Never Too Young To Be Given A Chance

Post date: May 1, 2017 3:42:24 PM

The last two months have been eventful and full of surprises. I have published 2 books with 2 different illustrators. Guess, what is the one thing, these illustrators have in common? They are both girls under the age of 10!

The Caterpillar And The Butterfly & Other Poems is illustrated by my own 5 year old daughter Pell, who is also the inspiration behind Tania, and the loyal test audience for all my books.

The Mysterious Uncle Uh-Oh is illustrated by a multi-talented 8 year old girl named Mishti Shah. Mishti loves art and swimming.

As many of you know, I was a physicist, who, one fine morning, decided to become a writer, and did just that. You never know what you can do, until you try, right? So asking two little girls, with no prior experience in illustrating, to help me out wasn't the least bit weird. I was quite sure they would be better than me, and that was a start. The thing that surprised me, was their eagerness to shoulder the responsibility, their confidence, and most of all, their follow through and work ethics, that would put most adults to shame.

Pell practised drawing whenever she had time, and did one painting every day. She would come home from school, finish her lunch, and head straight for her easel. She would take out all her painting supplies, put on her apron and get to work. Then, after she was done, she would clean her brushes and palette and put everything away again. Then she would badger me to write a poem. The process continued for 3 weeks, when, finally, we had gathered enough material for a book. There were several paintings and drawings that did not make it to the book, because only the best did.

Aesha tells me, Mishti too was thrilled with her project and became single minded about it. She read the story and came up with ideas for illustrations, that she thought best represented each chapter. Then she researched the internet, particularly youtube, for drawing tutorials and techniques, that would help her implement her ideas. In 2 weeks she finished 5 illustrations, one for the cover and one for each of the four chapters.

We often underestimate kids for their size and lack of experience. But what we forget, is their eagerness and enthusiasm, more than compensate. If we show some faith in kids they will surprise us with what they can do.

Many of you have already seen the ebooks, these two amazing girls have illustrated, but the books are now available in print.

You can purchase them here. They are shipped by speed post and available in India.