and measure your knee. I’m waiting to do this with the children!
Join our book club!
The Diary as Story
In just a few weeks, yet another writing programme will come to an end! Yesterday was the third and last guest session of the season–a creative writing workshop with children’s book author Sowmya Rajendran.
I love it when guests reinforce something I’ve been talking about for a while. During yesterday’s session, it was ‘write what you know’. Of course, I do give children the opposite advice too–write what you don’t know–but the point, for me, is to bring stories into familiar contexts.
When Sowmya told us about how her book Mayil Will Not Be Quiet was born, she stressed that she and her co-author Niveditha Subramaniam wanted to write a book about being a child in India. What is it like to go to an Indian school? What sort of conversations do we have at home? This idea is well worth repeating, especially as most children continue to write stories about Michael and Felicity, who live in Massachusetts (which, of course, many cannot spell)!
Sowmya spoke about the importance of an authentic voice because finally, it’s the voice that will keep the reader invested in the story. Step by step, she led us through the process of making the diarist’s voice feel real. For one, we must have a clear idea of the character. For another, we need to look at the character’s social circle because naturally, a diary would be full of stories about people around this character.
From character and form to little quirks and doodles, Sowmya helped us make our epistolary story believable. It’s with conflict that a story really becomes a story, and that’s what we explored through yet another writing activity.
Just like that, we’ve had three rewarding guest sessions, creative thinking, and a lot of writing. The last writing programmes of the year with fourteen young writers are racing to an end!
Stories: Comic-Page Style
What a rewarding session we had with Nandita Basu! At workshops like this one, I think I learn as much as the young writers who sign up.
Step by step, Nandita led us through the creation of one page of narrative that brings together text and illustration in the style of a graphic novel. We launched straight into the workshop with an interesting prompt that made all of us think. We’ve all wronged someone at some point in our lives; there’s been a time when we were needlessly nasty to someone who didn’t deserve it. This formed the basis of the plot we went on to sketch over the next hour.
Layouts, structure, characters, setting, conflict, emotion … in a single hour, Nandita led us through the whole lot. How important is background when setting the context of our story? Is it all right to make stick figures rather than fully detailed characters? How large or small should the characters be in a given box?
Ten minutes at a time, Nandita led us through the creation of a one-page story. We created the setting and conflict first, and then moved on to emotion and the climax of the story.
Nandita urged us not to rush, but to take our time to finish. I’m waiting to see what the participants came up with!
Green Stuff and Nonsense
What a fun session we had on green writing with Bijal Vachharajani! In a single hour, we spoke of a million creatures from elephants to frogs, ferrets to spiders, lion-tailed macaques to slugs that aren’t slugs.
Bijal’s workshop was a guest session at my writing programme. We’ve just reached the end of our poetry module, so it was the perfect time to invite a guest to do a workshop for us, and I thought of Bijal because the Art is Everywhere series – which Bijal has co-authored – is one of my favourite sets of rhyming verse. I loved how she led us through the workshop yesterday, beginning with a free writing exercise for us to shed our inhibitions and get writing and then moving on to more structured writing.
In the central element of the workshop, Bijal showed us seven images (all taken by one of her co-authors Radha Rangarajan), and asked us to write two lines of poetry about each one. Here are the animals we wrote about:
- Jumping spider
- Asian elephant
- Baya weaver bird
- Lion-tailed macaque
- Bush frog
- Mudskipper
- Ghost crab
I loved what the children shared!
Guest sessions add a vibrancy to the writing programme. The best ones sparkle and stand out, making us excited to write again. The next guest session is already in the pipeline, and it promises to be just as much fun!
Kittu’s Very Mad Day
I remember meeting Harshikaa Udasi, author of Kittu’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Mad Day at a lit fest several years ago. I had read her book already, but unfortunately, I had a Kindle edition, so I couldn’t go up to her and get my copy signed. I told her that, and then, casually, a few days later, she texted me and asked me for my address. I sent it to her, and in a few days, I had a parcel at my door–my very own signed copy of the book!
It’s time to introduce this zany book to my book clubbers. Kittu is a more difficult read than the others in this time’s selection, but I’m quite certain that won’t make it any less enjoyable.
Being Lost
In the opening scene of Kittu’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Mad, Kittu is lost. Unlike most other children who are lost, however, he seems to think of it as some sort of adventure. This is the perfect moment for the children to share stories of times they thought they were lost, and what they did about it.
The World's Most Chaotic Family
Kittu may belong to the world’s most chaotic family, but our families can be quite chaotic too! Let’s explore just how chaotic. On the screen, I’ll invite each child to draw two interesting members of their family. What if all these people went on holiday together? Where would they go and what do the children think would happen?
Family Tree
Making a family tree might be challenging for a seven-year-old, but it’s still fun! We’ll try to make a simple one, writing down one sentence about each person on the tree.
Join my book club!
Unfair
I read Unfair quite some time ago, and what I loved most about it is how pacy it is. One chapter just rolls into the next, making it the perfect read for my book club.
From discussing themes to exploring narrative voices and structure, there’s so much I can do with a book like Unfair!
Discrimination
What does discrimination mean?
At my writing programme last year, we worked on writing persuasive speeches, and I was stunned by the kinds of things children write. Two children – one boy and one girl – chose to write about gender equality, and both speeches were powerful in their own ways.
Especially as my reading programme for ages nine and ten has an important creative writing element, we will begin with a discussion on discrimination, and move on to writing persuasive texts on the subject.
Narrative Voices
Unfair employs two narrative voices – Meher’s and Lina’s. How do writers choose a point of view to tell a story? What are the different kinds of narrative voices? We will do a short exercise on changing the narrative voice, exploring how a story changes based simply on who is telling it.
Auditions
I love bringing drama into my reading programmes. I’ve done it with very young children (like when we read Manya Learns to Roar), as well as with older ones. When children learn and recite poetry, they throw themselves into the act and make it a performance to remember!
A story about auditioning for a part in a play is perfect to explore a little bit of drama, elocution and performance!
Join a programme!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Earwig and the Witch
When I learned that Earwig and the Witch is a movie too, I debated a long time over whether to read it with my book club or not. Finally, I decided that whether the children I meet have watched the movie or not, we can read and enjoy the book together. In fact, those who’ve watched the movie will be able to compare book and movie, which is always an interesting exercise!
Vocabulary Brainstorm
Before we start reading Earwig and the Witch, we’ll do a quick written activity on word association. What words come to mind when you think of the word ‘orphanage’? How about ‘adopted’? ‘Witch’? ‘Spells’? Once we have a few ideas, we’ll get reading!
Horror and Fantasy
Horror is not a genre I work with often at my book club. In fact, it was after much hesitation that I introduced The School is Alive, and I’ve set aside several books that I know I would have found too scary to read as a child.
Yet, when horror and fantasy come together, there’s often a little thrill, as I know from the Creepy House reading challenge at the British Library. In groups we will explore themes, characters and ideas that are often associated with horror, and see whether we can write a little scary scene of our own.
Protagonists and Antagonists
Books which challenge the idea of the traditional hero of a story are always interesting. As we read Earwig and the Witch, we will try to create a character that is not necessarily loveable, but has spunk and can hold her own no matter who her adversary!
Come, read with us!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
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, we will read the story together. But whether we can or not, we will try to make a kolam in class. I remember being fascinated by kolams because of the geometry and patterns. I was never good at drawing, but I loved the idea of creating a simple but quite fancy-looking kolam all based on a framework of dots.
I’ve written about art integration before. It’s an important part of learning!
Themes
All too often, book club discussions follow the pattern of ‘what-do-you-think-of …’ This time, I would like the children to discuss what they think the themes of the book are. Will they talk about diversity? The class divide? Gender stereotypes? Without nudging them in a direction of my choice, I want to see where there conversation will go!
Dialogue Writing
I love the use of dialogue in Vibha Batra’s books! Using an excerpt from the book as our mentor text, we will explore dialogue writing, paying attention to both our choice of words and the structure of dialogue.
Come, read with us!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Moin and the Monster
I’m rereading Moin and the Monster with my book club! I read it in June 2021, and all those who read it with me are now too old to be part of Read, Write, Explore, so it’s time to introduce it to a fresh batch of children.
At my last creative writing programme, one of the children wrote a story about a pink 2D zombie the size of a pineapple coming to life. I immediately thought of Moin and the monster! How could I not? And I knew I had to read the book again.
Rhyme
Everyone loves rhyme. For me, the biggest problem with poetry that children write and send me is forced rhyme without a sense of rhythm. Sure, sometimes it works. Maybe. But most often, it does not.
When do we use rhyme and why? What kind of poems would you like to write? What kinds of poems do you read?
Beginning with a discussion, I hope to write a little poetry together.
Surprising the Reader
Quirky, humorous stories are difficult to write, but one place to begin is by surprising the reader. I love it when a story surprises a laugh out of me! What monster rules can we create to make readers laugh? How else can we bring in the element of surprise?
Through free writing activities and story worksheets, we’ll try to create that unexpected jolt which makes us chuckle.
Making a Drawing Come Alive
What if the last thing you drew came to life? What would we meet and what problems would you face with it?
Come, read with us!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Because of Winn-Dixie
Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie has been on my list of books to read for a l-o-n-g time. Yet, I didn’t get around to reading it until I thought of introducing it to my book club. And I’m so glad I did! It’s a gorgeous book. It’s the kind of book that makes your heart ache and swell with its sweetness and its gentleness.
India Opal’s mother left her father and her, and it’s because of Winn-Dixie, a dog she adopts at the spur of the moment, that she begins to come to terms with her loss. Not just that; all thanks to Winn-Dixie, she makes friends and learns what it means to be part of a community where everyone not only has a story to share and but also has ghosts that haunt their past.
I can’t wait to read it with my book club!
Vocabulary
Playing with words is always fun! I have three vocabulary activities in mind for Because of Winn-Dixie. One, before we start reading, we’ll do a word search puzzle and then string together some of the words to build a story of our own. Next, we’ll try to make a list of words we associate with dogs. And finally, we’ll do a crossword puzzle based on the book. There are so many resources available online; I hope to use at least some of them!
Ten Things
As Opal is ten years old, she asks her father to tell her ten things about her mother. What ten things would you tell us about a parent or best friend? Do you think they give us a clear picture of what the person is like?
Letter to Mom
There are so many writing activities we can do with Because of Winn-Dixie! One thing I would love to explore is to get into Opal’s character and write a letter to her mother about Winn-Dixie. What would Opal say? Writing a little about how she feels about each of her new friends would be a great way to begin!
Come, read with us!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
A Flamingo in My Garden
We’ve read Talon the Falcon, The Golden Eagle and The Paradise Flycatcher. How can we not read A Flamingo in My Garden?
The entire Feather Tales series is stunningly illustrated in full colour, and that is most certainly part of the charm. Like The Golden Eagle, A Flamingo in My Garden is a story within a story. Mitalee is delighted to see a flamingo in Rose Garden, and she watches as her favourite squirrel–whom she calls Snowdrop–and the birds chatter together. In that little circle of birds, the skybird Longtail tells the story of how Sunglow the flamingo found his way to Rose Garden. It’s a lovely story full of suspense and the universal theme of good versus evil.
Here’s what we will do as we read the book.
Words
The sea is called bigwater. Police-birds are skybirds. Terra-staan is the earth.
During author events on The Prophecy of Rasphora, I often do an activity where children make up Rasphoran words for various English words. Similarly, as we read A Flamingo in My Garden, we’ll make up words in a language of our own – not bird-language, perhaps, but perhaps pup-language or bug-language!
Bird Similes
We’ve worked on bird idioms several times; it’s time to work on bird similes. How many do we know? As wise as …? As happy as …? As proud as …? Let’s explore!
Freedom
Just like The Golden Eagle, A Flamingo in My Garden is a story about freedom. Especially as this is the first book we will be reading in August, it will be the perfect time to talk about independence and the freedom struggle. What does freedom mean to you? Can we work on a piece of guided writing based on the idea of freedom?
Come, read with us!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Art Workshop with Kripa
Each time a new writing programme begins, I feel it whizzes by. Twelve weeks are nearly over, and here we are, after our last guest session of the programme, an art workshop with art educator and children’s illustrator, Kripa. It was such a treat!
I’ve been looking at Kripa’s art for a while, and I love it. Her tea journal, her little dough babies, her city sketches … each picture she shares on social media is stunning. Art and writing go together, no matter how much I may say that I cannot draw at all, and that is why I invited Kripa to conduct an art workshop for us.
Watching all the children fill their pages with colour warmed me up. It’s a joy to watch them engage in the reflective experience of creating art, and I loved how Kripa guided them through it. The title of the workshop itself is lovely, isn’t it?
Purple sea and pink sky,
Nothing in art is a lie.
Kripa began by showing us her gorgeous artwork featuring the sky and the sea. Often, we restrict ourselves to traditional colours when we draw. The sky is blue, the sea is blue-green, and land is brown. Yesterday’s session was about experimenting with these colours, by using bold, unconventional colours to express ourselves.
I also loved Kripa’s first and most important rule: don’t erase. There are no mistakes! She asked the children to imagine that their eraser had fallen into the sea, or better, that the eraser had not been invented yet.
Beginning with a single horizontal line, Kripa taught them about positive space and negative space. Using non-traditional colours, the children explored mixed media to create seascapes of their own. Even as they worked, Kripa spoke about strokes, both for oil pastels and for poster colours, encouraging the children to create layers.
And voila! In an hour, each of the children had a work of art to show. I’m waiting for them to finish their pieces and send me pictures, but the little we saw was lovely too.
With that, another set of workshops comes to an end. But before I know it, October will be here, and I’ll be planning my next set of guest sessions …
Bookaroo Srinagar 2023
What can one say about a literature fest without being repetitive? Lit fests are special. They fill you up with energy and enthusiasm. They remind you of the joy of reading, writing, and stories.
And lit fests in beautiful spaces? They’re inspiring. Srinagar is lovely, and equally, Delhi Public School, which hosted Bookaroo, was charming. Look where I conducted both my sessions!
Over the last few years, I’ve been invited to several lit fests. Last year alone, I did events at lit fests in Vadodara, Gurugram, Jaipur and Pune, in addition to smaller ones at various schools in the country. I’ve shared pictures and anecdotes, and at the risk of repeating myself, I will say that lit fests always leave me on a high.
Yet, for a writer, lit fests are a means to an end. They’re a way for children to get to know about our stories. They help create some shelf space for our books at stores that are dominated by Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, the Famous Five, and Geronimo Stilton.
Of course, the author interactions themselves are lovely. It’s grand to address a full house and have dozens–sometimes hundreds–of enthusiastic children in the audience. But we are finally writers first. We want our stories to be read.
And that’s what makes Bookaroo truly special. The fact that there is a space for authors to be seen. Their books are celebrated, not just for the way they bring children together at an event, but for the way they bring children together through the stories themselves.
Authors are notoriously shy, and I fit into the stereotype perfectly. I don’t find it easy to ask the bookstore if they have my books. Nor am I comfortable checking with the festival director if they have a space for author signings.
At more than one lit fest I’ve been invited to, my books have not been available. Even when books are available and there’s a table for authors to sign books, I–and I know I’m not alone in this because of multiple conversations with fellow authors–often just stand around awkwardly wondering whether to sit because when we sit, we’re often mistaken for the cashier.
Smoothening the whole process makes the lit fest experience a treat. While you can never make someone buy a book, you can facilitate the process with volunteers who make announcements and guide writers to a desk with a name plate and a pen.
And that makes the whole process come full circle. You write a book, get it published, people find out about it through the event, and then finally, you write a little note and hand the book over to a reader, the one to whom the story finally belongs.
Bookaroo, thank you!
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 children talked of how much they loved the book.
For me, Read, Write, Race was a much more enjoyable read, but I can’t help wondering how this one will go with the book club!
Very recently, I realised that even older children are not familiar with dyslexia. This surprised me, as several schools I’ve worked with have encountered dyslexia and spoken to children about it. While I have no idea how old I was when I first encountered the word, I look forward to talking to the children about learning disabilities. With Read, Write, Race, we’ll follow Raghav’s journey, as he struggles to read and write like a neurotypical child.
Dyslexia
The protagonist of Read, Write Race, Raghav, is dyslexic. What does this mean? I’ll share a few dyslexia worksheets to help the children understand the term better, following which we’ll read a reverse poem about dyslexia and do a few unscrambling puzzles.
Book Discussion
How inclusive is your school? Do you have children who are hearing impaired, visually impaired, or wheelchair bound? What do you think would change if your class was inclusive?
This is a subject close to my heart. I think it is worth discussing the idea that accommodating people with special needs is very different from including them!
Spell Bee
Spelling bees are fun, and they’re even more fun when you try to spell in a team, or backwards! Looking forward to quite a bit of hilarity as we spell words from the book and challenge one another!
Join my book club!
The Prophecy of Rasphora
It is always a little daunting to introduce a book of my own to my book club. But I’ve done so many events based on The Prophecy of Rasphora, and so many of them have gone so well, that I feel (hope) this will be fun too!
Tara, Afreen and Vandana discover a land behind a waterfall, the land of Rasphora. Vandana, ever practical, knows that they must get out of Rasphora as soon as they can. Life is not easy for them, and they cannot afford to miss a day’s work, even though they are just children. But when she learns that she is part of a prophecy of this beautiful, mysterious land, she can’t help but pause. She should, at least, listen to the prophecy before returning to her home in the hills. Shouldn’t she?
Language Games
What is the first problem you would face if you found yourself a new land? This question always leads to the problem of communication. How would we talk to people who don’t speak the same language as we do? Based on our discussion, we will do a fun language activity where we explore how quickly we can switch from one language to another.
Words and Worlds
How easy or difficult is it to create a language of our own? With cryptograms, we will try to figure out what the prophecy of Rasphora says, after which we will invent words of our own. This will also lead to a conversation about words we love and why we love them.
Fantasy
Most children I’ve met love writing fantasy. Step by step, I will take them through the writing of a fantasy story. How can we find inspiration in the world around us? How can we make the feeling of going through a portal come alive to the reader? And finally, how can we build a world that readers fall in love with?
Let's read together!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
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 one stayed with me. When it comes to reading (and most other things), choice is key. If I want children to love books and reading, they must have the freedom to choose! Curating books is all very well, but every so often, it’s important to take suggestions.
And so, we chose Fortunately, the Milk … by Neil Gaiman. It’s silly, hilarious and all kinds of impossible. I know that some elements will not be every child’s cup of tea, but we’re going to have a lot of fun with it. It’s a quick read too, which gives us all the more time to do some activities.
Fortunately, Unfortunately
I love playing this game with both children and adults, and a book like Fortunately, the Milk … provides the perfect opportunity to explore it again. I begin with a statement, and then, in turn, each child adds a sentence, alternately beginning with fortunately and unfortunately. We’ll also read either Fortunately by Remy Charlip or Fortunately, Unfortunately by Michael Foreman as we do this.
Time Machine
Imagine you could use Professor Steg’s time machine. Or better yet, imagine if you could build a time machine of your own. How would your time machine work? Where would you go? Just like when we read Rattu & Poories Adventures in History: 1857, we’ll have some fun with time travel!
Puzzles
Word search puzzles, spot the difference activities, mazes … the internet has all these resources for Fortunately, the Milk … Let’s see how many of these we can use at my book club!
Join my book club!
Journey to Jo’burg
I picked up my copy of Journey to Jo’burg when I visited The Dogears Bookshop a couple of months ago. As I read it, I wondered whether I could introduce it to my book club. It is simply and beautifully written, but it touches upon difficult themes that I don’t know a lot about. I remember reading When Morning Comes, a YA book by Arushi Raina set in South Africa, but I’ve read little else set in the country.
Plus, talking about apartheid, inequality and injustice at an online book club isn’t always easy because we can’t quite judge the children’s moods. For instance, I remember a child writing to me privately in the chat box didn’t like the conversation about what frightens us because it made him even more scared.
Yet, books about difficult subjects are important. Books like Journey to Jo’burg give us hope. Although set in a different age, the book gives us a glimpse of a time that is not entirely gone. We feel the repercussions of apartheid in racism even today, and that’s why I decided we would read this book together. Having introduced a conversation about unfairness with Munni Monster, our first read next month, who knows how far we can go?
Geography
It’s astounding how many adults think that Africa is a country. Beginning with the map, we will look at the continent of Africa, examine what we know, and investigate what we don’t. I will ask each child at the book club to find out a little about one country and tell us what they discovered. I know we’ll all learn something in the process!
Newspaper Clippings
At the beginning of the book Journey to Jo’burg are excerpts from two newspaper clippings. These will serve as a prompt for two activities. One, I will give the children a headline and ask them to write a paragraph of the news piece using their imagination.
Two, we’ll play a game based on newspapers. If the children have access to newspapers, great. If not, I’ll share my screen and we’ll play a word-based game.
Journeys and Journaling
Naledi and Tiro, the two children in the book undertake a journey that seems impossible. The kindness of strangers makes the ending happy.
Journeys make for stories, though, and as creative writing is an important part of this book club, we’ll explore journaling in various forms. This does not have to take the form of travel writing! Instead, we’ll explore mundane journeys, like a journey to school. What do we see, do and hear? What could make the journey exciting?
Let's read together!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Manya Learns to Roar
Manya Learns to Roar by Shruthi Rao is the first book I’m repeating at my book club. We read it at the very first edition of my reading programme, when I tentatively started out in 2020, wondering if I would be able to sustain an online book club for children. All those who read it with me then are now too old to be part of the book club, so it’s time to reintroduce a book I love!
Banyan High School, is going to present a play based on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, and Manya wants the role of Shere Khan. She knows it is the first step towards winning an Oscar, and she’s already writing her acceptance speech for that.
I loved Manya Learns to Roar because of how true it is to childhood dreams and the way each child is such a charming mixture of supreme confidence and deep vulnerability.
Before I even read the book, I was drawn to the idea of a child with a stammer determined to take part in a school play. Once I read it, I knew I had to work with it because there’s just so much you can do with a book like this!
Codes
When I started reading Manya Learns to Roar, I didn’t notice that the chapter numbers were written in the special code that Manya and her best friend Ankita share. I think I was on chapter six when my eyes widened. Ooh! The chapter names are in code! And as Manya and Ankita know, the very fact that it is bound to be dismissed as random doodling makes it the perfect kind of code. Codes, puzzles and cryptograms are thrilling, and I know that the children at the reading programme will enjoy them as much as I do!
Speaking
Did you know that tongue twisters are said to be a great way to overcome a stutter? Manya Learns to Roar provides the perfect opportunity to work on speech and recitation. Reading aloud is one aspect of the programme, and tongue twisters will make a fun addition to all the speaking we do.
Drama
As a book that revolves around the production of a play, it’s ideal for my ‘come as a character‘ activity! While I hope that children will come as one of the characters from the books we read together, I don’t mind if they choose someone else altogether. The element of surprise makes everything fun!
Join my book club!
Munni Monster
I read Munni Monster a few months ago and loved it. It’s a beautiful book, written with empathy and ending with hope. I knew I had to introduce it to my book club, and I can’t wait to do so.
Munni Monster is a book about a difficult subject, but for me, dwelling on only the subject matter of the book as we read is a bit of an overkill. The children will, I know, understand the messages the book conveys without any interference on my part. Of course, we will talk about cerebral palsy, but that cannot be the only thing we discuss without ruining the beauty of the book, so here’s what we will do as we read.
Secret Hiding Places
Mishti has her own little hidey-hole that no one else is allowed to enter.
Do you have a private place of your own? I know I did, as a child. I made my own hiding places too, with umbrellas in a corner, or saris under a dining table.
During an earlier edition of my book club, the children created all kinds of innovative reading nooks; let’s see whether we can make one for ourselves this time too!
Precious Objects
All of us have something precious that may not be so precious to anyone else. For Mishti, it’s her bed.
What is precious to you? What would you be very unhappy about losing? Through a show-and-tell activity, I would love to explore how the story of how we got something makes it precious.
Unfairness
How often do we complain that something is not fair? In Munni Monster, Mishti discovers just how unfair life can be. Through a guided writing exercise, we will explore some things we find unfair and what, if anything, we can do about it.
Let's read together!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Chitti’s Travelling Book Box
The most rewarding books to read at my book club are books about books. I remember reading The Reading Race, Book Uncle and Me, Bookasura and Koobandhee; it’s likely that there were others too.
Even as I read Chitti’s Travelling Book Box when it came out in February, I knew I would read it with my book club sooner or later. Here’s what we will do as we read!
Reading is Boring!
If your friends think reading is boring, what will you do? What do you think can make reading fun?
We’ll begin by talking about this and sharing ideas, but if we can, I’d love to implement the children’s ideas in class. If there is something the children think will make reading more fun, let’s do it together!
The Monster Game
Inspired by Chitti, we will play a game I love – the monster game! Together, we will create a monster and then maybe draw it and give it a name.
Book Scavenger Hunt
We love book scavenger hunts at my book club. Running around and hunting through our books is always fun. In a book about books, how can we not do this activity we love?
Here are two book scavenger hunts we’ve done in the past. I’m all set for another!
Join my book club!
Non-Boring Nonfiction
It is always so rewarding when a guest speaker repeats something you’ve been saying at your writing programmes for a long time! Thank you, Vaishali, for this session on non-boring nonfiction, and for reiterating so many things that keep needing to be said!
In November last year, I watched Vaishali Shroff conduct two sessions at Bookaroo Vadodara. One was based on Sita’s Chitwan; the other on Batata, Pao and All Things Portuguese. Right away, I was sure she would be the perfect person to do a nonfiction workshop with the children at my writing programmes. Unfortunately, working something out right away was impossible, but after much juggling of schedules, we finally managed to do it this time.
Step by step, Vaishali took us through the writing of engaging nonfiction. With an exercise inspired by something as simple as the picture of a mango, she helped the young writers understand the difference between a bland visual description and a hook that draws the reader in. I loved how different the first pieces the children shared were from the pieces they shared at the end of the session!
With examples from her books, she stressed the importance of research and fact-checking. Bringing a plot and story into our nonfiction is important too! And all the while, as she worked with mentor texts, she kept the children active, making them write and share one short piece after another.
Most importantly for me, there were several things Vaishali said that made me rejoice quietly, simply because it’s great to have someone else repeat something I keep trying to bring into my writing programmes.
One, don’t be lazy about rewriting. If something doesn’t work, delete it!
Two, focus. Your piece must have focus. I usually refer to this as purpose, and I keep asking: what is the purpose of this piece?
And three, research. Don’t just write things you find on the internet! Fact checking is important.
Guest sessions are rewarding; the next one will be here in June!
Poetry in Collaboration with Sampurna Chattarji
My first guest session of the season – Poetry in Collaboration – was such a success! With sixteen enthusiastic participants and one lively, energetic facilitator, the hour flew by before we knew it. Haiku, renga, nonets, free verse–we explored it all.
Often, we believe that writing must be a solo activity. We have creative thoughts and ideas, and we want to have full control over them. However, collaboration can lead to unexpected, sometimes beautiful, consequences. Sampurna is a serial collaborator, as she describes herself, and the stories she shared about her collaborative writing experiences were lovely. Step by step, she led the participants through their own work. How does one begin? What methods can we follow? How do we go on, while being mindful of our own creative impulses as well as those of our partner’s?
In a whirlwind of a workshop, Sampurna visiting one breakout room after another – there were eight in all! She helped overcome roadblocks, gave the pairs suggestions and feedback, and helped each writer ask questions about the choices they made. The poetry module of my writing programmes is almost over, and this was a grand way to bring it towards its conclusion.
A few key takeaways:
- Listening to your partner is important! Collaboration is about working together with a clear goal in mind.
- Collaboration works well when your partner is different from you. If you already have similar tastes and ideas, you are much more likely to create something quite predictable.
- Choosing a setting that both partners are familiar with, but in different ways, leads to surprising results.
There were so many more ideas and thoughts, but an hour’s workshop has never felt shorter. Here’s to more workshops filled with ideas and magic!
The Adventures of Tootsie Lama
We read The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop a couple of years ago at my reading programme for ages nine and ten, and we loved it. That’s why I picked up The Adventures of Tootsie Lama. It has the same kind of craziness, which makes it perfect for my book club.
Tootsie Lama is reminiscent of Pippi Longstocking in her independent, almost amoral, way of functioning. She wants thukpa, and she will steal it if she must. Her friend Tenzing is the perfect ally, more than willing to be part of her madcap schemes, even if it means getting into trouble with his mother. But in this adventure, perhaps Tootsie Lama goes a little too far and has to face consequences that she didn’t quite imagine … It’s such a fun story!
Food
Tootsie Lama goes to astonishing lengths for a bowl of thukpa. What food would you do anything for? And if we’re being completely wacky, how far would you go to get the food you want?
Darjeeling
The Adventures of Tootsie Lama is set in Darjeeling, a place that, for many of us, is a holiday destination. I think this is a great time for the children to tell me about their own hometowns, or the city in which they live. What makes their city special? Where do they like to go on holiday?
Best Friends
Tootsie finds a perfect friend in Tenzing. Without a friend, would she be able to do everything she wants to do?
Childhood friendships are special, and I want to hear about what makes each child’s best friend the best best friend of all. What do they do together? What do they want to do together? We’ll try to write a little poem about it too!
Join my book club!
Dungeon Tales
We read Dungeon Tales II in September last year and loved it. In fact, it was everyone’s favourite read from the August-September selection, even though it competed with Paati Vs UNCLE and Frindle. So how can we not read Dungeon Tales, or, as the children at my book club call it, ungeon ales?
A brilliantly crafted collection of stories, this book takes us through the creation of the tome we encounter in the second book. The Badmash Badshah is all set to make heads roll, until one young prisoner comes up with a plan – of regaling the emperor with stories. One by one, the prisoners are brought before him, and they tell him their magnificent, fantastical, hilarious tales.
Word Choice
Why does the author Venita Coelho use the word ‘dungeon’ rather than a word like ‘prison’ or ‘jail’? How does word choice affect a story?
Through a quick vocabulary activity, we’ll discuss synonyms for simple words like said and walked. How do writers change the mood of their stories by choosing specific words?
Ballads
The stories in Dungeon Tales are old-fashioned ones with a twist, the perfect way to explore old-fashioned storytelling styles like ballads. Can we take a section of a story and rewrite it in the form of rhyming narrative verse? This is the perfect way to introduce the importance of meter and rhythm when we write rhyme!
Prisoners
Creative writing is an integral part of Read, Write, Explore, and so we’re going to write a story of our own. Imagine you’ve been thrown into the Badmash Badshah’s prison. Why are you there? What is your story?
At my creative writing programmes, we will be working on fractured fairytales, and this exercise will follow much the same pattern. What stereotypes and norms can we invert while telling a fantastic story?
Join a programme!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Ottoline and the Yellow Cat
I love Chris Riddell! I read Ottoline Goes to School sometime last year, but I couldn’t introduce it to my book club because it wasn’t available in India. Less than a month ago, I learned that Ottoline and the Yellow Cat is available, so of course we must read it!
I love serious humour. I know that’s an oxymoron, but for me, it’s the kind of book that’s earnest and written in such a way that something utterly ridiculous reads like it is perfectly normal. And that’s what makes the Ottoline series delightful. Lovely pictures and a perfectly lovely story come together in this quick, beautifully illustrated story about a girl and her unusual friend. Here’s what we’ll do as we read Ottoline and the Yellow Cat at my book club.
Collections
Ottoline’s parents travel all over the world and collect all kinds of things, including masks, extremely small paintings, and portable fishbowls. Ottoline loves to look after the collections, and I think most children do! I collected perfect pencil shavings, for instance. And my sister collected tissues from restaurants. What do my book clubbers collect? Through a small Show and Tell session, we’ll find out.
Make Your Own Business Card!
I love bringing artsy activities into my book club! Lots of people who take care of Ottoline and Mr Monroe. One spread of images shows us all their business cards, so let’s make our own! What special services could we offer? What are we good at, and what would we call our business?
Maps
Ottoline’s story is full of maps, not all of which seem very useful. Nonetheless, maps are entertaining and could be fun to explore.
Can you draw a map from your front door to your room? What about a fictitious map? Can you draw one of those?
Join my book club!
A Boy Called Bat
What does it mean to be autistic? What exactly does the word inclusive mean?
I think these are conversations we must keep having, and the earlier we have them with children, the more likely it is that they will be sensitive to neurodiversity, and the fact that we can look at things from other points of view.
For me, the best way to have these conversations is through books – books like A Boy Called Bat.
Bat, aka Bixby Alexander Tam, is an unforgettable character, and his story is both funny and lovely. Bat may be autistic, but the truth is that all of us – neurotypical or neurodiverse – know what it is like to want something with all our heart.
And what does Bat want?
To convince his mother that a skunk kit is the perfect pet.
A story about friendship, sibling rivalry, and being different, A Boy Called Bat promises to be a rewarding read at my book club.
Our Five Senses
I’ve read so much about needing to rethink how we teach the senses. When we’re hungry, for instance, isn’t that a sense? Sure, we stub our toes and hit our elbows once in a while, but what sense prevents us from doing this all the time?
Understanding autism is also about understanding our senses and how they work. We’ll talk about the five senses we study at school, explore sights and sounds we like, and then move on to discussing what senses we have but take for granted.
Animals
Thanks to A Boy Called Bat, I learned that the young one of a skunk is called a kit! It’s a good time to explore a few others – foxes, wolves, kangaroos, and maybe a few unusual ones too.
Points of View
Bat’s mom thinks his dresser drawers are a mess. Bat thinks they’re organised. Janie is upset about her unicorn pajama top, even though Bat has a very logical explanation as to why he gave it to the skunk.
This is the perfect time to write two diary entries – one from Janie’s point of view and one from Bat’s. What would make them different? Which of them is in the wrong?
Join a programme!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE.
New batches begin every alternate month. If you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.