And we are back! Back with our crazy idea of a summer bookclub. Back with the bookclub with a crazy name. Back with a lot more enthusiasm and ideas after a very glorious summer time with kids last year. Have a look at Book Monsters 2017 to check out our last year's work.
Book Monsters was so much fun, so much learning last year that we spent a year in creating similar program for all age groups. So here we are!
Watch out for this space, for we will be adding children's work here :)
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Cinderella, my next door neighbor (7-9 years):
We asked kids to convert Cinderella into a realistic fiction. They came up with stories in which Cinderella went to Central Mall to buy a dress for herself or booked an Ola cab to the party hall or sneaked out of her hostel to attend a party in the city. We loved the way the kids could easily convert a classic fairy tale with magic and fantasy into a contemporary, realistic, teenage-problem story. We got hold of a few cover pages.
On the other hand, their sketch as well as character sketch was beautiful. They are such naturals. Few of them liked GS while few of them found it too kiddish. Talk about grandpa's opinions! Collectively, they did the following analyses of Geronimo Stilton:
Story rap and beatbox (7-9 years)
Book Monsters was so much fun, so much learning last year that we spent a year in creating similar program for all age groups. So here we are!
Watch out for this space, for we will be adding children's work here :)
*********************************************************************************************************
Cinderella, my next door neighbor (7-9 years):
We asked kids to convert Cinderella into a realistic fiction. They came up with stories in which Cinderella went to Central Mall to buy a dress for herself or booked an Ola cab to the party hall or sneaked out of her hostel to attend a party in the city. We loved the way the kids could easily convert a classic fairy tale with magic and fantasy into a contemporary, realistic, teenage-problem story. We got hold of a few cover pages.
A puppet tale:
Give kids puppets and see them spreading the magic of storytelling. Teaching the concept of narrator, audience, character was a breeze as they were spellbound by the animal puppets we used for the hands and fingers.
Public Speaking (10-13 years)
Public Speaking workshop is one of my personal favorites. It's a big learning experience for all of us. Find out all the details and videos here
The giraffe and a half (7-9 years):
A riot broke when the silly giraffe came into the class. A giraffe that is one and a half? A giraffe that can carry a chair on his hair and a bee on his knee and glue on his shoe, while the whale is at his tail and a dragon is on his wagon? The story is cuteness overload. Kids' response? Giggling kids are overdose of cuteness too. Our response to their funny drawings? Nothing much. We split our sides laughing.
Book Reviews (4-6 years)
When we tell parents that we guide 4-6 years old children on writing book reviews, there is only one feedback we get. Impossible! And when they see their work, there is only feedback again. Wonderful!
This journey from impossible to wonderful is no rocket science.
Kids love books. Simple. They like to read more if they understand the world of books better and deeper. Most adults focus only on the story inside a book and then on the comprehension based on the story. This takes the fun out of a storybook and kids begin to resist reading as it seems like a test each time.
Guide the child about the author, the publisher, the illustrator, find out his/her response to the book, explain hardcover vs paperback vs board-book. When children learn these aspects of books, they want to read more and more.
Now, this is wonderful, isn't it?
Back to Hogwarts (7-9 years):
Harry Potter can cast a spell on you, in more than one way. 7-year old ones excited about HP? This excited us too. As excitement went out of control, we did two things to get into Potter Mania deeper. 1. We gifted all them HP wands. 2. They all made their own wands too. We discussed spells, we cast spells on each other too. We discussed the genres, we wondered how life would be if Hogwarts were in Bellandur. We also wondered what would it be like if Harry was our next door neighbor. A senior student, Aarav, joined us in the Potter Mania and coached us on holding the different wands for different spells in different ways. Talk about research done! Check out Aarav's summary of Harry Potter here
Folk tales from around the world (7-9 years):
This is my personal favorite. This portion of BookMonsters comes from the history of tales and rhymes. It's very interesting to know the origin of stories, to know various parts of the world from where various folktales come from. Kids picked up the tales very well. We covered Aesop's Fables from Greece, Arabian Tales from Middle East, Panchatantra from India, Fairytales from Europe and much more. We learnt how most African tales have animals in them. We saw how Jataka Tales and Japanese folktales are drawn so differently. We picked up the influence of religion on each region's folktales.
Recipe story (7-9 years):
I gave recipe books to kids and asked them to convert a recipe into a story. At first they all whined. But when I told them a story where Harry Potter cooked Maggi for me with the help of Cinderella, they caught the bait. Kids sitting quietly for 2 hours during summer holidays cooking up stories (pun intended) in their sheets is not a joke. (Few kids couldn't finish the task as their stories were quite elaborate. We should be able to post those stories later) Meanwhile, do read these:
Recipe story (10-13 years):
They whined too, just like the younger ones. Their task was a bit more challenging. They were given different genres and they had to convert their recipes into a story based on the given genres. At first it looked like an impossible task. I fretted too when they all echoed, "This is not possible, we can't do this." But when they brought their stories back, I knew it was not about unplugging their imagination, it was just a matter of unplugging their hesitation to imagine.
Geronimo Stilton (7-9 years)
Life is tough anyways. It gets tougher when your students find out you can't draw a circle. And toughest when one of most your favorite students asks you to sketch Geronimo Stilton while they all do a character sketch of GS. You need a large cup of coffee right there in the class when your attempts are shot down brutally.
- Obvious traits
- Inferred traits
- Physical traits
- Mental traits
- Emotional traits
- Their own emotional response to GS
Tiny readers (4-6 years)
A few picture books by Eric Carle, Julia Donaldson, Oliver Jeffers, Shel Silverstein, Jon Klassen, Dr Seuss, Maurice Sendak. A few picture books from Pratham, Tulika, Tara, CBT, NBT. A few folktales from around the world. A few encyclopedias. A few phonic readers.
And you are all set for the Book Monsters! Book reading is fun with young readers. It's fun and funny with tiny readers. They have a fresh perspective on everything. They have questions like, "Why did Cinderella's glass shoes not change back to old state after 12 o'clock when everything else did?" They have wisdom like, "Fairy tales are not cute. They are, instead, scary with all those stepmoms, poisons, witches."
Read books to the tiny ones. You may learn something new.
Graphic stories (10-14 years)
Comic writing is one of the best ways to understand story formatting. This was yet again proven right when we converted those cute short stories by Pratham Books into comics. The understanding of Introduction, Narration, Conclusion gets very visual through the panels. We also talked about:
- Use of situation box as narrator
- Use of character's expressions
- Use of speech bubble and thought bubble
- Minimising the use of text by focusing on sketch and flow
Check their graphic stories here
You ask them to write a story on a given genre. They whine. They take eternity to be convinced. You tell them that we will all sing the story and beatbox to it. They develop superhuman powers and write with a speed that will put rockets to a shame.
It was a great experiment. Rapping and beatboxing added a dose of fun to story-writing. We ended the session with a great feedback from kids. Check out the videos here
Little budding author (4-6 years)
There is a special feeling when your tiny tot creates stories not only full of wonders, but also full of sensitivity and cuteness. The sheep and the pig is one such story by Aditya. Aditya also narrated us a wonder space-story. Watch it here
