The book attempts to introduce creativity under a new light to parents, educators, and children
The book attempts to introduce creativity under a new light to parents, educators, and children
“Being creative equated to being artistic is the most common misnotion,” feels author Reshma Budhia, a certified Design Thinking practitioner based in Chennai. Her new book I am (Paper Towns Publishers) sets out to change this. “We tend to think that to be creative, you have to write well, draw well or perform something. At my content workshops, people working in analytics, finance or HR are hesitant to say they are creative. If you are solving problems, finding ways to solve a certain problem in multiple methods…it is creativity.”
Creativity, she says, is beyond art. It is a mindset of problem-solving and not giving up. “It is about experimenting, exploring, failing and trying again. And not always about finding the right solution.” The book, illustrated by Bhavani Sitaraman, takes the story forward. A young boy wants to come up with a gift for his art teacher. He approaches an older boy who paints for him.
Finding solutions
“Both boys are creative. Professionals and educators who are aware of design thinking, will understand that I have used five stages of design framework in the book like empathy (where the younger boy helps the older boy understand the teacher by sharing information on her love for gardening, photography, and that she has an Instagram page and so on) and then they define the problem with the question, ‘How can we use this information to design a gift for her?’, before moving on to ideation and finally arriving at the gift of a fairy garden. The book will introduce children to problem-solving,” adds Reshma.
The author wants to reach out to young adults (from Class VIII onwards) and graduates who will go on to head start-ups and unicorns. “Ninety percent of CEOs say that creativity is the top most skill they want in their employees. It is crucial in any business. People who can think on the go, innovate and come with simple solutions are in demand. I also want parents of young children to read the book. I want them to keep going back to it to find new meanings.”
Up next, is the second book in the series on empathy, that she is working on.
I am is available on Amazon
