Neera Badhwar started making up stories for her son when he was little, publishing a couple in Indian magazines. Subsequently, she got a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Toronto and taught philosophy for 22 years at the University of Oklahoma. During that time (and later), she published articles and books on philosophical topics (https://www.ou.edu/cas/philosophy/people/faculty/neera-badhwar). In Kali the Elephant Learns from Socrates the Philosopher, her first children’s book, she combines her two interests by introducing children to a great philosopher who faced the same situation that many children face: teasing. Her next two books take some central ideas from two Aesop’s fables to spin humorous tales about courage and about friendship. But she plans to write more books about philosophers who asked some of the same questions or faced some of the same situations that children do. As in Kali the Elephant, her approach in all her writing for children is humorous rather than solemn or preachy.
