Blog Tour: Mind and Me

I’m thrilled to be kicking off the Blog Tour for ‘Mind and Me’, a delightfully entertaining and humorous story, full of lovely illustrations, with a strong message at its heart. When Maya’s pet rabbit goes missing, she needs some very special help from her Mind to find him. She is surrounded by a very loving and supportive family who, like many multicultural families, have a way of mixing languages- in Maya’s case Hindi and English to make Hinglish, with a few German phrases thrown in! I particularly warmed to Maya’s Aunt Dolly, who ‘had a way of sprinkling happiness over everyone’.

Sunita Chawdhary joins me on the Bookshelf today to answer some questions about her inspiration and her writing.

Can you tell us a bit about your new book?

This book celebrates the mind in all its magnificence and its mischiefs! Mind & Me tells the story of Maya, a British-Indian girl with her multicultural identity, and her developing relationship with her Mind, as she makes her way through a challenging situation – her pet rabbit Pooey has gone missing. I wanted to use humour and an engaging plot that requires problem-solving around the mystery as well as in coping with difficult feelings. Maya and her Mind have to use their five special senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch!), their memory (for some terrific time-travelling!), their unique imagination, and more… all in their quest to find Pooey.

Where did you get the inspiration from for this story?

This story was inspired by the idea that a child’s mind is the ultimate sidekick! I wanted to encourage young readers to get to know and look after their minds. Children in this age group are usually aware of the different parts of the body, including the brain, but less so the mind and what that means for them, their sense of self and wellbeing. Maya’s interactions include feeling at odds with her Mind. She is left feeling unsure of herself and then has to find ways to work through this and find a happy balance.

Who or what inspired the characters and the dynamics between them?

Maya is part imagined, part drawn from my life experiences. I grew up speaking several different languages at home so this was fun to include as a feature of Maya’s multicultural family. She is sensitive and thoughtful by nature. However this doesn’t always ‘work’ in her favour in the real world. She sometimes feels conflicted about wanting to do the ‘right’ thing and the ‘wrong’ thing, as her Mind perceives it. Sometimes, Maya wishes she wasn’t such a worrier and that she could be a bit more like her cousin Tanya, who is impulsive and bold in ways Maya’s doesn’t believe herself to be. The adventure Maya goes on with her Mind to find her missing pet rabbit Pooey, helps shape her and what she thinks of herself.

As you’re both an author and illustrator, does a new story come to you visually or in words first? Do the themes, the characters or plot come first for you when writing? 

I am very character driven, both in terms of writing and picture making. So typically this is where the process begins for me. My stories tend to originate from imagined characters and I am led by their development. I feel as though the key themes are woven into the fabric of the story from the intertwining threads of their individual and overlapping narratives. As an author and illustrator, I find that the thoughts and feelings of characters come to me first and then their circumstances, relationships and settings. I put this down in words and then start drawing to bring everything to life visually.

What is your typical writing / illustrating day like?

I do most of my creative work at a desk in a room upstairs, with my laptop, drawing materials and my graphics tablet that my family got me to support my dream to be an illustrator (for which I’ll always be thankful).

What do you enjoy most about being an author and illustrator? 

Using my imagination to bring characters and stories to life is the best bit about being an author and illustrator. The other is connecting with readers to share a love of reading, writing, illustrating. I learn so much from young readers and amongst the most rewarding things I get sent, are questions from children and their drawings of characters from my books.

Are you working on anything now?

Maybe . . . All I can say for now is ‘watch this space!’

Mind and Me by Sunita Chawdhary is out now, published by Knights Of, £5.99 paperback.

Find @sunitachawdhary and @_knightsof on Twitter. www.knightsof.media

Thank you so much, Sunita, for joining me today and thank you to the team at Knights Of for inviting me to be part of this Blog Tour. I look forward to reading the other posts.

‘Mind and Me’ makes a perfect shared story or as an independent read with plenty to discuss and enjoy! I shall be ‘watching this space’ for Sunita’s next book!