Inside Asha Nehemiah’s latest book and her approach to writing mysteries for children

There is a moment in Prabir’s New Flute — children’s author Asha Nehemiah’s latest book — that unsettles the cheerful rhythm of a village in West Bengal in the most unexpected way. Prabir, a 14-year-old whose flute music anchors every celebration around him, discovers that his trusted instrument has cracked. What begins as an attempt to craft a new flute soon turns into a sequence of peculiar and amusing incidents that push the young musician to rethink his own resourcefulness. The story unfolds against a landscape shaped by bamboo groves, Bengali nameboards, quiet lanes and ponds where buffaloes wade through the water on warm afternoons, all contributing to the authenticity of a West Bengal village.

Speaking about her approach, Asha says she hopes children will “follow a character who does not panic when things grow strange, but instead tries to understand what the situation is asking of him.” According to Asha, weaving gentle humour, small surprises and a mild sense of adventure in stories are great hooks. “Today, young readers are surrounded by abundant distractions and humour often becomes the friendly path that brings them into the narrative.”

The visual world of Prabir’s New Flute, published by Duckbill Books, has been shaped by illustrator Rajiv Eipe, whose drawings capture the mood and subtleties of Bengal with careful attention. Nehemiah notes that editor Sayoni Basu guided this direction throughout the process. “Sayoni shared specific visual references so that every scene carried the right cultural tone,” she says, adding that these elements allow children to sense both familiarity and discovery within the setting.

In Visakhapatnam for the just-concluded Vizag Junior Lit Fest, Asha took sessions on her earlier books such as The Grand Chapati Contest and The Adventures of Mooli. Reflecting on her larger writing journey, Asha describes her stories as closely tied to the details she observes in daily life. “I try to remain faithful to the small things I notice around me, because those are the moments that make characters believable,” she says. Her work ranges from picture books to mysteries, often featuring spirited characters who drift into unexpected escapades.

Her books appear in English and have been translated into several Indian languages, which she feels has helped them reach families across varied regions. She is now developing two new manuscripts. “One is for younger readers and the other for middle graders,” she says, describing both as explorations of curiosity, resilience and the understated humour that has long shaped her storytelling.