The Star Children — An In‑Depth Conversation with Marketa B. Linden W on Polaris and Dhruva Tara

Polaris is the children book about the unexpected journey across the icebergs and land of fantasy to meet their dreams, guided by North Star – Polaris, written by Marketa B L Windsor (Marketa Barborikova Linden Windsor) who also donated her illustrations and one story to the Indian literacy charity for the children in the rural areas.

Polaris has found a surprisingly strong emotional connection with young readers in India. As a British author, what do you think creates that bridge?

Marketa: I think Indian children have an extraordinary sensitivity to symbolic storytelling. They grow up surrounded by myth, metaphors, and layered meaning from bedtime tales to school lessons. Polaris speaks in that language. I think also a lot of children around the world face all the same sort of issues or dreams, regardless of the continent. It trusts children to understand quietness, loneliness, and hope without simplifying them.

Indian young readers recognise the feeling of searching for something steady in a world that moves quickly around them. They often need the compass. You have a beautiful puzzle with frozen compass and hidden allegoric layer. That sense of looking for a “north” — not geographically, but internally — resonates deeply. The parallel between Polaris and Dhruva Tara, the mythic North Star in Indian tradition, is striking. How do you see that connection?

Marketa: When I first learned about Dhruva Tara, I felt a kind of literary déjà vu.  Dhruva’s story about a little prince who endures hardship, seeks meaning, and becomes the North Star high in the sky, is profoundly moving. We have a children song Twinkle, twinkle, little star and again, it is quite general topic. In Polaris, Chloe’s journey is not mythological, but emotionally it echoes Dhruva’s arc. Only North star is her lighthouse and the torch.

Do you think the Dhruva Tara parallel enhances how Indian children interpret Polaris?

Marketa: Absolutely. Dhruva Tara gives Indian readers a familiar anchor. When they see Chloe looking for her star, they instinctively connect it to Dhruva’s unwavering light. It creates a bridge between my story, actually about the Innuits, and an Indian myth without forcing the connection.

It’s a beautiful example of cross-cultural resonance — where a story from one part of the world quietly aligns with a story from another, and children feel that alignment rather than analyse it. What message do you hope Indian children take from Polaris?

Marketa: I hope they understand that their “Polaris” isn’t something outside them. It’s not a star in the sky — it’s a quality within themselves. Their kindness, imagination, curiosity, resilience.

Indian children have a remarkable ability to understand stories that whisper rather than shout. Polaris is a whisper. And they hear it clearly. If Chloe and Dhruva could meet — across cultures, across centuries — what would they say to each other?

Marketa: I imagine they’d stand together under the same sky, not speaking at first. Then Chloe might ask, “How did you keep believing?” And Dhruva might answer, “By remembering that light doesn’t move — we do.”

Find more on https://www.thepolarisbook.com and Amazon or Kobo India.