Hey earthkins!

We asked you to Build A Taranaut, and we were swamped! Every single entry was wonderfully conceived, and used all kinds of materials – both everyday and exotic – to build characters from the Taranauts books. Some even decided to create their own new Taranauts! That’s why the jury took almost half a month longer to sift through all of them and declare a Grand Prize Winner.

But at long last, they did. And here – Tan-Tan-Taraa!!! – are the results.

The SUPER-JACKPOT GRAND-PRIZE WINNER for the MOST MASTASTICALLY BUILT Taranautty character is…

THE KOKONUTTY KURMOISE!

Created by Anahita Arun, 9 earth octons, St Gregorios High School, Chembur, Mumbai.

Anahita writes:
I have made a bio-degradable Kurmoise swimming on a blue lake with lots of snowy ice on it.

• Beak – Jackfruit Chips
• Legs – Garlic cloves
• Shell – Coconut (painted white and decorated with glass)
• Head – Taro Root (Arbi)
• Ears – Paper
• Tail – Red Chilli
• Blue Lake – Paper
• Snowy ice – Cotton

Hope you like him.

Anahita, we don’t just like him, we LOVE him! Congratulations!

To see other entries we LOVED (all of them get prizes, too), go to the Contests page! Congratulations to all the winners – your prizes should reach you by the first week of March! And of course, ALL YOUR NAMES will appear in the last and final book of the Taranauts series – Book 8: The Magic of the Dazl Corals – due out in June 2013!

To those whose entries did not win, don’t feel too bad. Whatever the jury decided, we can tell you this for sure – the three of US really loved what you created.

Till next time,

Taranauts Zvala, Zarpa and Tufan

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Sorry, sorry, sorry, earthkins, but we received so many wonderful entries to the Build A Taranaut Contest from all over India that our jury is still wondering which one to pick as the Grand Prize Winner! We love ALL of them, so we’re not helping either. But here’s the good part – the jury has promised to put their heads together one last time on Friday evening to make that EXTREMELY DIFFICULT decision. We’ll let you know as soon as they let us know, by the evening of Saturday the 9th latest LATEST!

Apologies again – you just need to hold your breaths for a leeeeetle bit longer.

Talk to you Saturday!

- Taranauts Zarpa, Zvala and Tufan

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It’s time to get crafty! The next book in your favourite series – Taranauts: The Magic of the Dazl Corals – is due out in May 2013! If you want to be part of the mastastic eighth and final book, Do.Not.Forget. to take part in the Build A Taranaut contest. All winners will not only get super prizes, their names will also appear in the book!

I WANT TO TAKE PART! WHAT SHOULD I DO?

All you have to do is what the contest line says – you have to BUILD A TARANAUT! Actually, you don’t have to stick with Zarpa, Zvala and Tufan, you can build ANY CHARACTER you like from the Taranauts series.

• Build your character using play dough, cookie dough, clay, cloth and leather bits, chocolate cake, wire, bamboo, recycled plastic, flower petals, dals and nuts, cottonwool, vegetable peels, beads, slices of fruit, bangle bits, rangoli powder, any combination of these, or ANY other material that comes to mind. (Remember it cannot be a drawing or painting – although a collage works).
• If you want to, you can even build a background for your character, using ideas from the Taranauts books – Emperaza Shoon Ya’s palace, the Magmalift, a Bel Nolo stadium, anything you like!
• Take a photograph of your creation and email it to us at: taranauts@gmail.com. Or put the photograph into an envelope and mail it to: Build-A-Taranaut Contest, Hachette India, 4th- 5th Floors, Corporate Centre, Plot 94, Sector 44, Gurgaon, Haryana 122003.
• Make sure you include your name, age, school, full postal address, and a contact number, preferably a cellphone number.
• Here’s the best part – YOU CAN EVEN TAKE PART AS A TEAM! Just include ALL team-members’ names and details.
• Send your entry to us LATEST by January 13, 2013. Then cross your fingers and wait for the results to be announced on February 1, 2013 on www. taranauts.com. Oh, you can also check out a couple of sample Build-A-Taranaut entries below.
• 

  Makky and cheese! And dals, and banana, and red chillies, and olives, and beans...

• 

  Tufan - embroidered on a Taranaut fan's pillow!

• 

  Zvala- embroidered on the Tufan fan's twin sister's pillow!

Now what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get building!

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So in the last couple of weeks, our author Roopa Pai has been receiving some mastastic mails from mums. She, and all three of us here in Mithya, were so thrilled that we felt we must share some of them with you all. Here’s what three mums had to say…

Sorry for popping in unasked like this – but I had to reach out since your Taranauts books have become such a BIG part of our lives since October, when my 8-year-old daughter Nayana was gifted a couple of your books by a friend.

We live in Mumbai. Nayana is in love with the whole Taranauts series and from dusshera this year upto divali, has finished all the books available, and is eagerly awaiting the next title. I’m writing to you because she woke up this morning saying she had a Taranauts dream, where she had dreamt herself into one of the stories. I began writing this just as she was bending my ears with more Taranauts trivia. She really enjoys the Indian compound words you’ve worked in, like gadhasses, emperaza, makdiboochi, etc.

The words are really smart and I think more importantly, they make kids look towards our languages for a sense of cool as well! My kid’s a voracious reader, and I’m always worried that while she’s soaking in Western books, Indian fiction for her age mostly leaves her cold. So now that she’s discovered Taranauts, I’m thrilled!

• Anita Vachharajani, children’s writer, Mumbai

It was a pleasure meeting you the other day at Bookaroo (For those who don’t know, Bookaroo is a big FUN party JUST FOR EARTHKINS that happens in Delhi every earth octon, where earthkins can meet their favourite authors and buy their favourite books. This time, it happened on the 24th and 25th of November, 2012 – Zarpa)

And my fan son – 9-year-old Veer – returned the next day again I understand for your session!

• Puneeta Khanna, Delhi

I am slightly older than your target reader (I’m 38 years old, to be precise) and I love your Taranauts series. I got it for my 8 yr old daughter and ended up getting hooked onto it!

• Malavika Arun, Mumbai

Do YOU have anything YOU want to say about the Taranauts books? Leave a comment below or write to us at taranauts@gmail.com! Thanks!

- Taranauts Zvala, Zarpa and Tufan

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Eeeeeeee! We can’t believe it, but Book 7 – The Search for the Glytr Turquoises – is now out! It will take a few days for the book to reach the stores, but we thought we’d give you a sneak peek here first. Here goes.

Join the intrepid Taranauts on their most formidable mission as the action shifts into high gear on Glytr’s Terror Trail!

Six times, your favourite mithyakins have been stretched to the limit, and six times – undaunted by mind-boggling riddles, monsters and mayhem – the Taranauts have returned successful. Now they are headed for the razzle-dazzle of Glytr’s capital city, Boom Bolly Bay, where, unknown to them, Shaap Azur has changed the rules of the terror game.

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Hey earthkins!

Guess who came visiting two weeks ago, all the way from San Jose, California? A 9-year-old earthkin fan called Thrisha Praveen! Her mom wrote in to  our author, Roopa Pai, and asked if Thrisha could please, please meet her, because she was such a BIG fan of our adventures. Roopa is always delighted to meet earthkins, so she agreed happily. The meeting happened at a popular ice-cream parlour in Bangalore, and while they gorged on ice-cream, Thrisha also asked Roopa all the questions she had been dying to ask her ever since she read our first adventure.

Want to read the whole interview? Want to know Roopa’s answers to questions like ‘Who is your favourite character in the Taranauts books?’ ‘Do you like Dana Suntan’s music better or the Lustr Blasters’?’ ‘Do Zvala, Zarpa and Tufan mean anything?’ ? Yes? Then go straight to my page!

Oh, oh, oh, before you go, I must must must share this with you! Thrisha just finished reading our sixth adventure – The Key to the Shimr Citrines! Here’s what she had to say about it:

‘The Key to the Shimr Citrines’ is a mixture of humor, action and nail biting suspense. Its a real page turner, with a quirky twist! On the whole a delight to read. I can’t wait for the next book!’

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Till next time,

Taranaut Zvala

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Yayyyy! Book No 6 in your favourite fantasy-adventure series for earthkins – Taranauts – is here! Want a sneak peek into what happens in The Key to the Shimr Citrines? Read on! (Psst! This is from the back cover of the book)

Slipslide away with the Taranauts into the deep dark heart of Shimr – and into their most dangerous mission yet!

Mithya’s eight worlds – Shyn, Lustr, Sparkl, Glo, Dazl, Shimr, Syntilla and Glytr – were plunged into darkness when the wicked Shaap Azur captured all its 32 stars. There was no hope until Zarpa, Tufan and Zvala – three bright and brave Taranauts with special gifts – set out to bring back light and cheer to Mithya.

After five successful missions – each of which has tested their wits, courage, and team spirit – the Taranauts head for the blazing hot world of Shimr in search of the golden Citrines. Meanwhile, determined to stop them, a brand new army of Mithya’s Most Ruthless goes into full combat mode.

Can Tufan survive the oxdrogen-deprived darkness of the underground city of Oop R’Ville? Will all three Taranauts make it safely through the deadly Bhoolabyrinth? What is the secret of the Drip-Trip Cave? And how in Kay Laas will they tackle the most unexpected problem of them all – mithyakos who don’t want their stars rescued?

Will the Citrines return to Tara? Read and find out!

Ooooh! Does that sound exciting or what? Does that sound EXACTLY like the kind of book you’d want to curl up with when it is all wet and rainy outside? If you said yes, here’s how you can get your own copy – BEFORE ANYONE ELSE DOES! Just write in to taranauts@gmail.com – it’s that simple! What’s more, your copy will be autographed by the author, and will include a couple of little surprises inside as well!

So go on, order your copy, read the book, and send us feedback! We promise we will publish your reviews right here, on this very website!

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Heya earthkins!

So if you remember, for our super-duper, never-before-never-again Great Taranauts Contest No 4 last month, we asked you to do something we had NEVER asked you to before. (Don’t remember? You can refresh your memory by watching the contest video here. )

This time, we didn’t ask you to come up with a word. We didn’t ask you to come up with a name. We didn’t ask you to WRITE anything at all. We asked you, instead, to DRAWMAGINE something. What, you ask?  A. Very. Scary. Armed-And-Dangerous.Very-Murderous. Machine called a… yes! A KOLAVEROBOT!

SO many of you sent in SO many lovely entries from all over India (and a couple of you even sent in drawings from all the way in the USA!), that it was a really, really tough job for Priya Kuriyan, our illustrator, to pick the winning one. But in the end, after a LOT of wondering and contemplating and worrying and nail-biting, she did. She also picked 10 RUNNERS UP – you can see their names and Killer K-Bots here.

But the SUPER JACKPOT WINNER – the KOOLEST, KILLER-EST K-BOT of them all – is THE TRIOVEROBOT!

Congratulations to 9-year-old Gia Kapoor of Step by Step School, Amritsar, for creating this fabulous, spine-chilling K-Bot. In Book 6 – Taranauts: The Key to the Shimr Citrines, Priya will use Gia’s K-Bot as her inspiration – make sure to take a look when it hits the stores in July 2012!

Taranauts Zarpa, Zvala and Tufan

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Tufan: Yo, earthkins! It’s contest time again! Have you watched the contest video already? No? You should! You get to meet our author Roopa and our illustrator Priya on it – you can watch it here. Anyway, this one is TOTALLY my kind of contest! The kind where…

Zvala: HEAR YE, HEAR YE! The Great Taranauts Contest is here again!!

Tufan: Excuse me… I said that about two octons ago, you know.

Zvala (primly): I know, but the way you were carrying on, anyone would think it was YOUR contest and that YOU thought it all up all by yourself and the rest of US here had NOTHING to do with it. So I was just making sure the earthkins didn’t get the wrong impression.

Zarpa (pushing the two of them aside): So, earthkins, we have a VERY exciting contest this time. It is neither a writing contest, nor a naming contest, nor a drawing contest, nor an imagination contest. Nope, this is our first DRAWMAGINATION Contest – which means you draw something that you have imagined!

Tufan (pushing Zarpa aside): Yes, and what you have to drawmagine is a…

Zvala (shoving Tufan): … KOLAVEROBOT! There! It was me that had to deal with those guys in Shimr, not you, so it’s only fair that I get to say the word first!

Tufan (scowling darkly): Just wait until we get back to Zum Skar! I don’t want to upset the earthkins with too much violence …

Zarpa (hissing): I think you both should leave. Now. I will tell the earthkins the other details.

Zvala and Tufan exit, Zvala grinning and sticking her tongue out at Tufan as she goes.

Zarpa: Sorry about that, earthkins. So as they were saying, we want you to drawmagine a Kolaverobot. And what is a Kolaverobot? Here’s a sneak peek into Book 6 – Taranauts: The Key to the Shimr Citrines - the part where the Kolaverobots come into the story… The picture you see on the right is a picture of the cavern – WITHOUT the Kolaverobots – drawn by our illustrator Priya.

In front of Zvala was a high cavern, large enough to hold at least a hazillion Shimrkos. In its centre, around a pedestal that glowed a soft tawny gold, knelt a circle of sixteen identical ice-blue soldiers, armed to the teeth, shoulder to shoulder. Their heads and faces were veiled in identical shrouds. A scroll of papyrus rested on the pedestal – Riddle No 3.

Zvala stepped into the cavern. The next instant, with a grinding and squeaking that set her teeth on edge, a millstone rolled across the entrance.

‘Well, I’m here now,’ gulped Zvala, speaking aloud. The absolute silence was getting to her. ‘You must be the Kolaverobots – hello! I must say you don’t look half as scary as the Muggarosaur. What next? Ummm… how did the riddle go? Fell the odd one or prepare to rot… But how do I tell which one of you is the odd one out? Would you pull off your veils please?’

The K-bots did not answer.

‘What if I felled all of you instead? That would just make everything simpler, wouldn’t it?’

She raised her arm and let loose a blast of firepower at the soldier facing her. The moment the fire touched the soldier, the ring of K-bots rose as one, roaring with rage, and began to converge on every corner of the cavern, their stunsabres slashing murderously through the air!

‘Uh-oh, bad move! Sorry, guys!’ Zvala ducked and feinted, sending off blistering tongues of flame in every direction. But each time, the fire lasted only a moment before it sputtered and went out. ‘What’s with you, fingers?’ yelled Zvala, taking in a giant lungful of stale air and exhaling. A thin blue flame came out of her mouth and nostrils, struggled in vain to grow into a blaze, and died out.

Fear gripped Zvala as the truth hit her. Fire could not burn without oxdrogen! She was now powerless against the K-bots! Sooner or later, one of those swords would get her – she could not run forever.

Zarpa: Get the picture? So your job now is to drawmagine one of these scary guys. Our illustrator Priya Kuriyan has already drawmagined the cavern and Zvala in it. Priya also knows where she would like one of the K-Bots to be (inside the red rectangle), but even she is finding it difficult to drawmagine a K-Bot. Your drawings will really help!

And if she decides that your K-Bot is HER K-Bot, your name – and your drawing! – will be published in Book 6! PLUS the top three drawings will win exciting Taranauts ZapWrap 2GB pendrives – to store all your favourite music… and photos… or a whole movie! A dozen runners-up get THEIR names into Book 6 too – and will win book hampers from Hachette India. Mastastic, huh?

All you have to do is this:

• Send your original drawings by snail mail to: The Great Taranauts Contest No 4, Hachette Book Publishing India Pvt Ltd, 4th and 5th Floors, Corporate Centre, Plot No 94, Sector 44, Gurgaon 122003, India
• Or scan your drawing and send it by email to: taranauts@gmail.com
• Make sure your entry includes the following: your full name, age, contact number (preferably a cellphone no), mailing address, and email address.
• Oh, and do make sure that your entry reaches us on or before MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012!!!!

So, earthkins, get drawmagining!! We’re absolutely DYING to see your K-Bots!

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The Wonderful Mr Bond – we are sure all you earthkins know of him, and have read at least a couple of his stories – was the chief speaker at the Wipro Earthian Awards in January 2012, and our author Roopa Pai, who has always been a BIG fan of his work, was given the privilege of interviewing him! She had a great time, and, erm, we must admit, behaved like a little earthkin at times – she was just SO EXCITED about it all.  It was a lovely session overall, but the most MASTASTIC thing was what he said about THE TARANAUTS BOOKS! You can hear it all in his own words here – watch especially carefully when he talks about the Taranauts, 7 minutes and 30 seconds into the film.

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