Sona Sharma: Wish Me Luck
Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Jen Khatun
Walker Books

With its Tamil Nadu setting, the Sona Sharma series is one of my very favourites for younger readers. In this fourth story, Sona’s much-loved teacher is getting married and the entire class has been invited. This she learns on the last day before a mid-term break. So far so good, but then Sona sees on the invitation that Miss Rao’s husband to be comes from a place called Vijayawada that’s several hours away by train and by tradition the bride moves to live in her husband’s city. Definitely not good and Sona and her friends want to try and stop this happening so they start making a ‘lucky’ plan to keep Miss Rao as their teacher.

With this in mind, despite her list of things to do during the break, Sona is preoccupied with the possibility of having to bid farewell to her teacher. So. aided and abetted by Elephant, she begins to search for lucky charms . The night when her Amma hears about all of this, her response is, “Fortune favours the brave, Sona. … If you want something, go and make it happen.”

Sona’s way of doing so is to write a petition, get all her friends to sign it, as well as others at the wedding and then after the ceremony, hand it to their teacher. She puts a great deal of effort into this project; but what will be the outcome?

With its theme of embracing change, this enchanting story exudes warmth and family love throughout and as always, Chitra has woven several South Indian Hindu customs into her narrative including some details of the Kanyadaanam ceremony at the wedding

and Paatti’s story about Rudraksha beads, prompted by the seeds Sona’s friend Renu adds to their collection of lucky charms. Whether read aloud or alone, Jen Khatun’s illustrations add to the delights of the book.

The Feeling Good Club: Be Kind, Shazmin!
Kelly McKain, illustrated by Jenny Latham
Little Tiger

‘Sometimes I miss the old Charita so much it actually makes my stomach hurt.’ So writes her younger sister, Shazmin in her journal at the start of this third episode in the series wherein Bella, Archie and Shazmin help one another to face and cope with the things that worry them by means of supportive friendship and mindfulness activities.

Shazmin is upset that her elder sister, Charita, now a teenager, no longer wants to hang out with her. In a desperate attempt to impress Charita, she persuades Bella and Archie to participate in the making of a video with her, but she keeps the real reason for so doing to herself.

The three friends start working on the video but things keep going wrong, there are misunderstandings and squabbles and the project seems to be heading for the scrap heap.

Is there any way that what started out as a potential prize-winning video, can be rescued, even if that means it taking a rather different direction. And can harmonious relations be restored both in Shaman’s family and with her two Feeling Good Club buddies? Perhaps, but it will take some mindfulness by all concerned.

Children’s well-being has really come into focus since covid and Kelly McKain’s series of highly accessible stories with personable characters openly sharing their emotional ups and downs in situations that children can relate to, provides gently humorous, warm much-needed mentoring in book form.