“And then—suddenly—she found herself stepping into the middle of a wood with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air. It was very cold, and she kept her arms folded tight across her chest as she looked around her. There was nothing but trees all around: thick, dark trees, loaded with snow. There was a light in the distance, a strange, pale light. It wasn’t daylight, and it wasn’t lamplight, but something between the two; and it was coming from a lamp-post.”
"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis:
To be able to feel the snowflakes, the cold and the eeriness in that description, one can't help reading further to find out what that light is. The world that Lewis has created may have been inspired from something that he saw in the real world which he chose to transform to suit his story.
Books that help transforming something real to something far more fantastical!
Roald Dahl known for his magical settings takes the reader on a beautiful journey through the chocolate factory. Through Charlie's eyes we get curious to know more about the secret chocolate factory from which the delightful smell of chocolate whiffs through the air. Chocolate is rare in Charlie's home, a fact that is bound to create a sense of shock amongst many readers who are far more likely to be able to eat chocolate not just on their birthdays. But all of that is what pulls the reader into the magical and exclusive world of the chocolate factory in which fantastic things happen. What a marvellous escape from the real world?
Roald Dahl is said to have often been inspired by the sweet shop near his school where he used to stop by often to look at the variety of treats. He might not have been able to buy whatever he wanted but that shop left a deep impression in his mind. Hence his stories always have a variety of mouth watering sweets which elevates the reading experience manifold for children.
Books that enable you to watch a real life like place transform into something better
The Unteachables by Gordon Korman happens in a classroom. What is different about that classroom is that it is a place where students whom the school believes, can't be helped, are made to sit. Nothing much happens in the classroom except for play, sometimes sheer frustration and other times a feeling of hopelessness. Add a disinterested teacher to the mix, it can't get any worse. Change comes about in the most unexpected way. Through a series of events both the students and the teacher evolve. So does the classroom that slowly starts to gain colour and knowledge with posters to suit the lessons being taught.
Books that take you to the future or at least allow you to dream about the future!
One of the readers at the Young Readers' Club shared excitedly how she enjoyed 'travelling' with Charlie in the book Charlie and Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl. What it be like to travel in a glass elevator to space! While that was purely imaginary without a sci-fi angle, the George series written by Stephen Hawking and Lucy is an absolute treat for sci-fi enthusiasts. The series shows the characters get transported to far off moons and planets and in the process, readers learn a bit about space science and the discoveries made so far.
Books that Enable You to Time travel into history
The Songs of Freedom series for instance takes us to the smallest of places in India before independence. We get to know what was there and what was missing then, somethings that we may take for granted today. For instance a young reader at the Young Readers' Club was quite startled to know that Manikoil did not have a college and hence the protagonist's sister in That Year at Manikoil could not continue her education until it was safe to move back to the city! It was during the World War II and the threat of major cities getting bombed was huge.
Another fantastic example is Rebellion in Ranchi by Swati Sengupta. We travel back to 1914. Not just that we visit Chota Nagpur where an adivasi tribe lives near the forests. As the British occupation grew, so did their lives change dramatically. The protagonist in that book did not go to school. School was an alien concept then. He did not know that the world was a much bigger place than the small village he lived in until, he met someone who was in the freedom movement!
Creating original, witty, wacky and intriguing settings of our own!
Having been enthralled by the travels in these books as well as many other books that we have read, the young readers at the Young Readers' Club were all set to create their own magical settings for a photograph from the 'flying houses' series by the award winning photographer, Laurant Chechere.
"The house is flying like a kite."
"The house is perhaps upside down."
"It is a flying prison, no entry, no exit."
"Why are the clothes put to dry under the house?"
If you are wondering what all that banter is about? That's an excerpt from what the young readers discussed while analyzing one of the photographs in flying house series! Take a look at the series here and have fun weaving your own stories!
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Writing programs for the 8-12 age group- Young Writers' Club Jr.
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