My debut picture book, FARAWAY FAMILY, is here! I’ve designed a brand-new program for elementary school students – using shadow puppets as an inspiration for imaginative play and storytelling – and I can’t wait to share it! To book a school visit or other author event, please reach out to my Speaking Agency, The Author Village: https://theauthorvillage.com/presenters/padma-venkatraman/

School Library Journal’s starred review of FARAWAY FAMILY was so heartening – I’m so grateful to the reviewer who totally “got” the book and summarized it so beautifully:

★Venkatraman, Padma. Faraway Family. illus. by Nicole Wong. 32p. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen. Aug. 2026. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9780593698860.

PreS-Gr 2–Capturing a familiar yet often underexplored childhood experience, this story follows a young girl visiting relatives who feel more like strangers than family … The story’s pivotal moment occurs during an unexpected power outage. In the darkness and heat, the grandmother introduces a playful solution of entertaining her granddaughter using hand-shadow animals … This simple act becomes transformative. It transcends language barriers and creates a shared space of imagination and joy … This book stands out due to its quiet realism… broadly relatable…–Lynne Stover, SLJ, Starred Review

I’m honored to be invited to share the book with readers at several in-person events this fall, including the following already confirmed Author Events:

• Sat 29 August, Wakefield Books, RI 11:00 a.m.
• Sun 30 August, Toadstool Books, NH 4:00 p.m.
• Wed 23 September, Ochre Court Mansion, Newport, RI, 5:30 p.m.
• Sun 27 September, Blue Bunny, MA 2:00 p.m.
• Sun 4 Oct, Books of Wonder, NYC 11:30 a.m.
• Mon 5 Oct, Save Our Stories event, NYC 6:00 p.m.
• Sun 11 Oct, Warwick Children’s Book Festival
• Fri 23 Oct, Anderson’s Bookstore, Chicago, 6:00 p.m.
• Sun 15 Nov, Newton Children’s Book Festival, MA
• Fri 20 Nov, Accessing Nature Through Verse panel, NCTE annual convention 2026, Philadelphia, PA, 3:30 p.m
• Sat 21 Nov, Vision and Verse panel, NCTE annual convention 2026, Philadelphia, PA, 11:00 a.m.
• Sun 29 Nov, Haverford Children’s Bookstore, Haverford, PA, 12:30 p.m.

In addition, I’m so honored and grateful to Bookworm Central and An Open Book for hosting me this fall, and to my wonderful publisher, PRH, for sending me to the ALA annual conference. That brings me to Teacher Resources… On my FARAWAY FAMILY book page on this website (which should be up and running soon), I’m developing new writing prompts relating to imaginative play and storytelling, which is a central theme in my new book.

In the meantime, here is an idea to start a creative storytelling activity: invite students to share shadow puppets that they know how to make with the rest of the class. After they teach one another how to make a few simple shadow animals, help them to make up a story, as a group, and share it with others using shadow play.

Finally, here are 2 book recommendations for teachers, librarians and all other picture-book fans, here are some marvelous picture books I came across when I was at ALA this summer, that I hope you’ll be able to add to your shelves, along with FARAWAY FAMILY, of course – Night Ride by Christopher Myers (I bought a copy of this book for my nieces and found the perfect gift bag for this book, too) – and The History of We by Nikkolas Smith (what an amazing artist he is). It was an absolute joy to meet them both during my brief sojourn at ALA this summer!

Hope you’re enjoying your summer and maybe I will get to see you in person at one of my events!