Tuesday, December 4, 2012

My love for reading to my kids led me to create a children's book blog in October 2006. It was the first of its kind  to focus primarily on children's books that celebrated global diversity and living in between two cultures.

Now when I look back, it's funny to  reminisce that the idea for a multi-cultural blog simply fell into my head when I was  pushing my little one on a stroller to make it on time to a community story time in the neighborhood where we lived. My baby was only three months old then. My older daughter was four and in pre-school.

Then through all this, writing for children happened naturally, as an extension of a creative journey in children's literature that I undertook six years ago.Diversity in human cultures and the natural world are topics close to my heart. My writing and stories focus on those elements and themes.

I believe writing about unique stories set in different environments will help us and our children develop a broader perspective and view of the world we live in. Books can serve as a springboard to sowing the seeds of peace. Books erase biases. Books help reach across cultures. They work beyond boundaries and man-made barriers.

Later for almost two years, keeping in line with my passion for early literacy, I volunteered for the ready-to-read program in Virginia, a community-oriented, inclusive library hour. I was a story-time facilitator for a preschool in my community. Volunteering for school library, reading centers, libraries and preschools gave me an outlet to reach out to children.

I particularly enjoy working with toddlers, preschoolers and children in early school age - 0 to 8 years! To that end, I have recently started a reading program called Little Reading Bees to instill a lifelong love for books.

I have been active in bringing my reading program, Little Reading Bees to libraries, bookstores, playschools and other activity centers in Chennai - a city I call home now. It's a proprietary model with 3 L's - Literacy Skills, Literary Genres and Learning Themes that I weave into each session.