The Bookworm

Sesha is a silent boy who reads all the time. One day, Sesha speaks, and no one understands why he speaks differently. But when they see his brown book and the magic he can create, Sesha becomes a whole new person. This empathetic story by Lavanya R. N. is illustrated with collages and watercolors by Shilo Shiv Suleman. Lavanya R. N. has written for children and adults and has worked in the theater. Shilo Shiv Suleman is an illustrator, animator, and visual artist who has spoken at the TED Global, Wired, DLD, and several other international conferences.

About the Author :
Lavanya R. N. has authored 3 books with Karadi Tales, 2 for tiny-tots and 1 for older children on the joys of reading. When she's not writing, she's working with a multinational consulting firm in Chicago, where she lives with her husband. She's now lived abroad for three years, two of which were spent at Harvard Business School and she hopes to eventually come back to India and work along-side her father, brother and grandfather in the family business. She loves going to the movies and theatre and is always trying to find a way to be either on stage, behind the scenes or in the audience. Someday she hopes to publish a novel. Shilo Shiv Suleman: Shilo Shiv Suleman is an Indian illustrator, animator and visual artist based in the city of Bangalore. Her primary area of interest is visual storytelling through multiple mediums. She illustrated her first book for children at the age of 16 and has illustrated and published 8 others since. She has also been actively involved in setting up community art projects. Earlier this year, at only 22 years of age, she was chosen by TED and Levi's as an ambassador of the 'Shape of Things to Come' - one of three Indian women to be felicitated with this honour at the TED Global Conference 2011, Edinburgh. In 2010 she was selected for an INK fellowship for her work as a young innovator in her field and now continues her work with the community as their Featured Artist of the Year. She was also one of the youngest speakers at the WIRED UK and DLD conference in London and Munich.

Review :
Shilo's exquisite art work. It's a lovely mélange of water colour illustrations, collage and scrapbooking. The result is an eye-popping textured, multi-layered enigma about the backdrop with a wealth of interesting details for children to dig out at each read. The overall feel is that of exploring the world and of discovering the amazing richness in the natural world; a feel that seems to be tailor made for Shesha. The most outstanding spread is the 'his books were his world' spread (featured above). Just look at that rainbow striped tiger and the winged horse emerge from the pages of his secret diary! Brilliant!--Richa Jha The Bookworm ($9.95, Karadi Tales, Ages 5 and up) is a story about an Indian boy named, Sesha, who loves to read. In fact he has his head in a book so often that other children his age rarely see his face. His classmates tease him and laugh at him every day, and they even write a song about him. . . "Strange silent Sesha, his nose in his book, Doesn't give anyone else a look, Bet his mum doesn't know what his face looks like, Bet his dad hasn't seen him since he was a little tyke! . . ." Sesha just keeps to himself and tries to ignore the comments and giggles of the others. He'd rather read and write down his thoughts in his little brown notebook he takes with him everywhere. Well one rainy day, some bullies in his class trip Sesha, causing him and his precious notebook to fall to the ground and get all muddy. Those bullies laugh and laugh, and naturally this is traumatizing for poor Sesha. But later in class something happens that makes the other students - including the bullies - realize that Sesha has something important they wish they had. I absolutely love the glorious collage and ultra colorful watercolor illustrations by Shilo Shiv Suleman, and thoroughly enjoyed how much they enhance this story. Stories about nerdy kids and bullies are not uncommon. But this picture book is unique in that it broaches the subject of bullying to the youngest readers without preaching. Rather, through carefully selected prose by author LaVanya R.N., the youngest readers are able to relate to the protagonist and learn that it is wrong to tease others for being different. Even better yet, this book shows us all that being smart and well-read is a powerful thing. In the end of this book, guess who has the last laugh?--Debbie Glade