What Cats Dream

Shandana,

I think its an excellent idea and this is a great place to start. There is a market for children books like these...perhaps you might want to try other publishers or see if there are small printing presses that will publish this and similar work.

Any chowkies know of presses/publishers?

Shandana, this was charming and so inventive and well written. You have one lucky baby!

I don`t know about children`s publishing in Pakistan, but it is pretty dismal in the US. I know many children`s writers here and they have a really tough time. Children`s publishing is not a very high margin business (like the rest of publishing is, hah?) and it`s particularly difficult when people like Madonna gets into the business. When I was at the Frankfurt Book Fair she was all the news whereas there are so many talented writers around. The publishers like repeating the same formula.

Are there any more publishers you can approach about this? This would be a really cool, illustrated book. Maybe a UK publisher, even?

Shandy:

...is the inspector bearded?
...beans is lucky!

lve,

t

Newspapers generally have weekly children`s sections, have you tried those? Publishers might be more receptive after seeing the series appear in a newspaper.

Well well well!!! A story for little children written under a column heading “Djinn & Tonic” with a picture of a martini glass! There couldn’t be a better commentary on this piece.

Beauuuuuutiful names!!! Duffy-ud-din! Love it!

You should go ahead with it. Find someone to do the illustrations and then take it to a publishing house. It may be putting the cart before the horse, but considering the way things are done in Pakistan, it`s a worth it step.

Very cute...wish I was a kid again...fact that I`m not didn`t stop me from enjoying the piece, though. :-)

How about a resident chowkie artist to illustrate? Anyone?

ironic that it`s so t.s. eliotish, then. Or is that what you were aiming for - a pakistanised eliot kitty poem?

Charming! I think it`s a great idea to write within the local idiom so that the kids can identify with it better. Duffy-ud-din is priceless! Maybe we should get some writers together and come up with an anthology.

Yes it does remind you of T S Eliot`s Old Possum`s Book of Practical Cats . . . http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/258.html

Thankyou for taking me back to my childhood.

Regards,

SoulKeeper

Reminds me of the `Saanja Maanja` stories.

twin kittens, but Maanja was grey and Saanja was brown.

Or was it the other way round?

(Damn, this cat poetry thing is contagious)

And Yaeh, there was a third kitten also. It was even smaller. Zulfi was tha name and he was Snow white.

They all used to live in Karachi. (Block-N, North Nazimabad)

:)

rabia,

many many writers have composed poems about their cats. cats tend to make more interesting poetic subjects than most animals. character. duffy and aloo play out this food fight every day in my house.

thank you all for your comments.

Yaar Godot,

Don`t be a munh-basoora please. Let`s keep your personal tiffs out of tihs.

This was a cutoo si poem, that even a jaahil non-front-pager like me liked and appreciated. Shandana if you write more of these please keep posting. I have a few friends who`d love reading and/or listening to this .

shandana,
the book group has brilliant books for children, in urdu...theyre doing a great job of bringing urdu story books to bachooz, something that was very rare a few years ago... these books are screamingly bright, funny and informative.. and very reasonably priced also... aamlate (omlette), naani, khatarnaak chipkali, mera sheher and mota haathi are some titles from the top of my head, all localized and so much fun to read.. i buy some whenever i can for nieces and newphews, most of whom are encouraged by school and parents to read only english story books, lady birds, etc etc.. i feel these books will help the coming children (how funny that sounds) take more interest in urdu fiction, literature, than we do or can

a friend who does illustrations for childrens books professionally might illustrate aloo and family for free or a nominal fee, if she can be enticed...maybe publishers will be more receptive to the complete `product`?... ill be in touch

..Book Group used to publish local authors, pretty illustrations and all, for the kids ... that might be a good place?

What age group is this meant for? The humor in this poem is probably best suited for teens I think? Who might not necessarily appreciate an illustrated series (too babyish unless it had really macabre cartoons - ask Shahid!). One thing I know about children`s publishing - they are very picky about their target markets and if something is to be published it must be clear what audience it`s aimed at.

Now I`ve got McCavity (sp?) the Mystery Cat playing in my head!!!!