Mahitha hardly ever says a word at school, and when she does, she says it so softly that nobody notices her at all.

When Mahitha’s teacher asks her to read a story out loud in class, she can barely speak above a whisper. It isn’t until she is whisked away to a magical land—helping Queen Gagana retrieve her lost pearl and learning to confront dragons—that she is finally able to find her voice.

A beautiful story on standing up for yourself and finding the confidence to use your voice.

Sunita Nahar is a former BBC Kolkata correspondent and has presented news and current affairs programs on the BBC World Service. She loves writing stories that help children to understand the world in which they live in and occasionally make them laugh. In her spare time, Nahar volunteers in schools, where she helps children who struggle to read as part of the Beanstalk program. Jake Alexander is an illustrator and author making loads of art in South London. They enjoy focusing on identity within their work, and the relationships between people and the places they inhabit. Among other accolades, their work won the Macmillan Children’s Book Prize 2019, and in 2023 was shortlisted by the Academy of British Cover Design. Their clients include Amazon Studios, Penguin Random House, Pan Macmillan, and Thames & Hudson. They have also conducted workshops and lectures for Arts University Bournemouth, South London Libraries, and Orange Beak Studio.