The Butterfly Lion
I love Michael Morpurgo. And The Butterfly Lion? I’ve had it on my shelf for ever so long, hoping to share it with more readers someday. That day is nearly here!
The Butterfly Lion is a classic. In Michael Morpurgo’s signature style, he tells a heartfelt, almost mystical story in the simplest and most magical of ways. It’s the story of love and kindness, friendship and loyalty.
Bertie is heartbroken when his beloved white lion is sent away to the circus. He knows there is no choice, but that does not make it better. He promises the lion that he will find him, somehow, someday. But Bertie’s story is a story within a story, told to a runaway boy Michael by an old lady who isn’t everything she seems to be. As we learn about the butterfly lion, we explore the joy of memory and the ways in which we remember the ones we love.
Like so many other older books, there are so many resources available online that it’s difficult to decide on just a few things to do during the creative writing component at my reading programme!
Literary Devices
A butterfly and a lion seem like such contradictory creatures.
Before we start reading the book, we will do a quick activity examining the title, writing short pieces exploring what all a butterfly lion could be. With a simple description, we can explore setting and literary devices like oxymorons, paradoxes and antitheses, moving beyond alliteration, similes and metaphors, which we’ve addressed so many times!
Show, Don't Tell
This is a ground rule of creative writing, one that writers work on all the time. Using an excerpt from The Butterfly Lion, we’ll discuss what this rule means and how we put the rule into practice. We’ll do a couple of activities around the rule too, trying to understand what difference ‘showing’ language makes.
Point of View
We read this book as a story within a story. I’d love to have the children write a diary entry from Bertie’s point of view at different points in the story – when he first sees the lion and her cub, when he is allowed to keep the cub, when he is told that he will be going to England … Diary entries and letters are a lovely way to explore perspective!
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Mira the Detective
Another reading programme, another hOle book! Mira the Detective by Pavithra Sankaran is perfect for my book club in so many ways. We love detective stories, and what better than a book featuring a child detective?
When an antique watch is stolen, Mira has very few clues, but they have got to be enough! She must get to the bottom of the mystery.
The theft of the antique watch is just the first of three mysteries that Mira the detective solves. What makes the stories even more fun is that we, as readers, are equipped with the same clues as Mira and we can solve the mysteries with her!
Sounds and smells
Working with our senses is something that never gets stale. In the first story, Mira hears a tic-tic-tic sound. What could it be? In the last story, an aroma is the biggest clue. I’ve worked with several activities to do with the senses before, and they make us both more observant and more creative. I’ll play a set of sounds for the children. What could these sounds be? What words can they use to describe these sounds?
Being conscious of smells around them creates a moment’s pause too. Once more, the children have the space to get creative as they describe what’s in the air.
Create Your Own Mayamix!
Mayamix is delicious, but dangerous. If you had to create your own food fantasy, what would it be?
Recently, I came across something utterly delightful called the Edible Exhibition. That’s going to be the starting point of our conversation, and I simply cannot predict where it will take us!
Idioms
Every so often, I like to play with idioms in class. We’re going to be dealing with more complex idioms at my book club for older children too, but we’ll look at a few simple ones at this book club too. Mira the Detective was first published as Something Fishy. The blurb says that Mira will ‘get to the bottom of it’. What do these mean?
We had fun with idioms when we read Amelia Bedelia; it’s time to revisit a few and learn a few more!
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Manolita
In many ways, Manolita is a simple, old-fashioned tale. For a generation that’s immersed in mythology – from the retelling of Indian myths to all the popular books that have their foundation in Greek mythology – I think a story about a selkie set in the modern world is perfect!
Jaya makes friends easily, so it comes as no surprise that she befriends a stranger in Oregon. Of course, her new friend Manolita has to be perfectly human … right? Even if she doesn’t quite understand the phrase ‘exchanging numbers’, and she likes to eat her fish raw …?
The entire series of books that Karadi Tales has released under the Minmini Reads imprint is remarkable in many ways. Often, books of this length are for younger children, but a chapter book like this for slightly older readers works so well! It’s a quick read, wholly satisfying and perfect as a conversation starter. Here’s what we’ll do with Manolita at my book club in December.
Quiz
I enjoy working with myths. In fact, the theme ‘Mythical Maze‘ was the one I enjoyed the most when I conducted workshops for the British Library’s reading challenge.
After discussing the ways in which writers like Rick Riordan, Lari Don and others have reinterpreted mythological stories, we will read a few myths together and do a quick quiz about them – quizzes are always fun! If we have enough participants, we can enact a couple of myths too, which will be even more enjoyable.
Idioms
Achilles’ heel.
Midas touch.
Cupid’s arrow.
Or even the food of the gods.
Mythology has contributed so much to language the way we know it! What better way to explore idioms than by reading a book based on a myth and taking it from there?
Explore Mythology
And of course, that leads us to a deeper exploration of mythology. What myths do we know? Working with a jamboard, we will share a range of mythical creatures that we have heard of. Linking this to a writing session we did recently that was all about research, we’ll read up a little about a few myths and imagine what would happen if two characters from two different myths met. The reading programme for ages nine and ten has a strong creative writing component, so this is something we can explore quite a bit!
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All About Research with Dr Shayani Bhattacharya
What an enjoyable writing workshop we had yesterday with Dr Shayani Bhattacharya! Every guest session is fun, and I keep realising that when a teacher plans a session, it is meticulous, detailed, excellent!
We discussed what we research, how we research and why we research, but then we went on to something that’s important to all of us as writers – how we share research findings. Sure, you’re fascinated by time travel and wormholes. You read everything you can about them. How can you get your readers to be interested in the same things? When Shayani stressed the idea of finding our unique voice, my heart gave a little leap. It’s so useful when a guest speaker brings up something I’ve addressed time and time again during my writing programmes!
I also loved that Shayani explored the relevance of research in the context of both fiction and nonfiction. Bringing the workshop to travel writing, we spoke of travel literature of all kinds – from travelling through the forest in Little Red Riding Hood to more obvious choices like Around the World in 80 Days and Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
What the participants loved about the workshop was that every aspect of it was interactive. For instance, here’s just one of the four jamboards we created together.
Travelogues, maps, advertisements, travel tourism, travel blogs, journalistic articles … there’s so much we can write if we just research. Shayani left the participants with a writing assignment, and I’m waiting to read what they write! Like one of the participants said in the chatbox after we’d figuratively explored the earth, the solar system and the galaxies beyond ours through travel writing, ‘Thanks a whole universe! It was so cool!’
Four Workshop Anecdotes
So many tiny things happen during workshops! Here’s a quick roundup of things that make me smile.
Whispering
During one of my sessions, a child raised his hand. I quickly summed up what I wanted to say so that I would not lose my chain of thought, and then asked him to speak.
‘Actually, I want to talk to A,’ he said.
Amused, I nodded to him to go ahead.
What he wanted to say to A was utterly and completely unrelated to what we were doing.
And that’s what made me realise – at online classes, whispering has to happen with the teacher’s permission!
I like
The protagonist of The Vampire Boy is Kris, a vampire who hates blood. With that in mind, I asked the children to come up with sentences about themselves, telling us two things: one, something they like that their friends also like, and two, something they like but their friends don’t. My favourites?
My friends like troubling my parents, and I do too!
My friends like jumping on the sofa, and I do too!
And the surprising ones:
My friends like ice-cream and chocolate, but I don’t.
My friends like drawing, but I don’t.
Bringing Things to Life
I also love the spontaneity of workshops! In The Vampire Boy again, Kris’s friend Bo cannot spin on one leg without falling on her face. We read that and instantly, the children got to their feet to try it out.
I can hop in a circle on one leg. Does that count?
Anyone can stand on one leg!
I can spin on one leg!
We read of Kris carrying a bottle of A- blood to school, and the moment I explained what that was, three of the children disappeared. They had to ask their parents – immediately, of course – what their blood group was!
The Chocolate Touch
And then, of course, was this lovely thing I shared on Instagram, but not on my blog.
When we read The Chocolate Touch, I asked children to design their own chocolates, name the company that manufactures it, and add any other details they like.
Here’s what followed!
Rattu & Poorie’s Adventures in History: 1857
A book about a pair of sisters, where the protagonist is the younger sister … of course I was intrigued! Additionally, historical fiction has attracted me for a while, and I have come across very little in the genre for seven and eight-year-olds. Rattu & Poorie’s Adventures in History: 1857, shortlisted for the Neev Book Award for Emerging Readers 2020, is quite engaging, providing glimpses of three major events that comprised an uprising that all of us study in school – the revolt of 1857.
The links between Rattu’s life in modern India and historical events are interestingly created.
Rattu wishes for a soldier with a sword and encounters Rani Lakshmibai and Jhalkari Bai, who encourage her to play a game of make-believe based on the siege of Jhansi.
When bullies steal the sisters’ ice-creams, whom should they encounter but Azimullah Khan and Nana Sahib, who teach them how to deal with big bullies?
And finally, Ajju is upset and grumpy about having to leave his home and stay with his grandchildren – until they meet Bahadur Shah Zafar who was sent away by the Company to faraway Rangoon.
The imaginative telling of historical events through the eyes of young, modern protagonists made me choose this book for my reading programme. Here’s what we’ll do with it!
Whom Would You Meet?
During my very first reading programme, we read Manya Learns to Roar, where I encouraged the children to recite poems or deliver speeches, as if they were auditioning for Manya’s play. It was such fun to see what props they brought and how they got into their roles! We’ll do something similar with this, in the sense that I will ask them to bring one prop to help them talk about what historical character they would like to meet if they could time-travel like Rattu and Poorie!
Home
Ajju’s home is with his bees, cows, parrot, chickens and fish. What is your ideal home like? If you had to leave your home behind, what would you want to take with you? I think this could be either a fun conversation or a thought-provoking one and honestly, it’s only when we start talking that I’ll find out what direction it will go!
Time Machine
Rattu & Poorie meet historical characters thanks to three magical wishes. Rattu wishes she had a soldier on a big horse, then she wishes someone would get their ice-creams back and finally, she wishes her Ajju had a friend. Each one leads to a new experience!
How would you travel through time? Would you just make a wish or would you need some sort of time machine? Who would make this time machine for you and how? I’m waiting to see what ideas my book clubbers come up with!
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Registrations are now closed for all batches of my reading and writing programmes. The next set of reading programmes will begin in the first week of December. Registrations open in early November.
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.
Reading, Reading, and Reading Some More
Yesterday, we came to the end of yet another batch of my reading programme for ages nine and ten. I wrote about our ‘raise hand‘ anecdote, and thinking about that made me realise – again – that the main reason I conduct reading programmes is that I enjoy them so much! Yes, I spread the love of reading and all that, but more, I love what goes into each programme. I love choosing my books, planning my activities, and then, seeing how, despite all the planning, children take the workshop in whatever direction they like!
This time, we read Karma Meets a Zombie, The Hodgeheg and When the World Went Dark. Each one was delightful in its own way.
Karma Meets a Zombie
I wrote about being a little nervous reading this one with my book club. Would it be too scary? Detachable hands, the undead – how much is too much?
Ultimately, though, it was good fun. We did a close reading of the text and then talked about what frightens us. How do we create suspense? What words do we use to make the reader feel a certain way?
The Hodgeheg
One of the joys of working with books that have been around for a long time is that author websites often have material that I can easily tweak and use for my book club! For The Hodgeheg, for instance, I found chapter-wise teaching notes, so I adapted those for my workshop. Additionally, we worked on spoonerisms based on Shel Silverstein‘s Runny Babbit, word games, and creating characters (heavily inspired by Sophie’s guest session at my writing programme last year!)
When the World Went Dark
When the World Went Dark was such an eye-opener! As we read, I realised that like Swara, the children were convinced that Pitter Paati was still alive. They had all kinds of hypotheses about what was happening in the building opposite, and each idea was fascinating. Maybe someone kidnapped Pitter Paati! Maybe there are doctors working secretly there on special people! Maybe Pitter Paati is a secret detective, so she couldn’t tell Swara what she’s doing!
So, of course, we worked on logical puzzles. I gave the children a question and a set of clues. Solving each puzzle was so rewarding!
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Rise of the Earth Dragon (Dragon Masters #1)
I love introducing children to book series. It’s heartwarming to see children come back to a subsequent edition of my reading programme bursting with excitement because they’re reading the next book of a series to which I introduced them! It’s happened with the hOle books, Amelia Bedelia, the A to Z Mysteries, Moin and the Monster … More often than I can count!
And the Dragon Masters is a fun, exciting series too! Rise of the Earth Dragon is the first of the series, the book where Drake discovers that he is a Dragon Master. But-but-but dragons don’t exist! They do? But what if he can’t connect with his dragon at all?
Rise of the Earth Dragon is a lovely story about new experiences, making friends, adventure and magic!
Here’s what we will do with it at my book club.
Diary of a Dragon Master
What if you were a Dragon Master? Write about your dragon! What is its name? What food does it like? What food does it dislike? What powers does it have? How does it talk to you? There’s so much we can do with this!
Characters
Rise of the Earth Dragon is full of all kinds of characters – mean, mysterious, brave, curious … Similar to an activity I did when we read The Sheep-Pig, let’s explore adjectives. What words would you use to describe Griffith, Worm, Drake and Bo?
The Next Book
The next book in the Dragon Masters series is called Saving the Sun Dragon. Look at the cover image. Who are the characters? What details do you notice? What do you think the book will be about? Use your imagination to write a blurb!
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Registrations are now closed for all batches of my reading and writing programmes. The next set of reading programmes will begin in the first week of December. Registrations open in early November.
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.
Cricket for the Crocodile
I launched my online reading programme for ages seven and eight in December last year, which means that this is the sixth edition of the programme. Each time, I’ve focused on Indian books – books written by Indians, published in India or set in India – usually all three. On the whole, I’ve tried to avoid the big names in children’s literature, mainly because one of the goals of the book club is to introduce children to books they might not otherwise read. Yet I have included well-known names – Roald Dahl and Dick King-Smith twice each, for instance!
And so, this time, I’m introducing a book by Ruskin Bond, Cricket for the Crocodile. It’s shorter than the books we usually read, but that should give us more time for bookish activities!
Ranji is determined to be a Test cricketer, and his team comes from different parts of town. Sometimes, they even need to let the adults take part because finally, their equipment and pocket money is supplied by the grown-ups. It’s just a hardship they must bear. A regular spectator at their cricket matches is Nakoo, a crocodile who lives in the river. During a match against their regular rivals, the village boys, Nakoo sneaks out and becomes more than just a silent spectator, leading to much hilarity and quite a memorable match!
Told in Ruskin Bond’s signature style, Cricket for the Crocodile sparkles with humour and fun. Here’s what we’ll do with the book at my reading programme!
Alliteration
Playing with alliteration and tongue twisters never becomes stale. We’ll begin by revising the term alliteration and we’ll go on to creating alliterative titles that follow the same pattern – Badminton with Bandicoots! Football with Foxes! What else?
Moving on from here, we will also play with tongue twisters. Children (and adults!) adore tongue twisters!
Invent a Game
This is an imaginative activity, which requires a lot more time than the ones I usually do at my book club. I will give each child a list of things that they can use to make up a game of their own.
For example, you have a red ball, a yellow ball and a stopwatch. What’s the game going to be?
More Games
A book about a sport is also the perfect introduction to more games that we can play together. From vocabulary to word puzzles and guessing games, we can do all kinds of things that promise to be fun!
Join a programme!
Registrations are now closed for all batches of my reading and writing programmes. The next set of reading programmes will begin in the first week of December. Registrations open in early November.
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.
Raise Hand
Children will be mischievous. They will always, always try to find ways to fool their teachers. The most common excuse during virtual sessions?
“I lost connection.”
Much as children like to believe otherwise, teachers can tell when children aren’t attentive. They stare at the screen and their eyes glaze over. At my book club, I know they aren’t reading along. For one, they shouldn’t be looking at the screen at all. If they’re gazing at the screen, they’re doing something else. Of course.
But when I ask them a question linked to what we’re reading, pat comes the response, “Sorry, I lost my connection. I don’t know where we are.”
So, yesterday, I told the children, very casually, to raise their hands immediately if they lose track. “Don’t wait until I ask you to read. If you lose your connection and can’t find where we are, raise your hand!”
I could see the bewilderment. A new plan was needed, and fast!
“But on my screen … I don’t have … There’s no ‘raise hand’ button on Meet!”
“Your real hand,” I said. “Just put your real hand up.”
The idea was clearly new to the child.
My real hand? Really?
Ah, virtual world problems.
Book Club Discussions
We just finished reading Sandy to the Rescue, the first of five books we’ll be reading at this edition of my book club. One of the joys of reading the hOle books at the reading programme is that the length is perfect. We have enough time to read and do activities during each session, which, for me, is what a book club is about.
In Sandy to the Rescue, six-year-old Aftab hides first under the dining table and then in the bath tub.
This made me ask the children, “Where would you hide? If you had to smuggle a friend into your house, what would be a hiding place?”
We discussed the storage cupboard, a balcony with newspapers (ideal for a little cushioning) and under the bed. I then led them to another activity – finding a hiding place for something a little smaller, like a secret note, perhaps. What could they write in the note? That led me to an unexpected discussion because one of the things I told them they could write about was what they’re afraid of.
“I’m afraid of God,” said one child.
I could see that this was a new thought for several of the others because they were thinking of other things that, maybe, they thought were more trivial.
Even so, one child said, “I’m afraid of dogs. I don’t like it when they come close.”
Unexpectedly, a child piped up, “Oh, I’m more afraid of zebras! Dogs are nice. Zebras are frightening.”
Before I had the time to process this, a fourth child said, “I’m afraid of cancer. It is the scariest thing in the world.”
Somehow, the conversation around cancer continued, with one child saying that cancer has a cure, so she’s not afraid of it.
“But cancer kills people!”
“But it doesn’t have to. You can fight it. Anyone can fight cancer.”
“No, it is frightening, and–“
The conversation went on until one child asked, “Could we stop talking about cancer?”
And we did. But that didn’t stop me from thinking about it.
Immediately, another child said, “I’m afraid of floods. Floods are the scariest of all.”
And that’s a thought that hadn’t struck me. Why is she afraid of floods? I asked her if she had ever seen a flood and she shook her head. But what causes that fear?
After the session was over, I began to think about what scared me as a child and what scares me now. Are we so frank about what really frightens us?
My June Reading Programmes – An Overview
“Ooh! I see something suspicious!” one child cried out, holding up her copy of The Monster Hunters. “Look! A monster at the window! Page 2!”
“On page 33 of Bookasura, Bakasura is so big. How did he become so small on page 39?”
“I don’t think Mr Hoppy should have lied to Mrs Silver about Alfie. How can you make friends based on lies?” This from a seven-year-old reading Esio Trot.
“This is so funny; I want to read the next book about Zain & Ana,” says one child.
“I didn’t like the book,” says another. “They say dogs are a nuisance and they call the dog Buddhu! That’s not nice.”
What fun I had at both batches of the June edition of my reading programme! Take a look at what all we did.
The Monster Hunters
From the very first reading programme onwards, I’ve begun each edition with a hOle book. This time, it was The Monster Hunters. What fun we had spotting monsters right through the book! I think that was the highlight of our sessions together. We did a fun activity imagining things under our beds – I see a monster’s eye! What could it be? Ah, it’s just an old torch. This book was a treat!
Bookasura
Among the most exciting activities we did with Bookasura was growing something of our own. At Navaneeth Uncle’s farm, Bala discovers fruit trees; he digs a compost pit and fills it with kitchen waste, and he cleans the fish pond. What can we, in our urban setups grow? I grew mustard (picture below!). Some of the children grew moong, corn, oregano … Oh, and of course it helps that one of the children logged in from a cardamom plantation in Idukki! He had firsthand experience of a kind that none of us do!
Esio Trot
Speaking backwards is almost like speaking in code. Mrs Silver makes it even more fun by calling her backwards chant magic words. What magic can you do by saying things backwards?
emoceb elbisivni!
nrut otni a taog!
raeppasid!
At Least a Fish
There was so much that I wanted to do with At Least a Fish, but the reading itself took longer than I anticipated because of the number of discussions we had about fish, dogs and dragons! But page 8 of the book is just too much fun to ignore. We laughed, yes, but I was also astounded at how much children know about all kinds of animals! We discussed differences between an elephant and a duck, an octopus and a rat, and a lion and a platypus. We then looked at similarities and that was fun too! How are a hedgehog and a monkey similar? What about a seahorse and a dog?
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REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR ALL MY READING PROGRAMMES.
The next batches begin in the first week of October. If you would like to receive an email notification when I open for registrations, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Karma Meets a Zombie
Karma Meets a Zombie is probably the most ambitious book I’ve chosen for my reading programme for ages nine and ten. I read Karma Fights a Monster some time ago and I loved it. I even wrote about it in an essay on monsters and stereotypes because I was struck by how unusual the monster is.
Karma Meets a Zombie is a different kind of unusual. For instance, is the monster necessarily the antagonist? What makes someone a monster? And what does a monster hunter do, really?
There are several reasons I call it an ambitious read for my book club. For one, no pictures! It’s the first book we’re reading together that has no inside illustrations.
Two, I haven’t touched upon horror as a theme at all so far, especially as I didn’t read much horror as a child. (I did read a few Goosebumps because I won five of those for … something. Now that I come to think of it, I have no idea what I won. I just remember winning five of the Goosebumps series and five of the Babysitters Club series.)
How will a nine-year-old respond to a hand detaching itself from a zombie and attacking? Honestly, I don’t know. But I find myself thinking – if children can read books like The Witches, why not?
After going back and forth multiple times, I went ahead with this book because it has so much to offer at a programme like mine. Take a look at what I want to do with it.
Book Discussion
Tenzin used to be the school bully. When he returns to school as a zombie, he becomes the victim, leaving Karma conflicted. Is the monster really the bad guy?
A book like Karma Meets a Zombie opens up several discussions on heroes, villains and all the grey areas in between. I’m sure the discussion will be rewarding!
Witches, Zombies, and ... Vampire Potatoes?
Working with multiple genres is always fun. Karma Tandin is a delightful narrator – funny, snarky and often confused. This makes Karma Meets a Zombie the perfect story to discuss ideas like comic relief, building suspense and story structure. What standard non-human characters do we use? And how can we add a tiny twist to a standard character (like a vampire) to create surprise and humour?
Writing Horror
I was associated with the British Council’s reading challenge for several years, and Creepy House was one of the most popular themes amongst the participants. There’s something thrilling about being slightly afraid. From picture books like Book of Bhoots to middle-grade ones like A Place Called Perfect, children love to explore the darkness in tiny and not-so-tiny ways.
So, how do we write horror? I have a wonderful set of activities on writing stories full of suspense and I can’t wait to use them!
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REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS READING PROGRAMME.
The next batch begins in the first week of October. If you would like to receive an email notification when I open for registrations, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev
Daydreaming! Sigh. You can be what you want to be. You can do what you want to do.
And Dev is the ace daydreamer.
In The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev, the boy embarks on three adventures. He climbs Mount Everest, travels along the Amazon and then across the Sahara. Each adventure is real to him, and so, of course, he has no time to pay attention to mundane things like school and marks. In fact, even when he is being told off by his father, he’s off on another flight of fancy.
Dev’s stories are full of possibility, and that’s why I chose to include them in my reading programme. Imagination has no limits; let’s see how far-fetched we can get!
What could it be?
Look at the cover of The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev. There he is, lying on a Kwality Carpets carpet and dreaming. A carpet can take you on an adventure, can’t it?
What else? What could a stick be, if you use your imagination a little? What about a little felt cloth? I’m looking forward to exploring a whole range of possibility!
Where are you?
Anything sets Dev off on a daydream – sticky eyes, a hot wind, a conversation …
What about you? What was the last place you read about? And what would you do if you were suddenly transported there?
A similar ‘where’ activity involves a map. I remember using a map with younger children at a British Council workshop once, and I was amazed. I’d love to introduce the children to different parts of the world. Each story in Ken Spillman‘s collection is dedicated to someone. Let’s find out who they are and what they have to do with the place where the story is set!
Travel Adventures
Language, culture, customs – we experience so much when we travel! Dev learns about piranhas on the Amazon, he meets a Sherpa woman when he climbs Mount Everest, and he learns about amana while traversing the Sahara.
It’s been a long time since most of us travelled, but the joy of travelling lies in the stories we create. I think I’m being slightly ambitious here, but I would love for the children to create a picture postcard about any travel experience they’ve had. And if I can have them send postcards to one another, all the better!
Unusual Animals
What’s a dromedary? What about a caiman?
Animals are fascinating, more so for children. I would love for the children to talk about one unusual animal they’ve heard of or seen. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot!
Join a programme!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR ALL MY READING PROGRAMMES.
The next batches begin in the first week of October. If you would like to receive an email notification when I open for registrations, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Another Reading Programme Comes to an End!
“Moin and the Monster was my favourite book because there’s a sequel!” said one child, holding up Moin and the Monster Songster.
“Mine was The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop,” said another. “It was mysterious and magical!”
“I liked Fantastic Mr Fox. But my all-time favourite is The Witches.”
And in the midst of all that, one child held up Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells, her eyes shining as she told me she got it, was reading it and loved it so far.
How could I not have enjoyed this reading programme? Six children, three books, 12 online interactions. It was perfect in so many ways!
Moin and the Monster
The first book we read together was Moin and the Monster. With this one, we did an all-time favourite activity – creating a monster together and naming it. Then, the children worked with rhymes and then made a monster rhyme of their own. Shapeshifting creatures, monsters hiding under the bed and jumping out of windows, monsters with superpowers – I met them all!
Fantastic Mr Fox
The written activities around this classic were all about limericks. How do we write a limerick? How can we pay attention to the rhythm of the poem when we work with rhyme?
One child wrote a set of limericks that were also acrostic poems – poems about SHAPE, CLOUD and SPACE. I love it when children are ambitious enough to try something new!
The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop
A quick game followed by an introduction to characters, setting, plot and structure made our writing activities for The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop quite intensive! We worked on creating magical characters of our own followed by a quick free writing activity. The best way to finish a workshop on reading and writing is with the possibility of more stories and unbridled creativity.
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REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR ALL MY READING PROGRAMMES.
The next batches begin in the first week of October. If you would like to receive an email notification when I open for registrations, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Sandy to the Rescue
Another reading programme, another delightful hOle book! I remember reading a YA book by Rupa Gulab, Daddy Come Lately, and I enjoyed it. How would a chapter book be?
The answer? Lovely.
Sandy, aka Sandip when his mother is angry, makes a new friend, Aftab, who needs rescuing from Mrs Gupta, the witch next door. The problem is that he needs to sneak Aftab into his house, feed him and give him a place to stay. And of course, Sandy has got to be braver than Aftab when it comes to an adventure of this sort. After all, Sandy is a whole year older.
I’m sure this hOle book is going to be equally fun to read at my book club! Here are some bookish activities we’re going to do.
Making Up Words
‘It’s greeny blue, not bluey green. It’s, um, grue!’
‘You need spectacles,’ Aftab scoffed. ‘It’s not grue, it’s breen!’
What words can you make up by combining two words? What do these new words mean?
Hiding Places
Aftab hides under the table. And in the bath tub with enough pillows to make him comfortable.
Where would you hide? Make a list of your favourite hiding places. Where would your friends (or parents) NEVER find you? Do you have any secret places?
Write a secret note and hide it in a place where only you can find it again! Show us the note at the end of the reading programme! (Don’t worry, you don’t have to read it out to us!)
Similes
Sandy to the Rescue is full of similes. Sandy’s mother’s tummy is like a football. Mrs Gupta is like a witch. Her bhindi tastes like snot. Sandy’s heart races like a sports car.
What funny similes can we come up with at the book club? I can’t wait to find out!
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REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR ALL MY READING PROGRAMMES.
The next batches begin in the first week of October. If you would like to receive an email notification when I open for registrations, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
The ART of Stories
And just like that, the third and last guest session at this edition of my online creative writing programme is over! This one was an illustration workshop, conducted by children’s book illustrator and author Tanvi Bhat.
As always, the participants had so many questions! Here are a handful.
How do we create our own style of illustration?
I loved how Tanvi explained that finding your own style is not as important as the content. Isn’t that the same with writing too?
I also found interesting the idea that an illustration does not have to be perfect; it has to carry the story. I think, here, the idea of ‘perfect’ is well worth examining. As a child, I was disturbed and annoyed by pictures that were untrue to the story, but if the big toe were on the wrong side of the foot, would I even notice?
How long does the process take?
The eternal question. Children are often aghast at how long it takes for a book to become a book. In fact, the illustration happens much faster than the rest of it!
How do you get a commission?
Visit the websites of publishers and follow their guidelines. They’ll get in touch when they have a project that they feel will suit you.
Finally, Tanvi gave them an exercise – creating thumbnails for the illustration of a story. Four participants shared their work during the session, but for the rest, with all the questions and interaction, we ran out of time!
Pirates, Legends, and Historical Fiction
Yesterday’s guest session was full of stories! While we are familiar with Long John Silver and Davy Jones’s locker, how many of us are equally familiar with Kanhoji Angre and the pirates of the Malabar?
We began with a discussion of myths, legends, and historical fiction, and this, I think, is an important idea that is well worth repeating. A myth is not history or historical fiction. It is a story created by human beings in an attempt to make sense of the world. Even if a myth helps us understand something about the time when it was created, it isn’t a true tale.
A legend is not true either! My mother, Dr Radhika Seshan, told us the story of the emperor Jahangir and his bells of justice. Legend says that a donkey rang one of the bells one day, and Jahangir proclaimed that a donkey deserves justice too. Is the story true? We have no idea, but legends are often built around people who slowly, through stories, emerge as beings larger than life.
What, then, is historical fiction?
Historical fiction has a very sound foundation in fact, based on evidence. This is what makes it difficult to write. If we write about Kanhoji Angre or Ram Koli, we need to understand their times and set our stories accordingly. We need to know about the boats they used and where they lived. We cannot make them use Mediterranean ships! We also cannot change the course of history.
What, then, can we, as writers, imagine? We can imagine their conversations. We can imagine what went on in their heads. Kanhoji Angre was clearly a strategist. How would he have planned his course of action? Would he have been afraid the night before an attack? Or excited? The emotional and mental aspects are ours to play with.
I’ve given the children who attended the workshop a couple of writing assignments based on yesterday’s session. I can’t wait to read them; I’m sure they’ll be fun!
Mark your calendars – the next workshop is on illustration and will be conducted on the 19th of June! More details as soon as I open for registration.
The Playwriting Module – Reflections and Resources
And just like that, the playwriting module of my creative writing programme is also over! We read two plays, played with props, explored dialogue, imagined the stage, examined the differences between writing scripts for stage and for screen … And I’m exhilarated. As always, the generosity of the community of teachers and writers online is astounding. Some resources work for me; some don’t, but each one I come across is useful.
So, it’s my turn. Here are a few activities I used successfully in class this time.
Writing Natural Dialogue
Writing dialogue that reads naturally is challenging. Even though I have been writing for so long, I sometimes find myself using long, winding sentences in dialogue and have to remind myself that we don’t regularly use long sentences beginning with ‘although’ or ‘despite’. And can you imagine using them when you’re excited?
This led me to create an activity that is ideal for small batches of online creative writing programmes. Give the children a situation and let them speak. Record what they say and play it back to them. What do they notice? Do they use complete sentences all the time? How long are the sentences?
Here are two topics I created for them. Feel free to use them too!
- All of you are in a library. Suddenly, a book starts glowing. What happens next?
- You discover a secret door in your school. How do you and your friends react?
Common Mistakes
Short videos always help, even if the children listen to just your voice yet again. If nothing else, a video gives them a break from having to focus on your face! Based on everything I encountered and everything I read, I made a video about the common mistakes made while writing plays.
Sounds
I use sounds in class all the time. Most presentation softwares have some sounds that you can insert into your work. Playing short sounds and asking children to describe them is a way to make children pay attention to more than just the visual world around them.
This time, I used a linked series of sounds – a creaking door, the clopping of shoes on wood, a wolf howling and wind. This led us, of course, to a discussion of genre and how to make different kinds of plays come alive.
Reflections
Reading what children have to say about a module that is over is always heart-warming. Even though the sheer amount of work they share on the forum speaks volumes, reflections like these are reaffirming!
At Least a Fish
I love Anushka Ravishankar’s books. Whether it’s Moin and the Monster or Captain Coconut or At Least a Fish, I find myself chuckling as I read, shaking my head at her wacky humour.
Ana, the protagonist of At Least a Fish, wants a dog. She really wants a dog. But her parents go and get her fish instead – not one, but three! Ana’s friend Zain would call them Fishyone, Fishytwo and Fishythree, but Ana being Ana calls them Socrates, Aristotle (Totty for short) and Plato.
That’s just one of the dozens of crazy things in the story. From a dragon in a filthy pool to a dog who thinks he’s a fish, At Least a Fish brims over with humour and madness. I can’t wait to read it at my reading programme!
Differences
At Least a Fish is such a wonderful book to talk about differences – both obvious ones and not-so-obvious ones. There’s one hilarious page in the book where we have a list of differences between a dog and a fish. There’s also a lovely illustration of a fish mutating into a dragon. What happens there?
From a simple ‘spot the differences’ puzzle to a more thought out list of differences, there’s a whole lot we can do with this idea!
Letters
Ana wants a dog so much that she writes to ‘the person who is charge of reading letters at Adopt-a-pet’. She tries to pretend she is an adult in her letter. I wonder if the children at my reading programme will figure out why she isn’t entirely convincing!
I love working with letters and one of the things I will do at my reading programme is to ask the children to write a letter of their own. Let’s see, depending on whom they choose to write to, maybe I will print their letters and post them. That promises to be fun!
Animals
Ana once adopted a frog and made Zain hide it. She now has three fish. But she wants a dog. What pets do you think are fun to have?
We won’t just discuss pets; we’ll play a game too, one that I’ve played before. I begin by asking children to make a list of ten animals. Then, they make a list of ten things various animals do – a lion roars, a hippopotamus yawns, a frog eats bugs.
Finally, one child begins.
I have a pet. It is a ____
And the next child reads the first animal on their list.
Then, the next child reads the first thing on the ‘verb’ list. The instructions take a while to explain, but the results are always hilarious!
Join the programme!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS PROGRAMME. The next edition of the programme will be held in August.
If you would like to receive email notifications when I launch new batches, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Creative Writing Workshops – Reflections and Resources
I spend hours scouring the internet for creative writing resources. I love those hours, even though sometimes I find myself panicking. There are so many wonderful ideas out there! What can I use? I want to use them all! At those times, I need to step away from my laptop and remind myself that I cannot do everything in twelve weeks.
The weeks always fly by once I start a writing programme. I’m more than halfway through. Here are a handful of activities I used successfully this time!
Rhyming Opposites
This seems like an overly simplistic activity, but it works with people (I won’t even say just children) of all ages. It is based on something I came across in the book Writing with Children, by Jackie Reilly and Vanessa Reilly and serves as a great way to begin a session on rhyme! How would you fill in the blanks?
Musical Writing
I have no idea why I’ve never done this before! Once more, adapting an activity from the same book, I chose a piece of music and then asked the children to write as I asked them guiding questions. I love how the same piece leads to completely different results!
13-year-old Shreshta felt that she was in a chocolate factory, while 12-year-old Shreya felt she was in a fun music video with shapes floating around her.
Reflections
Poetry is always fun, and we did so much in four weeks. Haikus, sonnets, cinquains, riddle poems, list poetry, concrete poetry … Here’s what a couple of children have to say about it!
More Resources
Another wonderful resource I discovered this time was Kenn Nesbitt’s poetry website. It’s full of not just poetry, but also step-by-step guidelines to write your own poem!
We’ve moved on to drama, and I’ve been using Drama with Children by Sarah Phillips as my prime resource book. There are several websites I’ve referred to recently, and I hope to share them soon.
Explore the Resources category to discover other reading and creative writing activities for children and adults.
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Esio Trot
Who doesn’t love Esio Trot? Teg reggib, esio trot, teg reggib!
There was a time when I knew the book so well that I could say the whole chant that Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver to deliver to little Alfie. Have you come across the tweet about how children’s books should not be given star ratings but ‘again’ ratings based on how many times a child asks to read the book?
By that reckoning, Esio Trot is very high up on my list!
It’s one of those perfect transition books – neither a short story nor a chapter book. Neither a picture book nor a book with just words. That makes it ideal for my reading programme for seven and eight-year-olds!
Backward Games
A book club is all about having fun with books. It’s about celebrating the joy of reading. And that’s why one of the things we’re going to do is talk backwards, just for a bit. Plan what you want to say and write it down before saying it aloud. Let’s see whether we can figure it out!
'Say it with expression'
That’s what Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver. Just saying the words isn’t enough; magic words need expression.
Children love to recite poems, especially rhyming ones, so here is the perfect opportunity. During one class, I will ask them to read or recite something – with expression! How much drama can they bring into what they read?
Growing
How do children grow? How does anything grow? Can we watch something grow?
Mrs Silver does not even notice that Alfie grows to double his weight. With Esio Trot, I hope to have the children do an experiment of their own. Especially as most children come back for one edition of the programme after another, this should be fun. They’ll measure their height at the beginning of this book and then again when we end the next reading programme. Let’s see what we find!
Additionally, if we can, I’ll ask them to plant and water mustard seeds. I enjoyed doing that as a child. I’m sure they will too!
Join the programme!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS PROGRAMME. The next edition of the programme will be held in August.
If you would like to receive email notifications when I launch new batches, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Looking Back at Another Reading Programme
I love sharing stories with children, and this time’s batch of seven and eight-year-olds was even more fun than most. With each workshop I conduct, I treasure the stories we create together. The little anecdotes, the bubbles of laughter, the wide-eyed astonishment – these make workshops special! I wrote about a class where we spoke about monitors and Maya in a Mess; that was just the first of four books we read together, and each one brought joy.
One of the activities we did with the book was to try to keep something safe for six weeks. Maya loses the cupboard key. How about the children at my workshop?
During the first class, I asked them to find something smaller than the hole in the hOle book, wrap it in paper and keep it safe. I did it too, as you can see, and the paper has my name and the date on it.
During the last class, I asked them to show their little treasures to me, and nearly all of them had kept their ‘little thing’, as we all called it, safe!
Spellbound! by Nalini Sorensen was fantastic fun. We made up magic words and had all kinds of conversations.
“Why is the pimple on Weyona’s nose red on the cover? What mood is she in?”
“Does Oat-Penguin Oil really contain penguins?”
“Why didn’t they show us a picture of Weyona after her annual bath?”
Nalini was kind enough to answer the first two questions for us. As for the third, I asked the children to send me pictures!
– Zayn
– Sohum
It’s amazing how much fun we can pack into two hours of class time because this is just the tip of the iceberg!
Our third book was The Absent Author, and this was was delightful. For me, reading programmes are about having fun. In the story, we have a character called Ruth Rose who always dresses from top to toe in a single colour. So, we did that. We chose the colour green – because the absent author’s favourite colour is green, because the story takes place in Green Lawn and for other reasons I shall not reveal. It was such fun!
I loved the guesses the children made as we read on and the mischief in the faces of those who’d already read the whole book. A few snippets:
“It shouldn’t be kidnapped, right? It should be adult-napped!”
“If they want to check if the author actually came to the hotel, why don’t they just look at the CCTV footage?”
“The book was published in 1997, so they would not have had CCTV cameras!”
“What? No CCTV?”
“But cameras were there in 1997. Why didn’t they have CCTV?”
Of course, we also created detective clubs of our own. How could we not?
One child created the Thriving Three – comprising his parents and him. Another said her club consists of her dog and her, and anyone else who wants to join would need to do a test. Yet another created the Lime and Lemon Detective Agency. I promised to pass on their coordinates to anyone who had a mystery that needed solving!
The fourth book we read was Book Uncle and Me. For most of them, it was their first book in verse. They took a while to wrap their heads around it, but it was fun!
As Book Uncle has the BEST recommendations ever, I asked the children to create a list of books for me – books they think I should read. Here are a few they suggested that I have not read yet!
The next edition of my reading programme is here! This time, we’re going to read The Monster Hunters, Bookasura, Esio Trot and At Least a Fish. On popular demand, I have not one, but two batches of this programme – a weekday batch and a weekend one. Children from Mumbai, Surat, Chennai, Hyderabad and Idukki (which I had not even heard of!) have signed up so far. Join them?
Fantastic Mr Fox
Fantastic Mr Fox is a classic. And the combination of Roald Dahl and Sir Quentin Blake is magic.
I’ve never yet chosen a Roald Dahl for my reading programme because I reckoned that most children would already have been exposed to his books, and a book club is about discovering books you haven’t read before. Yet, as I mulled over what to include this time, I asked myself, again, what the purpose of a reading programme is. Often, I use the tagline ‘Celebrate the joy of reading’. If it’s about the joy of reading, how can I not include books I’ve adored and devoured as a child?
Rereading Fantastic Mr Fox now, I’m astounded at how much I liked it when I was younger. I was never one to like disgusting humour. I didn’t like toilet jokes. I didn’t like anything that was yucky. What made Dahl different?
I think, possibly, it was the fact that the disgust was not the point of the story. Also, when Mr Fox and family are so dapper, the whole thing made sense in my neat and orderly universe.
At my reading programme, I’m going to explore all this. I’m going to explore why I loved Dahl as a child and why I still admire his books today.
Literary Devices
This reading programme has a strong element of creative writing. With Dahl, there’s so much we can do to play with figurative language!
- Fantastic Mr Fox
Boggis, Bean and Bunce - thin as a pencil
dead as a dumpling
What better way to understand and explore language and wordplay?
Animal Stories
I would love to say that all children love animal stories, but I am wary of generalising. I do know, however, that practically every child I’ve met loves animal stories.
Though this is not a full-fledged writing programme, I do introduce the concept of genres. Animal stories can take so many different forms. I’ve worked with The Sheep-Pig before; it’s time to do Fantastic Mr Fox. My head is exploding with ideas of written activities we could do – anthropomorphic characters, environment stories, traditional tales of wit … Let’s see what the children come up with!
Humour and Disgust
Humour is close to impossible to teach. Often, when we begin to dissect humour, it is no longer funny. At the same time, however, I think conversations about humour are enlightening.
Why do some things appeal to us while others appeal to someone else? Is there a clear distinction between quirky and odd? Can anyone identify what humour is all about or understand how disgust is linked both to humour and to horror?
Join the programme!
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS PROGRAMME. The next edition of the programme will be held in August.
If you would like to receive email notifications when I launch new batches, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Workshops Launching in May and June 2021
I’ve received an overwhelming number of queries this time around, and I’m not surprised. Summer holidays! Registrations are now open for two reading programmes beginning on the 1st of June.
Do note that with lockdowns in several places, book deliveries are experiencing delays. I will try to get the books to you in time for the programme, but the sooner you register, the easier it will be for me.
Online Reading Programme (Ages 7 to 8)
We’re on the fourth edition of this programme, and the four books we will read this time are The Monster Hunters by Parinita Shetty, Bookasura by Arundhati Venkatesh, Esio Trot by Roald Dahl and At Least a Fish (Zain & Ana Book 1) by Anushka Ravishankar.
On popular demand, I have also launched a weekend batch of the same online reading programme!
Details
Dates: 1st June to 9th July 2021
Dates for the weekend batch: 29th May to 17th July 2021
Online interactions: Tuesdays and Fridays, 3-3:45pm (12 online interactions)
or
Saturdays, 2-3pm (8 online interactions) –
Age-group: 7-8 years
Early bird offer (until the 15th of May): ₹3,500
Fee: ₹4,000
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS PROGRAMME. The next batch will begin in August.
If you would like to receive email notifications when I launch new batches, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Earlier Programmes
Online Reading Programme (Ages 9 to 10)
Here’s the second edition of my online reading programme for ages 9-10! There is no weekend batch for this programme. It is six weeks long and involves 12 video interactions. However, instead of reading four books together, we read just three. This is because one session every two weeks is devoted to exercises that introduce creative writing, closely linked to the books we read.
This time’s books are Moin and the Monster, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop.
Details
Dates: 1st June to 9th July 2021
Online interactions: Tuesdays and Fridays, 4-4:45pm
Age-group: 9-10 years
Early bird offer (until the 15th of May): ₹4,500
Fee: ₹5,000
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS PROGRAMME. The next batch will begin in August.
If you would like to receive email notifications when I launch new batches, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates.
Earlier Programmes
Writing about Cyber Crime
What a fun session we had with digital forensic investigator Shweta A. Chawla yesterday! The children had all kinds of questions, and all kinds of stories. Nearly every child had a story of a parent or relative receiving a call and asking for an OTP or bank details. It just shows you how close cyber crime is to us!
One child said, “We should keep changing our passwords, but it’s difficult to remember them. So I write them in an Excel sheet.” Before Shweta could respond, he said, “The Excel sheet is password protected.”
And I found myself thinking, Do I even know how to create a password-protected Excel sheet?
We spoke of how stories no longer need masked robbers going into banks with guns, and the fact that you are much more likely to encounter a hacker online than a smuggler. Sure, we love our Enid Blyton stories of smuggling and crime, but perhaps stories can reflect something much more accessible – a criminal working from home, just like the rest of us.
Finally, if we create a character who is a digital investigator, what would that investigator’s line of thought be? What questions does the investigator ask to start tracing the criminal?
Character motivations, procedures, forensics, passwords – we learned so much during the session!
This was just the first of three sessions planned for this writing programme. Mark your calendars for the next one, which will be on the last Saturday of May. Registrations will open shortly, but here’s a teaser – we’ll be talking about pirates during this one!
Books and Important Conversations
No, I don’t believe that every book needs to teach us something. Absolutely not. I read to laugh, have fun and unwind. Yet, every so often, I come across a book that invites discussion and makes me think.
At my reading programme for ages 9 and 10, we’re reading Flying with Grandpa. Yesterday, we were to read the section where Grandpa refuses to eat. He makes a fuss and keeps banging his fork on the table.
I paused as I reread this section in preparation for my reading session. The children at my book club had clearly said that they had never encountered adults behaving like children. The idea, to them, was absurd. I knew we needed to have a conversation – about dementia, Alzheimer’s and growing old. There would be no better time than this, but how could I go about it?
A Story
I lost my grandfather six years ago. He was a remarkable man, a retired Air Vice Marshal, whom I respected and loved.
In 2015, he when my sister Nisha and I went to visit my grandparents in Coimbatore, he was already declining – and rapidly. It was frightening and saddening at the same time.
One day, the two of us were sitting on the bed, talking together, and my grandfather paused at the doorway. He stared and demanded of my grandmother, “Who are those two?”
“The children!” replied my grandmother, horrified.
“What children?”
“Nisha and Varsha – our grandchildren!”
“Oh.”
Even with that response, we knew that grandfather had no idea about us. He was confused, but he just let it go.
Thoughts and Explorations
We encountered just brief moments of confusion, but it isn’t the same for everyone. Plus, neither Nisha nor I was a child when this happened.
How do we talk to children about dementia? How do we build empathy and prevent them from ridiculing the idea of an adult forgetting how to eat?
As I thought about all of these, I discovered video after video on how to explain Alzheimer’s to children. Here are a couple I used:
The length of the first video is perfect! To introduce what dementia is in a sensitive, gentle way, I think it works very well.
The second video is lovely too, though slightly long to share with children. I did use parts of it because it’s clear and has a person who is sundowning explaining what Alzheimer’s does to people.
And finally, books. I wrote about Where’s Grandma?, a book I learned about from Maria Alessandrino at the AFCC four years ago.
In their own gentle ways, books prepare us for what can be. At my reading session yesterday, I showed the children pictures from Where’s Grandma? and we continued to read Flying with Grandpa.
When we reached the section where Xerxes helps his Mamavaji to eat, I think there was just a little more understanding, a little more empathy. And that made me more than a little glad.
Writing about Cyber Crime
During my writing programme last year, I met many children who wanted to write detective stories. What would a detective story involve? How did investigations really happen?
This got me thinking.
What could I do that would be new and unusual? I’ve never solved a crime. I have no inside knowledge. And if children (and I!) don’t want to write about smugglers and private islands and the like, what detective stories can we write?
My answer was cyber crime. And that led to the very first guest session of my creative writing programme.
About the Facilitator
Shweta A. Chawla is an independent digital forensic investigator with over 15 years of experience in digital forensic and cyber investigations. She is the founder and chief investigator at SC Cyber Solutions, and has acted as consultant to various police departments in investigations into cyber crimes. Shweta is a member of the prestigious, international High Technology Crime Investigation Association, as well as of the Cyber-investigation Analysis Standard Expression (CASE) community.
Writing about Cyber Crime
- What is a cyber investigator?
- How do I write a story about a cyber detective?
- What do we mean by digital forensics?
As this is a guest session at my writing programme, participants who are part of my current batches will be part of it at no additional cost. However, this session is also open to non-participants on payment of a fee of ₹400.
Workshops During a Pandemic
Last week, I started reading Maya in a Mess with my book club for seven and eight-year-olds. As part of the discussion, I asked them, “Have you ever been a monitor in class? How do you feel?”
“I feel like a king!” said one child.
“I love it,” said another. “You don’t have to just stand in line with the others. You can actually do things.”
“It feels good,” said a third. “You feel responsible.”
One avid reader in the batch isn’t seven yet, but she’s at par with the others. When it was her turn, she said, “I haven’t ever been a monitor.”
“Do you want to be a monitor?” I asked.
There was a minuscule pause.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been to proper school. When I was in kindergarten, we didn’t have monitors. Last year, it was all online. So I don’t know what it would be like to be a monitor.”
My heart broke just a tiny bit.
I’ve never been to proper school.
Sigh.
Book Uncle and Me
I discovered verse novels quite recently. I began by reading a few for young adults and then I slowly went down the age ladder. I love them. I love how much they say with such few words.
Would I have enjoyed verse novels as a child? I have no way of telling, for I was such a mix. I liked things that were familiar, so it is possible that I would have rejected them out of hand as weird. On the other hand, I was never a fan of long paragraphs, so I don’t know.
I do know, though, that I want to introduce young readers to this form, and Book Uncle and Me is ideal.
Yasmin has a mission. She wants to read a book a day for the rest of her life, and she has accomplished this for over a year thanks to Book Uncle, who not only runs a free lending library but also recommends the best books. One day, however, Yasmin discovers that Book Uncle is packing up. He’s been told he needs a permit to run his little enterprise. What can Yasmin do? Will all the books she’s read help her find a solution?
Through Yasmin, we live the life of a young reader, determined to devour one story after another. And through her, we learn about the power of the individual as well as the power of a group. Yet, like any good story, Book Uncle and Me is not about what we learn from the book. Rather, it is about what the book makes us feel and how it makes us think. What better book could one read at a book club?
Here’s what I plan to do with the book at my reading programme.
Book Lists
Book Uncle shares wonderful book recommendations with Yasmin, which help her discover stories she loves. A book club is the best place for children to create book lists for one another. What books would be on your “must read” list? What books make you want to read more and more and more? At the end of the programme, I hope to have at least seven (I have seven registrations so far) brand-new lists of books to read!
Neighbours
I love the descriptions of all those who live in Yasmin’s building! From the newly-weds to the gentleman who plays the ghatam, we meet a host of interesting characters.
So, it’s time to get creative. Who do you think would be an interesting neighbour to have? Do you think you are an interesting neighbour? Do you have neighbours who make you curious or annoyed?
What would you save?
Children today grow up with the idea of needing to save the world. They know they must close taps, switch off lights and reduce plastic. What else is important to them? The question will lead to all kinds of discussions, I’m sure. What is in danger? Are libraries in danger? What about bookstores? Do these need saving? How?
I hope to start this conversation by asking children to draw a map of their neighbourhood to build an understanding of the environment that makes us who we are and helps us grow. Which parts of their locality go unnoticed? Which ones are important?
Join a programme
Book Uncle and Me is the fourth book we will be reading at my reading programme for ages seven and eight.
