Reading should be fun, not about lessons in moral science: Anushka
Neha Saini
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, November 19
Her verse has been wooing children for over a decade and would probably make Dr Seuss proud. Anushka Ravishankar, celebrated children’s book author and storyteller, has pioneered the children’s book industry in India when the only stories children knew were happening in the West. The eminent children’s author was in city today, to conduct a session at Mount Litera School.
The award winning author, discussed her writings, influences and pondered over the fantasy-adventure genre that balances elements, which make sense with some that do not, with the effect of subverting language conventions or logical reasoning with children.
She said, “I was pushed into the world of writing stories for children as I couldn’t find a decent book for my child to read. Still, even after a decade, fantasy writing as a genre is growing, with some great stories and children are motivated to pick up books without thinking twice.”
A graduate in mathematics from Fergusson College, Pune, Anushka got influenced by the works of Lewis Caroll, Edward Lear and Edward Gorey. While Anushka writes both picture books and chapter books, her specialty lies in writing fantasy for children. With 25 books to her credit and still growing, her works include “Tiger on a Tree”, “Anything but a Grabooberry”, “Excuse Me, Is This India?”, “And Today Is My Day”, “One, Two Tree! To Market! To Market!”, “The Rumour”, “Catch That Crocodile” and “Moin the Monster”.
The motive behind the production of this genre was to make children enjoy books rather than always looking for meaningful constructions. Anushka believes that didacticism has been the way children’s books have been in India since long time. She says, “Either you have moral of the story or you somehow manage to give information to a child because what is he/she reading a book for. So, I chose to write books, which are just fun to read and don’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything, it challenges logic, it challenges language and it’s just there because it’s fun.”
Anushka also read some extracts from her books “Moin and the Monster”, “Moin and the Songster” and “Catch that Crocodile!’. Students asked many questions about her childhood, education and writings. She also gave her autographed books to children and their parents.
The chief guest on this occasion was, Dr Tarundeep Kaur, Deputy Commissioner, Income Tax, Amritsar. She really appreciated the hard work and dedication of Anushka for filling the gap between the foreign and Indian writings. She praised the author for evolving children’s genre and nurturing Indian writings, which would have been otherwise lost. The director of the school, Manjot Dhillon, thanked Anushka for gracing the institution with her benign presence. She also praised her works for augmenting the minds of children to think beyond this world.
