A stunning picture book that will work for children and adults alike. It is about the house at Pomegrante Street, where the occupants are getting ready for lunch. It has an almost cinematic feel while reading the book. As you turn the pages, you sweep through every apartment and peek into the respective kitchens to see what is cooking. Depending on the culture that is represented, the family is making an easy-to-put-together dish. There are hors-d’oeuvres, savoury dishes, main course, side dishes and of course, plenty of desserts. These include Salmorejo, sesame soy broccoli, guacamole, black bean soup, sole meuniere, spaghetti Al pomodoro, coconut dahl, mini-quiches, meatballs (with turkey, zucchini and feta), oyako don ( chicken and egg rice), baba ganoush, green rice, peanut butter & choc chip cookies, banana & blueberry bread, and strawberry crumble. Once it is all ready, all the neighbours scuttle down the stairs to the back yard for a sit down pot luck. Their good cheer and bonhomie, cutting across cultural divides, is almost palpable through the pages of this beautiful book. Plus point is that the recipe for every single dish is given and illustrated brilliantly. The illustrations are made with watercolours and coloured pencils.
This has been translated from French but for some inexplicable reason, the name of the translator has not been given. Instead the copyright details resting with the publisher are explicitly mentioned. Odd. It is at variance with the spirit of collaboration and sharing across cultures that the story underlines.
Nevertheless, it is a stunning book to read, share and use.
Ottolenghi and Nigella Lawson have endorsed it too.
‘A stunningly illustrated recipe book for kids (or anyone, really). It tells the story of different residents of a house cooking foods from around the world. Simply sweet.’
— Yotam Ottolenghi
‘Beautifully depicting an apartment building with people cooking food from all over the world … Really uplifting and charming.’ — Nigella Lawson
@readingkafka on Twitter is a fascinating account on the state of libraries in India. Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta is almost evangelical in her desire to disseminate information about libraries and their positive impact upon local communities. This is a particularly interesting thread that I captured via screenshots.
Scholastic Writers Academy, short story collections
During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, Scholastic Writers Academy was launched. I conceptualised the programme for Scholastic India. These are online workshops of 20 hours, 10 days x 2 hours every day, except for the weekends and national holidays. Two hours of a mix of lectures, presentations, interactive sessions, writing on camera, one-to-one mentoring in breakout rooms and peer review. Every participant is expected to write a short story. Every workshop culminates in a published anthology of the short stories. It includes the mentor’s note.
The faculty of Scholastic Writers Academy are handpicked. They are inevitably folks who have a deep interest in literature and understand its nuances. Also, they are extremely kind, gentle, firm and have excellent mentoring skills when interacting with the school students. Our fabulous mentors include or have included in the past, Rahul Saini, Sucharita Dutta-Asane, Neil D’Silva, Harini Srinivasan, Priya Ranganathan, Ujwala Samarth, Madhumita Gupta, Sushmitha Talisetti, Saachi Gupta, Kanchana Banerjee etc.
In the short span since the workshops began ( June 2021) till date, we have mentored more than 1200 students and had more than 55 editions of the workshops. Scholastic India has been incredibly innovative and determined with its outreach efforts with schools. Also, using the social media platforms to promote this programme. As a result, we have had registerations from across India and even abroad — the USA, Middle East, and Singapore.
Most often the workshops are general and we encourage students to come up with their own story pegs and see it through. But we have also had thematic workshops on science fiction, horror, Nature, animals etc. The students are in the age range of 9 to 17+. We make batches of junior and senior.
The success of these workshops is incredible. And I am not saying it because I am part of the core team that works on it. It is the word-of-mouth success too. Students have registered for it not once but multiple times! They join the workshop with trepidation and nervousness. Some join because they have been encouraged to do so by their parents and schools. But within two days, the kids are yapping away happily to their mentor and with each other. Remember that these groups meet ONLY online. They do not know who will be in their batch from beforehand. They are complete strangers to each other. By the time the workshop is over, two weeks later, the children are a raucous bunch and share a special bonhomie. They do not want the classes to end. They leave on a high note. At the concluding session, parents tell us over and over again, how their children look forward to these sessions. They grin and are cheerful. They do not want to be disturbed. Even kids who are normally restless are at peace and disciplined about writing daily. They look forward to these interactions.
Later, they regroup for the official book launch. These are also held online on Scholastic India’s Facebook page. All the recordings of the past book launches exist on the page. There is a fixed format with Mr Neeraj Jain, Scholastic India, MD, the mentor, and a chief guest — inevitably this person is an educationist. It is such a thrill watching these virtual book launches. The children are animatedly chittering at meeting each other once more. Their eyes shine with delight at being able to hold their physical books aloft.
At the book launches, the children share the impact that these workshops have had upon them. It is not only that their writing skills have improved ( SWA does not teach grammar!). But it is the sudden realisation that with a bit of focus, discipline and determination they can create and be productive. They have learned to improve their social skills as they are forced to engage with the other participants. They have improved their vocabulary as they are encouraged to offer peer review in class. They realise that writing a short story is not as easy as it seems and they need ideas and vision. There are many other aspects that they touch upon but it is the massive confidence boosting measure that really astounds them. They discover aspects of themselves that they did not realise they had within them.
Registerations are open throughout the year. To register, please click here.
Every book that is published by Scholastic India as part of the Scholastic Writers Academy is available on Amazon India. In fact, schools buy entire sets of these books. And/or they prescribe individual copies as supplementary readers in their institutions. Libraries order multiple sets as everyone is very proud to see school children write imaginatively and spin stories and ultimately be published by a 102-year-old brand like Scholastic. The same publishing house that published Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, John Lithgow, Robert Redford, and Truman Capote. It is also the publisher of Dav Pilkey, Liz Pinchon, and J.K.Rowling ( in the USA).
We have even launched an edition for adults — 18 and above. The inaugural workshop was very exciting and energetic.
Although this book has been announced in the inaugural list of Aleph Book Company’s children’s literature imprint, it was first published in 2020. At that time, my then ten-year-old daughter, Sarah Rose, was asked to record this video by the publishing firm. It was to celebrate Ruskin Bond’s birthday in May 2020.
What is not to like in this book! It is utterly brilliant. Stupendous!
With offerings from sonnets in iambic pentameter, to limericks, acrostics, and villanelles, It’s Time to Rhymeis the perfect introduction to the joys of poetry for readers of all ages. Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan should consider writing a long poem for children. A story well told is heard far and wide. Format does not matter. The few poems collected in this slim volume are a guarded taster of what she is capable of! It is high time publishers broke shackles of the staid expectations of educators and parents and brought the fun back in storytelling. Let it be wild. Let it be nonsensical. Let it be joyous!
On 30 March 2022, Aleph Book Company announced the launch of its children literature imprint. Stephen Alter’s edited volume of Great Indian Children’s Stories is part of the inaugural offering. The other two are Shobha Tharoor Srinivasana’s delightful It’s Time to Rhyme and Ruskin Bond’s Miracle at Happy Bazaar.
This is a fine anthology. It makes for a lovely gift. Also, the collection of stories heark back to a more secular and diverse past of India that we were/are proud of — it touches upon its soul. Today, it still exists but we need constant reminders that this is still a very strong feature of our nation. It is a great way to inaugurate this children’s literature list but it is also a fine balancing act as this is also how canonisation of a genre begins. Selection of good stories by established writers/translators. In all likelihood, this was a relatively “easy” volume to put together since the copyright permission was manageable. Some of these stories have been previously published in other volumes of short stories published by Aleph. Ideally, given that Aleph is increasingly getting known for its excellent list of short stories, then perhaps an anthology consisting of a wider selection of short stories for children could have been created. Perhaps in a similar fashion to the seminal volume of Indian short stories, David Davidar’s (ed.), A Clutch of Indian Masterpieces: Extraordinary Short Stories from the 19th Century to the Present. Aleph publications such as The Owl Delivered the Good News All Night Long or Teaching a Horse to Sing: Tales of Uncommon Sense from India and elsewhere are a great selection but not enough. One expects Aleph to set a high standard in children’s literature just as it has done for trade literature.
Nevertheless, I liked Great Indian Children’s Stories.
I am deeply unhappy with this storybook for children. In Search of a River is about the friendship between a tribal boy, Hanumant, and a city boy, Bharat. A significant angle in the story is that Hanumant is portrayed befriending a wild snake, so much so, he even gives the reptile milk to drink! In Hinduism, snakes are venerated. The concept of Nag is age-old. Even Western writers of children’s literature such as Rowling borrowed the idea of a Nag and used it in her Harry Potter series. At so many levels this story is absolutely wrong. First of all, it is a myth that snakes drink milk. Snakes drink water when dehydrated, not milk. In fact, drinking milk may even kill the reptiles. Secondly, I am afraid in the age of the Internet, when selfies and tricks on camera are recorded for nanoseconds of social media fame, a story for little children revolving around snakes is unacceptable. Also, at a time when there are innumerable conversations about inclusivity, diversity, and representation, in literature, the idea of playing fearlessly with wild snakes is a dangerous idea. Inadvertently, it borders on validating the notion that it is fine to touch reptiles in the wild. No, it is not. There are sufficient examples on the Internet of individuals trying insane tricks with snakes and many reptile experts/herpetologists cautioning people from such antics. Primarily, to safeguard the human’s life from a snake bite as many are unable to distinguish between a poisonous and a harmless snake. Lastly, disturbing a snake in the wild is not advisable. Many campaigns across the world warn humans from the danger as well as to let the reptiles alone, in their habitat.
A storybook such as In Search of a River is not recommended. Perhaps, if the author, Saroj Mukherjee, and her daughter, Tilottama Tharoor, who has translated the story from Hindi, had chosen to write a short note distinguishing between fiction and reality, then maybe the book could be circulated. As of now, NO. The only reason that I can think it was even published and had a book launch at a prime children’s literature bookstore in Delhi is because every literary mind involved in the creation of the story, belongs to a prominent writer’s family. If true, it is unfortunate. One would have expected a tad more awareness, particularly from a family with a rich literary lineage, in making a story written for an older generation, acceptable to a contemporary reader.
Next time, I hope there will be a little more sensitivity and accuracy shown in writing fiction for children. It is imperative that children’s literature is written with the seriousness that it demands.
Arshia Sattar’s retelling of the Sanskrit epics are always worth reading. She has a PH.D in classical Indian literatures from the University of Chicago. Her abridged translation of Valmiki’s Ramayana is regarded as one of the definitive presentations of the epic in English. She has written a number of books on Hindu mythology for younger readers including the bestselling Ramayana for Children, Mahabharata for Children and Adventures with Hanuman.
Favourite Stories from Hindu myths is her latest offering. This absolutely delicious book is published by Juggernaut Kids. As with the previous publications by Arshia Sattar, the stories are so beautifully and simply retold. It is almost as if one’s childhood memories of being told the stories by an adult come alive. It is always remarkable at how the transference of the oral tradition to the print seems effortless but is not. It definitely not could not have been easy for these very popular tales such as “The Churning of the Ocean”, “Narasimha the Man Lion”, “Fine-Feathered Garuda” and “Bhagiratha Brings the Ganga to Earth” as everyone has their own way of narrating or remembering the story. Arshia Sattar’s touch is very special. She ensures that the key elements of every story are passed on but at the same time, the storytelling has her distinctive stamp of shortish sentences. Hardly any sub-clauses. Wonderfully descriptive. Very visual. Plenty of action. Yet, as with all oral traditions, she is able to provide spaces to the reader/narrator to embellish the story a bit more when reading it out aloud. The choice is the reader’s to either stick to the text that has been provided or add a little more.
The gorgeous illustrations by Mansi Thakkar are bold, bright, and stunning. The very European art sensibility in the excessive use of pastel shades and an almost watercolour-like effect for stories are an interesting touch for stories that are most often associated with garishly loud colours. This is a wonderful hardback volume of stories, reasonably priced, will make for excellent gifts in the upcoming festival season. Share it widely.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the best stories are to be found in the holy scriptures of various religions. It is time to make them more easily accessible without prejudice. Hopefully then there will be less scope for vilifying the other but a sensitive understanding and respect for another culture. Syncreticism is the bedrock of Indian democracy. There is no doubt that Juggernaut Kids will do an equally fine job for stories from other faiths too.
A friend of mine told me on the school bus, when we were returning home, that the “Anne of Green Gables” series was available at The Bookshop, Khan Market. I came home and told mum. She immediately bundled us into the car and drove straight to Khan Market and bought the set. I think the last book in the set came a week later. Each paperback cost the princely sum of Rs 45, so I was taken aback when mum insisted on buying the series. Mum never stinted on buying us books and many of our books are inscribed by her as an “unbirthday present” but even by those standards, this was an expensive indulgence. But mum was right. These stories have given us all so much joy over the years.
I still remember where the late K D Singh had placed these on the bookshelves. It was in the wooden shelf, middle aisle, closest to him. It is where he usually kept the Puffin books. It was the first set of books that mum bought for me in one fell swoop. She remembered them from her childhood when her grandmother had brought it from USA.
Now I am trying to persuade my daughter to read the series. Unfortunately the wretched TV adaptation has ruined the story for her. Trying to persuade her to read the books. Let’s see if I am successful.
