Latest news with #Reyah
New Indian Express
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Wishing on a Star: Vinita Singh Shetty's debut kids' book tells a story of hope and cosmic wonder
On her seventh birthday, Reyah asks the Sun and the Moon to make her wish come true. Unlike most kids who wish for toys or treats, Reyah's wish is for her one-year-old brother, Neil, who has a hearing disability, to be able to 'hear the beautiful sounds I can hear'. 'I don't know who is more important among you two, but whoever it is, please make my wish come true,' she declares. This is the premise of Vinita Singh Shetty's debut children's book, Reyah and the Cosmic Wish (Westland Books; `199), which explores themes of hope, universal balance, kindness, and more. The book emerged from the stories Shetty would make up for her daughter Annika and retell to her group of friends, helping her gauge which ones worked best. 'Every time I told her a story, if I repeated it with some variation, she would point it out. Eventually, she said, 'Can you please write it down so you don't keep changing things',' explains Shetty with a laugh, adding, 'I found her friends coming back and asking for particular stories often. This was one of the stories that seemed to resonate the most.' Shetty's decision to include a differently abled character was with the intention to encourage empathy in children. 'For a child whose sensory perceptions are so high, to have somebody at home who doesn't have that – as a child, you don't know what it is or how it's going to get better. I didn't start off thinking about how I can make the story inclusive but about how I can bring about kindness and empathy from a child without being too preachy.'
Deccan Herald
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Deccan Herald
Bookrack for the week (April 27 to May 3)
Reyah And The Cosmic Singh pp 32, Rs is an enchanting tale of hope, love and the magic of believing in one's dreams. When Reyah's heartfelt wish for her brother Neil reaches the sun and the moon, an extraordinary journey of the Week (April 27 to May 3).The Diary Of A Cricketer's Pujara and Namita pp 328, Rs author brings a unique perspective on what it takes to be a cricketer's wife, and the pressures of managing expectations on both personal and professional fronts in a cricket-crazy Elephants Could pp 272, Rs Meenakshi hasn't spoken a word since her Amma passed away about six months ago. One day, she meets the temple elephant, Ganeshan, and an unusual friendship forms between Hundred pp 288, Rs is a moving and evocative story about the preciousness of every moment, the beauty and pain of family love, and the healing power of letting Big Beautiful pp 432, Rs writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of an heiress with more than a few plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from the bestselling author and TikTok sensation.
