Reading 'Dancing on Walls' in Minnesota

In December ’09, I was invited to the Groveland Elementary School in St. Paul Minnesota, USA, to read to the children of the kindergarden.

I was introduced to the group by my 6 year old grand daughter.  I read Dancing on Walls to them.

The kids were fascinated with the squiggly figures of the Warli Art form and the illustrations.  ‘COOL!’ was the unanimous opinion.
They were full of questions.  They wanted to know what inspired me to write the story.  How long it took me to write it. They also wanted to know the process from concept to the final product – the book!

The discussion then veered towards how creativity stems from ‘imagination’.  The children wanted to share their flights of fantasy. In fact, the story session stirred up some pretty interesting insights for them as well as for me!

They wanted me to read some more stories about India. Unfortunately, I was not carrying any other book.  I promised them that the next time I visited I would come  with an armful of them.

- Shamim Padamsee

Psst! You can find a most excellent review of 'Dancing on Walls' on the Saffron Tree blog by Poppin's Mom