Myth Aunty

This year, in the library we focussed on the idea of ‘giving’ that come without boxes, ribbons, wrappings or tags. Things we cannot hold…
But hold we must in a completely different way.
How do we ‘hold’ the people around us? Do we see the gifts that they need? Gifts that are intangible, but may mean a lot to them.

‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ was a perfect read… one that made the children feel and dwell on the idea…so much so that it got thoughtful silence and then applause at the end of the read aloud.

So this Christmas, I wish you MORE than just packages, boxes and bags.
May the gifts you give and receive hold you, and yours.

Merry Christmas everyone!

You give me many gifts with the thoughtful messages, comments, encouragement, appreciation, opportunities and love.

This year, in the library we focussed on the idea of ‘giving’ that come without boxes, ribbons, wrappings or tags. Things we cannot hold… But hold we must in a completely different way. How do we ‘hold’ the people around us? Do we see the gifts that they need? Gifts that are intangible, but may mean a lot to them. . ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ was a perfect read… one that made the children feel and dwell on the idea…so much so that it got thoughtful silence and then applause at the end of the read aloud. . So this Christmas, I wish you MORE than just packages, boxes and bags. May the gifts you give and receive hold you, and yours. . Merry Christmas everyone! . You give me many gifts with the thoughtful messages, comments, encouragement, appreciation, opportunities and love. . . #cʜʀɪsᴛᴍᴀs2025 #christmasmessage #truemeaningofchristmas #bookstagramindia #howthegrinchstolechristmas

What’s in a name, they say.

All my life, I’ve been called everything other than Jo-Anne. Family and those closest to me know me by my nickname. School and college friends, and the ones I made later in life, have always called me by the first part of my name… Jo.

I’ve been told my name sounds like something straight out of a Mills & Boon novel. Yet, despite M & B was often our giggly reading material during our daily commutes to college, by the 7.47 Bandra local, I never ever saw this name in print, we would have noticed…there were two of us by the same name in our small travelling group.
Jo-Ann and Jo-Anne.

Yes, hyphenated names were very much a thing among us Bandra folk.

This was the first time that I’ve been called Anne…and it’s in print!!
I guess, if I’ve been called Jo, why not Anne ( with and ‘E’ btw!)

But believe me, that IS me!!

Together with my sister, …the storyteller, the sutradaar of our family, we have shared our memories of a Christmas feast in Bandra…the delicious roast suckling pig.

Thrilled to have our memories featured, together with a short extract from ‘s Nana’s House project .house_
Thank you and for inviting me to write and for all your efforts to document these beautiful memories.
The book has been gorgeously designed by
This one is a keeper.

Bandra is the suburb we hail from…for generations, the suburb that grew us, the suburb that has our heart, and is our soul.
Forever Bandra girls!!

I’ve been having a slice of Pudding with my morning and evening cuppa, ever since I received my copy,

If you’d like to pick up a copy of this wonderful ode to Bandra, it’s available on Amazon and all the Bandra bookstores and #

christmasmemories

In all my years of telling stories, I’ve collected favourites—each with its own personality: the crowd-pleasers, the laughter-ticklers, the thought-provokers, the response-nudgers, the zen-cultivators, the tear-jerkers, the heart-tuggers, and so many more. Yet, every Christmas I wonder what will be the perfect story.
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This year, for my Christmas read, I wanted to focus on giving. I found myself wondering: what does it truly mean for my elementary students to “give”?
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To open up the idea of giving of themselves, I found the perfect book, shared by
Santa’s First Christmas is a delightful and unexpected story…unexpected for the children, and for me too. This is not a tale of Baby Santa, but of Santa as we know him: the big, white-bearded man in the red suit, with “a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly.”
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It’s a story about those around him coming to realise that Santa makes everyone’s Christmas… but who makes Santa’s?
It gently invites readers to think beyond themselves, to notice others, to stay true to the spirit of the season, and to explore generosity of spirit, time, and self. It’s about going above and beyond to show someone they matter, that they are special, that they are loved and cared for.
It is, quite simply, a story about the true meaning of Christmas…the season of giving.
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After the story, we talked about the ways we could give. The gifts we focused on were intangible…gifts from the heart. Gifts that require thought and effort, and that cost a great deal: time, love, energy, respect, empathy, and, most importantly, the willingness to think beyond ourselves.
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It took a little while for the younger ones to move past the idea of tangible gifts, but once they did, it was beautiful to hear the simple, meaningful, and achievable ways they wanted to give. They thought about their classmates, friends, families, and teachers, and shared their reflections.
They then wrote these ideas on small cardstock decorations, which became part of our ‘Christmas Giving Tree’.
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The tree is beautiful, adds to the festive atmosphere of the library, and is deeply meaningful. Children have been reading one another’s “gifts,” and it’s been a wonderful way to grow our understanding of what it truly means to give of ourselves.
The next morning, I arrived at school to find a delightful note waiting on my desk—take a look in the picture. These little ones gave me a gift I will treasure, knowing exactly what brings me joy. I chuckled with delight.
So… how are you going to give of yourself this season? 🎄✨
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Recently, I’ve been eager to explore the preamble to the Constitution of India with children, and what better way to do this than through stories.
I had been nudged by the wonderful team at , who asked me to conduct a summer camp, book club-style, around their book, “5 Fantastic Facts of the Indian Constitution,” which I did, by incorporating some of their other books and stories into each session, relating them to the constitution.

Working regularly with school children allows me to take this approach even more slowly, examining each term/value in depth.
So a couple of weeks ago, I began the first of a six-session exploration through stories and books.

We began by looking at the words ‘We the people’.
Who are ‘We the people?’
Who has the right to be included? Should anybody be excluded?
By using a pie chart diagram to record our thoughts, we were able to depict that we have our differences, but are part of a whole. I wanted this picture to be gently embedded in the children’s minds.
The children worked in small groups to discuss amongst themselves. Some differences that we are aware of as adults needed a bit of prodding and nudging to get the children to realise that we have such diversity around us that we may never encounter certain kinds of differences in our lives.
Children noted socio-economic status, religion, caste, residence (rural/urban), region, language, age and many more. The discussion went up a notch when one of the groups shared about their different lived experiences. Even amongst their peers, with seemingly similar backgrounds, each of our lived experiences is different. I loved that they arrived at this awareness through our sharing and discussing within their groups.

I then drew from ‘s book Hum Hindustani - Children’s Voices on Citizenship to help the children think about what makes them Indian. The idea was for them to think about themselves, their lives really. As they shared, we moved between children sharing their habits, including food, their beliefs, and other practices that they identified with as Indian.

This sharing moved between moments of laughter, earnestness and some acceptance. As they each shared and listened to each other, what emerged was a beautiful patchwork…unique pieces and threads woven together into the diversity around us.

The goal was to help them understand the vastness of India’s diversity, and then bring it closer home, noticing the diversity within their own small group. To see that “We the People” truly means each and every one of us. And that as we go on to explore the ideals of our Constitution, those ideals belong to each and every person we spoke about and shared stories of.

As our journey continues, I know that I will learn from the children, and I hope some of this understanding stays with them in the onslaught of all that challenges the constitutional ideals and that they are able to think for themselves on a foundation of understanding, knowledge and empathy.
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I began this page as a way to share about how I use books and stories to start discussions with children on different topics, and to guide them towards books that they would enjoy, challenge their thinking, deepen their interests. For me this remains the centre of my library practice. The stories, the book.
In the advent of AI, technology, makerspaces, games and more, the readers relation to the story book remains central. As said in a recent podcast…the book is enough.

At this point, I find the year just seems to have whizzed by and I find myself pausing to look back at the months behind me. It has been a year that stretched me gently but firmly, nudging me into new spaces before I even realised I had stepped into them. My work continued to revolve around books and children, and the small, luminous moments that happen when the two come together. That has been the quiet centre of my year.

One experience, in particular, stands our, every time I reflect on this journey: Literature Across Borders (LaB).
A one-of-a-kind international literary exchange for young people’s literature, LaB was conceptualised by Dr. Alexia Casale of Bath Spa University, UK, along with our very own award-winning author . It is a program built on the belief that stories can hold doors open…between people, cultures, and ways of seeing.

As Ursula K. Le Guin reminds us, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

LaB, for me, has been about that journey: not just journeying with the children through the books, but also with myself in my understanding of children. We’ve had some moments laughter, doubts, questions, ‘crossings’, many conversations, and the shared discoveries.

The pilot edition brought together students from Bath UK, Florida, USA and Abacus Montessori School, Chennai. We are proud to be the first Indian school to be part of LaB. Being entrusted to lead the Indian leg felt both humbling and energising..

LaB ran from April to June 2025, right through our long summer break. I expected interest, but I hadn’t imagined the wholehearted commitment the children, aged 12 to 14, would show. They signed up voluntarily, read the books without reminders, and logged in from wherever they happened to be: cousins’ homes, holiday trips, grandparents’ living rooms.
What moved me most were the gentle, unexpected moment of signing in early only to find many faces already waiting; the excited messages asking, “We are meeting today, right?”

What moved me most were the gentle, unexpected moments: signing in early only to find many faces already waiting; the excited messages asking, “We are meeting today, right?” There were no grades, no certificates, no rewards. Yet their willingness to show up, fully and joyfully, was its own kind of reward for both them and me.

Each 90-minute session seemed to vanish in an instant. We asked hard questions, challenged one another, created, laughed, debated, and read some more. I watched them grow, not only as readers but as listeners and thinkers, as young people learning to hold multiple perspectives at once. It reminded me why literature, especially in the hands of children, is such powerful work.

Perhaps the strongest evidence of LaB’s impact is this: every single participant, except one with unavoidable sporting commitments, has chosen to return for the next edition.

As I prepare for LaB 2026, with two themes and two schools, I carry with me the memory of those summer mornings: a grid of small, bright faces, each one willing to cross borders that are invisible on maps but real in the heart. If stories are journeys, then this year, I had the privilege of travelling alongside some remarkable companions.