KidLit Reading Challenge 2025

There are now so many wonderfully engaging and brave children’s titles published in India, and I love recommending them to friends with nieces and nephews.

But I didn’t read diversely till I was twenty-one. I had always read more books than most of my immediate peers, and I took great satisfaction in that, even if the books I read were primarily written by White men and a few Japanese men. Only when I took an English department elective offered in my undergrad was I exposed to fiction translated from Indian regional languages. I became more mindful of my reading, looking for more translated literature and novels by female-identifying writers from different social and caste locations.

It took a few more years after (I will share how I got to reading children’s books as an adult in another newsletter) to pause and think about the books I read as a child. After an early childhood of reading Enid Blyton and the Nancy Drew series, I began reading Jacqueline Wilson, Judy Blume, Eva Ibbotson, and Beverly Cleary, among others. I would happily revisit many of their titles even now, but the children in these books simply did not look or think like me.

Each year, when I see the diverse reading challenges posted by bookstores or popular book websites, I wish there was one specially made for children’s literature and, better yet, for Indian KidLit. So when I decided to start a newsletter, I thought, why not begin with a reading challenge? I initially started with a list of 25 categories, which, while more exhaustive than the current iteration, was much more daunting for the reader. So, finally, I have narrowed it down to twelve, one diverse book each month, and I promise to share multiple recommendations for each.

To kickstart us with the recommendations part of the newsletter, I have two books for the February challenge of reading a book where a girl plays a male-dominated sport. In the spirit of honesty, I am disclosing that I was truly awful at sports (and most activities that required good hand-eye coordination). My contribution to PE classes in school was to do roll calls, organize classmates into teams and largely stay out of the way. So, for me to wholeheartedly recommend these two books means they are well written and can be enjoyed by anyone, even if they do not have much technical knowledge about the sport.

Loki Takes Guard by Menaka Raman (Talking Cub, 2020)

Eleven-year-old Lokanayaki Shanmugam, who goes by Loki, is cricket-obsessed (and quite good at playing it too). But the local cricket league has a ridiculous 'boys only' rule. When the team does not budge on the rules, Loki tries talking to the adults in her life, and when that doesn't yield results, she starts a petition to change the rule and fight for her right to play cricket. Things turn dramatic when the petition is shared on Twitter (now X) and goes viral. The story, of course, is super engaging (and it ends happily if that worried you), but what really stood out for me is Loki's character. She is one of my top three fictional Indian feminist kid characters, along with Mayil from the series by Niveditha Subramaniam and Sowmya Rajendran and Sarojini from 'Dear Mrs Naidu by Mathangi Subramanian.

Bipathu and a Very Big Dream by Anita Nair (Puffin Books, 2023)

Set in a tiny Kerala village with the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, this is one of the most inclusive children's books I have read recently. Disabled bodies live full lives, rescued puppies receive abundant love, and multiple adult characters are invested in nine-year-old Bipathu's fears and dreams. When Suleiman, the insecure class bully, roughs up her new friend Rahul too many times on the football field, sweet Bipathu takes it upon herself to help Rahul train for the football match trials. She does this while keeping her desire to play football a secret, worrying about her mother's disapproval and prioritizing her many caregiving responsibilities when her mother (a single-parent household) is away at work. As a reader, you cannot help but root for Bipathu every step of the way.

I hope to send you a newsletter once in two weeks, so please subscribe if you have not already. Please also share the newsletter with friends and family interested in children’s literature or early-stage writing journeys. The reading challenge image is also on my Instagram handle (varshaxvarghese), so feel free to share it in your stories.

Till next time,

Warmly,