Nila and Najam

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At first glance, this story seems simple enough. Nila and Najam are eight-year-old twins from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and this little story takes the reader traipsing down the lane of their dreams. But a careful reading opens to several critical messages embedded in it. Nila and Najam break gender stereotypes by dreaming dreams that are gender non-normative. While Nila wants to be a scientist, Najam is inspired by his school teacher and wants to be a teacher for little kids when he grows up.

The story is peppered with subtle instances of how the two of them break stereotypes:images which shows gender non-conforming toys, the language used by the twins, their dressing styles and so on. A child reading this book will be inspired to think outside the box, be open to change and problem solve their way to attaining their dreams. This book highlights life for these twins in a lower middle-class family. While children of privilege are born with access to opportunities and are not limited in their dreams, children from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to trim their own futures based on what they start observing from their immediate environment. In this story, not only do the children dream beyond economic limitations, they also have simple tricks they intend to follow in order to make their dreams come true.

Tags: dreams, toys, feminist, teacher, scientist