My Science School

A story about women stifled by a patriarchal society, “Middlemarch” was published under a male pen name so that it would be taken seriously. But now George Eliot’s masterpiece will bear the name of its author Mary Ann Evans for the first time since its release in 1871. “Middlemarch” will be re-released along with 24 female authors who had to use men’s names to sell their books. ‘The Reclaim Her Name’ campaign, has been launched to mark the 25th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Throughout history, many women authors used male pen names. From getting their books published in male-dominated genres to escaping gender bias. Here’s a look at six female authors who had to adopt male pen names…

Mary or George?

Born in 1819, Mary Ann Evans forayed into writing when she was hired as an assistant editor at the radical journal Westminster Review. She adopted a male pseudonym George Eliot when George Henry Lewes – the English philosopher and critic – encouraged her to take up writing action. Evans believed that a male pen name would help her overcome gender bias. Evans’ best-known works include “Middlemarch”, widely considered to be one of the greatest novels ever written.

Messrs. Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

The Bronte sisters – Chrlotte, Emily and Anne – were among the most important literary voices of the 19th Century. Their novels are known for their strong-willed and feisty female characters. Ironically, when publishing their work, the sisters were forced to use male pseudonyms. They penned several novels and poems using male pen names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

Currer Bell was Charlotte, Emily was Ellis and Anne was Acton. Charlotte even used this pseudonym while writing her most successful novel “Jane Eyre”.

She did not want to reveal her identity as she feared that the readers will not take a female author seriously. A famous poet had even told her once that ‘literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life.”

Playing it safe

Known for her novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Nelle Harper Lee consciously dropped her name which sounded too feminine and adopted a gender ambiguous name. When she published her work back in the 1960s, most well established authors were men.

Keeping it short

Author Nora Roberts is synonymous with romance novels, but did you know she took on a male pseudonym to foray into science fiction? From 1995 to 2001, Roberts wrote futuristic sci-fi books as part of the “In Death” series under the pen name J.D. Robb. She finally revealed her identity after the twelfth book of the series hit the shelves. The series is still going strong under the name J.D. Robb.

Writing pulp-fiction

Before she became well-known for “Little Women”, author Louisa May Alcott wrote fiction under the androgynous pseudonym A.M. Barnard. It gave her condense to write more, especially edge-of-the-seat thrillers, which were written largely by men. She penned pulp fiction about spies and revenge under the pseudonym.

From J.K to Robert Galbraith

J.K. Rowling’s publishers advised her to use initials instead of her full name hen publishing the first “Harry Potter” book on the grounds that it would better “appeal to boys and girls.” Years later, she took on another male pen name, Robert Galbraith to write non- “Harry Potter” books, beginning with “The Cuckoo’s Calling”. The book’s publisher even came up with a convincing backstory for Galbraith. He was claimed to be a former member of the Special Investigative Branch of the Royal Military Police.

 

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Deepa Agarwal was born in the beautiful small town of Almora in Uttarakhand, and thanks to her book lover parents – her father, a doctor, and her mother, a school teacher, she became an avid reader. “My parents read to us regularly and provided us with a variety of books. I became such an avid reader that it was inevitable that I end up writing my favourite in school and I always entered any essay competition and often won prizes. I consider the authors that I admire my source of inspiration,” says the writer. She is one of India most prolific writers for the young, with 30 books in three decades of writing! Two of them have been out this year itself – “Blessed” and “Friendship Stories”. Let’s find out how she creates her books.

Writing tips for budding writers

Deepa Agarwal says that her mantra for good writing stems from a whole lot of reading! So, yes, read a lot. “The more you read, the better writer you will be,” she explains. Besides that, she also:

• Maintain an ideas notebook. Some story idea but are not in position to write times you get a story idea but are not in a position to write it. Save your ideas to develop them  when you have time.


• Keep a diary. As in sports and music, good writing needs a lot of practice. Keeping a diary means you are writing every day. Record incidents that made an impression on you and your emotional response to the. This could be valuable material in the future.


• Remember that each story begins with a problem the main character has to solve. She/he will receive help from friends and face opposite from enemies. The attempts to solve this problem create the story.


• “Where”, “when”, “who”, “why”, and “how”, are important questions in your story and you should provide this information of your readers.


• The main characters need to be developed in debit to be credible. Show action rather than report it.


• Dialogue should be natural to the characters.

When you have completed your story, revise, revise and revise!

And there’s not a moment to waste, seems to be the guiding philosophy for Deepa. “ I have two middle readers in the pipeline. One is a retold collection titled ‘Mahabharata Stories’ being published by HarperCollins India. The other, which will be out early next year, is a non-fiction, an account of the exploration of Tibet by legendary surveyor Nain Singh Rawat , titled ‘Journey to the Forbidden City’, to be published by Puffin.”

The writer’s routine

With a repertoire like that, Deepa Agarwal does have a disciplined writing routine. Most days she tries to settle down to her writing around 11.30 a.m., takes a short break for lunch and works for a couple more hours in the afternoon. “Many of my ideas come from real life – incidents that leave a mark or overheard conversations. Sometimes inspiration comes in the form of an opening sentence or a character. My recent nook ‘Blessed’ was sparked off by the image of girl disappearing into a hidden space. For longer works of fiction, I create a plot outline to stay on course, but for my short stories, I let the characters develop on their own and choose their actions. Poetry, of course, is usually spontaneous,” she reveals. That’s interesting don’t you think-having a different working style for different branches of writing?

Deepa Agarwal’s books

• Three Days to Disaster


• Anita and the Game of Shadows


•  The Tricky Tales of Vikram and the Vetal


• Caravan to Tibet


• Folk Tales of Uttarakhand


• Chandrakanta


• Rani Lakshmibai


• Write Right


• Rajula and the Web of Danger


• Ghost Stories Vol I


• Chanakya, the Master of Statecraft


• Spinning Yarns: The Best Children’s Stories from India


• The Wish-fulfilling Cow and Other Classic Indian Tales


• Go, Girl, Go!


• 100 Great Poems for Children


• Words to live By: The Best of Indian Non-fiction for Children


• Listen, O King!: Five-and-Twenty Tales of Vikram and the Vetal


• Best Stories from Around the World


• Scholastic Book of Hindu Gods and Goddess


• Sacked: Folktales You Can Carry Around


• Blessed


• Friendship Stories


• A Capital Adventure


• Everyday Tales


• Traveller’s Ghost


• The Hunt for the Miracle Herb


• Ghosts Everywhere


• The Hilltop Mystery


• Not Just Girls!

Bet you didn’t know that though Deepa writes in English, she only began to speak English fluently at the age of seven when she went to boarding school.

Bet you didn’t know that (this may sound positively pre-historic, she confesses) she had never dialed a number on a telephone till she was 16! They lived in a very small town had no telephone at home.

 

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Why should banned books be marked with a week? And if they're banned, should we read these books at all?

The cause

The website bannedbooks.org tell us that the banned books week is an annual event held celebrating the freedom to read - it highlights the value of free and open access to information.

Ever since books came into being, there have been challenges to the distribution and readership of some. In countries across the world, at one time or another, one book or many have been banned, criticised or challenged, generally for political or religious reasons.

Some books have been banned for a short period of time, the publication of others has been challenged in court, and in some cases, certain books are not allowed as reacting material in schools.

Why books?

Why books, you may wonder. After all, what harm can a mere book do? Books can influence people and the way they think. They can challenge popular beliefs. Or they could hurt the sentiments of a particular community. They could contain material that is not considered suitable to be read.

All these may sound like valid reasons, but if you take a look at some of the books that have banned or challenged in places around the globe, you may be surprised. For instance, did you know that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was banned? Surprising, isn't it? It was prohibited in a US school in 1900, and later in a province in China.

Censored & challenged

The Catcher in the Rye, a book that now makes it to most recommended, reading lists, was one of the most censored books in schools in the US in the 1960s and 1970s. The Diary of Anne Frank anal Harry Potter are some of the other books that have got into trouble!

If all this sounds like it only happens abroad, think again! In our own country too, books have been banned -both in certain states, and in the country as a whole.

Don't break the law!

So should we then be reading any of these books? As Long as you are not violating the laws of your country or any country you happen to be in, there are some good reasons to read books that have been criticised.

A book that has been banned years ago for instance, may seem completely tame to you! Remember, attitudes to Life and society are changing all the time. Something that was shocking 100 years ago, may seem completely normal now. And so, a book that was once controversial could give you an insight into cultural mores of the past and how they have evolved over time.

Sometimes, it's hard to discuss certain topics - whether it's with your parents, teachers or friends. Books that delve into subjects that are not often talked about - suck as sexuality or substance abuse - may allow you to think about these subjects and perhaps help you form opinions about them, or incite you to find out more.

Discover for yourself

There are some books of course that are definitely not appropriate for children - and you should always be guided by your parents, teachers and Librarians when it comes to this. But in other cases, wouldn't you like to decide? After all, if it's boring, you could always stop reading. And if it's not, it gives you something to think about, doesn't it?

 

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Now Lets start counting on our fingers. she is a management graduate from XLRI. She has been Creative Director with top advertising agencies. She has written for magazines across the world. She is currently co-building an app. And in the middle of all this, she Loves writing books! Meet Jane De Suza, the Singapore-based, multi-talented writer of the SuperZero series, Uncool, The Spy Who Lost Her Head and, the most recent, Flyaway Boy.

Stepping into writing

As an only child, growing up in the town of Jamshedpur, Jane made up stories constantly in her head and (believe it or not) in the margins of her textbooks! "That won me the Love of friends and the dismay of teachers. My parents had loads of books, and when I'd, read all mine, I started on theirs. And when I'd react theirs, 1 started writing my own," she says, about her journey into the world of writing.

The Writer’s Routine

Jane admits that she isn't the sort who can sit and churn out the daily 1000 words. 'The churn shows," she says, "it produces stoic, sludge writing. I've only ever started a book when the idea or character is unique enough to Leap out at me. And then the story writes itself. I start writing manically for hours at a stretch, oblivious to the pings from, either phone or pressure cooker." She gets her first draft out in a fever, and Later rewrites it many more times.

Writing like Jane De Suza

Jane believes that ideas can strike at any moment. And that as a writer, you must always be prepared. So jot down these tips quickly!

Ideas are like sudden storms. Carry a pen and napkin (that you won't blow your nose on Later and fling out). if a tune inspires you, hum it into your phone. If its an image of an upside down crow in a puddle, click the pic. Labels on bottles, lines from a book - write down anything you can build on Later.

Start a chat with people - auto-drivers, hair dressers, grandparents, cobblers who are fixing your shoe. Walk around,. Eavesdrop. Put your phone away if you’re alone in a cafe or street, and look at people around. What’s the couple fighting about, you think? is it a boyfriend, brother, boyfriend's brother? Aha,-story idea emerging, huh?

Look at the world from someone else's point of view. Argue against your own, beliefs. write from the perspective of a tree about to be cut down, or a dog with no home, or a man who cannot remember. Write when completely alone. That's why the best ideas hit in the loo. The only one I’d allow around, me while writing was Marco, my dog.

I write best at night, when everyone's asleep and, my imagination, has the world to romp around, in. I go back and edit in the mornings, in the clear Light of day.

Talk to your characters, talk as your characters. Talk aloud. Make their conversations real.

Write if you love to, not because you want to be rich, or famous. And don't write a me-too book because someone else who wrote it, is now rich and famous. Find, your own voice (it may take months/years of rewrites). Write a story that no one else in the world, but you, can.

Jane De Stint's books

For mid-school readers:

• The SuperZero series: SuperZero, SuperZero and the Grumpy Ghosts , SuperZero and the Clone Crisis


• Uncool


• Flyaway Boy

For YA/adults:

• The Spy Who Lost Her Head

Bet you didn't know that

• Jane cuts off heads and ears and, chins; relax, she takes terrible selfies!


• Jane went through about 25 career options while growing up and still does!


• Jane's sense of humour often gets her into trouble!

 

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‘Kin’ on adventures

Over a few weeks in August, Jeff Kinney, author of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, visited bookstores across the U.S. to hand out signed copies of his new book, “Rowley Jeff erson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure,” in a safe, fun, socially distant way – via a custom-made 96-inch, trident!

First published in 2007, the “Wimpy Kid” books have become widely popular among young readers, who have grown up devouring the adventures of the middle-school weakling Greg Heffley. A profile writer, Kinney comes up with at least one book every year.

Rowley is the hero

Originally slated to release in April, the “Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure” was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It finally hit the stands on August 4. The new book is the second in a spin off series that follows Greg’s gullibly sweet friend Rowley. In the latest adventure, Rowley attempts to write a fantasy story. Greg acts as a critic, agent and publicist for his friend, and tries his best to not stir any trouble – which, of course, means that he ends up making things worse.

Rowley’s story features Roland and his best friend, Garg the Barbarian, as they leave the safety of their village and embark on a quest to save Roland’s mum from the White Warlock. On their way, they encounter all kinds of creatures from Sherlock Holmes and mermaids to wizards and a centaur (though it is part cow, not horse.) All the trappings of a must-read!

Doodling for a living?

Right from childhood Kinney loved to draw, but he wasn’t very glad at it. So he developed his own drawing style with stick figures and bug-eyed characters. Using his surroundings as an inspiration, he created comics strips about the life around him. One such comic strip was “Igdoof”, which Kinney ran in his college newspaper at the University of Maryland. However his work looked too juvenile and so he never received any offers from big newspapers. In 1998, he came up with the idea for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. Kinney worked on his book for almost eight years before showing it to a publisher.

Did you know?

• The Heffleys are loosely based on Kinney’s own family. Like Greg, the author too felt caught between his four siblings- elder brother Rodrick, his sister, and his younger brother, Patrick while growing up. He draws heavily on these childhood memories to write about Greg’s family.


• Greg’s younger brother, Mannu became associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, after videos and graffiti made by activists went viral on social media. He was chosen as an icon because he is familiar to Gen Z and easy to draw.


• The series started off online on Funbrain.com in 2004 and made its print debut in April of 2007. There are now more than 200 million copies of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books available in 77 editions of 65 languages.


• Kinney wrote the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” originally for adults. It was meant to be a reflection on what it was like to be in middle school. When he fund an editor who liked the manuscript, he was told that what he had written was more like a children’s series than a book for adults.

Oh really!

• Kinney opened an independent bookstore called An Unlikely Story, in his adopted hometown, Plainville, Massachusetts in 2015. Throughout the lockdown, the bookstore has held online chats with famous authors like Stephenie Meyer, John Grishan and David Nicholls.


• The 15th book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid; The Deep End”, is set to launch in mid-October, and sees the Heffley family going on an RV vacation.

 

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Librarians all over the world are facing a problem. They have begun to realize that practically all the books that were printed after 1850 are deteriorating rapidly.

What’s the reason?

Before the Chinese invented paper in 105 A.D., books were written on parchment – the skin of sheep or goats and vellum or calf-skin.

The Chinese made paper from mulberry fibre, fish-nets, old rags and waste hemp.

After 1850, the demand for paper increased so much that a low-cost substitute for linen and cotton rags began to be used. This was wood pulp. The drawback is that during processing, a number of chemicals are added to the pulp. These include acids. Over a period of time, these chemicals and acids eat away the paper. It starts yellowing and crumbling to dust at the slightest touch. Thus, ironically, books printed in the 1500’s are in a better condition today than books printed just 40 years ago! Saving these books is a tedious and expensive process, requiring each page to be treated to remove the acid.

 

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Nidhi Chanani was born in India and grew up in southern California. “Pashmina” is her attempt to connect with her roots. Priyanka Das, the protagonist, is full of questions. She wants to know why her mother left everything, including her father, in India all those years ago. But Priyanka’s mother is overprotective, and on the subject of India, her lips are forever sealed. So Priyanka is in the dark, until, one day, she stumbles upon a Pashmina scarf in an old suitcase. Wrapping it around herself, she imagines her mother’s birthplace and homeland in a series of vivid, colourful images. When she wins a cartoon contest, Priyanka buys herself a plane ticket to India with the prize money and begins her journey towards self-discovery.

Nidhi Chanani has illustrated the story herself. Though simple, the artwork is effective.

 

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This one breaks the Cinderella mould and has a cross-dressing prince take centre stage. A perfect foil to him is a poor dress designer with uncommon strength of character. The story begins in Paris where Sebastian, the crown prince of Belgium, is trying his best to hide a secret from everyone while his parents are busy looking for a bride for him. What’s his secret? By night, he dresses and behaves as the fashionable and alluring Lady Crystallia! Not because he is uncomfortable as a man but because it releases him from his royal trappings and allows him to experience complete freedom in an alternate identity. In Paris, he discovers Frances whose only passion in life is designing fashionable clothes. He promises her a decent pay and opportunities to create her own designs. Tempted, France accompanies him to Belgium as part of his staff. That’s when she learns about his secret. But she doesn’t care about it as long as she is given the freedom to design clothes. As the friendship between Sebastian and Frances deepens, they have to face tough questions. Can they go on living a lie? Frances decides that she cannot and leaves, Sebastian must choose between getting his best friend back and marrying a princess he does not know. The simple artwork adequately supports a delightful story.

 

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A Pulitzer prize-winning story told in two volume, “Maus” – a tale within a tale – is about a cartoonist’s troubled relationship with his father. The father, Vladek Spiegelman, is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. As the son begins to tell his father’s story, he realizes that his struggles are nothing compared to the ones his father survived. The children of those who survived one of the goriest events in recent history are affected in their own way.

The artwork speaks more than words can. In clever allegory, Nazis are given the form of cats, the Jews are mice, the Polish, pigs and the Americans, dogs. “Maus” is not a comfortable read. It is a raw and powerful experience, where the author explores the fear of death as well as the euphoria of survival that was the everyday reality for those in Hitler’s camps.

 

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The Graveyard Book is a children's fantasy novel written by Neil Gaiman and published in 2008. The story follows the young life of a boy called Nobody Owens who is orphaned as a toddler when a man kills his entire family. Nobody is adopted by ghosts from the local graveyard who raise him in a world of vampires, werewolves, mummies, and ghouls, and teach him to use a variety of supernatural abilities.

After his family is murdered in their beds, a toddler, pursued by the murderer Jack, wanders into a graveyard. Ghosts and other supernatural residents of the cemetery protect and eventually agree to raise him as their own. They name him Nobody Owens. With a vampire as his guardian, Nobody (Bod, to his friends) lives, loves and learns in the graveyard, which is full of adventure and dangers but the safest place for the 10-year-old. Outside the graveyard, Bod will be a target for Jack, the murderer.

A team of renowned artists lend their signature styles to each vignette in this award-winning two-volume story by Neil Gaiman.

 

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No teenage girl, no matter how devoted her parents are to Shakespeare, deserves to be named, Hamlet. It’s so unfair. To their credit, her parents did consider naming her Ophelia, but desisted because they thought she was too tragic a character! Hamlet’s younger sister is Desdemona, a math and science prodigy at age seven, is in Hamlet's grade 8 class. She was actually supposed to go to college but wasn't allowed to pick a major because they had not taken art and music classes. The ultimate tragedy, however, is that whenever their parents visit them in school, they dress in 16th Century Elizabethan finery!

Hamlet Kennedy thought she had nothing in common with her weird family. But the perfect recitation of a Shakespearean, passage wins her the part of Puck in the school’s staging of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream". Through, the rehearsals and various other experiences involving her family and classmates, she realises she is every bit as special as her family is. She was struggling to ‘fit in' when all she needed to do was be herself.

 

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Reading a Ruskin Bond is very easy. All you need is a quiet corner, a comfortable chair and steaming cup of coffee. Ah, and don’t forget to wrap yourself in a cosy shawl or a blanket. Why? Because it can get chilly, up there in the mountains, where most of Bond’s stories unfold.

Set in the hills and valleys of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where he spent the most cherished moments of his childhood, Bond’s books give you a glimpse of life on the snow-covered and Deodar-dotted landscapes. Like the misty mountains, Bond’s stories unravel slowly, and leave a deep impression on your mind. Before you know it, Rusty, Binya, Uncle Ken and Rakesh Bond’s unforgettable characters – have become your companions.

Such is the magic of Bond, Ruskin Bond. Generations and generations have grown up reading his books – he has been writing for 70 years now – and yet the bespectacled, rosy-cheeked storyteller from the hills, never seems to run out of yarn.

And last month in July, the octogenarian marked his seventh decade in his literary career, the only way he knows how – by writing another book. This time a part of his memoir series.

Telling his story

Set in 1951, the illustrated book “Song of India” traces the beginning of Bond’s writing career. It follows a 16-year-old Bond as he leaves for England, where he found his calling as a writer and worked on his first book “The Room on the Rook”.

The fourth installment in his memoir series, “A Song of India”, continues Bond’s reflection on his life which began with “Looking for the Rainbow” (2017) and “Till the Clouds Roll By” (2017), “Coming Round the Mountain” was the third book in the series.

What makes his work – the memoirs as well as his other books – special is that Bond always leaves a piece of himself in his stories. And as we get familiar with his characters, we get to know the author himself. So here’s a look at some of the classic Bond characters over the years.

Meet Bond’s classic characters

In a career spanning over 70 years, Bond has written over 600 stories

• Rusty: In “The Room on the Roof”, we meet the willful and rebellious Rusty, a character Bond partially based on himself.


• Mehmood: The pride Mehmood takes in making his kites will make you fall in love with this character from the story “Kite Maker.”


• Uncle Ken: A character based on Bond’s maternal uncle, his eccentricities and misadventures make him a complete laugh riot. And so the stories he appears in are also aptly named “Crazy Times with Uncle Ken” and “At Sea with Uncle Ken.”

Did you know?

• Bond received €50 for his publication “The Room on the Roof”.


• Some of Bond’s stories like “’The Blue Umbrella’ and ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands” have been adopted to Bollywood films. The Hindi film J”unoon” is based on Bond’s historic novella “A Flight of Pigeons.”


• His favourite and the first book he read in his childhood was Ali in Wonderland: And Other Tall Tales.


• He wanted to be a tap dancer when he was young.


• Some of his famous works are “School Days”, “Funny Side Up”, “Garland of Memories”, “Rusty – The Boy from Hills”, “The Room on the Roof”, “Landour Days – A Writer’s Journal”, “A Town Called Dehra”, and “Angry River”.


• He was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for “Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra”, his novel in English. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.

 

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During the recent coronavirus lockdown, friendships, were tested. Locked up in our homes, we couldn’t meet our friends for months. Daily chats, gossip sessions, and even birthdays moved online. Video calls and phone calls continued to strengthen the bonds. Friendship overcame the walls put up by the pandemic, and that’s exactly what author Harshikaa Udasi’s new book. “Friends Behind Walls” is all about.

Set in the sleepy town of Deolali, close to Nashik in Maharashtra, it is a story of two children, Inu and Putti who form an unlikely friendship despite the animosity between their families.

Putti, a city-bred boy, is excited to spend his summer vacation in Deolali. But he soon finds out that the town doesn’t have any kids of his age to play with, except Inu. But his parents forbid him from even talking to Inu because of a long-standing feud between their families.

Not wanting to give up on their newly formed friendship, the duo decide to solve the mystery behind their family feud. On their quest, they are helped by Mr. Om Namaha and Dr. Solanki. But Inu and Putti have to visit the fearsome Tekdichi Mhatari, who lives up the hill to find answers!

What inspired the book

When Udasi visited Deolali for the first time 15 years ago, she was struck by how deserted the place looked – there were no children to be seen anywhere. “There are many sanitariums in Deolali, so a lot of elderly people stay here because it is beautiful and green, but there were hardly any children,” says Udasi, who now has a second home in Deolali.

One day, she observed that a couple of children in her neighbourhood had actually made a hole in the wall between their houses so that they could talk to each other. “These two would use the hole to sneak into each other’s houses. And so I imagined what it would be like if the kids were doing this because the families were at loggerheads with each other,” says Udasi.

In fact, she had a similar experience when she was growing up. “There was a family which never got along with my family so I never got a chance to be friends with their kids,” she adds. “So I put the two concepts together and come up with the book.”

The message of bonhomie

“Friends Behind Walls” explores why its important to preserve the bond of friendship and not fight over trivial things. “Friendships born in childhood are really the biggest bond one can have,” says Udasi.

The book begins with a striking sentence, “There should be a big giant eraser for all our past wrongs.” Udasi credits her 10-year-old son Krishang for coming up with this line when they were having a discussion on the Citizenship Amendment Act. “I was talking to my son about the conflicts between different religions and ethnicities when he said that this is all so complicated, I wish there was a giant eraser for our past,” says Udasi.

Know the author

Harshikaa Udasi is a journalist and author from Mumbai. She forayed into children’s writing after spending 19 years in journalism. Her first children’s book “Kittu’s Very Mad Day”, published in July 2017, is the story of a 10-year-old physically challenged boy who is accidentally left behind by his family in Madhya Pradesh. He comes across a skate park and learns to skate and face his fears. It won the prestigious 2018 FICCI Publishing Award for Best English Children’s Book and was shortlisted for the MAMI Word to Screen 2017.

She also runs a reading club, “The Book Trotters” to encourage children to think creatively and independently. During the lockdown, the club meets online.

Popular works

“I Absolutely Totally Instantly Have to Have A Dog” and “Kittu’s Very Mad Day”. She has contributed short stories to “On Your Marks: The Book of Crazy Exam Stories” and “Flipped: Adventure Stories Gost Stories.”

 

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Walk into any bookstore and you will find row upon rows of children’s books. From Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” and Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to colourful pictures books by Quentin Blake, young readers today are spoilt for choice. But have you ever wondered who wrote the first children’s book? Or what it was about? Read on to find out…

“Orbis Pictus”

Author Jan Komensky, also known as John Amos Comenius, is widely regarded to have written the earliest known children’s book (considered to be the first at least in Europe and the U.S.). Titled “Orbis Sensualium Pictus”, it was one of the firs books aimed at children, unlike grammar handbooks and treatises meant for teachers. Focused on the visual element, the book is full of pictures, 150 to be exact, covering a range of things: animals, nature, the elements and religion.

When was it published?

It was first published in Latin and German in Nuremberg in 1658. Comenius, who was born in Northern Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), was a teacher who wanted to create a book that could be read by children of all ages. It was initially published in black and white; colour was added to later editions.

Did you know?

• Comenius’ book was a hit across Europe and was translated into several other languages.


• Despite the book being incredibly popular, few copies have survived. Many of these have won out pages because children returned to the pictures over and over again.


• It opens with: “Come, boy, learn to be wise.” The student asks, “What does this meant, to be wise?” His teacher answers, “To understand rightly, to do rightly, and to speak out rightly all that are necessary.” (taken from an English translation of the book)


• The Orbis Pictus Award established in 1989 recognised excellence in non-fiction writing for children.

What does the “Orbis Sensualium Pictus” mean?

The Latin title translates to ‘The Visible World’ or ‘The World Around Us in Pictures.’ Each picture has captions in Latin, and in the language of the country it was published in.

At the time, Latin was commonly taught in schools. It was the language used by the monarchy and the clergy across much of Europe. It was also the language that the Bible was in.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the Harry Potter series. The book was published in the United Kingdom on 2 July 1998 by Bloomsbury and later in the United States on 2 June 1999 by Scholastic Inc. Although Rowling says she found it difficult to finish the book, it won high praise and awards from critics, young readers, and the book industry, although some critics thought the story was perhaps too frightening for younger children. Much like with other novels in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets triggered religious debates; some religious authorities have condemned its use of magical themes, whereas others have praised its emphasis on self-sacrifice and the way one's character is the result of one's choices.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999. It immediately took first place in UK bestseller lists, displacing popular authors such as John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and Terry Pratchett and making Rowling the first author to win the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year for two years in succession. In June 1999, it went straight to the top of three US bestseller lists, including in The New York Times.

First edition printings had several errors, which were fixed in subsequent reprints. Initially, Dumbledore said Voldemort was the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin instead of his descendant. Gilderoy Lockhart's book on werewolves is entitled Weekends with Werewolves at one point and Wanderings with Werewolves later in the book.

 

Picture Credit : Google