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My favourite books for children from 2018

My favourite books for children from 2018

I read some excellent books for children and young adults last year (I can’t believe I’m saying last year to 2018 already) so making a top ten list was very difficult. Which is why I ended up making a top eighteen list (that’s only nearly a lie; I mostly chose 18 due to template considerations but I bet I could easily make a top twenty-five list. I also spent most of December reading too many…

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My favourite books from 2018 for adults I know it's the second day of 2019 but I've only just managed to grab some free time to highlight some of my favourite books from last year.

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Book Activities: Rosie Revere, Engineer

Book Activities: Rosie Revere, Engineer

Activities inspired by books are a brilliant way to make the reading experience interactive, creative and playful. Children also develop a range of skills when they make things but that’s for the adults to think about – young people can focus on the fun bits. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Where some people see rubbish, Rosie Reveresees inspiration. Alone in her room at night, shy Rosie constructs great…

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Of Cabbages and Kings: December 2nd 2018

Of Cabbages and Kings: December 2nd 2018

This weekly(ish) feature is where I post recommendations and links to interesting things I’ve encountered throughout the week.  

Image courtesy Best of Tumblr

I love this articledescribing why diverse representations in children’s books are so important and articulates my own thoughts about why people need to stop dismissing inclusive literature for being “too political”. Complex, multiple…

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Book List: Children's books about the Partition of India

Book List: Children’s books about the Partition of India

I’m not only way behind on my blog duties but also every other thing I do for fun including catching up on my weekly dose of Doctor Who. I’m currently an episode behind (a number which is only likely to increase because I don’t think I’m going to be able to watch it before the next one comes out tomorrow). But I do have a Whoverse inspired book list to keep me going in the meanwhile.

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Of Cabbages and Kings: November 17th 2018

Of Cabbages and Kings: November 17th 2018

I’m reviving this (hopefully) weekly feature where I post recommendations and links to interesting things I’ve encountered throughout the week.  

Image courtesy The Guardian

Children’s author Shabnam Minwalla describes what prompted her most recent early chapter book When Jiya Met Urmila, in which her eponymous characters strive to bridge the economic barriers between them – a feat she admits…

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Activities inspired by books are a brilliant way to make the reading experience interactive, creative and playful. Children also develop a range of skills when they make things but that’s for the adults to think about – young people can focus on the fun bits. 

About the book:

A big box, her grandparents’ walking sticks… Neelu has everything she needs for her big, strong fort. But she trips and falls, and the box becomes flat! Whacky pictures take us on a colourful ride into a child’s imagination.

As soon as I read Neelu’s Big Box, my brain buzzed with possibilities. I used to love playing with cardboard boxes as a kid and even now, the sight of one thrills me to bits. Tragically, I’m too tall to fit into most of the boxes which come with delivered packages now but I yearn for the day I’m going to have to buy an enormous appliance or something that will justify a giant box.

Draw

  Image courtesy the Pratham StoryWeaver bank

All Neelu needs for her fort is a bunch of everyday objects. When she accidentally flattens one of these, it doesn’t take her too long to come up with another use for all of them. To encourage your readers to look at the everyday world with fresh new eyes, ask them to think of the objects Neelu used:

a cardboard box

a yellow basket

a red dupatta

two walking sticks

Then hand them sheets of paper to draw ideas for other things they can create with these objects.

Make

Image courtesy the Art Bar blog

Use  a cardboard box lying around the house as a framework for a cardboard theatre.

Ask your readers to embellish the box – both outside and inside – with paint, drawings, decorations or any other ideas they can come up with.

Next look for toys and objects you have lying around the house or ask the readers to create characters of their own – either by drawing them or constructing them out of clay.

They can further furnish the theatres with props and settings.

Now the readers can come up with a wide range of stories to enact in the cardboard theatre. These can be flexible depending on the reader’s inclination and the materials you have at hand.

Watch

I watched this short film about nine-year-old Caine who built a games arcade entirely out of cardboard boxes in his dad’s garage years ago and it’s still one of my favourite things on the internet. Watch this after reading about Neelu’s adventures with her box to strike inspiration in the minds of your young readers.

Eat

No book activity – or, in fact, reading experience – is complete without food. Neelu uses a basket of fruits in her imaginative adventure. Have fun with fruit snacks as your readers set off on their own adventures.

An apple turtle companion to join the shenanigans. Recipe from here.

A rainbow fruit sword in case of danger. Recipe from here.

Do

Neelu wants to use her cardboard box to make a fort, though things don’t go according to plan. Fortunately, you don’t need to find a big box to make a fort of your own. Read this book in the comforts of a blanket fort. All you need are some sheets and blankets, a sofa and/or a table and/or a few chairs and you’re all set to go.

My friends and I had a long-distance blanket fort party where we each constructed our own forts and then coordinated a watching of Mulan together. I highly recommend this excellent activity.

  Book Activities: Neelu’s Big Box Activities inspired by books are a brilliant way to make the reading experience interactive, creative and playful.

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Book List: My Favourite Public Library Finds

Book List: My Favourite Public Library Finds

While I was writing this love letter to public libraries, I thought it would be fun to highlight a few of the books I’ve borrowed from public libraries over the last two years – in print, ebook and audiobook format – which I’ve absolutely loved. Honestly though, browsing the shelves of the library – either in-person or virtually on their app – is one of the highlights of my week. It’s like…

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What I Read In October

What I Read In October

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

The audiobook of Truckers was my first foray into non-Discworld Pratchett was so fun and I can’t wait to read/listen to the other two books in the Bromeliad trilogy

I had been looking forward to reading A Snicker Of Magicfor ages. It has rave reviews on Goodreads. I liked the cover and the title and the synopsis long before I actually read the book. But once I did start…

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I wanted to dress up as a bookish character for a Halloween party last weekend. At a party a couple of years ago, I put together a last-minute outfit and went as Julian from the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton (complete with ginger beer). This year I wanted another homemade costume and was mulling over two possibilities – Mosca Mye (from the Fly By Night series by Frances Hardinge) and the Faraway Tree (from The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton) but tragically in the end it all came to naught on account of not having the time to work on anything properly (I ended up going as a pink dragon because I own a pink dragon onesie. I know).

But as I was researching potential fictional character ideas, I also considered some from Indian children’s books. So here’s a list of some fun fictional people to dress up as. These would be great for kids (or adults!) who celebrate Halloween, Book Week in school, or who’ve even just been invited for a costume party and want to be fabulously bookish!

MONSTERS AND RAKSHASAS

  Karimuga – You can dress up as this friendly rakshasa who may have hairy legs, red eyes, purple skin and an enormous belly, but he also has a large yellow-toothed smile to greet friends with.

  Image source: this review of the book on Indian Moms Connect.

Bookasura – All you need to be this book-eating rakshasa is an assortment of heads and an armful of books (which you must nibble at regular intervals to lend an air of authenticity to the proceedings).

Moin’s monster – The hilarious banana-eating, silly-song-singing, bright pink monster with auto-rickshaw-horns as ears offers such fun possibilities for a costume.

  Monsters from Monster Garden – This book is full of monster costume ideas – either Do-It-Yourself ones inspired by writer Jerry Pinto’s nonsense verse or colourful ones inspired by illustrator Priya Kuriyan’s monster gallery.

  VAMPIRES

Vikram and/or the Vampire – Inspired by this modern, hilarious retelling of the ancient tale of Vikram and Betal, you can choose to dress up as the harried king Vikram who just wants to bring down Betal – the spirit who hangs out in trees and lives in and as dead bodies – and deliver him to a sorcerer. Or you can dress up as Betal, the aforementioned vampire-zombie hybrid. Or for more hijinks, incorporate both Vikram and Betal into your costume.

Miss Vee Nonie – Dressing up as Vee, the garlic-loving vampire girl, offers the perfect excuse to first make, then tote around several garlicky dishes to snack on through the day.

Kris, the vampire boy – Or you could dress up as a blood-hating, bread-loving vampire boy who is forced to go to school and mingle with human children. Carry lots of bread and tell all the humans that they smell like eggs.

  OTHER FANTASY BEINGS

An elf from the North Pole – Three of the protagonists in When Santa Went Missing happen to be North Pole elves. Gilmore looks more like an old-fashioned elf with a belted tunic, tights and a long beard he tucks into the belt; Coral dresses in a snazzy black suit and thinks he’s an evil villain; Bean is the youngest and clumsiest and wears an alarming amount of scarves draped in every spare part of her body. Pick whichever one fits your mood (and outfit choices).

People and creatures from Madh – There’s a range of character costume options in The Magicians of Madh – including Chitralekha the Celestial Dancer, a griffon (with the appearance and appetite of eagle-lions),  a Sprite, The High Priest of the Sun God, a Free Bow (an initiate Free Bow is a common criminal and a Free Bow is a deadly assassin – both offer their services for hire). Since there are no illustrations or detailed descriptions of this assortment of characters, you’re free to unleash your imagination when you’re figuring out what they may look like.

  GIANTS, DINOSAURS AND ALIENS

  The colour thief – A grouchy, grey giant with a grey dhoti, a grey vest, a grumpy expression and a net to steal all the colours from the world with.

  The dinosaur-as-long-as-127 kids – You can choose to be the cheerful dinosaur who loves giving kids rides (and have fun figuring out how to incorporate exactly 127 kids into the costume) or you can be Adinasura, the wildly colourful demon who cursed the dinosaur instead (I mean if a dinosaur hid my book, I might cast a couple of curses too).

Oops, the alien – Oops, the time-travelling gurgle from outer space who intends to save Planet Earth from alien invasion, resembles a three-foot pumpkin – so that’s the costume you should work on.

  MARINE CREATURES

Any sea creature Vanamala encounters – When Vanamala sets off to rescue her sister (who she accidentally sold) it leads her to an underwater world full of a variety of sea creatures (many of whom used to be humans). Choose any one to portray or dress up as the underwater kingdom with all the characters  (including Vanamala) on display.

Rot8, the octopus sept-opus – This underwater superhero is an octopus with seven-and-a-half limbs whose accidental foray into a laboratory leads to a number of cool attachments to compensate for his missing half-limb. He spends his time foiling jewel heists and rescuing his friends from killer whales. It’s a costume idea which holds heaps of possibilities.

  MISCELLANEOUS CREATURES

Gatila – This otherwise black cow is forever trying to paint herself in different colours so you could look into creating cow outfits which are either green, blue, black-and-yellow striped or multicoloured.

  Squiggle – Squiggle’s woeful quest of trying to discover which punctuation mark she is ends with her finding out she’s a doodle. Outfit choices can range from a solitary Squiggle doodle, a page full of Squiggle doodles or one filled with different punctuation marks including Squiggle grinning in delight.

Toto the auto – If you’re feeling really adventurous, dress a toy up as Toto’s driver, Pattu, who you can carry on your head/neck/back.

  COOL YOUNG HUMANS

  Puchku – Exuberantly illustrated Puchku’s outfit is an easy one to put together with the added benefit of being able to carry a pile of books around and ignoring the world to read them to stay true to your character. You can also read the book for free here.

Janice – Janice’s outfit should be pretty simple – black buckled shoes, a blue dress (maybe with some flowers on it) and plaits in the hair. But dressing up as Janice provides an excellent opportunity to learn about another culture. Read the story here and go on a quest in search of purple plum candies, huge-ear-shaped black fungus, a gulmohar-flower-coloured lantern, scrumptious-sounding dumpling soup and baozi buns and mahjong-playing lessons.

Ari – All shy Ari wants to be is a lion in the class play. You can dress up as Ari pretending to be the lion. You need a paper bag for the lion head and a grey sock-mouse to wear on your hand. Growl at the sock-mouse and crawl around whenever you can.

Manya – Alternatively, you can dress up as fierce Manya who desperately wants to dazzle everyone by playing Shere Khan in her school’s adaptation of The Jungle Book. Wear a tiger costume and roar.

Neelu – Neelu has two ponytails on her head and dreams (and glasses) in her eyes who’s dying to make a fort out of the cardboard box, her mother’s dupatta, walking sticks, and a basket of fruit is an easy outfit to put together. Maybe you can try making a fort of your own.

A monster hunter – You can dress up as Abhay or Nitya who are prepared with a monster hunting kit in their backpack to aid their search of monsters as well as to store any evidence they stumble upon. Make your own kit to carry.

  FUNNY ROYALS

The princess with the longest hair – This princess and I share a name (albeit spelled differently) and I’d like to think that if I were a princess, I’d also get fed up of my long hair and give it away to random fishermen (to make nets) and birds (to make nests) and whatnot until I was happy and bald. A bald princess would also make for such a fun costume idea – or maybe a short-haired one for a tamer option.

Maharaja Icky – King Icky loves food and hates table manners so here’s your chance to dress up as a king with food-stained clothes and spend the day licking curry from your hand and juggling rosogullas whenever things get too quiet.

  Princess Easy Pleasy – Accessorise your princess outfit with a  suitcase (or cardboard aeroplane) filled with a cow, a chef cut-out, bedding, and an assortment of pet animals.

  AWESOME GRANDMOTHERS

  Ammachi of the lost glasses – A white dress, a pink dupatta, and a nearsighted squint are all the things you need to inhabit Ammachi’s character. For bonus points, carry a pair of glasses around that you can keep accidentally losing.

  Ammachi of the amazing machines – This gadget-inventing, coconut-barfi-making grandmother is one of my favourite children’s book characters. A sari and large glasses should make for a good beginning but adding a tool belt and a helmet will complete the outfit so perfectly. Maybe even carry a plate of coconut barfi to chomp on. You can read the book for free here.

  Ninja Nani – Another cool grandmother to join the list, you can dress up as the crime-fighting nani of Gadbadnagar

  FUNNY DETECTIVES 

Captain Coconut – All you need to dress up your child as this bumbling detective is a pair of khaki shorts, a white t-shirt, a khaki shirt, bright red socks and a turban (a dupatta wrapped around the head will work too). Top it off by arming yourself with six bananas, a calculator and a vaguely perplexed expression.

  Image sources:

All book cover photos were sourced from the publisher websites 

Bookasura illustration from this review of the book on Indian Moms Connect

Moin’s monster illustration from the Duckbill blog

Monster Garden monster gallery from illustrator Priya Kuriyan’s blog

Adinasura illustration from this Behance gallery 

Puchku image from here

Janice illustration from illustrator Kalyani Ganapathy’s website

Princess Easy Pleasy illustrations from illustrator Priya Kuriyan’s blog

Ammachi’s amazing machine illustration sourced from here

  30 literary costume ideas from Indian children’s books I wanted to dress up as a bookish character for a Halloween party last weekend. At a party a couple of years ago, I put together a last-minute outfit and went as Julian from…

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I have a major soft spot for villains – not the boring, truly evil ones, but the fun, off-kilter ones (who, admittedly, can sometimes be truly evil, but you can’t accuse them of being boring) (This also partly explains why I’ll forever be in love with Missy and Hela)

My favourite bad guys in children’s books run the gamut of villainy from being properly bad to merely being misunderstood and also includes the various shades in between. But they’re always super entertaining.

PICTURE BOOKS

The monster from Not Now, Bernard who is responsible for one of the most spectacular twists I’ve ever read in a picture book.

            Shrek – not the version from the films who turns out to be a good guy after all, but the one from the original book who utterly revels in his horribleness.

            EARLY CHAPTER BOOKS

Mr Gum from the hilarious Mr Gum series where the eponymous villain, much like Shrek, loves being bad and is forever trying to hatch nefarious plots.

            Mr Wolf, Mr Piranha, Mr Snake and Mr Shark from The Bad Guys series who just want to rehabilitate their tarnished images and prove to the world that they’re not so bad after all.

            MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS

The cephalopod with multiple possible origin stories from the wonderfully inventive Vanamala And The Cephalopod whose kidnapping of Vanamala’s sister (though, in his defence, Vanmala did advertise her for sale) leads to an epic underwater quest.

          Dame Slap from the Magic Faraway Tree series who runs the most ridiculous school to reform naughty pixies and fairies and needs the slightest pretext to slap anyone and everyone she comes across.

            “The mad scientist of fashion, haute couture villainess” Lucretia Cutter from The Battle Of The Beetles series who has an unhealthy interest in insects and how they can be used for world domination.

              The dastardly Bandit King from the fantastically funny The Hero’s Guide To Saving Your Kingdom who loves looting, mayhem, gold, jewels and candy, and celebrating his infamy (and who also happens to be ten years old).

            Doctor Cuddles from Muddle Earth who is just one of the many absurd, excellent characters this book is full of – but might have an advantage over the others considering the hooded villain who wants to take over Muddle Earth is a teddy bear.

          YOUNG ADULT BOOKS

Lord Ballister Blackheart from Nimona who is the loveliest, grumpiest non-villain who just wants to prove that the knights guarding the realm aren’t the heroes everyone thinks they are – and reluctantly find himself saddled with a delightful, mad sidekick (hi Nimona!)

      What are the other glorious villains I need to discover in children’s books?

This post was inspired by Top Ten Tuesday hosted at The Artsy Reader Girl which suggests literary lists to write about. 

          Top Ten Tuesday – My Favourite Villains In Children’s Books I have a major soft spot for villains - not the boring, truly evil ones, but the fun, off-kilter ones (who, admittedly, can sometimes be truly evil, but you can't accuse them of being boring) (This also partly explains why I'll forever be in love with Missy and Hela)

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A love letter to public libraries

A love letter to public libraries

Earlier this month, the UK celebrated Libraries Week, with libraries all across the country joining in with a range of fun, creative events and activities. If I had planned my life better, I could have been a part of one of these, but I had to content myself with visiting my local library and borrowing The Library Book, which was full of essays geeking out about the importance and magic of…

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Women and Names

I’ve been married for a little less than four years and in the past couple of years I’ve learnt a lot about myself, about being a woman and the general way people think a married woman should behave.

One of the first comments on Facebook on my wedding album was, “Sweety, it’s no more ‘Kapur’, it is ‘Rao’ now, change it soon!” My aunts changed my name on their phones instantly to ‘Sanjana Rao’ and publicly when the need for a full name arises ‘Sanjana Kapur’ is inevitably followed by a ‘Rao’. Many of my friends have got married recently and have quite instantly changed their names on their public profiles.

I refuse to.

To be honest, this hasn’t always been my opinion. There was a time when I thought that was the natural course my life would take. I would get married to a nice boy my parents would find and then would be a good wife and cook and be happy. I would no longer be a ‘Kapur’ and that was just how things were. Changing my name meant that I had accepted my new life and welcomed it with open arms. This is what I aspired to being for a while, until I grew up and realised, ‘What the bloody hell was I thinking!’ Some of my friends still make fun of me because of the set ideas I had about being a good wife. Those were my opinions because that is what I had seen the women around me become and I thought it was the ideal thing. These women were strong-willed and fun, but they still waited on their husbands and did everything single-handedly around the house.

When I got married, life was not at all how I had seen unfold around me and it was refreshingly wonderful. My husband did not expect great woman superpowers to unfold after we got married. We were like two roommates, who loved talking to each other and slept together.

The other day my sister told me about how Joss Whedon’s children have Kai Cole’s last name. They are Arden Cole and Squire Cole. It was a pleasant surprise to see the mother’s last name being used. And while it made me extremely happy, it was still a surprise, because no one seems to think it’s an okay thing. I instantly shared this information with my husband and he found it wonderful too. So we reached a mutual understanding that we would call one kid ‘Kapur’ and one ‘Rao’! A few days later, conversation seemed to stir to children and my mother asked me if I had names in mind. I said, “We only know their last names, one ‘Kapur’ and one ‘Rao’!” Both mum and dad thought it was a joke and laughed, while glancing at my husband to gauge his reaction.

I’ve been reading the brilliant Caitlin Moran and there are so many things that I nod my head at, vigorously. We, as women, have an ingrained sense of feeling apologetic about the way we do things and feel overly thankful when a man helps us out. Society has pushed the idea of ‘you are a follower’ down our throats and we don’t even find the thought ridiculous.

I choose to remain Sanjana Kapur and that doesn’t make my love for my husband or his family any less. I don’t need my name to change for the world to know I am married and happily so.

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Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

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In the long history of man, countless empires and nations have come and gone. Those which created no lasting works of art are reduced today to short footnotes in history’s catalog. Art is a nation’s most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves, and to others, the inner vision which guides us as a Nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish. We in America have not always been kind to the artists and the scholars who are the creators and the keepers of our vision. Somehow, the scientists always seem to get the penthouse, while the arts and the humanities get the basement.

Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, on signing the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act  (via austinkleon)

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“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” — Madeleine L’Engle

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