Monkeying around with Niveditha

CHENNAI: When she wrote her book Mayil Will Not Be Quiet with a friend, a young reader told her that she “wanted to hug the book”.  Children’s author Niveditha Subramaniam says, “I felt grateful and incredibly happy that it meant so much to her. For me, it matters most that children respond with enthusiasm and excitement, that they want to read or hear the story again.”  Mayil ... is a book that she meant to be educative. It’s a “growing-up” book that addresses issues of gender discrimination, sexuality and popular culture.  But with her latest book The Sky Monkey’s Beard , she has tried to challenge the popular belief that all children’s books must carry a message. “A story can just be fun, not fun plus informative/educational. There is a value to simply enjoying a well-told story,” she explains.Her latest work carries a whimsical story of sky monkeys who like nothing better than to float above clouds for hours, and a curious little monkey who decides to fly down to earth, becoming the first one to do so. “This book is for a slightly older audience,” Niveditha says. “My other picture books were for the three-plus age group; this one is for kids who are five and above.”“The Sky Monkey’s Beard is also a longer picture book,” she adds, comparing it with her previous books Jalebi Curls, Thumb Thumb book - 9 to 1  and Musical Donkey .Niveditha claims that picture books are the best when it comes to young readers. “Pictures often form a bridge between the story and the reader,” she begins. “Usually with picture books, it is the story that is written first, pictures come next. And the pictures need to be compatible with the story, though of course, there is freedom given to the illustrator to add other dimensions or layers through the visuals themselves,” she continues, adding that illustrator Priyankar Gupta’s expressive and playful illustrations will definitely catch her readers’ attention.Having read pop-ups and Russian picture stories as a child, Niveditha says she “actively knew that she wanted to write for children when she came to college”.  But she admits that writing for children is a niche area. “Books have a target audience and it’s important that what you write is accessible to a reader of that age group,” she says. “While it’s possible to remember how you responded as a child to different kinds of writing and draw from your own understanding and experiences, what is more important, I feel, is staying true to your characters and allowing your story to unravel.”Niveditha’s book The Sky Monkey’s Beard  will be released with an interactive storytelling session at Ashvita, R K Salai on May 24 at 5.30 pm.