Imagine yourself sitting in the morning, relishing your coffee and just at that precise moment, a pigeon chooses to perch itself on your balcony. Its head bobs as it surveys its surroundings, emitting those throaty sounds while flapping its smelly dirty wings. The coffee just loses its taste as you flap your newspaper at it to scare it into leaving. But the obstinate creatures that they are, they refuse to budge…. you and your coffee be damned. The sound that

Digital Reading Resources vs Traditional Reading Resources -LAKSHMI MITTER The digital world has amazing reading resources. True, children spend a lot of time with gadgets these days and to present reading resources on the tablets is not welcome. Something to ponder about is why we would like to restrict the use of gadgets. Possible reasons are that children spend a lot of time on gadgets, which results in limited physical activity, possibility of the eyes getting strained etc. Reading a

I can still feel the sun rise the the creases of my palms Watch the trees swaying in the breezeDrown in the scintillating threads of moonlight and the serenade of starsThe roads, buildings and shops around all remain the sameNothing much has changed in a year’s time Or so it seems… For I have walked countless milesBeen bruised, battered and fragmented Yet rising each time to rejoin broken pieces In yet another different frameI have lived a countless lives, died

LAKSHMI MITTER 9+ age group If you are a reader who loves subtle humour, Midnight Gang by David Walliams is a must read. The story is about a group of children who become good friends in the last place one can imagine- the children’s ward of a hospital. The hospital building itself is badly maintained and most sign boards have lost letters suggesting funny names. Everything about this hospital is bad except for the children of course, who are adorable.

“I left my job, I didn’t go out anywhere, I stopped enjoying my life because of him, and what did I get in return?” “I worked so hard for my family, sacrificed all my dreams, didn’t spend a penny on myself, and look how ungrateful they are!” “We do so much for our kids, and they don’t care or are thankful.” These are very, very common remarks that we do hear from people all over.  We all have to make

I am from Bangalore and I like to say ‘born/bred/buttered’ in Bangalore! I was born into a business family – the younger of two daughters – my dad was in the agarbathi(incense sticks) business.  My parents have always been extremely supportive to this day in everything I have done and been through.  Dad turned 99 in April and Mom turned 88! I spent my childhood in Bangalore – studied at The East West School, NMKRV Junior College, Mount Carmel College and

-by LAKSHMI MITTER 4-6 age group This is the age group that loves colour, lots of small stories and pictures. The Colour Thief, written by Stephen Aitken & Sylvia Sikundar and illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat is a book that has a riot of colours, pictures and a beautiful short story that will definitely capture the imagination of young minds. The book is about a grouchy giant who lives in a dark cave and hates colours. He makes it a point

Hi! I am Lakshmi Mitter, the founder of MerryGoBooks – a service that creates personalised children’s books, that are fine tuned to specific interests of every child. I have also written several short stories for children that have appeared in children’s newspapers and magazines such as The Hindu Young World, Magic Pot, Deccan Herald and Intelly Jelly. Five of my picture books are available on Amazon. In addition to writing entertaining stories for children, I strongly believe that creating awareness