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Home-schooled Indian boy releases book at Sharjah International Book Fair

12-year-old Tazeen Swabri was identified as the home-schooled child to publish his book. ‘God of Dragons – The Beginiing at the Sharjah International Book Fair.

His book is the first in a series of seven fantasy novels. The young writer started with a 300-pager containing 49,000 words and is already writing his second volume.

Tazeen has won acclaim for his style, in which he used dragons and dinosaurs as characters in the book to show his perspective on life.

Although the name and the plot seem like a children’s genre, the picture is similar to a drama that makes the reader forget the age of the author who has combined different presentations of education, politics, family, equality. , emotions, friendship, war and peaceful coexistence.

Speaking to Gulf News, Tazeen said it took him eight months to complete the book.

“I have my own views on issues of war and peace and world affairs and I thought it would be good to show my people like dragons and dinosaurs,” he said.

The land of ‘Panzhuana’

Tazeen’s novel is set in the fictional world of ‘Panzhuana’ and revolves around dragon siblings Mark and Pearl and their mother Helen who enter into danger by entering the realms of a different kind of dragons.

Published by Al Rewaya, the book is available in all major bookstores and online platforms and Tazeen has already been invited to international exhibitions.

The book will be translated into Arabic and Chinese by March 2023, said Swabri’s father Abdul Khader Khasim, who runs an advertising company.

When asked if Tazeen’s writings were influenced by his parents, Swabri said: “We are not good at English. We had to seek the help of a professor to edit his book. But I helped him illustrate the book with his own. [Tazeen’s] cousin Shayan Shareef, who is 13, has drawn a map of the imaginary continent based on Tazeen’s description.

He said that both his children learned different languages ​​and studies independently. “We just helped them get started and gave them all the tools and guidance. Tazeen had been going to an English teacher for a few months when he was five.”

Tazeen said he is an avid reader with a passion for languages, geography, history, aviation and astronomy. She also likes to sing and play the piano.

“Our education has helped us [him and his brother] to benefit from the flexibility and freedom to design our own courses and plans,” he said.

Work at 15

His older brother Naji Swabri, 15, is completing his secondary school exams at the National Institute of Open Schooling, which is under the Indian government.

He is self-taught like his younger brother and has many talents such as 3D modeling, game development and animation. She is also interested in aviation, space and rocket science and enjoys dancing and acting.

Naji, who made a video trailer for the launch of Tazeen’s book and compared the event when the artist he was given earlier failed, said he feels lucky to have landed a job at a car manufacturing company in Dubai.

“I have been offered a job in their production department. I have been told to join after I complete my exams this month. We thank the UAE for allowing part-time jobs for those above 15 years of age,” he said.

‘Pilots home’

The homeschoolers have been volunteering with the Dubai Astronomy Group and have learned to fly a single-engine airplane by watching videos and using a home simulator.

A YouTube video posted by the brothers in January 2021 shows how ‘pilot’ Tazeen, assisted by his ‘pilot’ Naji, flew a Cessna Skyhawk G1000 simulator.

Swabri – who is the actor and director of the Indian film ‘De Nova – The Road Less Trodden’, which was released in 2009 – said that Naji wants to follow his footsteps in the film industry while Tazeen wants to become an airport manager. “He doesn’t like math that way.” Otherwise, he would have wanted to become a pilot,” he added.

Their mother Jubairiya A. Khader, an accountant, said her sons are learning “almost everything” through the Internet. “When schools started online education during COVID-19, we enrolled them in an Indian education school in Dubai because we thought they would enjoy going to school while staying at home. They did well in everything and were at the top of their classes for three months. But they were not happy with the education. school and homework. That’s why he stopped,” he said.