I’m so grateful to celebrate the Thanksgiving season with Yashika Mody, the author of FUNCLES, which was just published yesterday.
Welcome Yashika, and congratulations on your debut picture book! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me about your writing journey.
Me: Do you have any special plans for the fall, or for Thanksgiving?
Yashika: Oh, how I miss the fall (it’s truly my favorite season)! Living in Singapore, we don’t have any seasons or seasonal shifts, so I don’t get to participate in typical autumn traditions like apple picking or feeling cozy in sweater weather.
However, having studied at an American international school here in Singapore and then later at a US university, I’ve always had a soft spot for Thanksgiving and its focus on gratitude and appreciation. During the Thanksgiving period, we try to meet up with friends and do a casual dinner together to celebrate the spirit of the season.
I was actually so thrilled when FUNCLES was slated for a Fall release–the timing pairs so beautifully with the Thanksgiving season and its reminder to be grateful for the community around us!
Me: How long have you been writing?
Yashika: Officially, I’ve been writing picture books since the summer of 2024. But I think I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I’ve been collecting picture book ideas since my son was born in 2021!
Me: What or who inspired you to write this book?
Yashika: This story is inspired by (and dedicated to!) my oldest son and his love for his community uncles and aunties in Singapore. In Singapore (and in fact, in many other countries and cultures too), it is a cultural norm to call elders in your community with respectful terms such as “uncle” and “aunty.” So, when my son was beginning to learn and understand language, he would hear me and my husband call the elders in our community uncle and aunty and he quickly picked up on this cultural practice. Everyone he met became his uncle or aunty and became a part of his own community. It was so cute to watch him take this love for his community across the world – on a trip to London, even the guards at Buckingham Palace lovingly became known as “Red Guard Uncles!” Inspired by how community can have such a strong impact on a child, I wrote FUNCLES as my personal ode to culture, community connection, and joyful storytelling.
Me: Tell me a little bit about this book’s journey to publication, were there any bumps and bruises along the way, obstacles you had to overcome, aha-moments? You can share the good, bad, ugly lol, or not.
Yashika: What a wild ride it’s been! FUNCLES was the first manuscript I wrote and the manuscript I queried with – it helped me land my first agent and I was absolutely thrilled! Unfortunately, things didn’t work out with that agent and we parted ways. It was hard, but it was a blessing in disguise as it really wasn’t a good fit. I didn’t want to lose any momentum with FUNCLES which I felt was ready for submission, so I decided to submit the manuscript to publishers directly while querying agents in parallel. I used Bitsy Kemper’s amazing list of publishing houses accepting unagented submissions which is a wonderful resource that all querying authors should check out. Lantana Publishing was one of the publishers on the list and their mission to uplift diverse voices and their sincere passion for representation felt like a great fit.
Less than 6 weeks after submitting to them, I got a wonderful response of interest from them asking if the manuscript was still available. At the time that I received the Lantana offer, I was already in touch with one agent who had requested more material. I then informed this agent of Lantana’s publishing offer and we accelerated our discussions. Thankfully things worked out and my current agent (Karly Dizon at Fuse Literary) and I signed together shortly after the initial offer, and I’m thankful to now be with a wonderful champion for my work!
Lantana and I then got working on a few revisions – mainly around how to make specific scenes and activities work for both UK (where Lantana Publishing is based out of) and US audiences. This revision process was so interesting and such a great look into how to make stories more universal for all audiences and locations. For example, we discussed wording nuances between “poster board” and “poster paper” or “food court uncle” vs. “food stall uncle” to see what would resonate with both geographies equally.
From the time I signed my offer in July 2025 to its upcoming publication in November 2026, it’s been about 1.5 years to publication which feels fast considering industry standards! I was so impressed with the speed at which Lantana was able to pull everything together and how adeptly the illustrator, Adriena Fong, was able to put together such vibrant artwork within the timeframe!
I think my big takeaway from this entire journey with FUNCLES is: to be your own strongest advocate! Publishing is truly such a long and wild journey filled with high highs and low lows, but what will take you through this career I think is the belief that your books are needed in the hands of kids and your own commitment to your work. I’m so glad I took a chance to submit my work to Lantana and I’m ever so grateful this journey came out of it!
Me: What is one piece of advice you can give to writers who are just starting out, or who are still in the query trenches?
Yashika: Similar to what I’ve shared above, my best advice would be to put yourself out there (as hard as it feels!) and find different ways to get your work in front of agents and publishers you are interested in. The Kid Lit space is so wonderfully active with different opportunities like agent pitches, critique sessions, webinars, conferences, direct submissions etc. – it’s really helpful to be a part of those events and opportunities (if and when you can) so that you can learn more about your agent or publisher of interest and perhaps make a more targeted and personal connection.
Me: What are your plans for the future? Writing or otherwise, traveling, hobbies, etc.
Yashika: Once FUNCLES is officially released, I’m looking forward to starting school visits and getting to interact with kids! On a personal front, I can’t wait to travel more with my family. I’ve just had my 2nd baby boy a few months back (this has been my year of babies – my first book baby and another real baby!) so we’ve been staying local for a bit through the pregnancy and early months. But now that things are getting a bit more settled, we can’t wait to travel again over the Christmas holidays!
Me: I’d love for you to share a recipe with me; I have a collection of recipes from friends and family that goes back many years. I would love to include yours, as well as share it with my readers.
Yashika: My day always starts with a hot cup of Indian chai (chai first, then writing haha) so I’d love to share my Mum’s chai recipe that I’ve been making for years! It’ll give you a real kick in the morning and hopefully motivate you to get some writing done!
- Fill ¾ of a mug with water and boil the water on a pot on the stove.
- Add 3 spoons of grated ginger into the boiling water. Keep stirring.
- Then, add 1-1.5 spoons of sugar (adjust according to your taste preference).
- Add in 1 spoon of chai leaves called ‘chai patti.’ You can buy this at any Indian grocery store or online (I personally use a brand called ‘Brooke Label Red Label’).
- Keep stirring and let the mixture boil until the water has evaporated.
- Add in about 1 mug of milk.
- Add in any additional spices to taste (like cinnamon sticks or cinnamon powder, cloves etc. Even though the chai leaves already include these spices within the mix, I still love putting full cinnamon sticks in for extra flavor.
- Keep stirring and let the mixture further boil.
- Strain the liquid and serve hot!
Thanks so much for your time, it’s always fun getting to know writing friends. I drink a lot of tea, and love a good spicy chai, so I will definitely be trying your Indian chai recipe!
You can connect with Yashika here:
