shyamala's world

  Hope Stories for a Healthy mind is a collection of three stories aimed at building emotionally healthy children. Author Pragati Jalan Sureka has been working in the field of mental health for over fifteen years. Here are a few questions she answered .about coping with mental health challenges faced by the children in her stories,                         1. As a psychologist, how often do you come across kids like Shoma, Kabir and Ryan who face challenges because of OCD, depression and divorce in and around them? Very often. Poor performance in school is an alarming trend and more often than not, there is some issue at home that has caused it. 2. In all three stories, the parent/parents are patient with their kids. In actual life, how supportive are parents? Unfortunately, parents are not very supportive. They want the best for their children, and yet they have very little time to listen to children. This book aims...

                                        Children's author and champion of big and small animals, Ranjit Lal,  shares his thoughts on his latest nonfiction book from Duckbill - 10 Indian Animals You May Never Again See In The Wild. 1. You have been writing about animals for the past few decades. What visible change in perceptions do you see in children then and now? I hope children are more sensitive and aware that animals too exist in the world and are vital to its functioning. Usually, it's the parents (my generation and even later) that are the problem: 'kaatega'! it will bite, don't touch or pet it..., if you don't eat your food it will eat you!' 2. Which of the ten animals mentioned in the book can be brought back from the brink of extinction? Hopefully all, though the prognosis for the bustard, Ganges river dolphin look very bleak indeed. The bigger, more 'cha...

Duckbill sprung an early surprise this summer by announcing their entry into the world of nonfiction books. Sayoni Basu, editor of Duckbill , shares  more details about their new titles. 1.Duckbill is about to add nonfiction titles to its list. Was it a long planned move? Or will you be testing the market to see the response from the market? We have always considered the idea of doing narrative non-fiction, but the challenge was to find a format which was distinctive and quirky, and which we liked. The idea for the 10s evolved somewhat organically, and we commissioned several books in the series. We are publishing four this year (which may not be a large number but does in fact constitute a quarter of our list for 2019-20) and we have six other books signed up for the next few years, and some more under discussion. So it is not really testing the market as such, as we are committed to the series. 2.       Were all the four nonfiction titles ...

Author Aditi Kay aka Anu Kumar has been known for her children's books on Indian history. How the Harappans say Hello and other Mysteries of History , Across the Seven Seas: Traveller Tales From India , and Girls From India: A Chola Adventure are some of her books. She shares info about her new book from Hachette. How did this project come about?                                            I’ve worked with Vatsala, editorial director at Hachette children’s publishing, on quite a few books, and so when she had the idea for this one, I happily agreed, and worked out a list. A hundred names that she vetted and then I went on to do the research, write it all out. How long did you take to write the book? I had to work on a few other things so I daresay it took a bit longer than I envisaged. I’d say around 2-3 months. What was the biggest challenge in writing this...