Author Highlight: S.V.K. Jungle
S.V.K. Jungle, author of The Enormous Apple, loves a good story regardless of packaging. “I still watch cartoons even though I’m so old!” she says.
Also known as Sindy Jungle, this homeschooling mother of four writes under a pseudonym, lives in California, and is both a cat person and a tea lover.
Her biggest love, though, is storytelling. “I grew up listening to bedtime stories,” she says. “My father would personalize many of his made-up stories and make me the protagonist, which I obviously loved.”
These stories nourished Sindy’s passion for writing, as did her mother’s feedback on school assignments. “My mother was my first editor,” she says. “I would read my school compositions to her.”
As she grew older, Sindy spent her allowance on novels, and even now is always looking for more bookshelves to store all her books.
But how did she come to write The Enormous Apple, a story set in an old Muslim kingdom? Taking after her father, Sindy made up the story and told it to her son at bedtime. It was about an unusually large apple blocking the road, a reward offered to whoever could remove it, and a boy who takes on the challenge.
Her son loved the story so much that he kept asking for it night after night. Sindy wrote it down so she wouldn’t forget it, and the rest is history!
Sindy says her children are her biggest motivation to write. “I want to write stories for them and all the Muslim children in the world, where they can read about children just like themselves doing fantastical things, being adventurous, smart, funny, and sometimes silly, but always with a lesson or moral.” She wants her stories to be “a reminder that we are Muslims and we can do extraordinary, fun things.”
In addition to The Enormous Apple, Sindy has another story coming out soon with Ruqaya’s Bookshelf, and it’s also set in an old Muslim kingdom. She says her love for this setting has to do with her upbringing. “I had glimpses of my parents’ childhood from the stories they told. I am drawn to the simplicity of the lifestyle in those times, which today I feel we are lacking.”
Get your copy of The Enormous Apple today, and keep an eye out for S.V.K. Jungle’s next book!
