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Is it important for this generation of children to know about India's freedom struggle? Lubaina Bandukwala believes it is. But how do you transport this new-age generation of kids to pre-1947 India? With a nail-bitingly thrilling story, relatable characters, and an absolutely smashing read, that's how! Lubaina Bandukwala's latest book - The Chowpatty Cooking Club is part of Duckbill and Penguin India's new series Songs of Freedom. This book will transport you to a time when Gandhiji had announced the Quit India movement and when three children -- Sakina, Zenobia, and Mehul wanted nothing more than to contribute to the movement. What inspired Bandukwala to write this story? Hit PLAY to find out! 

Review: The Chowpatty Cooking Club

The Chowpatty Cooking Club is the first book in the Songs of Freedom Series -- a new line of books by Penguin commemorating the 75th year of India's independence and bringing stories of life during the freedom struggle to children today. I have always been fascinated by the work done by oral historians like @citizensarchiveofindia to document the stories of those living during India's freedom struggle and reading this book feeds that fascination. 

Reading The Chowpatty Cooking Club is like going back in time and being a fly on the wall in a house in 1942 Mumbai when family conversations were peppered with talk of the freedom struggle and everyone including children wanted to be a part of the raging movement. @lubaina.bandukwala deftly weaves a tale when SOBO was still South Mumbai, when Gandhiji had announced the Quit India movement and nationalism sentiment ran high. The story is seen through the eyes of three children, friends who live in and around Marine Drive and spend their days trying to be of some use to the freedom movement. They begin to notice strange happenings around their home and decide to investigate. What happens next is a thrilling twist that puts them right in the middle of all the action! 

This book has a multitude of characters, names of freedom fighters, and details of the movement but the story will strike a chord with young children because this is really a nail-biting adventure set against the backdrop of the Indian freedom struggle. I loved that the book had all these details but never once seemed like a history lesson. I loved reading about a time when Mumbai was filled with tonga wallahs, had ladies clubs that raised funds for the Air Raid Protection, and people could still feel the breeze on Marine Drive without getting jostled. With details like the best electrical shops on Lamington Road and Blavatsky Lodge, the author almost makes the city of Mumbai a much-loved character in the book. 

So, get your kids a copy of The Chowpatty Cooking Club, not only will they read a fantastic story but will also begin to understand a little more about India's freedom struggle and maybe even feel patriotic!
Perfect for children 8+

To listen to all the episodes on Tell Me A Story, simply click here. I hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter, I know I had fun putting it together for you! If you like what you read, please consider sharing it with a friend who will benefit. Help a parent raise a reader and tell them about Mother Of Readers! Who knows you just might be blessed with good book karma for life!

Rati Girish

Instagram: @Mother_of_readers

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Bijal Vachharajani admits she is a slow and reluctant writer but I think, the books she writes are so worth the wait! She stops by on Tell Me A Story to talk about her climate-fiction novels, A Cloud Called Bhura and her latest, Savi and the Memory Keeper. In this very candid chat, she reveals many things --  why she believes magic is all around us, how she reached deep within herself to write Savi, and the question she would like to ask Tree! You don't want to miss this one! HIT PLAY NOW! 

Review of Savi and the Memory Keeper

Savi and the Memory Keeper, by Bijal Vachharajani, illustrated by Rajiv Eipe

Rarely does a children's book come around that makes you research terms, phenomena, and look up fascinating facts. Savi and the Memory Keeper led me multiple times down the rabbit hole and I come away enriched from reading this book. 

Savi and the Memory Keeper is a book primarily about a girl coping with the loss of her father but then it is so much more than that. After the loss of her father, Savi's mother moves the family to Shajarpur, the only place in India not affected by climate change. As her family deals with loss in their own individual ways, Savi finds herself taking care of her father's plants. She detests everything about the new city except for a big ficus tree in her school. Soon, strange things begin to happen every time she touches Tree or the plants that will change the way she sees Shajarpur, her friends, and even how she remembers her father. 

If you need a book to make your child fall in love with nature and look beyond the scientific aspect of climate change, then this book would be it. It is packed with information that is equal parts scientific and humanistic. The appeal of the book for me lies in the relatable characters the author creates and the casual, trendy writing style peppered with words and motifs kids today are familiar with. There is so much to love in the book but I ❤️ Bekku and Cucumber Tendril boy! 

Savi and the Memory Keeper is a fascinatingly moving book about love, loss, climate change and caring for the environment and shows that Bijal Vachharajani is an exciting author to read in the children's cli-fi genre. After Cloud called Bhura, she gives us another book that changes something in your soul. You begin reading and then slowly realise you are invested in the characters.  Illustrator Rajiv Eipe mentioned that this was the book he was most excited about on #tellmeastory and I can now understand why!

To listen to all the episodes on Tell Me A Story, simply click here. I hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter, I know I had fun putting it together for you! If you like what you read, please consider sharing it with a friend who will benefit. Help a parent raise a reader and tell them about Mother Of Readers! Who knows you just might be blessed with good book karma for life!

Rati Girish

Instagram: @Mother_of_readers

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How do you seamlessly switch between writing fiction and non-fiction for children? How do you make the history of libraries or the achievements of accomplished women interesting for children to read? On this episode of Tell Me A Story, I talk to Shruthi Rao who has had four book releases this year -- 3 non-fiction and one Holebook. How does she do it? What inspires her to create her books, how much research went into writing Spaceship to the Universe and how she falls back on her childhood memories to create beautiful works of fiction. This episode is filled with insight into a writer's mind! Hit PLAY now! 

This #HoleBook is the adorable story of Malhar who is learning to play the tabla. But a chance incident at a concert his family attends leads him to question tradition. Now he has a concert coming up and a worm of an idea forming in his mind! Will he be able to play his best at the concert and do a little something that he has planned? Will his brother Kedar help? Read Malhar in the Middle to find out!
Recommend this book for children 6+

Spaceship to the Universe: The Story of Libraries is a non-fiction book that brings together extensive research on libraries around the world, across time and even has some very interesting anecdotes about libraries that are sure to delight and excite you! This book written by Shruthi Rao and Anuradha Jagalur is a must-have book for anyone who loves visiting libraries and is proud of their library card. I would recommend this book for children 10+ for the absolutely smashing way the authors have managed to make a non-fiction book about libraries so interesting to children!

I hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter, I know I had fun putting it together for you! If you like what you read, please consider sharing it with a friend who will benefit. Help a parent raise a reader and tell them about Mother Of Readers, the curated book-recommendation service. You will be blessed with good book karma for life!

Rati Girish

Instagram: @Mother_of_readers

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You know you will get a rip-roaringly funny conversation when you bring CG Salamander and Rajiv Eipe together, but a podcast where accusations fly about why (and how!) they came up with Maithili and the Minotaur, and a sneak peek into the almost idyllic manner in which they found each other? I was not prepared for that one! 

Tune in to this episode of Tell Me A Story to hear all about how CG Salamander and Rajiv Eipe were inspired by their childhood, their favourite books, and even old Rajinikanth movies to write Maithili and the Minotaur  -- the graphic novel the entire Indian children's literature world is talking about! 

Warning: There will be lots of laughing, some incredible insights, and more than a few revelations about the next books in the series! 

Hit play now!  

To listen to all the other episodes on Tell Me A Story, click here

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ICYMI: Here is the complete review of Maithili and the Minotaur and why your child (10+) should be reading it

Maithili and the Minotaur is a graphic novel set in a fantasy land filled with monsters, evil human beings, and creatures that we can probably only imagine in our wildest dreams. Written by CG Salamander and illustrated by Rajiv Eipe, this series will fit right into the genre that houses book series like Asterix and Obelisk, Tintin, and Hilda.

Maithili and Minotaur are friends from school in a new land where Maithili is an outcast. She has been thrown out from the land of humans and now lives with her father in this strange land populated by minotaurs, six-tailed cats (aptly called Aaruvaal!), school ghouls, and an Arachnid headmistress. She makes new friends but quickly realises she is not liked by all. The headmistress wants her out but her teacher Mr Puu, (short for Mr Poochandi) has her back. A strange sequence of events causes her to stumble on an ancient ritual performed by cowled creeps. Now they are after her and have enlisted the help of the headmistress! Will Maithili escape her web of woe?

The first book in a series, Web of Woe expertly spins a tale that leaves enough open ends to keep the reader wanting more. Packed with puns and Tamil cinema references — from character names like Van driver Hellsing and Aaruvaal to Madam Rakkamma’s Jallikattu — this book will keep you smiling secretly to yourself as if you are in on a special secret, every time you turn the page. The story is fast-paced and keeps the reader invested in it enough to keep turning the pages. A tale about a girl in a strange land, surrounded by evil beings strangely seems verisimilar and countless parallels can be drawn to our world. This is not a book you read over a period of time. This is a book you finish in one sitting and keep going back to discover something you may have missed out on.

The illustrator, Rajiv Eipe has managed to convince you of this strange new world that mimics the human world with schools and teachers and desks and canteens but is something beyond our wildest dreams. Maithili, a human seems strangely at home walking the school halls with minotaurs, zombies, snakeheads, and giant birds! I would love to know whether Aaruvaal was first drawn and then named or named and then drawn! This book has that completely in sync quality where story and illustrations go so well together that it could have only been created by two extremely close friends who finish each other’s sentences or two proficient craftspeople we haven’t given enough credit to yet!

What is truly fascinating about the series is what lies ahead. The book is aimed at children 10 and above but I can see multiple fights erupting in my home for me to read it before my kids do! This book is perfectly positioned in a space that is currently wanting for good content. This book is set to do great things and become a part of the zeitgeist, don’t miss out on the fun, grab your copy now! Order it now from Lightroom Bookstore or KitabKhana.

Also, read my review here.

I hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter, I know I had fun putting it together for you! If you like what you read, please consider sharing it with a friend who will benefit. Help a parent raise a reader and tell them about Mother Of Readers, the curated book-recommendation service. You will be blessed with good book karma for life!

Rati Girish

Instagram: @Mother_of_readers

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Pinkoo Shergill, Pastry Chef is Vibha Batra's 19th book, but it is a book that has a character she identifies most with. She has done it all and is simply not ready to stop. In this episode of Tell Me A Story, Vibha talks about her inspiration for Pinkoo, why she writes for kids, and how she is absolutely fine with not being able to please everyone! Oh, and she does have a thing or two to say to those people who give writers 1-star ratings!  Click to listen now!  

Award-winning author, journalist, and all-around lover of stories, Vinitha sits down to chat with me on Tell Me A Story. We talk about how she came up with the idea for Ammu and Sparrows (it also went on to win the Neev Literature Award), whether Indian children's literature is truly coming of age, and I make her choose between validation from bookstagrammer reviews or awards!

You don't want to miss all this and a super fun rapid fire round! Hit play now! 

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Mother of Readers is exploring the podcast space! Since we simply cannot get enough of our favourite books, I have decided to sit down and chat with the creators! Every fortnight, I will be talking with an author or illustrator from the Indian children’s literature space. So get ready for what promises to be a wild ride! Let’s navigate this space together, find out what it takes to create characters that remain in our minds, and let’s ask our favourite authors and illustrators to sit down and Tell us a Story!

In this week’s episode, I talk to the creator of the smash-hit series Ninja Nani and the exhaustively researched Dreamer series. We talk inspiration for characters, why animals make a frequent appearance in her books, and even figure out if she really thinks like a 9-year-old boy! Tune in and join us for this very fun chat that ends with a rapid-fire round you don't want to miss!