A Joint Venture With Pell

Post date: Apr 2, 2017 10:49:07 AM

Over the last couple of weeks, Pell has had vacations. Every mother's nightmare! Fortunately I had planned ahead. No, not really, but things just worked out so well, I could not have deliberately planned it better.

I got her an easel for her birthday, and she has been obsessed with painting, ever since. Every day, that we were at home, she would diligently do one painting in the afternoon. After a few days she heard about Mishti illustrating The Mysterious Uncle Uh-Oh, and then she too, wanted to illustrate a book. Now Pell, all of 5 years, as enthusiastic she is about painting, isn't at the point where she can illustrate a whole book. Even my maternal delusions won't take me that far.

But Pell was so eager, I wished she could let her illustrate one. So to make her feel better I wrote a poem based on her next painting and published it on my blog. Pell glowed with pride and I felt like a genius, until ...

Well until she wanted me to write a poem for her next painting too. Uh-Oh! What had I go myself into?

So scratching my head, I managed to come up with a poem for her next painting too. The time after that, I was prepared, and I wrote the poem as Pell painted. Soon we had a collection of 7 poem painting combos. Amazing! Now the vacations are over and school starts tomorrow, so I have decided to publish the holiday project as a book.

So you see Pell did illustrate a book, even if we had to work in reverse. That fixed her sceptical mommy. Hope you all enjoy it. There is something in it for everyone.

My journey as a writer began with an effort to get Pell interested in stories. She would run away to play with our cat when I tried reading to her. So finally I thought a story about our cat may hold her attention and it did! We have come a long way since, and Pell, of course, loves books. My how time flies ... Even the vacation is almost over. Back to school tomorrow.

You can download the book of poem painting combos by Pell and me as a PDF file in either of the following 2 layouts: