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Wisha Wozzariter
A charming story about a little girl’s dream of becoming a writer.
‘I wish I was a writer,’ sighed Wisha.
‘Well, you are Wisha Wozzariter,’ said the Bookworm.
‘So I am! But I don’t quite know where to begin.’
‘At the beginning, of course,’ said the Bookworm, rolling his eyes.
Ten-year-old Wisha wishes to be a writer. When she meets Bookworm, she stops wishing and starts writing. With him, she rides on the Thought Express to the Marketplace of Ideas, the Superhero Salon and the Bargain Bazaar, and encounters a motley crew of characters.
Along the way, she discovers the creative process by which anything beautiful and lasting is created, a process in which Faith, Luck and Destiny play no mean part.
Roger Dahl’s zany illustrations bring Wisha’s imaginative world to life. Join Wisha on this rollicking writer’s adventure and find out how she finally fulfils her dream of becoming a writer!
‘I wish I was a writer,’ sighed Wisha.
‘Well, you are Wisha Wozzariter,’ said the Bookworm.
‘So I am! But I don’t quite know where to begin.’
‘At the beginning, of course,’ said the Bookworm, rolling his eyes.
Ten-year-old Wisha wishes to be a writer. When she meets Bookworm, she stops wishing and starts writing. With him, she rides on the Thought Express to the Marketplace of Ideas, the Superhero Salon and the Bargain Bazaar, and encounters a motley crew of characters.
Along the way, she discovers the creative process by which anything beautiful and lasting is created, a process in which Faith, Luck and Destiny play no mean part.
Roger Dahl’s zany illustrations bring Wisha’s imaginative world to life. Join Wisha on this rollicking writer’s adventure and find out how she finally fulfils her dream of becoming a writer!
84 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2012
3 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Payal Kapadia
9 books47 followersPayal Kapadia’s “Wisha Wozzariter” won the Crossword Book Award 2013 for Best Children’s Book and is also on the “101 Indian Children’s Books We Love!” list. She is also the author of “Colonel Hathi Loses His Brigade” and “Puffin Lives: B.R. Ambedkar.”
Payal started her career as a journalist with Outlook Magazine in Mumbai and The Japan Times in Tokyo, after receiving a Master’s degree from Northwestern University, Chicago. But writing books was a childhood dream, and one day, it was not enough to dream of writing any more. With Wisha Wozzariter, the story of a 10-year old girl who wishes she was a writer,
So Payal wrote Wisha Wozzariter. And when Wisha stopped wishing and started writing, she did, too.
Payal’s newest book “Horrid High” is a perfectly horrid adventure in the world’s most horrid school. In the pipeline is the second part of “Horrid High” and a book about two unlikely princesses, a must-have for every girl everywhere.
Payal started her career as a journalist with Outlook Magazine in Mumbai and The Japan Times in Tokyo, after receiving a Master’s degree from Northwestern University, Chicago. But writing books was a childhood dream, and one day, it was not enough to dream of writing any more. With Wisha Wozzariter, the story of a 10-year old girl who wishes she was a writer,
So Payal wrote Wisha Wozzariter. And when Wisha stopped wishing and started writing, she did, too.
Payal’s newest book “Horrid High” is a perfectly horrid adventure in the world’s most horrid school. In the pipeline is the second part of “Horrid High” and a book about two unlikely princesses, a must-have for every girl everywhere.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 12, 2021
Wisha Wozzariter as a very fascinating read indeed. I was intrigued because this is a different genre ventured by an Indian children's author. I have never seen this kind of fantasy taken up by Indian authors before. It reminded me of Enid Blyton's Magical Faraway Tree book series (I am not sure if that is what the series was called), in the same sense of being bizarre and enigmatic. While some parts felt a little too clunky to me and not as magical and enchanting as I had found Magical Faraway Tree (not a fair comparison so I'll stop right there), it was definitely a very creative and innovative book. I am impressed with how the writer decided to create these bizarre but also at the same time, such meaningful structures within the book.
The kids at my bookclub are reading this at the moment and it is coming off as a little confusing to them and a bit of handholding is required since they don't fully grasp all the literary devices and the underlying themes of the book.
It sure is a confusing book. But again, we need some of those bizarre, wonky reads from time to time.
The kids at my bookclub are reading this at the moment and it is coming off as a little confusing to them and a bit of handholding is required since they don't fully grasp all the literary devices and the underlying themes of the book.
It sure is a confusing book. But again, we need some of those bizarre, wonky reads from time to time.
June 20, 2013
an awesome read... imagination works wonders and Kapadia has done justice by stirring up the imagination with her protagonist Wisha and her companion, the Bookworm... good use of nonce words and not to forget the illustration by Roger Dahl.It is not meant for kids only... infact it inspires avid readers like me who want to become "writers" in the long run...
July 28, 2012
At very young age I loved reading for they took me to places that only book could take from Alice in wonderland ...to happy ending disney tales.. adding a dash of Indian myth and culture by Panchatantra to Jataka tales, Moral witty tales of Tenali Raman as children I was exploring world full of fantasy...Most were illustrated classics that I loved to browse and discover the world with them..These illustration helped me to take with me all those characters even after I had done with the books...Images of book worms were so alluring to me..
I wanted to get my niece a book and thats how I bumped to this one.Before giving it to her I ended up reading..Wisha loves reading that she reads all the time ..She constantly wises to be a reader..Everytime she reads a good book (which she hates) she sighs feeling she could have done it better wishing to be a reader all the time.Enter bookworm who takes her through a journey in Thought express to Market place of ideas..The tale is amusing with Grand idea auction, Superhero salon and Bargain bazar making your good old days of creativity come alive..Wisha says "I write in confusion and crisis" raised my eyebrow, thinking what and all a10 year old can feel..This novel has illustration by Roger Dahl is very cute just like the tale itself..
I wanted to get my niece a book and thats how I bumped to this one.Before giving it to her I ended up reading..Wisha loves reading that she reads all the time ..She constantly wises to be a reader..Everytime she reads a good book (which she hates) she sighs feeling she could have done it better wishing to be a reader all the time.Enter bookworm who takes her through a journey in Thought express to Market place of ideas..The tale is amusing with Grand idea auction, Superhero salon and Bargain bazar making your good old days of creativity come alive..Wisha says "I write in confusion and crisis" raised my eyebrow, thinking what and all a10 year old can feel..This novel has illustration by Roger Dahl is very cute just like the tale itself..
June 5, 2019
I am a grown-up who loves reading kid-lit. If you are one too, just read it.
If you are a parent, this book caters to 11 years & up, advanced-reading 10 or 9 year olds will also "get" it.
If you are a parent, this book caters to 11 years & up, advanced-reading 10 or 9 year olds will also "get" it.
November 26, 2012
Its a beautiful book...
December 19, 2016
What could have been an amazingly imaginative book is let down by the lack of adventure and humour, and the overdose of the abstract. What a pity!
Wisha Wozzariter, as her name suggests, wishes to be a writer. Guided by the mentor-like Bookworm, she takes the Train of Thought to the Marketplace of Ideas and bids for an Imagination Balloon which she promises to pay for with half a bottle of Inspiration. She gets tossed out of the Superhero Salon and has to settle for an unlikely Hero (Prufrock, a timid mouse) from the Thrift Shop in the Bargain Bazaar. There's more of such abstract ideas like finding her Style (scissors that cut her toga robe of Ideas into a unique well-fitting Style), getting a Stroke of Luck, fighting a Villain, finding Structure Glue so that her story has a proper beginning, middle and end etc etc etc. But nothing really happens. Wisha just meanders from one abstract Notion to another abstract Concept and eventually the story she does write is the one we are seeing unfold before our eyes-the 'adventures' she has on her journey to becoming a writer! Imagination, much? What happened to the scores of things and ideas she had crammed into her Imagination Balloon?
I get it, that the whole idea was to present how a writer writes a story in story format itself (like a meta story). But this story is just a string of Concepts and Situations with no real narrative to make an actual story.
Wisha Wozzawriter is emphatically a writer's book told from a writer's perspective, about the writing process, that writers will appreciate. It is not a readers' book. Even assuming that the book is meant only for people interested in writing and story telling, it still lacks the element of fun or adventure that makes a great fantasy book. It is a bit too technical, has no humour and very little adventure.
To sum up:
-Too abstract for kids
-Not enough wisdom for adults
-Not enough humour for both!
Wisha Wozzariter, as her name suggests, wishes to be a writer. Guided by the mentor-like Bookworm, she takes the Train of Thought to the Marketplace of Ideas and bids for an Imagination Balloon which she promises to pay for with half a bottle of Inspiration. She gets tossed out of the Superhero Salon and has to settle for an unlikely Hero (Prufrock, a timid mouse) from the Thrift Shop in the Bargain Bazaar. There's more of such abstract ideas like finding her Style (scissors that cut her toga robe of Ideas into a unique well-fitting Style), getting a Stroke of Luck, fighting a Villain, finding Structure Glue so that her story has a proper beginning, middle and end etc etc etc. But nothing really happens. Wisha just meanders from one abstract Notion to another abstract Concept and eventually the story she does write is the one we are seeing unfold before our eyes-the 'adventures' she has on her journey to becoming a writer! Imagination, much? What happened to the scores of things and ideas she had crammed into her Imagination Balloon?
I get it, that the whole idea was to present how a writer writes a story in story format itself (like a meta story). But this story is just a string of Concepts and Situations with no real narrative to make an actual story.
Wisha Wozzawriter is emphatically a writer's book told from a writer's perspective, about the writing process, that writers will appreciate. It is not a readers' book. Even assuming that the book is meant only for people interested in writing and story telling, it still lacks the element of fun or adventure that makes a great fantasy book. It is a bit too technical, has no humour and very little adventure.
To sum up:
-Too abstract for kids
-Not enough wisdom for adults
-Not enough humour for both!
June 2, 2017
imaginative and fun.
May 11, 2021
it was lovely . The best thing I liked about this book is Prufrock the mouse's story.
April 3, 2020
Everything and nothing are like two sides of the same coin, aren't they? said the Bookworm. Those who think they have nothing might have everything and those who think they have everything might have nothing.
I had wanted to read this book for a long time and found it in the book fair. Put my grubby paws on it ASAP and it turned out to be an autographed copy!
This is both a book for children and adults like me who like to read them. It takes you through the process of writing - a fun way of talking to the intended audience and not down to it. I never did like that when I was a child and the habit has stayed with me.
I had wanted to read this book for a long time and found it in the book fair. Put my grubby paws on it ASAP and it turned out to be an autographed copy!
This is both a book for children and adults like me who like to read them. It takes you through the process of writing - a fun way of talking to the intended audience and not down to it. I never did like that when I was a child and the habit has stayed with me.
January 6, 2015
The imaginative story of Wisha Wozzariter (Wish-I-was-a-writer) who wants to write a story, but never sets about doing it. On a certain day, Bookworm pops up from a book she is reading and urges her to write a book, by taking her to the Marketplace of ideas. Thus starts a highly imaginative and adventurous journey à la Carroll's Alice.
Read between the lines to find sound advice for aspiring authors.
Check out the detailed review at http://plusminusnmore.rapo.in/wisha-wozzariter-payal-kapadia/
Read between the lines to find sound advice for aspiring authors.
Check out the detailed review at http://plusminusnmore.rapo.in/wisha-wozzariter-payal-kapadia/
July 6, 2015
Wisha's world, created by author Payal Kapadia, pushes the imagination into new territory. This book is a delight and should be enjoyed by families across the globe!
March 22, 2016
l loved loved this book!!! ^_^
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews