The multidisciplinary background of the author in education helps her to write creatively for the young, blending imagination with realism. Growing Up, Growing Wise, a collection of twenty stories, weaves traditional wisdom, proverbs and timeless values, as she says in the Preface.
The strength of the collection is in its thematic diversity. Latha is first and foremost a believer in giving life lessons to the old and the young. She takes up different challenges that children and their parents may face, tries to weave those into her stories and ends each story on a positive note. Many of her stories like ‘Indecisive Adi’, ‘A Pat on the Back’, ‘Kitchen Queen’, ‘God has a Plan for you’ and ‘Abhi’s Tech House’ show much forward thinking and resonate with the times. ‘Balu’ is one story which needs to be discussed in classrooms as it highlights the importance of not forgetting to show gratitude for help received when needed. Similarly, the stories take up the themes of the need to take responsibility for one’s actions, the importance of ‘a pat on the back’ (title of one of the stories) in time to motivate the young, overcoming anger, negativity and ego to improve one’s character.
However, the highly moralistic tone underlying all the stories makes the reading less fun. Also, the collection could have done with good editing. The author’s tendency to keep repeating phrases and details in story after story is tedious, to say the least. And also, some of the stories seem, quite frankly, a bit pointless, e.g. ‘Blacky’ and ‘Who Took My Pen’, to name just two. While one appreciates the writer’s motive in highlighting the value of positive reinforcement from adults, it is difficult to buy her assumption of instant change of heart due to a word or incident, as happens in many of these stories.
Growing Up, Growing Wise is a collection for rapid reading in classroom syllabi for the middle readers. Inputs from teachers and adults will help the young reader