A Children’s Book on the Life of Immigrant Families  

During the current unprecedented times, positivity is hard to find but not impossible. The past few months have been extremely challenging for children. Away from school, friends, and playgrounds, children were more or less house arrested just after the Spring break. At this juncture, Sandip Sodhi a teacher in Surrey, BC, for more than 26 years published her first book. 

Ms. Chievus in the Classroomis a humorous and interactive picture book. Through the light-hearted story of a new teacher and ruckus-causing students, Sandip talks about discipline, self-regulation, playfulness, and mutual respect in a classroom that is very difficult to manage. Many teachers have come and gone, but no one was able to stick it out and work with the students until Ms. Chievus came along. She surprised the students with her unique strategies. Some of the behaviours in this classroom are taken from real life examples of what actually happened in Sandeep’s earlier days of teaching (with a little bit of exaggeration, of course).   

Here’s what Sandeep has to say about her book, “I had finished writing the book and had the illustrations completed as of March 8, 2020.  Little did we know that schools and businesses were going to be shut down. The idea behind the story and the characters comes from many years of being a student in Vancouver and also of teaching in Surrey. My name was shortened to “Sandy” to avoid the constant mispronunciation and teasing. There weren’t any picture books that had characters from diverse backgrounds and there weren’t any books that showed professional immigrant families. 

My experience has been that students do know “right” from “wrong” they just need someone to guide and trust them. I decided that I should pursue my goal and started writing. I’m really enjoying the writing process and hope to continue writing more books. I’m hoping to release my second book in the next few months. 

Ms. Chievus in the Classroomis available on Amazon, and just recently, found a place at Kidsbooks in Vancouver (Broadway location).  

 

Sandip has been a classroom teacher and Teacher-Librarian in Surrey, British Columbia, for the last 26 years. Sandip loves and encourages laughter wherever she goes. She lives in Surrey with her husband Arvinder and daughter Soheyla.

The book is illustrated by Ken and Janet Priebe. 

Ken is an animator, writer, teacher, illustrator and author of several poetry books for children.

Janet is a photographer, graphic designer, and watercolour painter who runs her own cake decorating business. 

 

 

Leave a Reply