She’s still learning to read, but that hasn’t stopped the Chhabra family from publishing her inaugural book for others to enjoy.
Aura, 3, is Gazal and Balbir Chhabra’s first child, and since she was one and a half, their home has been anything but silent. So much so that her stories fuelled enough content to fill a book, titled Aura’s Magical Stories, which became available on Amazon on May 24.
But her parents said that making a book was never the plan.
With a PhD in psychology, Gazal, Aura’s mom, spends her working and some off-duty hours compiling and reviewing scientific texts. One weekend afternoon, she was sitting at a desk typing on her laptop while supervising Aura as she played.
“There I was working on my own project, and she came to me and she started talking,” said Gazal.
“I just started writing it at the same time.”
One sentence, Aura’s talking about big mice, and the next, she’s talking about little mice. Gazal said that even when the storyline suddenly switched, she continued to transcribe the exact words she was saying.
“It just started as a cozy family project,” she said.
“Wanting to connect, create, and kind of celebrate her imagination.”
Eventually, by January 2025, Gazal had documented three complete stories. They wanted to preserve the fleeting hours of Aura’s youngest years and figured that by complementing the stories with pictures, it would make for a meaningful keepsake.
Now an engineer, Aura’s dad, Balbir, said that drawing was a passion of his — a championship-winning one, at that — when he was in high school.
Other than going to the Calgary Zoo every Saturday, he said that a favourite pastime of his and Aura’s is going to the Shawnessy Library, which is where they worked together to bring her stories to life.
“She would ask me to draw something for her…and she would just start colouring,” said Balbir.
Months later, they now had three stories with matching, homemade illustrations. What was first an innocent craft turned into an interactive scrapbook. Now, it’s a publicly available book, and they hope to motivate other families to do the same.
From preschool to published author
The Chhabra’s published the book independently as a paperback. Today, it is available on Amazon in both the e-book and hardcover formats, with prices ranging upwards of $13.
Gazal said that the editing process of the final version was minimal, including solely grammatical and flow fixes, because she wanted to preserve the authenticity of Aura’s voice.
With the intended audience ranging from babies to children around the age of seven, she said that there is something unique about publishing a book conceptualized by someone belonging to the same age group.
“This is a really very special book for toddlers to enjoy,” said Gazal.
“Because they would be able to sort of understand and connect themselves with it.”
Having read hundreds of books to Aura over the years, Gazal said that she has noticed a gap in the literature market of books being produced by children, for children.
“I have never seen anything like this before,” she said.
“I’m hoping that this can reach more and more parents, and it just inspires them to create their own stories.”
Between working and parenting a little one, Gazal and Balbir are unsure if they’ll make another book in the future. In the meantime, they will be savouring the tranquil moments brought about by one of Aura’s stories, and recommend that other families try and do the same with their kids.
“Slow down a little bit and listen to their stories,” said Gazal.
“Their imaginations are powerful, and a reminder that stories don’t have to be perfect, they just have to stay true to the heart that tells them.”
