“Empathy and kindness are core values that can play a crucial role in children’s growth.”

-Ashiyya Tariq

In this interview, we get to know the story of freelance writer, book reviewer, and author Ashiyya Tariq.

Can you share a bit about your background and what led you to pursue a career in writing and reviewing children’s literature?

I am Ashiyya Tariq. I am from Pakistan and hold a Master’s in Business Administration with a major in HRM. I began my freelance career in 2017 as a book reviewer. As my interest grew in different genres, especially non-fiction and children’s books, I started to explore other areas of reading and writing. I wrote a children’s book, A Little Act of Kindness (published on Amazon), and created a couple of educational resources and journals for kids, along with blogging.

Your book “A Little Act of Kindness” has gained attention for its message of empathy and kindness. Could you share with us the inspiration behind this book and how you believe children’s literature can effectively promote these values?

Empathy and kindness are core values that can play a crucial role in children’s growth and help them become well-mannered, kind, and responsible people. Though, in some cases, it is a God-gifted quality, in most cases, you nurture and promote these traits in children through different learning mediums both at home and school.

The importance of these values prompted me to focus on these noble traits while writing a kid’s book, A Little Act of Kindness.

And of course, I strongly believe that children’s literature can play its part in fostering these values.

Crafting educational materials for children requires a unique blend of creativity and pedagogical knowledge. Can you walk us through your process of developing these resources and how you ensure they are both informative and engaging for young learners?

Absolutely, creating educational material is quite a challenging task. However, my interest in children’s literature kept me motivated to learn new concepts and techniques and carve my thoughts on paper.

As children have a short attention span, an educator must teach children using different examples and activities to keep them engaged in learning new things. So it is mandatory to craft material that is a unique blend of knowledge and creativity. I usually plan before creating any project what kind of things can make an activity book more engaging and treasured.

Nowadays, several digital apps/software have made it easy to craft valuable material for children that fulfills today’s requirements for creating children’s educational resources.

As a book reviewer, you’ve likely encountered a diverse range of literature. Could you discuss your approach to reviewing children’s books, particularly emphasizing the importance of representation and diversity in the stories we share with young readers?

Reviewing children’s books has always been a fun task for me. I have reviewed several children’s books, and they all contained some positive messages like love, peace, friendship, discipline, empathy, etc. As a reviewer, I prefer to preserve the originality of the subject while reviewing books.

Moreover, as a reviewer, I believe that quality children’s literature entailing positive themes with clear demonstration is of utmost importance as it helps in shaping young readers’ minds and personalities.

Children’s literature plays a crucial role in shaping young minds and instilling important values. How do you believe children’s books contribute to promoting inclusivity, acceptance, and cultural awareness among young readers?

In my opinion, culture and literature overlap each other. Through literature, you can introspect any society’s trends and traditions. As we talk about children’s literature, books are the best tutors for parents and teachers. When children read a diverse array of books promoting tolerance, cultural and religious harmony, and other core values, their vision broadens. Moreover, different children have different capabilities, so children’s books are a good source to cater to the needs of young minds from different backgrounds.

One thing I would like to mention here: it is important to inculcate book-reading habits among children. Now, when gadgets have a strong presence in our lives, we can use both paper and e-books to promote book reading habits.

Writing for a young audience can be both rewarding and challenging. What advice would you offer to aspiring children’s book authors, and how do you see storytelling impacting early childhood development?

As I see, in my childhood, I had a strong capacity for listening to/reading stories delivering some positive message. My elder sister (a good storyteller) would craft stories that I would listen to intently.

From my personal experience, these stories have a strong impact on children’s development and instill some core moral values. As children’s book writing demands a unique taste that captures a child’s mind and makes them delve into stories, the most important quality for an author is to have a passion for children’s literature. Through writing children’s books, you can transfer a legacy that can help children become responsible and good human beings.

Your journey as a freelance writer encompasses various writing projects, from lifestyle blogging to contributing to publications. How do you manage your diverse workload, and what strategies do you employ to maintain creativity and productivity?

Yes, it can be challenging to take on different projects, but if your work is your passion, it gets easy to accomplish your designed goal. Creativity is not time-bounded. It is a fact that you cannot create all the time. Currently, most of my projects are self-initiated. However, I try to ensure that creativity and productivity go side by side to meet specific goals.

How do you incorporate creativity into your work, and what impact do you hope to achieve through these initiatives?

As I mentioned earlier, children often have a short attention span, so to keep them engaged, children of this age require linked activities. Therefore, it is a good idea to include subject-related activities in preschool books to make them appealing.

Well, there are several ways to include creative material, like adding drawings, pictures, puzzles, or interactive questions that focus on the main theme of the book, and I prefer to add these sections in preschool books.

We’re curious to know about the writers, educators, and children’s books that have inspired your work. Can you share some insights into your creative process and the sources of inspiration that drive your writing?

From time to time, I kept getting inspiration from different writers. Among classic writers, Oscar Wilde was one of my favorites. Many new writers, like Alecia Ortego, are doing a good job writing kids’ books that entail themes like kindness, empathy, friendship, etc. As a reviewer, I came across several books which inspired me. But by and large, it was my personal drive to write a book and create educational resources for young ones.

Do you think that books alone can serve the purpose of a child’s personal and spiritual growth needs?

Of course not. The role of parents and teachers cannot be denied at all. Books provide us with theoretical knowledge, but parents and teachers are the living examples for kids. If theory contradicts practicality, children are least likely to be inspired by books (literature), no matter how good they are.

Lastly, we’re curious to know about your upcoming projects. Are there any new books, educational resources, or initiatives on the horizon that you’d like to share with us?

Ans: Yes, recently, I updated my kid’s book A Little Act of Kindness. Moreover, I have several educational resources in the pipeline.

“Books provide us with theoretical knowledge, but parents and teachers are the living examples for kids.”

-Ashiyya Tariq

Links

• LinkedIn
• Goodreads

Share Your Insights

We’d love to hear your thoughts! After reading Ashiyya Tariq’s insights on children’s literature, we invite you to share your views in the comments.

• How do you think children’s literature can promote kindness and empathy?
• What role do you think parents and teachers play in a child’s development alongside books?
• Which of Ashiyya’s insights resonated most with you?

Feel free to comment below!

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