Books & Banter

I have grown to love Austin even more because of the kindred spirits I found in the past 5 years. Friends who’ve become family, our support system and inspiration. They…

We had the opportunity to volunteer at the Texas Book Festival on behalf of our non- profit, the South Asian Austin Moms. From the teen book festival to the sneak…

In Austin, we’re as excited about our Book festival as we are about our music festivals 🙂 We are thrilled to be partnering with the Texas Book Festival this year…

Wow, Hell hath no fury like multitudes of Americans immediately after Inauguration Day this year (and on through the presidential appointments)! I am so proud of and inspired by all…

The regrettable truth is that Diwali didn’t hold nearly as much meaning for me during my childhood as it does now. In fact none of the Hindu holidays did, mainly…

      Summer is in full swing, as are, I imagine, parents’ anxieties about children losing their academic progress in the face of family vacations, late-night sleepovers, and endless…

One of the many wonderful things about spring is the abundance of spring holidays! As a Hindu I celebrate Holi,but as an American-born, um, Indian-American, I have a somewhat pluralistic approach to celebrating holidays. 🙂 …

This is a delightful and delightfully sing-songy story about a witch who welcomes all who ask for a ride on her broom, and in the end she is repaid for her kindness.

Ah, the lazy, hazy days of summer! So I read a whole slew of summer-themed books to write this post and bizarrely, I ended up most drawn to the older ones (as in published in the late nineties or early two thousands) instead of current ones. But after rereading and evaluating them I realized that theyall depict the valuable theme of being resourceful and using the gifts of the natural world to play and learn. None of the characters enjoy any screen time and barely even play with toys; instead they use their imaginations and what they find outside to make the most of their summer vacations. Wouldn’t we all love to say this about our own kids? 

   Summer is here, which is lovely (well, actually it’s a little hot), and as we know most of our kids relish their long-awaited break from school. Of course many of us parents worry that our kids are going to fall behind in their academic progress, forgetting much of what they learned and practiced the year before. Well, I can’t really speak about academic enrichment centers or camps or summer tutoring, but I can give you some good suggestions for helping your kids practice their reading and critical thinking skills. One of the main reasons I loved teaching English Literature was how readily the subject lends itself to teaching critical thinking. Now, through my reading experiences with my preschooler, I’m learning that many of the exercises I used with my high school students work just as well (scaled down, of course) with younger students. Here’s a sample: