Another set of Reading Challenge workshops came to an end yesterday. This time, the theme was 'Record Breakers', and the school that took it on was Cathedral Vidya School, Lonavala. Working with fifteen bright children from classes five to eight filled me with joy! Lipograms and pangrams brought much hilarity ... The activity started in all seriousness and then went crazy as the children let their imaginations go wild. Every one of the participants was enthusiastic - all of them say they enjoyed the challenge! And, of course, team-building is part of the joy of workshops. How hard they try to finish their activity first! Another workshop is just around the corner, this time at the British Library, Pune. Click here for details. … [Read more...]
Travel the World: A Journey through Stories
I'm conducting a storytelling workshop this weekend at the British Library, Pune. Overview Every culture creates its own stories: to entertain young children, to teach them, and to attempt to explain the world. Through interactive storytelling, this workshop will give young children a glimpse of different cultures, allowing them to taste a little of the world! Day One It’s summertime, the best time to explore stories about summer and sunshine! Let’s travel to various countries, look at their costumes, and then imagine their stories. Children will enact the story with the storyteller, bringing alive the customs and traditions of each country we visit. Day Two What comes after the summer? The rains in some parts of the world; autumn in others! Let's recall stories of summertime and then look at how seasons change. Finally, the children will be given pictures to … [Read more...]
More First Prints!
I wrote not so long ago about the first prints of The Duronto Adventure and Bholu at the Level Crossing. The next two books for young readers are here! A little about these two books ... Kevin has lost his lucky coin! Bholu volunteers to help him look for it, and Deven, Priya, Rohit and Ruth come along. Would you like to explore the train with them? Forty-two children go on a school excursion to the railway station. What happens when one child gets lost? … [Read more...]
Shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award!
My work, Dragonflies, Jigsaws and a Rainbow, has been shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award! The award winner will be revealed at the opening ceremony of the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) in May this year. The objectives of the award are: To recognise excellence in fiction in Asian stories for children To showcase the diversity of literary talent within Asian To encourage and inspire more Asian-themed books and stories The five titles were elected by a panel of experts in the field of children’s books. These works are in the running for the grand prize of $10,000 SGD, and the winning manuscript may be published by Scholastic Asia. Between 2011 and 2014, the world's largest children books publishing and distribution company had published six SABA winners’ and finalists’ works, with another three to be launched at the AFCC 2016. … [Read more...]
Flickering Flames – Now Available!
During the last academic year, a group of girls from St. Mary's School worked with me at the Writers' Club. They imagined, wrote and rewrote. Now, their work is available in the form of an anthology of poems and short stories! Flickering Flames, written by girls from classes VI and VII of St. Mary's School, is now available online. The proud authors are Advaya Venbakkam, Advika Dhar, Ananya Banerjee, Anika Garg, Anushka Shinde, Ashna Bhavnagarwalla, Jayde MacFarland,Lavanya Dua, Pareesa Irani, Rashmin Kaur Juneja, Riva Verma, Samiksha Deshpande and Tejasee Khurjekar. The illustrators (also girls from the school) are Advaya Venbakkam, Ananya Banerjee, Anika Garg, Ashna Bhavnagarwalla, Chahat Agarwal, Nandini Ghosh, Pareesa Irani, Paridhi Kumar, Riva Verma, Samiksha Deshpande, Shanaya … [Read more...]
Duronto and Level Crossing Resource Packs!
I wrote about first prints and the joy of having the resource packs in hand. But how could I cut up the one electric loco kit I had? Now, armed with a spare set, I'm ready to make my own electric loco model. As a child, I loved jigsaw puzzles. I loved them so much that I used to compete with myself as I tried to make my puzzles faster and faster. And I had enough puzzles to make a mat of puzzles on the drawing room floor. Do you see the whizzing hands? Old habits die hard! And then, we have stage one of the electric loco for The Duronto Adventure. We're cutting the sheets, slowly but surely. I cut badly, rarely in a straight line. But does that stop me from enjoying it? Never! The process is slow ... Working on it a little every day, and loving it! … [Read more...]
Writers’ Club – The Last Session
A whole year with my first batch of the Writers' Club at St. Mary's School is over! We've written all kinds of things. I've put a few pieces up on my blog; I've made the girls write and rewrite, write and rewrite ... We did poetry, prose and drama. We worked with back stories, plot and setting. We played all kinds of games and we did all kinds of activities. And it was fun. During my first session, 60 children showed up. I knew many of them would not keep at it. I reminded them, several times, that if their compositions improved, or they began to write answers better, these would be side benefits. I warned them that I expected assignments to be submitted on time. And finally, about 15 stuck with it. They continued to attend sessions, even though writing regularly was tough, and I kept making them rework their pieces. During the orientation for the next batch, the girls kept … [Read more...]
The Duronto Adventure Resource Pack
Of course I'm delighted with the books, but each book is also part of a complete resource pack! Each pack contains: A story A CD (with the ebook and lots of animation) A kit to build your own model of an electric locomotive! … [Read more...]
Two new books by Varsha Seshan!
It's been nearly four years since The Story-Catcher was published. Finally, here are two new books! Launched at the National Rail Museum yesterday, these books are currently available only at the Souvenir Shop of the museum. They are part of a kit that also contains a CD and an activity! Pictures of those will come soon ... The Duronto Adventure Chitra, Rohit, Priya and Deven are travelling by themselves for the first time. They are excited about their newfound independence, but little do they know that their journey is going to be even more adventurous than they imagine! When the train stops at Igatpuri and Rohit goes missing, Priya panics. Yet, this is only the beginning of a crazy ride ... Title The Duronto Adventure Author Varsha Seshan Illustrator Rishi Bhardwaj Genre Adventure Age-group 10+ Bholu at the Level Crossing Welcome to the … [Read more...]
Books I’ve Been Reading
Lots of travelling always means lots of reading! What better way to spend long train journeys? The Last Unicorn is a classic. If Patrick Rothfuss says it's the best book he has ever read, you know it's worth looking out for. Title The Last Unicorn Author Peter S. Beagle Genre Classic/Fantasy/Fairy Tale Rating (out of 5) 5 Age-group 10+ Among the most powerful books I have ever read, I now know that Theresa Breslin is an author I want to read more of! Title Prisoner of the Inquisition Author Theresa Breslin Genre YA/Historical Fiction Rating (out of 5) 5 Age-group 13+ I picked up this one because I was sure that a book called Travelling Backwards written by a person called Toby Forward had to be entertaining, at the very least. I was not disappointed. Title Travelling Backwards Author Toby Forward Genre Fantasy/Magic Rating (out of … [Read more...]
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