# Varsha Seshan's Official Website


## Posts

- [A Train to Vienna](https://varshaseshan.com/a-train-to-vienna/): Why do people like us? Why do random people whom we will probably never meet again come up to us and do things for us? I wonder if we look young and innocent and vulnerable – if so, how long will we stay that way? I remember our journey to Vienna from Venice. I have photos to remind me of it, even if I do forget. A lady on the train was immensely curious about us and naturally, about India. We spoke to her for a long time about everything. We told her about our exchange programme, about backpacking in […]
- [Experiences on Stage II](https://varshaseshan.com/experiences-on-stage-ii/): I remember the first time I performed with the Senior Girls – the Big Girls at Satara. We were doing a dance drama to recorded music. That’s always a challenge because we can’t let our emotions run free, expressing ourselves the way we want to and letting ourselves get carried away. We were performing Draupadi Vastraharan, and I was Dusshasan (a role now perpetually associated with me) for the first time. Draupadi, whom I was to drag on to stage, was far senior to me. We’d practised innumerable times, of course, and I knew that once I had mimed the […]
- [Dress Rehearsal?](https://varshaseshan.com/dress-rehearsal/): Last evening was the first show of our cultural programme at Sanskriti. Everyone in charge treated it as a kind of exalted dress rehearsal. Everything was practised – giving gifts to the teachers, standing for a photo, everything. For them, it was just a complete, thorough rehearsal before Saturday. For me, though, yesterday was the real thing. My guru was there. And as always, no one’s reaction is important except for hers. The whole world could be in raptures, but if she is not happy, the simple fact is that the programme was not successful. Guru Mythili Raghavan was not […]
- [The Circus Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/the-circus-boy/): I did two more book-readings yesterday – The Circus Boy and The Old Yellow Scooter. The reactions were completely different! Children never stop surprising me. The first reading (The Dictionary) was wonderful – I got questions about reading, writing, publishing, drawing… The second reading (Dreams) was strange – I wondered whether the girls understood the story at all. I got all kinds of questions that were totally random – about how many languages I spoke, about what my mother wanted to be when she grew up, about who my class-teacher was… The third reading (The Circus Boy) was lovely. The questions made me […]
- [Performing tomorrow and on Saturday!](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-tomorrow-and-on-saturday/): I teach dance at a school run by the Army Wives’ Welfare Association (AWWA) – and they have their annual cultural programme tomorrow. Beginning with a Ganesh Vandana, there are several performances on the programme. My girls are going to be doing a Kannada folk dance and Swarajati (Raag Hamsanandi).  I’ll be concluding the programme with a thillana. The programme will be repeated on Saturday simply because the expected audience exceeds the capacity of the hall. Some parents will be asked to come tomorrow, and some on Saturday. It’s a fairly standard programme, but for the first time, my guru […]
- [Why I Write for Children](https://varshaseshan.com/why-i-write-for-children/): My first reading at St. Mary’s school yesterday told me, yet again, why I love writing for children. The number of questions they asked me and the way they interacted with me for a whole hour was simply wonderful. Writing, editing, publishing, marketing, illustrating and designing – they had questions about all these things. They wanted to know what an illustrator’s options are. They wanted to know whether children can get books published. They wanted to know why sometimes books are not available in shops. If I have a big painting on cardboard, how can I send it to a […]
- [Book-Reading in MY School!](https://varshaseshan.com/book-reading-in-my-school/): Once upon a time (in 1995, to tell the truth), my wonderful school-librarian encouraged us to write and illustrate books of our own. A friend and I sat and wrote a book of stories and poems. I forget what it’s called. We illustrated it painstakingly – and one important lesson that I learned from that was that even if I could write, I could never draw. At the back of the book, we proudly put in little biographies – About the Authors. Mine says ‘Varsha Seshan is 8 years old and studies in Standard IV A.‘ What else was there to […]
- [Treasure Hunt](https://varshaseshan.com/treasure-hunt/): All my friends ask me where The Story-Catcher is available, all the time. I know how easily it’s available online, and I tell everyone to buy it online. But I’ve wanted to know for a while where it is actually available so that people can go to a store and pay for it at the counter (and so that I can take a picture and prove to myself that a childhood dream has really come true). So yesterday, a very dear friend and I went on a treasure hunt for my book. It’s the most fabulous experience of my life because […]
- [Cyber Café](https://varshaseshan.com/cyber-cafe/): I remember the year we created email accounts (which, of course, we used more often than not to send forwards). There was a cyber café at the gate, and we used to go at least once a week to check our mail and feel excited. Every year, we went to Bangalore for our summer holidays. That year, we felt a little lost without our precious email, so we scouted around for a nearby internet centre and found one, fairly close to home. We told our grandparents that we would like to go the cyber café for an hour in the […]
- [The Mice who Turned into Fairies](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mice-who-turned-into-fairies/): I think I’m finally old enough to read stories I wrote when I was seven years old without cringing in embarrassment. Some still make me cringe; this isn’t one of them, perhaps merely because it won the first prize in a story-writing contest when I was seven years old. Written in a four-lined notebook with painstaking neatness, it was ‘edited’ by my mother because seven-year-old Varsha did not understand the purpose of commas and paragraphs. Other than those original changes, The Mice who Turned into Fairies has been reproduced here as it was written. Once upon a time there lived […]
- [Getting back from Olympia](https://varshaseshan.com/getting-back-from-olympia/): We managed, somehow, to get to Olympia, thoroughly unprepared. (How do we go to Olympia, please?) We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly there – how could we not? Yet, the whole day out in the sun got to us, eventually. And living on juice, bread and cheese is never a good idea. At Patras, we had an awful youth hostel. We’d read reviews that called it a ‘filthy scum hole’, but there was no other place to stay. Calling in Greece was ridiculously expensive, so we hadn’t been able to call home. We were planning to go next to Athens and had […]
- [Experiences on Stage](https://varshaseshan.com/experiences-on-stage/): I’m sure every performer could write a book about things that go wrong on stage. The most wonderful part about performing on stage is the fact that nothing is predictable. Even after practising for, say, a year, something is bound to go wrong. I remember when we performed the Ramayana on stage. Deeply inspired by performances we saw at Kalakshetra, we wanted to put up something grand, something that audiences in Pune don’t see very often. My dance teacher choreographed a beautiful dance ballet in Kalakshetra-style – the Ramayana. A problem we face very often is that we have very […]
- [Local Trains](https://varshaseshan.com/local-trains/): I have a distinct memory of a ride in a local train when I was two years old. I remember crazy traffic on Mumbai roads – the reason why my parents chose to take a local train even though they were with two young children. I remember boarding the local with my mother, somehow. I remember that a gentleman – who I distinctly categorised as a ‘kind uncle’ – put me on the luggage rack, out of harm’s way. I remember wide-eyed, yet dry-eyed, fear as I looked down at more people than my childish brain could process. I’m sure […]
- [On Being Outdated](https://varshaseshan.com/on-being-outdated/): The other day, I saw that the window of a friend’s car had not been raised. She had just parked, and was using the remote to lock the car. Helpfully, I told her that the window was open. She grinned and said, “I know”, and proceeded to use her remote to raise the window. I gaped and shook my head. Technology moves too fast for me. Yet, that’s just one of many incidents that make me realise how easy it is to become outdated. I find myself sympathising so often with my grandmother, who asked me long ago in utter […]
- [Apricots at Midnight](https://varshaseshan.com/apricots-at-midnight/): Many would say that Apricots at Midnight is an outdated book: old-fashioned and preachy. Yet, the simple childlike stories made it altogether loveable. Imagine a patchwork quilt, in which each little bit of cloth has a story to tell. I wish I had one! Apricots at Midnight has the sense of a collection of stories, united by this idea.  A young girl listens to her aunt Pinny talking about her childhood and the making of the grand quilt. Affection takes away the sordidness of poverty, and imagination makes every tiny bit of cloth a wonderful new world. There’s nothing at all romantic and […]
- [Reflex](https://varshaseshan.com/reflex/): If I don’t read, I can’t write. It’s as simple as that. My mother introduced me to Dick Francis years ago, and I never imagined I would like more than one odd book about jockeys. I’m not horse-mad, and I don’t like the idea of horse races. It’s a lifestyle about which I know nothing. In Reflex, Francis too answers the question as to how racing contributes anything at all to society and to humanity. Yet, I find myself turning to Dick Francis every now and then for different reasons – the stoicism of his characters, the simplicity of the narrative, […]
- [Performed today!](https://varshaseshan.com/performed-today/): Nothing is the same without our teacher, but we did what we could anyway. The good news: We carried off Pinnal Kolattam well – no mistakes, thank God for that! Even with our teacher not there, no one’s hair fell, nothing terribly embarrassing happened, thank God for that too! Changes were hurried, but were carried out as well as we could, each girl as independent as she could be. The strange news is that the interval was far longer than we planned, for the most bizarre reason ever – no one was able to draw open the curtain! What got […]
- [Performing Tomorrow!](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-tomorrow/): As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of St. Mira’s College for Girls, the Academy of Indian Dances will be putting up a programme of Bharatanatyam and folk dances  on Tuesday, the 22nd of January, 2013. We begin with a traditional Ganesh Vandana – an invocation to the elephant-headed god. After that, we travel from state to state, giving our audience glimpses of different folk dances, traditional costumes and cultures – West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Nagaland. As a tribute to St. Mira, in whose college we will be performing, we will also perform a Mira […]
- [Walking in Varanasi](https://varshaseshan.com/walking-in-varanasi/): Varanasi, the immortal, eternal city, is one with narrow lanes and even narrower by-lanes. Getting to the hotel was like winding our way through a maze, where we had to walk in single file, lugging our backpacks and looking down to avoid stepping in fresh dung. I plodded grumpily at the back of the line. We were travelling with two French friends and being guided by someone from the hotel. We passed people at shops and at doorways nonchalantly brushing their teeth. In Varanasi, unlike in most other parts of the country, foreigners aren’t a rarity to be ogled at. […]
- [Peach Juice](https://varshaseshan.com/peach-juice/): My sister and I coined a beautiful parameter for comparison. “It’s like peach juice” means something special to us. Backpacking in Greece, we did something very smart. We realised that we were constantly thirsty and often in need of energy. So we took to buying large packs of juice, rather than shopping all the time for food, and hunting for water fountains. It was an intelligent thing to do – it saved money and kept us active. Both were equally important, and we felt good about ourselves for having thought of it. Later, we would use the same carton for […]
- [The Awful English Language](https://varshaseshan.com/the-awful-english-language/): Teaching English is impossible. Words like ‘enough’ are enough to put anyone off, but they don’t even begin to scratch the surface. It so happened during one class that I had to pronounce all the words – though, thought, although, rough and plough. The hilarity and bewilderment are impossible to forget. One particular class stands out in my memory as I write this. I remember once being asked what the word ‘hook’ means. I painstakingly explained the hook and the eye, as well as the hook you hang clothes on in the bathroom, and the hook often associated with the […]
- [The Ant Colony](https://varshaseshan.com/the-ant-colony/): Books that I’ve loved and re-read time and time again have nearly always emphasised character over plot. Take, for example, Anne, Emily, Little Lord Fauntleroy and the little princess. There’s something about character that just warms me, perhaps because it’s like discovering a friend, rather than having an experience. Stories with exciting plots are certainly a joy to read and do give me a thrill, but sometimes, I need more than that. I need to know all those people who are having those experiences. The Ant Colony was one of those books where I got to know the people in the […]
- [Plea for Justice](https://varshaseshan.com/plea-for-justice/): At one of the places where I teach, many of the children are brought up in the belief that the teacher is next to God. They are silent in class, not bold enough to speak, rarely confident enough to tell me that they did not understand something. It’s a huge obstacle I have to surmount with each new student. Thanks to this, and because of the fact that punctuality is the responsibility of the parents of a seven-year-old and not the child herself, I didn’t say anything to two children who were repeatedly late for my class. One day, the […]
- [Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater](https://varshaseshan.com/chestnut-headed-bee-eater/): Before going to Tadoba, we talked about the fact that sometimes, we see no animals at all. Two of us had been to wildlife sanctuaries before, and wanted everyone to be prepared for an experience that might prove to be disappointing if you only want to see a tiger. Just being in the forest has a charm of its own if we aren’t obsessed with seeing particular animals, we said. We would definitely see some animals – at least deer – and some birds. It is a forest after all. Very diffidently, a friend admitted that she could recognise nothing. […]
- [Automated People](https://varshaseshan.com/automated-people/): I went last evening for dance class, as usual. I’ve been going there for nineteen years, so I walked in as I always do, briskly, sure of where I wanted to go. An irate watchman surprised me by yelling out at me for walking in like that. “How can you just go in without making an entry?” “Sorry, I had no idea,” I said, mildly. “When did this begin?” “It’s been there for months now!” he said, grumpily. “I didn’t have to make an entry last week,” I pointed out, writing my name. “And I come for dance class every […]
- [A Problem I Never Solved](https://varshaseshan.com/a-problem-i-never-solved/): “This is my favourite! I like it more than you.” This argument always bewildered me as a child, and bewilders me even now. I can never know how much anyone else likes anything. The rose may be your favourite flower, but it may not be mine. Yet, I may like it more than you do, and no one can prove that one way or the other! As a child, the more confusing problem was different. I looked at the sky and saw that it was blue. You looked at the sky and said that it was blue. How could I know […]
- [Flat-Hunting](https://varshaseshan.com/flat-hunting/): I think flat-hunting is one of those jobs that is most tedious, yet most adventurous, when done alone. After one year in Calcutta, armed with my knowledge of Bangla (largely restricted to daily words like clothes, dishes, wash, pillow, etc.), I decided to hunt for a flat. Approaching brokers made me realise that my vocabulary got me nowhere in the world outside my home, and I took to saying that I did not speak Bangla at all. One enthusiastic broker was excited at this rare opportunity to show off his Hindi, which bordered so much on Bangla that I was […]
- [Thank you, Santa!](https://varshaseshan.com/thank-you-santa/): Yesterday, I went to my old school to meet my librarian and give her a copy of The Story-Catcher. She still had the book in her hand about half an hour later when children from class III were lining up to go into the library. One excited girl saw the book and exclaimed, “That’s The Story-Catcher, isn’t it?” Both the librarian and I were surprised. “Yes…” “I have the same book at home!” said the girl. “Wow! Where did you get it from?” I asked. I’ve found just one copy in a bookshop so far, and was curious about where this child I did […]
- [Toto Funds the Arts](https://varshaseshan.com/toto-funds-the-arts/): Long-listed (but not short-listed) three years in a row. Surely, that’s a record of sorts! For The Story-Catcher (now published) and Vanilla: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2011/01/toto-awards-2011.html  For Ridhima and Sacrifice: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html For Laying an Old Ghost to Rest and Ethics: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2012/12/long-lists-for-toto-awards-2013.html
- [The Generation Gap](https://varshaseshan.com/the-generation-gap/): Children who know me as didi, a senior in dance class, often have trouble figuring out whether I belong to their generation or their parents’ generation. Sometimes, I have trouble with it too. I was teaching two children with exactly the same problem. Often, they believed that I was in their generation, on their side, so to speak because I came from the same school, had some of the same teachers and all that. Yet, I was their teacher, so could not possibly be one of them. Once, while I was teaching them, it was pouring. It was not a thunderstorm, […]
- [Detective!](https://varshaseshan.com/detective/): From the time I was about seven, I wanted a mystery to solve every vacation. It was not fair that only Enid Blyton people (for me, they were people, not characters)  got to solve such convenient mysteries, with the additional advantage of barely getting older each time around. When our guide Vishwas started telling us how much goes into being a guide, I wondered whether he had similar unfulfilled childhood wishes. Every time we sighted any animal, the pride in his voice was heart-warming. He pointed out to us that a single alarm call (that we, the tourists, had ignored) […]
- [Surviving in the Jungle](https://varshaseshan.com/surviving-in-the-jungle/): Eight safaris with the same guide ensured that we became friends of sorts, and once he realised that three people out of five in the jeep understood Marathi, he opened up fifteen long years of experience to us. One fascinating safari was devoted to attacks by different animals, and how to save yourself. “If a tiger is nearby,” Vishwas told us, “just be calm. If he doesn’t feel threatened, he won’t attack you.” For me, this translates as, “If a tiger decides to attack you, you have no hope. Your best bet is that it won’t attack.” “If a bear […]
- [Tadoba](https://varshaseshan.com/tadoba/): Our guide at Tadoba said, “All these people who come from big cities – Pune, Mumbai and all – they take photos of anything!” He laughed incredulously at me when I was awestruck by a hare bounding into the jungle, chased by a wild dog. “Khargosh?” he laughed. “Hehe…” But truly, for this urban creature, it was fabulous to watch that hare leap away! Our guide saw chital (spotted deer) so often that he counted how many in a herd while we lost our hearts to those eyes. Our guide told us, “People come from all these cities – Pune, Mumbai […]
- [An Old Lady in France](https://varshaseshan.com/an-old-lady-in-france/): Having performed at Aix-en-Provence (close to Marseilles), and being readers of Dumas, we couldn’t not go to Marseilles and visit the Château d’If. We had read and heard enough about it to want to go and see how picturesque it was. We went to the tourist office and found out what we were supposed to do. Excited and eager to set off, we stepped out of the office and unfolded the map we had been given, trying to find the the bus-stop. The map did not make sense to us at all. We looked up and around, trying to find places […]
- [Pirated Books](https://varshaseshan.com/pirated-books/): I don’t like pirated books. I have repeatedly been very vocal and passionate about my criticism – I don’t like the quality of paper, I don’t like the quality of ink, I don’t like how cheaply reproduced it looks. All this, from the point of view of the reader. From the point of view of a potential writer, right through college, I actively discouraged people from buying pirated books. An author gets paid so little anyway – a budding writer gets about ten rupees per book! Is it even fair that people photocopy the book, sell it cheap, and pay […]
- [Jeep Rides](https://varshaseshan.com/jeep-rides/): Some people say that if you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere in the world. Others are more specific. They say that if you can drive in Calcutta, you can drive anywhere in the world. Some people are even more specific. They say that if you can drive in Calcutta and Darjeeling, you can drive anywhere in the world. I think the last set of people are right. You can drive anywhere in the world – even on a Formula 1 race track. Jeeps on the slopes around Darjeeling are convenient and cheap. If you have the time, […]
- [The Eiffel Tower](https://varshaseshan.com/the-eiffel-tower/): I was not at all impressed when I first saw the Eiffel Tower. My problem with the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal and the Mona Lisa is that they look just like the pictures. When you go and look at them, there’s nothing that you have not already seen or sensed, unlike, for example, when you see the Notre Dame, the Sistine Chapel or the acropolis. When I said this, everybody told me that the charm of the Eiffel Tower lies in how it’s lit at night. So my sister and I decided to go at night to see the […]
- [Ustad Amjad Ali Khan](https://varshaseshan.com/ustadamjad-ali-khan/): I listened to Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan and they were beautiful. In fact, I listened to many musicians over the last few days, and enjoyed most. Yet, when I watched and listened to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan – again – I realised what makes me fall in love with him every time, year after year, concert after concert. I love that his climax in each raag does not border on noise. He takes you all the way up to a crescendo and then gently falls into the softest and most tender of notes. That makes him incomparable. He lets […]
- [One-Arm-Distance](https://varshaseshan.com/one-arm-distance/): Children in dance class believe firmly that the closer they are to me the better I will be able to see them. I try every now and then – very ineffectively – to explain that this is not the case. “If you stand a little far, I can see you completely,” I explain. “Otherwise, I can’t see whether your arms are right, legs are neat…” For about thirty seconds, they keep their distance, and then, slowly, they sneak forward till I say to them, “You’re dancing on my head again.” And then they shriek with laughter, go back, and start […]
- [Sawai Gandharva](https://varshaseshan.com/sawai-gandharva/): Sitting at the bharatiya baithak on the second day of the Sawai Gandharva festival, I realised once again that for me, the festival is as much about the grand music as about watching people. There are all sorts there. People come with yoga mats, some get floor chairs for a back-rest, some come with all their picnic paraphernalia of sheet to sit on and food to eat. What I love is that music is so ‘everyday’ for them. Sitting and eating or even lying down and looking at the stars when space permits are no mark of disrespect. It’s just enjoyment the […]
- [My Name is Rose](https://varshaseshan.com/my-name-is-rose/): I could say that Smarties Gold Medal winning author Sally Grindley’s book is about a Romanian gypsy being integrated into a dysfunctional recomposed English family. Orphaned during a road accident, she has to find her way into the affections of a money-hungry man, an attention-seeking girl and a guilt-ridden woman. She has to surmount the obstacles of race and language, understanding that she is sometimes discriminated against only because she is a dirty gypsy. She has to construct her own identity, sometimes in deliberate negation of the English family around her. All of that would be true. And then, we could […]
- [Cool Cans](https://varshaseshan.com/cool-cans/): When cans of soft drinks were launched in India, they were both ridiculously expensive and ridiculously cool. I remember the summer holidays – four cousins in Bangalore, always hungry and always asking for ice-cream or cotton candy or, in the case of my cousins, soft drinks. I, sadly, did not like anything aerated, so I did not have the chance to strut down the street home with a cool can. My grandmother allowed money to be wasted on cans just once. My cousins, both boys, were excited. The younger one opened his immediately with a satisfying sushhh and downed it before we […]
- [Torre Pendente](https://varshaseshan.com/torre-pendente/): We had just a few hours at Pisa, but we could not travel all over Italy and not visit the famous leaning tower. So we asked a lady on a train what to do, and she wrote for us the name of the bus stop to which we needed to go to see the leaning tower. We showed a bus driver the stop, written in my diary, and he seemed confused. He asked us a question in Italian. We did not understand. We shook our heads regretfully. “Leaning tower?” we asked. He shrugged. “Torre pendente?” he asked. We shrugged. “Leaning tower […]
- [Cut](https://varshaseshan.com/cut/): My sister and I often got invited to the same parties. Once, when I was about seven, both of us received birthday invitations that had a fancy RSVP slip that had to be cut along the dotted line. Below the dotted line, it said: I can/ cannot attend your birthday party. (Please cut one) I took my scissors and painstakingly cut out ‘cannot’. My gaping hole became a bit too gaping though and I went sadly to my father. Both ‘can’ and ‘cannot’ had fallen victim to my scissors. My father laughed out loud, I remember, and explained that ‘cut […]
- [No Television](https://varshaseshan.com/no-television/): I moved into a flat that looked as if it had been painted by the landlord himself. It had definitely been painted by someone who had never painted anything before. I loved the flat despite that, though, and I particularly liked my landlord and landlady. They were extremely curious about a girl who wanted to live all alone. More than that, they were curious about this girl who had come all the way from Pune to live in their beloved Calcutta and study there. And most of all, I was a rare specimen because I spoke little Bangla. As helpful […]
- [Twins](https://varshaseshan.com/twins/): My sister and I have repeatedly been told how alike we look. A few have also told us how different we look, astounded that we are sisters. The former is more usual, though, and two instances stand out. As children, a gentleman came up to us. “Excuse me, but are you twins?” Taught never to talk to strangers, we were on the defensive. “Um… No…” The gentleman laughed, embarrassed. “You see, my wife and I see you from our balcony everyday, and we’ve been wondering…” We found the episode more than a little weird, but there was another more recent […]
- [Interesting Artichokes](https://varshaseshan.com/interesting-artichokes/): The word ‘interesting’ is a perfectly tactful word that expresses nothing. It has become a word that’s neither positive nor negative, conveying that exact degree of neutrality that is considered diplomatic. And ‘interesting’ was exactly the word associated with my first experience of artichokes. I had read about artichokes and was willing to try, especially in a place where vegetarian food is typically associated with aubergines and courgettes, neither of which I enjoy tremendously. So, coming to artichokes. You pluck the leaf, dip one end into the sauce and suck the pulp. Then you put the leaf aside to throw […]
- [The Right Words](https://varshaseshan.com/the-right-words/): At dance class, children frequently cannot find their shoes. They leave their shoes in a mess outside the hall, and in their eagerness to leave when their parents come, other shoes get kicked, sometimes quite far away. One child came up to me with worry written all over her little round face. “Miss, my feet…” She stopped. The word was wrong. “My shoe,” I suggested, having understood the problem. She shook her head, frowning. That was not the word she was looking for. “My foot,” she began, laboriously. “Shoe,” I suggested again, helpfully, I thought. She shook her head again, […]
- [Ramayan in French](https://varshaseshan.com/ramayan-in-french/): My association with France began with a French exchange programme in 2004. I was vegetarian, I barely spoke French, I had never heard the French accent, I was to live with a French family for three weeks and I was to attend French school in that time. And because I was 17, I was not scared, I was excited. I remember the first day vividly. I remember all the attempts everyone made at making conversation. We talked about the world wars. We talked about food. We talked about India. We talked about France. I understood about five per cent of […]
- [Complete Instructions](https://varshaseshan.com/complete-instructions/): I revisited a very old recipe-book today. A little bored of baking cakes and pies, I decided to look at different kinds of dessert for a change. So I took out my little green book that’s falling to bits – a book called Refrigerator Recipes. I remember liking the book very much because of its attention to detail. Today, it made me smile once more because of how it begins with the very basics. The first chapter is titled ‘Buying a Refrigerator’.
- [Crisp Apple Strudel](https://varshaseshan.com/crisp-apple-strudel/): When we went to Salzburg, we knew more about The Sound of Music than about Mozart. Now I’m mildly embarrassed about that, but when we went, I was just plain excited. Everyone wants to talk to young Indian backpackers, and conversation with a co-passenger from Vienna to Salzburg was natural. She told us she lived in Vienna and travelled to Salzburg regularly for work, so we asked her our excited questions: how easy is it to buy apple strudel? Is it a speciality of Salzburg/ Austria? What is schnitzel? Do you eat it with noodles? Vastly amused, she answered our questions […]
- [A Night in Florence](https://varshaseshan.com/a-night-in-florence/): “Is the station open all night?” In Florence with no hostel to stay at and frightfully expensive hotel options, we had no choice but to stay at the station. “Yes,” replied the lady and walked away. I wonder if she even understood the question. We made ourselves comfortable in the waiting-room, as comfortable as we could get. There were other people, thankfully, so we didn’t feel destitute. Sitting in the waiting-room somehow bordered on the normal, even though we had not done it before. We lounged on chairs, hugging our luggage, trying to get the seats not to poke us […]
- [Nagarahole](https://varshaseshan.com/nagarahole/): It was not the first time we were going to a wildlife sanctuary. We had been to Kanha and we loved it. The idea of going into the jungle once more was thrilling. Safaris in jeeps, the quiet anticipation of a tiger’s approach and the sudden sight of a wild boar or a peacock hiding in the trees. Our skin tingled. Until we went to the jungle in Nagarahole for the first time. There, we learned that no jeeps were allowed into the jungle – only a minibus with 25 people. Disappointed already, we set off from the hotel in […]
- [Learning to Communicate](https://varshaseshan.com/learning-to-communicate/): “Do you speak English?” we asked three police-people standing at a signal in Milan. The policewoman shook her head and turned to the men. “Just a leetle,” said one. Then began our attempt to tell them we were lost and looking for our hostel. The hostel had given us a map, but we had walked clean off the map and had no idea how to get back. The word ‘hostel’ brought no reaction, so we showed them the map and said ‘ostello’. We had no idea how to ask ‘where’, ‘how’, nothing! But ‘ostello’ was enough. They brought out another, […]
- [Raghurajpur](https://varshaseshan.com/raghurajpur/): If you have a day in Puri, visit Raghurajpur. You can see the Konark temple in history textbooks; you can’t see the little craft village with all its passion and creativity. Raghurajpur is famous for painting on Tussar silk and for its palm-leaf engraving. Watching the process of engraving palm leaves was fascinating, as was noticing the attention to detail in each engraving. It was magical to see a splotch of ink on a palm leaf being transformed into a beautiful engraving that would last four hundred years. Even so, more appealing than all this are the artists themselves. Yes, they […]
- [The FERRY](https://varshaseshan.com/the-ferry/): I had been on a ferry before – to Essel World. I knew all about ferries, I thought. In any case, what was to know? Five hundred people on a boat that could accommodate about three hundred, all carrying fish and other things I did not want to identify. That was what we were prepared for. Like vagabonds, having roamed the streets of Bari all day, we reached well in time for our ferry to Greece. We were tired and dirty, waiting to reach Greece and have a much-needed bath. Then we saw the ferry. It was not a ferry […]
- [First Day at School](https://varshaseshan.com/first-day-at-school/): I moved to a school in Pune when I was five years old. I was like any other excited girl in the first standard with my new tiffin box, my new water bottle and my new bag with new books. I came from a smallish school in Vashi, so even the city was new to me. My first day still stands out in my memory. In my old school, when it was time for us to eat, our teacher used to tell us, “Come now, children, open your tiffin boxes!” In my new school, when the bell rang, we were supposed […]
- [Parikramaa 2012](https://varshaseshan.com/parkramaa-2012/): Parikramaa 2012 – this weekend at Balgandharva, Pune!
- [Arbitrary Right](https://varshaseshan.com/arbitrary-right/): A little girl in my dance class was confused. “Which is your right hand?” I asked. “This one?” she suggested, tentatively, raising her left hand. “No,” I said, gently, used to these problems. “That’s your left hand. The other one is your right.” “NO!” she said, crossly. “That’s your right.” I smiled and demonstrated to her, “This is my right side; this is my left. That is your right side; that is your left.” The little girl turned around so that both of us were facing the same direction. “Now which is my right?” she asked, triumphant at the thought that she had […]
- [Burggarten, bitte](https://varshaseshan.com/burggarten-bitte/): A lovely lady on the train to Vienna told us we must go see the Burggarten, a rose garden. In our attempt to put to use our practically non-existent German, we greeted an old gentleman on the road and asked him sweetly, “Burggarten, bitte?” He launched into a long speech in German. We listened, nodded appropriately and made polite noises. Once he had finished explaining, we said our ‘Danke’ and followed him across the road. That much, we had understood. We stood around noting various ‘interesting’ things around, letting him go ahead. We then discreetly asked someone else. To this […]
- [Cycle Rickshaw](https://varshaseshan.com/cycle-rickshaw/): When I went to Kolkata for my entrance exams, I stayed with a friend’s family. The first day there, Uncle took me in a cycle rickshaw. He warned me, “Don’t pay more than 8 rupees to these rickshaw-wallahs. They’ll charge you anything. They know you don’t come from Calcutta.” I listened and nodded and cringed as the rickshaw-wallah bumped us over steep slopes and potholes. His lungi was torn. He was barefoot. Uncle dropped me at the university and went home. To get home myself, I diffidently approached a cycle rickshaw. If I knew my way home, I know I […]
- [On Being Old](https://varshaseshan.com/on-being-old/): My grandmother was very ill, and a friend was talking to me about how difficult it was to see my grandmother like that. A little girl, one of my students, was listening to the conversation. Once my friend had left, she asked me, “Miss, what happened to your mother?” “Nothing happened to my mother,” I replied, smiling. “Then who was Auntie talking about?” “My grandmother.” She looked at me with big, round eyes. “Your grandmother is still alive!?” “Yes!” I replied, surprised. “All four grandparents are alive.” Realising that I was lucky in this respect, I asked, “Are yours alive?” […]
- [How do we go to Olympia, please?](https://varshaseshan.com/how-do-we-go-to-olympia-please/): My sister and I stood at the little kiosk on the little platform at Patras station. We had our passports, as always, and our Eurail passes and all our money. We knew how to say ‘thank you’ in Greek, but that was it. We had not heard of Patras until we tried finding cheap ways of getting to Greece. We were seasoned communicators, though, having travelled through Italy with just a few words of Italian. So we went quite confidently to the ticket booth at the station to find out what our options were. We wanted to go to Olympia […]
- [On Being Modern](https://varshaseshan.com/on-being-modern/): With older relatives, I often get high praise for my ability to use technology efficiently. With great pride, my grandparents and great-aunts and great-uncles, sing praises of my abilities. Some of my abilities that my family advertises: Varsha can fix the speakers! (I put the cable into the socket) Varsha can fix the camera! (I uploaded photographs) Perhaps I could add to my resume – I can find ‘Contact Us’ on a website. I can change a printer cartridge. I can download and use Skype. I can burn a CD (and a DVD). I can use a pen drive to […]
- [Performing in Renage](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-in-renage/): A very dear friend of my sister’s organised a performance for us at a chapel in Renage. That was when we learned what effective publicity is. Michèle, who, I should mention, is in her seventies, did absolutely everything to make people come for our performance. She, helped by two friends, went (literally) from pillar to post putting up posters. She made signs to direct people to the chapel, and went and put them up on lamp-posts. When we drove towards the chapel, we saw our own faces everywhere. Every wall, every lamp-post, every pillar had a poster of our performance […]
- [Oranges](https://varshaseshan.com/orange/): I do not like oranges. I’ll write that again – just to make it very clear. I do not like oranges. In Athens, orange trees grow on either side of the road, utterly unwanted. It is true that juice companies are gradually beginning to market Greek oranges with eye-catching notes on their packs saying ‘Made from real Greek Oranges!‘ As a normal thing, though, Greek oranges often have the reputation of being so sour that only the British could possibly want them. And even the British can use it only for marmalade. As a result, piles of oranges are swept […]
- [Arangetram!](https://varshaseshan.com/arangetram/): Anushka Iyer and Riya Dash will be performing their Arangetram today! The Arangetram is the maiden performance of a dancer, during which she attempts to convey her understanding of her art form to a discerning audience in the presence of her guru. Venue: Tilak Smarak Mandir Date and time: 28th June 2013; 17:45 Credits Nattuvangam: Guru Smt Mythili Raghavan Vocal: Shri Sivaprasad Mridangam: Shri Shankar Narayanan Violin: Shri Bala Subhramanyan Make-up: Shri Mohan and Smt Lakshmi Comperes: Aishwerya Sudarshan, Nisha Seshan, Varsha Seshan
- [Monsters University](https://varshaseshan.com/monsters-university/): When humour, action, plot, story, character and setting are all rolled into one, how can I not leave the cinema hall smiling like I have a tummy full of food and am ready to sleep? Monsters University made me happy.  Why should anyone (particularly me) pretend to write a review? I like Mike (and Sullivan). I love ‘OK’. I love the story. I love the Monsters University campus. I love the idea – and hugely respect the fact that such a grand prequel was made for a movie like Monsters, Inc. In short, I like animated films and this one did not […]
- [Can this be true?](https://varshaseshan.com/can-this-be-true/): In Nigeria, my grandfather was once invited to dinner for some ‘special festival’. Alone and interested, he decided he would go – but someone warned him against it. My grandfather doesn’t know who these people were who warned them. “We heard that you were invited for this function, but please take some sincere advice from us – don’t go.” My grandfather, puzzled but obedient, decided not to go. The next day, he found out what the ‘special festival’ was. Apparently, at midnight, there is a blackout. Innie-meenie-mynie-mo — and one person is selected at random. That person becomes the human […]
- [The Lost Years](https://varshaseshan.com/detective-fiction/): When I first read Mary Higgins Clark, I remember how amazed I was. All Around the Town remains one of the most powerful books of all time in my memory. Yet, when I read this, there was the sense of something artificial. As craft, detective fiction shines. I enjoyed the intricacy of the narrative. Romance within a detective novel adds a little sugar and a little spice. Wondering who-what-why keeps the brain alive. Following Mariah’s life as an investment advisor with a mother who has Alzheimer’s is absorbing. I was curious about the precious parchment, supposedly the only letter ever written by […]
- [Bangalore in a Nutshell](https://varshaseshan.com/bangalore-in-a-nutshell/): It rained when I didn’t expect it too. It didn’t rain when I did. I read five and a half books. I met a classmate from school. I probably haven’t seen her for a decade and when I saw her, I was utterly disoriented for a few seconds. “Am I really in Bangalore? Really?” I heard hundreds of stories from my grandparents. One about alleged cannibals (and my grandfather’s escape from them). One about how my uncle aged four cheerfully went and reported to his parents (my grandparents) that my mother sounded like an engine. She had an asthma attack […]
- [Getting a Promotion](https://varshaseshan.com/getting-a-promotion/): In the Air Force, it is compulsory to speak Hindi to get a promotion. Commands must be given in Hindi. So my grandfather, a recipient of the AVSM (Ati Vishisht Seva Medal) had to prove he could speak at least a little Hindi in order to be promoted. The problem was that he could not speak Hindi. (For my foreign readers: that happens a lot in the south. Many south Indians – particularly in my grandfather’s generation – find Hindi and other north Indian languages hopelessly difficult. No one around them speaks Hindi; it was not even compulsory to study […]
- [Stormswift](https://varshaseshan.com/stormswift/): Madeleine Brent, ah, Madeleine Brent. So many of your books are based on the same thing – an English girl in a foreign land, falling in love with an Englishman under impossible circumstances. How is it that I love them all? The power of the narrative just gripped me right through the book. A sense of peace always came with the eager anticipation of the next twist in the tale. I think that’s something I could probably say about all Brent’s works. Is Stormswift exceptional? I don’t know. I want to say that it is because I was just swept […]
- [Walkabout](https://varshaseshan.com/walkabout/): Unbelievably moving. Two English children in the middle of the Australian desert – what are their chances of survival? But they come across a bush boy. A naked dark-skinned Aborigine. They cannot communicate to one another, but they have to because the ‘darkie’s’ attitude towards them is simple. He will not judge. Everyone is together in the single battle of life – the battle against death. When a little boy and a little girl are stranded, what can the bush boy do except help them? So they begin their journey together, a journey that revolves around yeemara and arkooloola. These […]
- [The Moneylender's Daughter](https://varshaseshan.com/the-moneylenders-daughter/): I often shy away from thick books. I’m not quite sure why because I have read (more than once) and enjoyed (tremendously) books like Gone with the Wind, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. Maybe, somehow, classics escape my prejudices. But books like The Moneylender’s Daughter ought to as well. As I began the book and got caught in the action, I found myself thinking, “It’s the kind of book my mother should read!” For very predictable reasons – it’s about the mercantile world of 17th century Holland. The associations were automatic. I was halfway through the book when I realised that […]
- [Impure Veg](https://varshaseshan.com/impure-veg/): ‘Pure veg’ is such a uniquely Indian concept. I used to mock it. My grandparents are pure veg. (Somehow that sounds odd. A pure veg restaurant is different from pure veg food, which is different from pure veg people. My grandparents are people, not food or restaurants. Just making things clear.) When they went to Greece, the vegetarian sandwiches had tuna butter, so both of them ate only peaches and oranges in their time there. They explained that they were “pure veg, you see”. For me ‘vegetarian’ used to cover that idea. But then, I realised that I’m probably impure […]
- [Prized Modern Inventions](https://varshaseshan.com/prized-modern-inventions/): I remember my great grandfather (who, incidentally, lived to be 105) watching cricket on TV. The volume was very low and that, for some reason, used to annoy me. It was like a constant buzz – neither silent nor noisy. His logic was that he was deaf and would not be able to hear anyway, so the television might as well be soft instead of adding to the noise around him. My grandfather has become like that too. He watches the news; he does not listen to it. It does not bother me so much because at least there’s no […]
- [Magical Mail](https://varshaseshan.com/magical-mail/): ‘Dear Sir or Madam,My name is Thor. I would like to work for the council recycling department. I think I would be good at this as I have lightning for melting and a big hammer for those items that are difficult to crush. I have passed an exam in art and I am also a god.’ – Magical Mail by Claire Barker What a silly, droll book! I enjoyed each page and read the whole thing at one sitting in a couple of hours. I giggled, chuckled and tucked my brains away under a chair as I read the book, […]
- [The Poison Garden](https://varshaseshan.com/the-poison-garden/): I finally finished reading The Poison Garden only because I forced myself to. I turned page after deliberate page, skipping sections, skimming over larger sections and wondering who would read the book. And then, I had a rather startling thought. I understand where the inspiration comes from. I understand a fascination for plants and power – I have the fascination myself. I understand the thrilling secrets of a closed box – I’ve written a story about a box myself. I understand the love for fine language and vocabulary that is beyond the scope of a child – I have that […]
- [Adjust](https://varshaseshan.com/adjust/): Sometimes, I cannot even believe that the word ‘adjust’ is really an English word. It seems to belong uniquely to the Indian context. Anything can be adjusted. I remember how amused I was when I learned that people even adjust Raahu kaal – the Inauspicious Time. Traditionally during this Inauspicious Time, you can’t do important things. So, if you have a train to catch, you pretend to leave. You leave your slippers outside the door, or your luggage with the neighbours. Just a little adjustment, and you’re safe. Today (and yesterday) on the train, I was astounded at how normal […]
- [Ideas and Institutions in Medieval India](https://varshaseshan.com/ideas-and-institutions-in-medieval-india/): Paperback ISBN 978-81-250-5174-9 Hard cover ISBN 978-81-250-5175-6 Author: Dr. Radhika Seshan (Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Pune) Publisher: Orient BlackSwan
- [Buying a Fridge](https://varshaseshan.com/buying-a-fridge/): My sister came to Kolkata and helped me buy a fridge. It was a long and detailed exploration, comparing brands, sizes and prices at various places.  We wandered around, visiting shop after shop before we finally decided what would suit me and made the purchase. We spoke to my parents that night, relieved. “What brand did you buy?” asked my mother. “Haier.” “What size?” I told her. I don’t remember any more. “How much was it?” “6500.” “Do you need a stabilizer for it?” “No, it has an inbuilt one.” “How long is its guarantee?” “One year.” “Where did you buy […]
- [Imagination](https://varshaseshan.com/imagination/): I sometimes think about what other people must be thinking about what I’m thinking. Cycling home from my grandfather’s place early this morning, I was amused at bystanders waiting for buses. I thought about what they would be thinking about how dedicated I was about exercising everyday. I imagined conversations with real people and recollected a real conversation with someone who was actually curious enough to stop me and ask. And then I thought about how wild my imagination was when I was younger. When I saw men (they were probably young, but child-Varsha thought they were all uncles) on […]
- [The Harry Potter Phenomenon](https://varshaseshan.com/the-harry-potter-phenomenon/): “You must read Harry Potter,” a friend of mine told me when I was in the eighth standard. I glanced at the book lying on her desk and nodded. The book she was so impressed by was not yet available easily in India. A relative had given it to her and she was passing it on. I postponed reading – for an incomprehensible reason that I wonder if anyone would understand. I thought Harry Potter was the name of the writer and I had a deep-rooted prejudice against writers who put their own names in font that is far larger than the […]
- [Nritya Tarangini](https://varshaseshan.com/nritya-tarangini/): Day 1: I wondered whether I would get anything out of the workshop conducted by the Dhananjayans. I wondered whether it was all worth it. We were learning a piece that was getting totally jumbled in my head. There were too many episodes and at the end of the day, I could not even remember the music. Day 2: I knew it was worth it. I understood why Dhananjayan Anna and Shanta Akka have played Rama and Sita so often. Anna’s gentle humour, Akka’s quiet poise. I remembered when I went with my teacher to their place while Akka was […]
- [The Great Gatsby](https://varshaseshan.com/the-great-gatsby/): Is it fair to compare a book with a movie? Especially a book with such a strong narrative voice? I was a little put-off by the idea of Nick talking to the doctor. But then, that was one way of getting the narrative voice loud and clear, I guess. It was exactly like the book and nothing like it. Long, rambling sections where I was bored. While reading a book, I can just skim, skip and flip. At a cinema hall, I couldn’t fast-forward, so I took of my 3-D glasses and yawned. But there were parts that I thought […]
- [The Life of Pi](https://varshaseshan.com/the-life-of-pi/): I like to get involved when I watch a movie. I like to feel with the character, hold my breath during moments of anticipation and cry during moments of sadness and joy. That did not happen with The Life of Pi. Not because of the movie itself but because of the cinema hall. First of all, we were in row H. I thought, “Hmm! Not bad.” We were in the third row from the screen. There were only ten rows in all. A couple that came late, walking in when the movie had already begun. They had seats at either […]
- [The First Year Away](https://varshaseshan.com/the-first-year-away/): I remember the time the house got flooded and I put my mattress up on the fridge. I shared a bed with my flatmate, and we watched dead cockroaches, plastic bags and coconut shells floating around us. I remember the time when a thief came to my window in the middle of the night. He did not make a sound, but I woke up and saw a man with a stick at my window, reaching into my room. I was too scared to scream. I remember the time when a cat jumped on my feet when I was in bed. […]
- [Faerie Heart](https://varshaseshan.com/faerie-heart/): Incredible. As a child, I did not like novels that were not divided into chapters. I have no idea why. The only exception was Mary Poppins. I somehow think this one would have been an exception too. What a visual treat! The imagination just blew me over. A coverlet and a bed made of insects’ wings. Weaving ropes out of spider threads. Threading cobwebs together to sew the insects’ wings. Curtains parting noiselessly – like clouds. Droplets of water hanging from grass – and whole shimmering worlds within. Livi Michael. I’ll look out for the name.
- [Easter in France](https://varshaseshan.com/easter-in-france/): The good thing about being a foreigner in a French family is that they do everything to give you the true French experience. My family could not control the weather – it was cold and there was hail that spring – but they did make Easter special! Traditionally, children are sent out into the garden with baskets to hunt for Easter eggs hidden for them. Even though I was 24 (and not quite a child), my family wanted it to happen. But it was too cold. The garden was wet and not very clean. So they did the modern commercial […]
- [Désirée](https://varshaseshan.com/desiree/): Have you read Désirée by Anne-Marie Selinko? I read it when I was in school; I think it was the first really thick book I read.Yes, it came even before Gone with the Wind.I loved it so much that I read it again. And, I think, again.And then, I found an old, old copy of it at my grandparents’ place, and how could I not read it again? It’s the story of Napoleon’s first love – the daughter of a silk merchant, Désirée Clary. When I read the book, all those things were just names to me. Marseilles, Stockholm, the Tuileries […]
- [Manjri Adventure](https://varshaseshan.com/manjri-adventure/): The bus-driver looked at the traffic piled up on the road ahead. We had to get to school and we were late anyway. The traffic was impossible, so he suggested that we take a detour through Manjri village. That’s when our adventure began. We passed custard-apple orchards and a stud farm. We passed tiny nondescript nursery schools. We passed fields after fields, bumping our way through roads that had probably been created by bullock carts. I wondered what we would do if a bullock cart came towards us from the opposite direction. There was enough room for two carts to […]
- [Counterblast to Tobacco](https://varshaseshan.com/counterblast-to-tobacco/): While researching the history of the Stuarts, I discovered some delightful pieces of information. Elizabeth I did not trust tobacco – it made her sick. But she was also intrigued by it. Once, she bet Raleigh that he would be unable to tell her the weight of the smoke. Raleigh was, always, a performer. He weighed an ounce of tobacco and cheerfully smoked it. When he had finished, he weighed the ashes. The difference between the two weights was, he declared, the weight of the smoke. Laughing, Elizabeth acknowledged defeat, paid up and commented that she had often seen men […]
- [Oranges in No Man's Land](https://varshaseshan.com/oranges-in-no-mans-land/): I find that so may writers seem to have a compulsion to write long, complex, layered work. So many new books are thick paperbacks, full of things happening on every page. Oranges in No Man’s Land is not like that. Not at all. Elizabeth Laird manages to write a beautiful, heart-warming story in the course of just about a hundred pages of large print. The setting and characters are just so powerful that the story becomes not a book, but a moment in time. It’s an eternal, timeless moment, captured by language. I know nothing about the history of Lebanon. I […]
- [Book-Reading at Crossword, Mulund!](https://varshaseshan.com/book-reading-at-crossword-mulund-2/)
- [Blue Shoes and Happiness](https://varshaseshan.com/blue-shoes-and-happiness/): A colleague of mine saw me reading the book and commented on how it looked like a children’s book. Many people don’t know yet that I spend more time reading children’s books than anything else – and am not ashamed of it. This one was delightful, as Alexander McCall Smith usually is. It’s the kind of book you can read slowly, knowing that it will not run away. You know that you won’t forget crucial details that contribute to the plot. You know that the focus of the story is not the plot, but life itself. You know that ideas […]
- [Travel Records](https://varshaseshan.com/travel-records/): My sister and I looked around.Things seemed perfect. It was a beautiful morning. It was not raining. Shops were just opening; restaurant-workers were setting their chairs and umbrellas. In the middle of a square, we looked around for the perfect spot.We sat on our haunches and put our arms around each other. People on their way to work threw puzzled looks at us. We giggled. We weren’t looking at our backpacks, so we threw an arm around them, just in case. Passers-by frowned. Some even stopped to look. We laughed out loud. We were in a public place, sitting awkwardly […]
- [A Doll's House](https://varshaseshan.com/a-dolls-house/): I cannot believe that Ibsen changed the end of the end of A Doll’s House for its production in Germany! What happened to [t]hat slammed door [that] reverberated across the roof of the world? Ibsen agreed to make Nora go back to her children?  Shocking! Almost as bad as Shaw making Eliza go to Mr. Higgins at the end of My Fair Lady, thereby changing the end of Pygmalion. But then, Shaw did not believe that he was giving the movie-watching public a happy ending. What kind of happy conclusion had a young girl going back to a cynical, selfish, middle-aged man? […]
- [Unit Plans](https://varshaseshan.com/unit-plans/): There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, like teaching. You can be so joyously idealistic in everything you choose to teach! Planning my units on narrative and imaginative writing, and descriptive writing was almost as inspiring as writing itself. Well, not really, but you know… I made a whole plan on how to introduce the idea of story-writing. The effective opening. The appropriate ending. Dialogue, atmosphere, character, setting. For each, I mentioned resource material that I will use in class – pieces of music, video clips, extracts from stories and plays… Even pieces of cloth and chocolate. Because inspiration truly comes from anywhere. […]
- [Picnic!](https://varshaseshan.com/picnic/): I insist that the way I left school in the morning set my mood. People (read ‘teachers and students’) hate duty that takes them out of school into the hot sunshine. I exclaimed, “Picnic!” Other teachers laughed at me. I replied, “In the afternoon, I can complain; now at least, I’ll go happy!” But even now, I’m not complaining. I went with a group of girls that was reasonably cheerful, willing to work and complained just a little. We were at a sericulture unit, learning about mulberry, lac and azolla. I found a mulberry leaf far bigger than my whole […]
- [Board Exam](https://varshaseshan.com/board-exam/): Ought I to be nervous? Concerned? Stressed? My students are writing their board exams. I wished them luck, gave them a pep talk and some last minute ‘tips’. One student asked me for a vocabulary list he can use. I wanted to tell him ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’. Instead, I told him not to use ‘hi-fi’ language. They laughed because I once ranted about how inappropriate the term ‘hi-fi’ is. Another student wanted to write the words ‘discursive’ and ‘argumentative’ on a piece of paper and take it into the exam hall. Another student succinctly said, “Arre! That will be on […]
- [Miss Julie](https://varshaseshan.com/miss-julie/): Outstanding. To create passion like this and alternate between expressed passion and subdued passion is incredible. Miss Julie – headstrong and confused – wavering between strength and weakness – is a work of art. You hate her and admire her. Above all, you pity her. Or maybe not above all. There’s no ‘above all’. It’s impossible to have a single emotion after a play as powerful as this one. A range of emotions rises and falls, leaving you almost breathless. Then, there’s Jean – another work of art. Power-hungry, ambitious, practical. When I think about it, a character like that […]
- [Trams in Kolkata](https://varshaseshan.com/trams-in-kolkata/): The first time I went to Kolkata, I also went to Darjeeling. I was much younger then, and I was really just visiting my father’s city, the place he grew up. We went in a tram, of course, and in Darjeeling, we took a ride in a toy train. Everyone talks about how picturesque that is, something tourists must do in Darjeeling. Returning to Kolkata, I confessed that the tram ride was much more thrilling than the toy train. My father joyfully took us on another tram ride. And so, when friends visited me in Kolkata, I insisted that they […]
- [Vegetarian and Unadventurous](https://varshaseshan.com/vegetarian-and-unadventurous/): I’ve always tried to be adventurous with food, but to be honest, I am completely unadventurous. I try, I swallow, I sometimes even appreciate. But I also suffer from an overactive imagination. I remember the time a teacher of my sister’s took us for a French meal. She took us to a beautiful, typical, arty place – with strict instructions not to look at the prices while ordering. That was difficult. But anyway, I cheerfully chose what I wanted – the one vegetarian dish that was typical of the region. I was happy; everyone was happy. And then, I was […]
- [Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard](https://varshaseshan.com/hullabaloo-in-the-guava-orchard/): Why does ‘easy to read’ somehow strike me as a slightly negative comment in the context of this book? Yet, I would not say I disliked the book. The gentle humour made me chuckle time and time again. The paradox of unbelievable believable characters was wonderful. Each character was more than just a character. The characters came alive despite being so exaggerated and unreal. Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard did not end one page too early or one page too late. I think what made the book seem deserving of moderate praise rather than great praise was simply the fact […]
- [Sylvie and the Songman](https://varshaseshan.com/sylvie-and-the-songman/): What a crazy book. And that’s a compliment. There were parts of the book that I read only because I wanted to finish the book. I pushed myself to read, page after page, completing each chapter before putting the book down. So I simply can’t give it those overused compliments – ‘page-turner’ and ‘unputdownable’. When imagination is truly beautiful, there’s such a strong semblance to life that there’s no need to understand each detail. The world is like that. There are so many questions that we ignore. We don’t feel the need to answer or even understand the questions. Why […]
- [My Camera Journey](https://varshaseshan.com/my-camera-journey/): Somehow, digital cameras have turned me away from photography. It is, somehow, I don’t know… Too technical? Too easy to get a good shot? Or perhaps a part of me loved the exclusivity of photography that no longer exists. I remember the first camera my father gave me when I was ten years old. A Hot Shot camera that had a cartridge, not a regular reel of film. How gloriously exciting it was! I photographed my family and my teddy-bears. One particularly interesting photo on the balcony shows how hasty ten-year-old Varsha was too excited about photography to notice a […]
- [A Note of Music](https://varshaseshan.com/a-note-of-music/): Everything is made out of notes, vibrations. Many people think the universe started with a great big bang. What’s that if it isn’t a note, albeit a rather loud one? Somewhere there’s probably a note that brings the whole universe together… Goodness knows what will happen if anyone finds it… We’ll probably be blown up; either that or we’d find ourselves in another universe. – from Sylvie and the Songman  by Tim Binding That, succinctly put, is the power of music.
- [Opening my Eyes](https://varshaseshan.com/opening-my-eyes/): At our refectory, things are beautifully, thoughtfully organised. Little children eat in one hall; older children in another. There’s no discrimination involved. The wash-basins attached to the hall for the little ones are lower, the trays are designed for children and everything is child-height. One day, a tiny girl was rummaging amongst the spoons of the ‘big’ zone. “What happened?” I asked. “What are you looking for?” There was no response. The little girl continued her search. “Can I help?” I asked. The little girl was standing on tiptoe, hunting. She looked up at me. “I want a spoon with […]
- [Exam Gems III](https://varshaseshan.com/exam-gems-iii/): Asked to ‘write a commentary’ on a poem, students write:’…one thing where I felt that it is wrong is that he did not divide the last line properly, the last line’s word is going in the next paragraph.’ ‘The name given to the poem is very good’ ‘The poem does not start with a boy sleeping but we can imagine this because the situation will be like that only.’ ‘I don’t understand why does he just start to talk about his own self instead of ending it in a good way. I just did not like the ending because it […]
- [Exam Gems II](https://varshaseshan.com/exam-gems-ii/): Attempting to create pathos and anger: ‘Reaching hospital it was looking like messy type’ ‘I got him into the last point of insultation’ Attempting – um – I don’t know what: ‘And if the film is ya some actors take more many if they don’t hard work’ (Mm? Can you say that again?) Imaginative writing: ‘Their colour was blue as dark blue in the ocean, just as ocean their body was made of ocean.’ Arguing for equality: ‘The removal of Girls and a huge unrespect for girls is seen in the parts of India.’ Innovative spelling:buque (Say it aloud; you […]
- [Exam Gems](https://varshaseshan.com/exam-gems/): Correcting papers is a crazy experience. There are some things each teacher in the staff room feels compelled to share with the others. Commenting on a poem’s language and style, students write… ‘This heart-touching poem…’, or better still – ‘This tear-dropping poem…’ Commenting on the expected audience, a student has a bewildering response – ‘The language used is abit complex probably not aiming for audience but for readers who are mature.’ Describing a forest, a student wants to create rich imagery, so talks about ‘barked densed trees’ The students are also tested on their ability to empathise. One exercise was […]
- ['Shiva'](https://varshaseshan.com/shiva/): Last evening’s performance at Bal Shikshan was a visual treat. Of course there were things I did not like. I did not like the opening piece or the concluding peace. I found them most peculiar. Yet, there is something about the perfection of classical dance well performed that cannot be compared to anything else. Vaibhav Arekar and his troupe performed a beautiful collection of dances – united by the theme of Shiv. There were some pieces I’d watched before. There’s one that brings tears to my eyes every time – the story of an untouchable devotee of Shiva who wants […]
- [The Table Family](https://varshaseshan.com/the-table-family/): Have you been introduced to the Table family? When I was in school, we were kept forcibly away from the family. The Table family was a strict no-no for us. Pronounce correctly. Stay away from the awful Table family. Trends are changing, though. Many children have found their comfort zone with this delightfully extended family. At lunch, they meet Veggie Table. When their handwriting is not so good, but not so bad, their teacher introduces them to Axe-ep Table. The mike stand has a secret name, I learned in school the other day. It is Adjus(t) Table. You are invited […]
- [Essel World](https://varshaseshan.com/essel-world/): When I was ten years old, I wrote a story that won me two tickets to Essel World, and 4 tickets to Nehru Planetarium. Going to Mumbai was impossible, so we passed the tickets on to friends in Mumbai. I have no recollection of being upset with it, or in any way deprived. I think the friends who used the tickets felt far worse than I did! When I won the same things again, a little later, my parents and our friends in Mumbai decided that somehow, this time, little Varsha had to go to Essel World. And so, we […]
- [Hiding from Children](https://varshaseshan.com/hiding-from-children/): There are many things that you may successfully hide from adults, but simply cannot hide from children. Impoliteness is one of those things. As a child, my sister once turned to my parents. “When I said ‘thank you’, why did that uncle not say ‘welcome’?” Today, a colleague of mine was trying to hide from her two-year-old son. Essentially, she knew that if her child saw her, he would demand her attention, become cranky, want to be carried… The works. Another colleague and I attempted to shield her while all the little children entered the refectory. Her son could not […]
- [Invigilator](https://varshaseshan.com/invigilator/): Right through school, I enjoyed exams. People found that odd, so I often did not confess that I loved exams. I loved the excited anticipation just before exams. I loved that clean, fresh uniform. (Somehow, the exam uniform stays cleaner than a regular day’s uniform.) I loved the light bag with barely any books in it. I loved the last-minute discussion of all those tiny little doubts. I loved the hurried revision one second before the examiner walked in. And in college, I loved the feeling of finishing early and walking out – sometimes an hour before my friends. Freedom! […]
- [The Dahu](https://varshaseshan.com/the-dahu/): Do you know the dahu? What a fascinating creature it is! A friend in Grenoble told me the story. The dahu looks like a deer, you know. A deer with a difference. It has two short legs and two long legs and lives in the mountains of France and Switzerland. The most intriguing thing about the dahu is that there’s no system that defines which legs are short and which long. If its two right legs are short, it can go up a mountain only clockwise, not anticlockwise. You can imagine why. But the poor baby dahu that has alternate […]
- [Butterscotch's Washing-Machine](https://varshaseshan.com/butterscotchs-washing-machine/): Ought I to be embarrassed by this one? It was written two days after my tenth birthday, when I was eager to show off newly acquired vocabulary and paragraphing abilities. Butterscotch was a brownie. He lived in India. You may not believe it, but he was tinier than a wild daisy! Butterscotch was very kind. He had a wonderful washing-machine. He not only washed his clothes, he washed all the other brownies’clothes. He charged only Re.1. The washing-machine was as big as a real one, so he could not hide it anywhere. Now in a nearby village lived human beings, […]
- [Our Special Chief Guest - Amjad Ali Khan](https://varshaseshan.com/our-special-chief-guest-amjad-ali-khan/): It was compulsory for teachers to attend the inauguration of MIT’s Vishwashanti Sangeet Academy. But my day was made when I saw Ustad Amjad Ali Khan ascend the stairs. With his characteristic humility, he acknowledged all those waiting on the sides, unlike many others who obliviously walked by. Unembarrassed by his outdated chivalry, he remained standing for as long as his wife was standing. He spoke briefly, boring none with long-winded, irrelevant speeches. I felt like a school-girl meeting a film-star when I saw him up close. My colleagues made fun of me, and I enjoyed that too – like […]
- [Experiences on Stage - V](https://varshaseshan.com/experiences-on-stage-v/): I remember one time when a friend and I were asked to perform at an inauguration ceremony. I was so proud of myself for having asked for all the details – stage dimensions, availability of a sound system, green rooms, mirrors … There was a time when I took all of that for granted. Experience taught me to ask questions without caring if the questions sounded stupid and pointless. I had all the details well in time to start choreographing. Covering stage space is an important part of dance, so we worked things out accordingly. We got there and saw […]
- [The Bluest Eye](https://varshaseshan.com/the-bluest-eye/): Toni Morrison introduced me to the real horror of slavery. When I read Beloved, I simply could not get over the idea of black slaves being forced to wear the bit. I still cannot get over it. ‘Racism’, in the way it exists in the west, simply does not exist in India. Sure, we have discrimination, perhaps discrimination of the worst possible kinds. We also have an obsession with fair skin. I like to think that the obsession is on the decline, but I’m horrified by the number of times I come across it in the most casual ways. The […]
- [Rich Dutch Chocolate Cake](https://varshaseshan.com/rich-dutch-chocolate-cake/): Yesterday, I baked a cake with a very dear friend. We began by separating the eggs. Or rather, she began with separating the eggs. I hate doing that. My father told me that there was a fancy new method in the Readers Digest. You break the egg on a plate, take a plastic bottle, squeeze it and allow it to suck the yolk. Miraculously, only the yolk is supposed to come away from the white. It did not work. At least, not with us. The egg went splat (just like the headmaster – if you’ve read the book). Somehow, she […]
- [Lost and Found](https://varshaseshan.com/lost-and-found/): Children leave all kinds of things behind at dance class. My teacher could set up a shop and make a fortune if she ever decided to sell the stuff children leave behind. The most common things children forget, of course, is their theory material. I think a part of them wants to forget so that they don’t have to study it. Then, of course, are the hundreds of water bottles, umbrellas, jackets, raincoats and scarves. Somehow, there seem to be many things that belong to nobody. My teacher diligently takes things home and brings them for the next class, announcing […]
- [Chocobar](https://varshaseshan.com/chocobar/): I teach at a boarding school, where the happy Enid Blyton tuck-box has cheerfully been changed into a tuck-shop. The shop is open for about an hour in the evening, and children can go get all the unhealthy, delicious things that the school cannot morally serve as often as children want. What makes me smile most of all is ice-cream, and the way children enjoy it, each child in a different way. Every year, when we went to Bangalore for the summer, our grandparents gave us the money to buy something we wanted once in two or three days. My […]
- [The Duomo](https://varshaseshan.com/the-duomo/): ‘Duomo’ just means ‘cathedral’, but the duomo in Milan is just something else. The first time we travelled in Europe, we started with Milan. That made it exciting in itself. We drank from water fountains. We ate real pizza and real pasta. We tried talking to real Italian people with real Italian accents, sometimes talking real Italian which was a bit hard. And we saw the beautiful duomo. The second time we went to Milan, we did not have any intentions of staying there. We thought we would take the first train out of Milan and go to Ancona or […]
- [Reading Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-stories/): I was asked to read and assess stories written by Grades III and IV. What a joy that was! Of course, I had students who wrote for me the story of The Life of Pi or other movies they’ve watched. In fact, I felt rather bad for one of the children who wrote about that movie – the movie evidently made no sense to him! He wrote about how a tiger and boy decided to run away from a zoo. I wonder, was that his attempt at imagination? My favourite story went something like this. I wish I could have copied it, […]
- [The Dictionary at School](https://varshaseshan.com/the-dictionary-at-school/):   The portion for the exams has been completed; students are fed up with revision. So, a colleague of mine decided to do something different – she read out a story from The Story-Catcher. I was thrilled! This reading went one step further than ‘I loved your story’ and ‘nice story’ and ‘I like the story of Sana’. After listening to The Dictionary, the students were expected to write a poem. It had to be inspired by the story, but they could write what they liked. And so they did. I was waiting to have a look at their work, and […]
- [Experiences on Stage IV](https://varshaseshan.com/experiences-on-stage-iv/): Every time my sister Nisha and I performed in France, we had far less time to practise than usual. The last two performances were easier – we practised long distance on Skype before meeting and practising. Before that, it was individual, separate efforts, followed by coordination once I reached France. I remember the time we performed at Aix-en-Provence. We practised, of course we did. But there’s some amount of choreography that changes every time we perform. Even when we perform the same piece with another dancer, we do not perform it in exactly the same way. We keep the other […]
- ['Stranded' in Ahmedabad](https://varshaseshan.com/stranded-in-ahmedabad/): I remember the time when my father decided to surprise me by coming along with me on my flight to Kolkata. My flight had a stop over at Ahmedabad, and he decided to pop into Ahmedabad to see a friend. Until we reached Ahmedabad, things were happy and smooth. I was duly surprised, duly happy with the surprise and duly content with the idea of continuing my journey alone from there. We took off at Ahmedabad — and landed immediately. Bird-hit. As far as I’m concerned, bird-hits belong to faded hoardings put up at airports by the air force as […]
- [Non-Cooperation](https://varshaseshan.com/non-cooperatio/): Leela Samson, in her book Rukmini Devi writes: ‘Mrs Besant disagreed with Gandhi on the issue of non-cooperation. Her opinion was that mass civil disobedience was fraught with dangerous possibilities. She was apprehensive of the nation’s integrity being weakened as a result. She repeatedly warned that if and when India attained swaraj, it should be careful not to ‘find itself in a condition of anarchy, resistant of all discipline, defiant of all authority, where everyone was a law unto himself, enforcing his will by mobs, or trampled on by superior force’. The wisdom of the statement she made then rings frighteningly true […]
- [School Bus](https://varshaseshan.com/school-bus/): I’m feeling the generation gap the wrong way around again. School buses are meant for playing stone-paper-scissor, not listening to music on an iPhone. During rides in the school bus, children should jump around and shriek when they go top speed over a speed breaker. And they should, of course, get told off by the teachers. It’s not normal for them to sit grumpily and complain that the AC doesn’t work. Rides in school buses are meant for talking about everything that happened in school – mean teachers, kind teachers, strict teachers, gross food… Not for sharing photos on Facebook […]
- [Mourning Achebe](https://varshaseshan.com/mourning-achebe/): So many people have written about Chinua Achebe so knowledgeably in the past few days; I can’t come close to that. I know next to nothing about him, but the sense of loss I felt when I read about his death was like a pit within me. I was introduced to Achebe when in college, with, of course Things Fall Apart. After that, I read little about him and by him. Yet, the impression he made on this young student of literature was so powerful that even today, images of the novel remain in my head. The iron horse, the sacred […]
- [Dysfunctional Internet](https://varshaseshan.com/dysfunctional-internet/): I remember when internet did not exist. I remember when internet at home was unheard of and we always had to go to a Cyber Cafe. I remember when internet at home was the standard dial up connection with loud trrrrrrrr-tiktiktiktiktiktiktik-peeeeeep-peeeeep-khrrrr-peeeeee-khrrrr I remember when the flashing modem constantly made me squirm and count how many minutes I’d already been online. Then came broadband, which was, wow, silent and fast! Not so many awful minutes of waiting for pages to load and thinking of high telephone bills. Then came unlimited broadband. Silent, fast and inexpensive. When I remember all of this, why […]
- ['Stranded' in Paris](https://varshaseshan.com/stranded-in-paris/): I don’t exaggerate when I say that my poor guardian angel is overworked. I don’t exaggerate when I say that I have the craziest possible travel experiences. Proof of the fact was given to me yet again in 2010 with the most unbelievable of problems. A volcano erupted. The famous volcano eruption that caused GPS all over Europe to stop working in 2010 and volcanic ash to descend into the continent naturally affected me as well. How could it not affect Varsha and her travel stories? In Paris with a flight to catch, I learned that all flights had been […]
- ['Stranded' in Milan](https://varshaseshan.com/stranded-in-milan/): Coming back from France in 2006, we had an Alitalia flight via Milan. Everything until Milan was fine – except one thing. This is an aside, but I must say this. In Milan, like in Vienna, I was asked to take off my belt and lay it in the tray to be passed through the X-Ray machine. That’s okay, acceptable. Then, I was asked to raise my hands as I walked through the security gate. If I was comfortable enough to lift my arms wearing jeans without a belt, I would not wear a belt at all, I wanted to […]
- [Travel Woes](https://varshaseshan.com/travel-woes/): I could write a whole book about things that went wrong while I was travelling. I have a very dear friend who says that my poor guardian angel is always overworked because I make him work overtime keeping me safe through everything. In some AC trains, there’s a little metal box above the berth that you can open for light. ‘LIFT FOR LIGHT’, it says. As a child, I never needed it – I was not allowed to read in bed. When I became a little older (quite a bit older, actually), I excitedly lifted the cover. And the light […]
- [Fire Drill](https://varshaseshan.com/fire-drill/): I remember how, a few months ago, two girls came excitedly to me in dance class. “Miss, we had a fire drill today!” “The whole period went in the drill!” said one child, immediately pointing out the highlight of the exercise. “Oh?” I said, interested. I was glad things like this were being done. “So what did you have to do?” “They told us how to leave the building in a proper way,” said one girl. “So we had to form lines and all.” “And they explained to us that we should never enter the building again, until the fire […]
- [More Readers?](https://varshaseshan.com/more-readers/): I, Varsha Seshan, author of The Story-Catcher and English teacher at your school… … donated two books to Vishwashanti Gurukul library. One for the primary school library and one for the whole school. I also spoke to the principal about the way I’ve done readings in the past at St. Mary’s, and she seemed interested. At the library today, the librarian was entering the details into the system. Does this mean that more children will actually read the book? I wonder!
- [Naughty Boys](https://varshaseshan.com/naughty-boys/): Everyday at school, I learn something new. Yesterday, the boys in my class did something that I can’t help laughing at, even though I know that the joke is on me. I don’t like wearing a watch and haven’t worn one for several years now. In school, though, I do wear a watch because I don’t find it very ethical to carry a cell phone everywhere when the students aren’t allowed to do that. Since I’m not used to it, I take off my watch at the first opportunity I get. I did it as usual when I was in […]
- [Talking to Children](https://varshaseshan.com/talking-to-children/): In one of the places where I used to teach dance, children from various backgrounds often had trouble communicating with me. They spoke little or no English and sometimes, little or no Hindi, Tamil or Marathi. Problems occurred when they spoke just one language if that one was not one I understood. I remember one such girl. She spoke just Telugu, and perhaps because of her language difficulties, she was extremely diffident. She stood very still, watching and listening, never contributing to conversation. She listened to children asking for permission to go and drink water. Finally, mustering up her courage, […]
- [Chenonceau](https://varshaseshan.com/chenonceau/): The little castle that appears on the Disney logo is, I am convinced, Chenonceau. The château de Chenonceau has to be a Disney castle. In the World War II, the castle marked the boundary between war zones and safe areas. People were often smuggled through the castle to the other side – the idea itself adds the element of romance and adventure I love! We chose not to take the audio guides, but we missed nothing, simply because there was just so much to see. The castle brings to mind all the Georgetter Heyers I’ve read with its magnificent rooms and four-poster […]
- [Classes at School](https://varshaseshan.com/classes-at-school/): I had an awful class yesterday. A teacher was absent, so her class was clubbed with mine. I was not particularly sceptical; I did not think I needed to be. How wrong I was! I did not know what to do with sixteen-year-old children determined to take advantage of a new teacher. There was a whole bunch of them, shouting across the class, drinking and spilling water, sitting in couples, professing to headaches… The works. I had planned seven points of discussion that I thought we would not even begin to finish discussing – beauty, marriage, alcoholism, prostitution, feminism, madness […]
- [Wide Sargasso Sea](https://varshaseshan.com/wide-sargasso-sea/): Post-colonial literature frightens me. When I think of it, I wonder whether I have to read it closely and carefully, and then pretend to the whole world that I understood it perfectly. I have to talk about how good it was, and what I felt and thought. More than anything else, with great literature, it becomes important to have an opinion. And that is why I avoided reading Wide Sargasso Sea for so long. The greatest famous book is one that makes you forget about what you are going to say about the book. Sometimes, when I read famous literature, I plan […]
- [Getting Lost](https://varshaseshan.com/getting-lost/): Sometimes, I look back and think, “What a foolish, foolish child I was.” We lived in Vashi when I was very young, and like all children, I was always happier playing outside than being indoors. Unlike most other children, though, little Varsha loved to go and check that Mamma was still there. Just a little peek and a little hug were enough to keep me going for a long time. Once, my mother took my sister and me with her to visit friends of hers. As usual, my sister and I went down to play. We were inattentive little children […]
- [On the Expressway](https://varshaseshan.com/on-the-expressway/): Driving to Mumbai last evening, I noticed all kinds of things that bewildered me. People do the strangest things, and make my imagination soar. In the middle of nowhere, there was a man walking on the divider, in the direction of Mumbai. I wonder, was he walking all the way? On the ghats, returning in the middle of the night, trucks groaned their way up, blocking all three lanes. Below us was the valley, which we could not see. Sitting on the wall that guards the road and separates it from the drop in the valley, was a man playing […]
- [Not Just a Witch](https://varshaseshan.com/not-just-a-witch/): I sometimes feel that a book that is easily read and easily forgotten cannot be a great book. Easy to read is always an important factor, but when it’s also easy to forget, I begin to wonder… Not Just a Witch by Eva Ibbotson is simply charming. It’s old-fashioned in its ‘moral’ idea of doing good and ending wickedness. I know that many people find a story with a moral a little same-old-same-old, but not I. I don’t need morality to be cunningly woven into the plot. I can read about goodness and kindness without feeling the social need to roll […]
- [Another School, Another Life](https://varshaseshan.com/another-school-another-life/): I began another life today. I am to teach English at MIT Pune’s Vishwashanti Gurukul. I felt awkward listening to staff room gossip. How funny it is that I had to open yet another bank account in the same bank. What a beautiful campus! What an awful bus journey. What a lovely library! (I want to see my book there very soon.) I’m excited.
- [Will I ever call it junk?](https://varshaseshan.com/will-i-ever-call-it-junk/): How do teachers throw away cards they receive? The children I read to gave me so many cards. Some were beautiful; some were thoughtful; some were sweet. How can I throw any away? Just a sample of those gems…                    THANK-YOU FOR SHARING SO MANY THINGS I LOVED THOSE THINGS A LOT Dear,: Mrs Varsha ShSeshan Thankyou for giving a leacture of reading and writing stories, I loved it Thankyou for encouraging us to write, you are a star thankyou because of you we learn’t some important things Thankyou fotelling us nice stories […]
- [The Dame who Hated Plants](https://varshaseshan.com/the-dame-who-hated-plants/): Another original story by seven-year-old Varsha. This one won the first prize in a story-writing competition and was published on my mother’s birthday in 1994. The word ‘dame’, for those who have not read Enid Blyton, meant nothing to me except ‘woman’ (often magical/ evil). I wonder if this story could be psycho-analysed. There was once a witch whose name was Dame Rock About. She hated flowers and plants. We don’t know why she hated plants but she hated flowers because she wanted the honey and the honey-bees were taking it. She had a son called Shaggy. He loved plants […]
- [Surprise Farewell Party](https://varshaseshan.com/surprise-farewell-party/): A new life begins for me on the 1st of March. I’m going to stop all my hundreds of classes here and there and teach full-time in a school. Last evening, the girls from one of my classes gave me a surprise farewell party that was truly heart-warming. Thanks to their excited whispered planning, there was no element of surprise, but that took nothing away from the celebration. “A party,” the girls insisted, “must have cake and cold-drinks and chips.” The mothers apparently tried to convince the girls that they were too close to dinnertime to have snacks like that, […]
- [The Oberon Trio](https://varshaseshan.com/the-oberon-trio/): Wow… In class III, I learned a poem about five kittens in a basket. There was one line that said ‘Each one when I pet it seems surely the best’. As The Oberon Trio played, each piece as they played it seemed surely the best. At the end of their Haydn, I could not decide which movement I enjoyed the most. I have no idea how long or short the piece was. At the end of their Brahms, I could not decide which of the instruments I enjoyed most. I wanted to keep listening to all of them. At the […]
- [Gulaal - a festival of expression](https://varshaseshan.com/gulaal-a-festival-of-expression/): Day one of Indian Rhythm and Arts Association’s Gulaal was wonderful. We went essentially for Alarmel Valli’s performance, but were blown away by the second part of the evening – Nandita Das’s Between the Lines. Valli, in keeping with the season, performed two pieces on spring and concluded with a Nritta Lahiri. The upper part of her body was magnificent. Her adherence to the symmetry of Bharatanatyam with the precision of each movement was fabulous, as far as her torso went. What I truly enjoyed was the subtlety of her expression. Many great dancers today seem to me to be moving away from the […]
- [Experiences on Stage III](https://varshaseshan.com/experiences-on-stage-iii/): Performing in Chidambaram is an experience that any dancer would cherish. Mythologically, it is the place where Lord Shiva came and danced the Ananda Tandava, at the request of the sages. The golden temple of Chidambaram finds its way into many traditional songs, thanks to its splendour and history. When we danced there, one of the pieces we performed was, once again, the much-loved Draupadi Vastra Haran. As usual, I was Dusshasan; this time, my teacher was Shakuni. We were on stage, in the middle of the drama when the music suddenly skipped back. Dancers on stage must never show nervousness, […]
- [Book-Reading - A Different One](https://varshaseshan.com/book-reading-a-different-one/): An acquaintance who is part of the Teach for India programme asked whether I would be willing to come to a small government school in Chandannagar and talk about my book, about writing and about dance. I was tremendously excited by the prospect, and agreed immediately. When I got there, though,  I realised how different it was from anything I had expected. The energy of the class was different. They were restless, not willing to sit and listen. They jumped up and down, walked (or rather crawled – because they sit on the floor, not at desks) around the class. […]
- [The Special Green Tile](https://varshaseshan.com/the-special-green-tile/): In the hall where I teach at Sanskriti Cultural Centre, there’s one Special Green Tile. It’s different from the other tiles. For me, all it does is mark the centre of the hall, which makes helps children orient themselves when we have performances. For the children, not so very long ago, the tile was special. In 2010, there was one little girl who used to come nearly half an hour early for class. She loved to dance there, in the centre, and it was her tile. There was no dispute about it. Then, she left class, and there were two girls who wanted […]
- [Raising Children](https://varshaseshan.com/raising-children/): Every so often, I realise just how difficult it is to bring children up. Of course, there are all the financial aspects of parenting, and the tension of finding a school, monitoring TV, internet, books… The list of things parents do for children is simply endless. Recently, I was introduced to another side of parenting. A friend of mine, a young mother with a five-year-old son, was teaching her child an important lesson in sharing. The little one, with his perpetually happy glowing face, offered us a single chip each. His mother corrected him, telling him that it’s normal to […]
- [Getting into the mood](https://varshaseshan.com/getting-into-the-mood/): Before any performance, my dance teacher encourages us not to talk about anything unrelated to dance and the programme ahead of us. She asks us to be silent, thinking about what lies ahead of us, meditating in our own ways. In keeping with the idea, if ever we dance to recorded music, I try and play the music while we get ready. Make-up is a long and tedious process, and having the music in the background helps us settle into the mood of the performance. I also play the music in the car while getting to the venue, to avoid […]
- [Southern Adventures](https://varshaseshan.com/southern-adventures/): Travelling with two friends in the south of India was the experience of a lifetime! Our plan was essentially to go to Pondicherry, but friends convinced us to go to Kodaikanal as well. Buses to and from Kodai were very frequent, so we were willing to try it out. Going to Kodai was longer than we imagined. We did not get a direct bus from Pondicherry. We had been told to go to Madurai, but that was far too, farther than we’d been mentally prepared for. Finally, we took a bus to Vettalakundu, a place we had never heard of. […]
- [Trains in India](https://varshaseshan.com/trains-in-india/): I remember when two friends of ours were coming to India from France, and wanted to travel across the north. We warned them that reserving tickets on trains here is necessary, unlike in Europe. We had to book two months in advance (it was two then, not four, as it now is). They were surprised, but accepted it and made their travel plans well in advance. In France, by the way, and in large parts of Europe, for regular trains (not fast trains) there’s absolutely no need to reserve. My sister and I had a rail pass and we made […]
- [After the Burggarten](https://varshaseshan.com/after-the-burggarten/): I wrote, some time ago, about how we hunted for, and eventually found the city garden – https://varshaseshan.com/blog/burggarten-bitte/. In English, somehow, people we spoke to called it the ‘Rose Garden’ rather than the ‘City Garden’. Not unnaturally, we expected to see roses, but we saw none. The garden was truly beautiful, but we saw no roses; did we not look hard enough? We went after that to a place that stands out in my memory as a unique experience – a Schmetterling Haus. We were told it was a kind of greenhouse, and speaking no German at all, we had no […]
- [Power Cut](https://varshaseshan.com/power-cut/): I remember going to a creperie in Grenoble a few years ago – an important part of my French experience. I was in a large group of Indians for once, and soon after we had placed our order, our delicious lunch was served to us. And then, there was a power cut. We were surprised, but power cuts are not such a new experience for us. Particularly since we were out for lunch and not dinner, we calmly continued to eat, merely commenting on how bizarre it was for this to happen to us in France. What drew our attention […]
- [The Golden Rule](https://varshaseshan.com/the-golden-rule/): During our exchange programme with a school in France, my sister formulated for me The Golden Rule. If you don’t know a word in French, pronounce the English word that you do know in the French way. The likelihood of its being the real French word is very high. We used it for the first time with the word ‘superstition’, and I marvelled at how well it worked. My sister herself broke the golden rule once, though, when we were with French friends in Calcutta. We were in an area dominated by Chinese restaurants and Chinese shoe-makers and I wanted […]
- [Simon the Coldheart](https://varshaseshan.com/simon-the-coldheart-georgette-heyer-review/): What is it about Georgette Heyer that she can turn imagination into language so brilliantly? I reread another Georgette Heyer, before reading Simon the Coldheart, and found myself skipping large sections of it. I think time has made me a little uncomfortable with the romance that she portrays. I squirm more than a little, and run my eyes over the pages sometimes, without reading much. I realise I don’t like her ideas of mastery in romance or the way in which so many of the heroines just seem to give in. Yet, I enjoy Georgette Heyer.Why? Each page sparkles with fun. […]
- [British Library Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/british-library-workshops/): As part of the Reading Challenge organised by the British Library, I will be conducting four workshops! Age-group 5-7 Read Aloud and Colour your Thoughts!                               12th January, 2014 Stories are always more fun when they have pictures. When they have more pictures, they are more interesting! So read a story, or listen to a story and imagine… Whatever you imagine, put down on paper. Draw and colour images from what you read – fill your ideas with colour! The best illustration will receive a prize. Show and Tell                                                                             9th February, 2014 Bring something from home and talk about it to […]
- [The Worry Tree](https://varshaseshan.com/worry-tree/): I remember having a conversation with a friend about the challenges faced by each generation. “Our grandparents had to work hard – physically,” I said. “My grandmother has so many stories of how difficult it was to make dosa batter and things like that. Our parents had financial difficulties, more than anything else. What about us?” “We have emotional and intellectual issues,” my friend said, thoughtfully, “basically about who we are and what we want from life.” In that sense, I think The Worry Tree reaches out to the children of this generation. Children who are worried. Children who sometimes […]
- [Pegasus](https://varshaseshan.com/pegasus-robin-mckinley/): What a mixed bag of emotions! Pegasus was wonderfully imagined. I loved the ideas of feather-tip fingers, strong human hands and flexible wrists, being bound to the pegasi of the sweet green land… Beautiful! There was a kind of raw beauty that reached out and touched me, page after page. The beauty of the Caves – the Caves that are so full – I want to see them too! I feel shivers at the thought of beauty that is so profound that you cannot see it. Rather, you feel it, if you distance yourself from space and time. It was […]
- [Con Person](https://varshaseshan.com/con-artist/): I felt like a con-person the other day at the airport. Every con-artist finds a way to function; I could have stumbled upon one too. I was in the car, dropping my grandparents to the airport. As soon as we reached, I jumped out of the car, ready to go to the airline counter to get wheelchair assistance for my grandfather. I know how irritating it is to have a car standing in the same place, blocking the entrance to the airport. I wanted to avoid that. Standing at the airline counter, I watched the driver unload my grandparents’ luggage […]
- [Chocolate Mousse!](https://varshaseshan.com/chocolate-mousse/): Making something delicious is uniquely delightful! I discovered that as a teenager when I used to beat batter well to get all those awkward emotions out of me. It’s wonderful what 3 eggs, 250 grams of chocolate, 250 grams of cream, 2 teaspoons of rum and a few spoons of sugar can make. God bless the one who invented chocolate mousse. Oh, and I want to direct a special ray of gratitude to the one who made the recipe that I follow, which does not require the painstaking separating of eggs. The makings were delicious. In just a while, I’ll […]
- [No School](https://varshaseshan.com/school/): Winter is here! Cold face, cold hands, cold feet… Ah! It’s lovely! The first morning that fog descended on our school was almost surreal. It was not Pune; it could not be Pune! Cold face and all the rest, sure, I knew all that. But that kind of fog? It was as if we were on a hill-station! We could not see things two feet away from us, let alone the school buildings. Everything was misty; school had disappeared! Standing in queue to punch in, I realised I wasn’t the only teacher delighting in the mist. “No school!” cried one of […]
- [Performed Yesterday!](https://varshaseshan.com/bharatanatyam-performance/): There’s nothing in the world like the thrill of performing. Even if it’s just a tiny performance at my teacher’s place. Nothing much went wrong. There were no black-outs, but that was okay.I was to sit on a small wooden stool for one scene, but no one but I seemed to know where the stool was and I was already on stage. So I got a rickety blue stool instead and I sat on it rather shakily. A few scenes later, when Radha needed the wooden stool, she had to bring it herself. But that was okay too. Everything went […]
- [Performing on Tuesday](https://varshaseshan.com/bharatanatyam-private-performance/): The thrill of performing is here again! A little performance, a private performance this time – not on a stage, and for barely twenty people. “We’ll do it in a very simple way,” said my teacher. “Those who are playing boys will dress in salwar-kameez. The girls will wear practice saris.” Doing it at my teacher’s house, we began to play with the lights. Black-outs, yellow light, white light – we could do that much. “Krishna at least should wear Krishna costume,” my teacher amended. “And Radha, of course.” We used a stool as a cradle for baby Krishna as […]
- [11.12.13](https://varshaseshan.com/11-12-13/): The date today made me think of something that always made me feel special. In many ways, I know I was a strange child. When I was about nine years old, I discovered two extraordinary things. The first was that when I turned ten, I would have a double-digit age for a very long time ahead. The precious uniqueness of a single-digit age was nearly over. Only if I lived to be a hundred would I be special again. Until then, I would be ordinary. Two digits. 10, 11, 12, 13 … All the way to 99. I was so […]
- [Examinations again](https://varshaseshan.com/examinations/): It’s time for some more of those gems – … he just wants to say that they are too nervous to make good but is describing by writing so many words for it. The poem has very shocking connotative and also short story plot used. The priest was just chilling out. (Commentary on The Eve of St. Agnes) The sound is attach as well as detach. They all were behaving very badly everyday and then at night all of them just some their problems and the make each other cry and laugh and when they have to apologize, they are […]
- [Radha and Krishna - the eternal romance](https://varshaseshan.com/radha-krishna-eternal-romance/): Radha and Krishna sit together in the forest, making sweet small talk. The trees, creepers and deer are all around. It’s beautiful. A dancer and I sat together on a small wooden table, getting into the mood of the moment. Dancers surrounded us, creating the atmosphere of trees, creepers and deer. A peacock was supposed to enter the scene and my teacher was choreographing that sequence. ‘Radha’ and I, sitting together, continued what we were supposed to do. A tree and creeper decided to take a break and watch us instead. I didn’t notice them looking. ‘Radha’ lowered her eyes, […]
- [The Joy Luck Club](https://varshaseshan.com/joy-luck-club/): Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club fits so perfectly under the heading ‘unusual’. It’s unusual in every way. The language is unusual. The structure is unusual. The name is unusual. I love the idea of stories of motherhood, and I love stories that do not have a simplistic conclusion. Each story in this collection is the story of a mother and her daughter against a Chinese-American socio-cultural backdrop. Mother and daughter struggle to fit in, while retaining a Chinese identity. Mother and daughter speak a foreign tongue. Mother tries to curl her tongue around ideas that do not have their […]
- [On Two Feet and Wings](https://varshaseshan.com/two-feet-wings/): I’m a slow reader. Despite the fact that I love reading, I take my time over books. Sometimes, I take weeks to finish a book, even one I enjoy. On Two Feet and Wings was not like that. I would never have expected a book based on a true story to have transported me into a world I do not know at all. Powerful, moving, pacy – what cliched words these are! But each of them is apt. I started reading Abbas Kazerooni’s story only because someone gave me On Two Feet and Wings for my birthday. When I started reading it, […]
- [Responses to Ethics](https://varshaseshan.com/ethics-world-city-stories/): Delighted with the response! In addition to many, many mails, this is on the “Ethics” on worldcitystories.com. Waiting for reviews like this on The Story-Catcher!  
- [On the long list again!](https://varshaseshan.com/toto-awards-long-list/): Yes, it’s a grand year! Toto Funds the Arts Creative Writing (English) long list for 2014 is here! Twenty-two applicants are on the long list for the Creative Writing (English) Toto Awards 2014. They are: 1. Shalini Jagadish, Bangalore. 2. Dion D’Souza, Mumbai. 3. Mihir Vatsa, Delhi. 4. Rohan Chhetri, Gurgaon. 5. Ronaan Roy, Mumbai. 6. Kaushik Viswanath, Chennai. 7. Urvashi Bahuguna, Gurgaon. 8. Dani Kumaramangalam, Chennai. 9. Pervin Saket, Pune. 10. Varsha Seshan, Pune. 11. Neha Mathrani, Pune. 12. Neeraj Sebastian, Bangalore. 13. Aditya Jha, Noida. 14. Vaswar Mitra, Bangalore. 15. M.V. Sita, New Delhi. 16. Ritwik Deshpande, Pune. 17. […]
- [Indian Summer](https://varshaseshan.com/indian-summer-pratima-mitchell/): As I read Indian Summer by Pratima Mitchell, I kept oscillating between approval and disgust. There were parts that were so real that they reached out to me and made me think, “That’s exactly, perfectly captured!” And there were parts that were so real that they made me curl my lip and think, “Why do people write about things that are so mundane?” I rolled my eyes at parts of the book because I found them utterly inane. I found myself enjoying parts of the story and its telling so much that I wondered to whom I could recommend it […]
- [Vierge Noire](https://varshaseshan.com/vierge-noire/): The Vierge Noire – the Black Virgin – how little I know of her, but how enthralling it is! When I visited Chambéry for the first time in 2004, I am sure we visited the chapel with the Vierge Noire, a black statue of the Virgin Mary, but then, I did not quite understand its import. I had no idea about the significance of a black Vierge (Virgin/Madonna), nor about the complexity involved in keeping the statue of the Vierge Noire underground, with a golden Virgin dominating the chapel and even a wooden statue of Jesus and Mary above the […]
- [A Conversation in Paris](https://varshaseshan.com/conversation-paris/): A few years ago, I was alone at Paris airport. Shortly after I landed, I went to use the washroom. Sitting on a wheelchair was an old, old lady with wrinkles all over her face. As I stood there, managing my hand-luggage, coat and all the other hundreds of miscellaneous things I was carrying, she dropped her face in her hands. I looked at her uncomfortably. I did not know if I spoke a language she knew. I did not know whether she was crying. I did not know whether I was expected to do anything, whether it would be […]
- [Scrappy and Trashy](https://varshaseshan.com/taisi-sports-meet/): At the sixth annual TAISI Sports Meet, I think what made me happiest was the mascot! Broken bats, punctured footballs and basketballs, and other disused sports equipment came together to create Scrappy and Trashy! But more endearing than the mascot itself, were two bored young boys. Fed up of waiting around, they began, of course, to kick the punctured balls around. After all, who cares if the ball they want to kick around is part of the artwork that goes into making the mascot? It is, before anything else, a ball!
- [A Cup of Coffee](https://varshaseshan.com/cup-coffee/): I was relishing a cup of coffee this morning and thinking about its history, both a personal history and the history of coffee itself. Personally, I disliked coffee. I did not like the smell or taste. Now, having become a good south Indian, I love a cup of good, strong, hot filter coffee. At a more general level, I often wonder how tea, coffee and tobacco entered human lives. What strange human being imagined the result of the complicated process that goes into the making of these things? In a book I read some time ago, The Moneylender’s Daughter, there […]
- [Expectations](https://varshaseshan.com/expectations/): Theory of Knowledge challenges the way we know, and I wanted to show how we see what we expect to see. Of course, these are old, old ideas, but they were fun anyway! I showed my class this picture: “What does it say?” I asked. “Paris in the spring!” “Are you sure?” I asked several students. In a class of over twenty, only one – and eventually one more – disagreed. Then, I asked a student to identify the picture: “Six of hearts!” came a reply. It took just a few seconds for another student to object, but my point […]
- [Nehru Bal Sangh](https://varshaseshan.com/nehru-bal-sangh/): One fine day in 1964, a group of fifth class students envisaged a forum where all of them could meet and spread the message of love, brotherhood and harmony to all the corners of the country. Their initiative and drive mixed with their deep commitment to make their country strong, united and prosperous helped lay the foundations of a voluntary non-political organization – Nehru Bal Sangh. It started in a very simple way in New Delhi and has emerged as a national organization with branches in more than sixteen states if the country over the years. It has the blessings […]
- [Animal Farm](https://varshaseshan.com/animal-farm/): Animal Farm is the kind of book that I could read over and over again. It was written in just a few months and it’s less than a hundred pages long. I was revolted and fascinated by it the first time I read it and I’m revolted and fascinated even now as I teach it. What a fabulous book it has to be to evoke a response time and time again! How rich it is, and yet, how simple! When the pigs begin the gentle takeover, I squirm within, but believe how it could happen. I am enthralled (more than a […]
- [Chalkline](https://varshaseshan.com/chalkline/): I recently read Neil Gaiman’s views on escapism:  I hear the term bandied about as if it’s a bad thing. As if “escapist” fiction is a cheap opiate used by the muddled and the foolish and the deluded, and the only fiction that is worthy, for adults or for children, is mimetic fiction, mirroring the worst of the world the reader finds herself in. If you were trapped in an impossible situation, in an unpleasant place, with people who meant you ill, and someone offered you a temporary escape, why wouldn’t you take it? And escapist fiction is just that: fiction […]
- [Writing in the Genes](https://varshaseshan.com/business-india-report/): Never thought a business magazine would have a picture of me! All thanks to my father, and to the fact that I have writing in my genes!
- [Wild Dog Hunt](https://varshaseshan.com/wild-dog-hunt/): No one will ever believe that it’s not very easy to see wild dogs in the jungle if you spot them three times during the course of the same safari. At first, we saw five. Then we heard wild fowl crying out to one another – alarmed that the dogs were nearby. We then saw another dog. How domestic it looked, standing there, ears cocked. The only thing missing was the wagging tail. And then, returning by the main road, I saw something white being dragged into the jungle, away from the road. That ‘something white’ was the belly of […]
- [Tigress](https://varshaseshan.com/tigress-tadoba/): We did see a tigress on our very first safari at Tadoba this time around. When I went to Ranthambhor, as part of a school excursion, we were divided into ten groups. Nine groups saw a tiger. Mine didn’t. Then I went to Kanha. Three safaris there – and I didn’t see a tiger. Then, Nagarhole. Three safaris there – and I didn’t see a tiger. Then, Tadoba. After the first two safaris, when I didn’t see a tiger, I had a conversation with my sister. “I don’t know why people are so obsessed with tigers, really. Of course, I […]
- [The All-New Media Page!](https://varshaseshan.com/new-media-page/): I’m delighted to have a brand new page on my website – the media page! From Let’s Play! onwards, there have been several articles about my writing and about me. Finally, they come together on the media page of my website! Sakal Times, DNA, The Times of India, Mid-Day … And hopefully many more to come!
- [Back from the Wild - Again](https://varshaseshan.com/back-from-the-wild-again/): Green forests. Dense. Tall grass. Just a few metres away, a tiger could be hiding and we wouldn’t even know. Anticipation is thrilling. Spider webs glinting in the sunshine. A huge black spider poised on her web eats a grasshopper. The black ibis with its red hood and impressive beak pecks away in the grass. Sambhar – first the doe, then the stag – cross the road in front of us. They pause in the middle of the road to look at us. The way we go look at the animals, maybe they thought they’d step out today and look […]
- [Bookaroo Festival of Children's Literature, Pune - 2013](https://varshaseshan.com/bookaroo-festival-of-childrens-literature-pune-2013/): Twenty-two speakers from five countries and 11 cities are going to be interacting with children, bringing children and books together. It’s happening in Pune! Dates: 3oth November and 1st December Venue: Sambhaji Park, Jangali Maharaj Road, Pune I’m looking forward to it!
- [The Children's Hour](https://varshaseshan.com/the-childrens-hour/): I picked up the DVD about nine years ago because I saw Audrey Hepburn’s picture on the cover. I like Hepburn. I knew I would like the film. I did not know how much it would haunt me, though. The Children’s Hour is one of those very few movies whose story I have retold time and time again. Watching it again a couple of days ago, I was as disturbed as I was the first time I watched it. I was moved to tears more than once. Emotion, passion, frustration, desire, love, fear – everything comes together in The Children’s Hour. […]
- [Perspective](https://varshaseshan.com/perspective/): In the little primary school in Perani where we worked, money is of course a problem. Going there with students from an international school put things into stark contrast. The base of the four walls of the classroom is painted black. The black area is about three and a half feet high. One of the services students from my school rendered was to paint vertical white lines on the black area of the wall to divide it into sections. “We often fall short of notebooks,” we were informed. “So, the children have slates to work with at home. Here in […]
- [Painting Gates](https://varshaseshan.com/painting-gates/): Children are morbid. There’s no other word for it sometimes. A little boy, Tamilbaradhi, was watching a student of mine painting a gate. “Don’t touch the gate,” I warned him. He nodded, knowingly, but seemed to expect me to say more. “The beautiful, freshly painted gate will get spoilt,” I clarified. Tamilbaradi frowned. That was not what he expected. “My hand will get stuck to it,” he said, eagerly. Fresh oil paint, small child (about three years old) – I agreed. “Yes, your hand will get stuck to it.” “And I will never be able to pull it away,” continued […]
- [Half an Egg](https://varshaseshan.com/half-an-egg/): Last week, I was at Pondicherry with 56 students and 4 colleagues. We volunteered to work for Habitat for Humanity, building a road, painting houses and painting gates, among other things. It was an experience of a lifetime. Working with my students at a primary school, we witnessed the mid-day meal. The midday meal proudly provides not just rice and a watery dish of pulses, but also an egg. On our first day at the midday meal, we watched a child distributing an egg to each child. There were three eggs short. Six children got only half an egg. No […]
- [After the Story Games](https://varshaseshan.com/after-the-story-games/): With the One-Word-Story-Game and the One-Phrase-Story-Game, my purpose was to point out how powerless we feel when we can’t control language. I spoke about different aspects of language as power and why we feel more in control when we have a whole phrase to ourselves, rather than a single word. Then, I moved to the third group and whispered to them, “I want you to explain ‘triangle’ without using the words ‘sides’ and ‘three’.” The students thought about it for a while. Finally, they said, “This is a closed figure, closely associated with Bermuda.” Of course it was clear enough. […]
- [Language](https://varshaseshan.com/language/): Teaching Language as a Way of Knowing, I wanted to introduce to my students what a powerful tool language is. In keeping with that, I also wanted to bring out how powerless you feel when you don’t have control over a language. So I played some stuff that I learned at the Storytelling workshop I attended recently. The first round was the One-Word-Story-Game. In a group, each participant is allowed to contribute just one word at a time. It’s particularly frustrating when you know you can’t contribute something meaningful. For instance, suppose you’re third in the group. The first person says ‘Once’. […]
- [Dashami](https://varshaseshan.com/dashami/): Yes, I know many would disagree and say that tomorrow is Dashami, not today. But we celebrated it today. Last year, my dance teacher was not here, and somehow, we put things together and managed. (In the south, Dashami is a Big Deal. We start our year of education on Dashami. Coming just after Saraswati Pooja, we pray to excel in dance, music and academia. With my teacher’s devout prayers, the whole day is invested with a sense of solemn ceremony.) Last year, as I said, in her absence, we somehow managed. This year, thankfully, she was there. The problem, […]
- [Running Wild](https://varshaseshan.com/running-wild/): I don’t usually like thick hardbound books. They are daunting and, usually, boring. As soon as I make that statement, though, I realise how many exceptions there are. Running Wild is one of them. It has pages and pages of description, but not once was I bored. Morpurgo, at the end of the book, talks of his motivation for this novel. He talks about The Jungle Book, about his fascination for elephants, about the Iraq war, the Indonesian tsunami and the impending extinction of orangutans. Running Wild brings together all these. After a long time, I felt rage, a lump in my throat, […]
- [Day Five - Reading was Fun!](https://varshaseshan.com/day-five-reading-was-fun/): And that was the end of that. Photographs will come soon, I’m sure. But right now, my head is filled with all kinds of thoughts. Children are like magpies. They love shiny things. All of them loved the golden tape I took with me to bind their work together. I thought they’d like to use ribbons, but golden tape won hands down. Children are affectionate in ways that adults can never be. One of the children stood at my elbow, rubbing his stomach on my arm. I cannot even begin to imagine an older child doing that. Children are unbelievably […]
- [Day Four - Reading is Fun!](https://varshaseshan.com/day-four-reading-is-fun/): “Tomorrow, our last session, is going to have the most exciting activity of all!” I announced, at the end of today’s session. “Ooh! What is it?” “What are we going to do?” “What is the activity for tomorrow?” “I’ll tell you tomorrow!” I said, smiling. “So, how do you feel?” I expected them to say ‘excited’, ‘enthusiastic’, ‘curious’, ‘eager’ … All of them, practically unanimously said, “We feel sad!” “The workshop is getting OVER!” one of them explained. I did not know whether to be happy or sad.
- [Tikki tikki tembo](https://varshaseshan.com/tikki-tikki-tembo/): You know one of the most beautiful things about a storytelling workshop? I listened to so many stories! Here’s one of them (not told by Nell, but by one of the workshop participants). Long, long ago, in a village in China, there lived a family with two sons. The elder son was called Tikki-tikki-tembo-no-sa-rembo-chari-bari-ruchi-pip-peri-pembo. The younger one was simply called Chang. One day, the two brothers were playing near the well. Suddenly, Chang fell into the well! The elder brother ran to his mother. “Mother, mother!” he cried. “Chang has fallen into the well!” “Quick!” cried his mother. “Go to […]
- [Storytelling Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-workshop/): Time flew. I simply could not hold on to it. When I thought about an 11-3 workshop, I confess I did think, “Hmm. There’ll definitely be parts where I’m bored.” I was wrong. Travelling from my school in Loni to British Library on Fergusson College Road, I realised for the first time why all the residential staff at my school thinks of ‘going to Pune’ as such a big deal. By the time I reached the library, I felt sticky and irritable, as one does after a long and rather tiresome journey. I definitely was not in the mood for […]
- [Storytelling!](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling/): The difference between storytelling and drama is that the audience actually exists. The actor engages with the audience, can hear the audience, see the audience and speak to the audience. And what a wonderful experience my first storytelling experience was! Burd Ellen makes the mistake of going widdershins; Childe Rowland rescues her. We don’t have Childe Rowland to rescue us, so what’s the moral of the story? Don’t go widdershins around a church! What an outdated story it sounds like, but Nell Phoenix made every moment come alive. Working with (or against) adults with huge inhibitions and children who did […]
- [Day Three - Reading is Fun!](https://varshaseshan.com/day-three-reading-is-fun/): I always tremble when I talk about my book. But somehow, today was just perfect. For once, I felt that the children simply loved the story and were still eager for more! Today was a grand day. I bit my lip controlling my laughter as a child read a little excerpt he had written about writing letters. About how he would write a letter. His mother would write a letter. His father would write a letter. His friends would write letters too. He ended the letter-writing spree with ‘I love Geronimo Stilton’. I didn’t quite understand the link, somehow. The […]
- [Swarada Datar](https://varshaseshan.com/swarada-datar/): Where does the beauty of dance lie? When it comes to Bharatanatyam, particularly the Pandanallur style, surely it’s in the lines, the perfect geometry and the crisp, precise body movements. Whatever else may have been lacking, the geometry in Swarada’s dance was certainly perfect. Her performance was excellent. It’s rare for me to use a word like that for art, but there’s nothing else I can find to describe it. I had problems with it. In some places, I found it rather too sharp. In quite a few places, I found that she spent more time looking at the backdrop […]
- [Working, Working, Workshop!](https://varshaseshan.com/working-working-workshop/): Reading is Fun! Day One Day Two And now, I’m excited about the next one, coming soon …
- [Day Two - Reading is Fun!](https://varshaseshan.com/day-two-reading-is-fun/): Yesterday was the second exciting session with eager young children, waiting to be entertained. I began with a presentation on the process of the making of the book – from the mind of the writer to the hands of the reader. It was a long (yet brief) detailed explanation of different aspects of the process. Reading, getting an idea, writing, sending the manuscript, rejections, sending it again, an acceptance, contract, editing … It was an engaging discussion, with the children enthusiastic about participating. “Any questions?” I asked, before moving on to the next activity I had planned for them. Several […]
- [Sophie's Lucky](https://varshaseshan.com/sophies-lucky/): The perfect children’s book is not one that you read and say, “Oh, I would have loved it so much if I had read it when I was seven!” The perfect children’s book is one that you read and say, “What a truly delightful book!” And that’s what I feel when I read Sophie’s Lucky, or, in fact, practically everything I’ve read by Dick King-Smith (except one, to tell the truth). I love what he makes me feel. I love that warm sense of belonging, of animal love, of regular daily happiness. I remember being thrilled with The Sheep-Pig and thoroughly enjoying Ace. I […]
- [The Prince and Other Modern Fables](https://varshaseshan.com/the-prince-and-other-modern-fables/): Prose poetry at its most beautiful. I never thought I could enjoy stories like this so much. Every story is so rich, so intricate, so charming! It’s supposed to be for children and adults alike, but I wonder how much I would have taken in had I read it as a child. Reading it now, I smiled, I shook my head and felt that warm glow of my inside smiling. Take, for example, an excerpt from A Day ‘… The room was dark. I didn’t feel like working. I picked up the sitar and struck up Raag Malhar, a tune befitting […]
- [The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar](https://varshaseshan.com/the-wonderful-story-of-henry-sugar/): Perhaps it was the right to time to reread this book and realise that Roald Dahl, genius beyond compare, never intended to be a writer. In the last-but-one story, he talks about how he happened to get a lucky break and things did not stop after that. He also writes about a little notebook in which he jots down ideas as they occur to him. The most wonderful stories of all time, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar come from a maximum of three sentences. Roald Dahl, Roald Dahl. Will I ever be able to write an […]
- [Day One - Reading is Fun!](https://varshaseshan.com/day-one-reading-is-fun/): And fun it certainly was! I had 21 children there in all. Apparently, after 20 registrations had been made, someone wanted to join. The child was told that there were no seats left, but she could try her luck, show up at the workshop and see if anyone backed out. The child diligently showed up early. No one backed out, but how could I tell her to go home? I told her to join in! We read, we acted, we played. I recited Television by Roald Dahl. I made them recite several poems. One of them was exceptionally good. I made […]
- [Yesterday](https://varshaseshan.com/yesterday/): Yesterday, we performed again. We were early. The audience was late. We started half an hour late, after our lovely organiser called out on the mike to the society and large, “Green Acres, come on, wake up! Get up and come to the clubhouse!” We took our own music system – a largish one that was actually audible. We also performed indoors, making the sound that much clearer. We were close, close, close to the audience, almost as if ready to break the fourth wall. I actually wondered whether to break the fourth wall and involve the audience. I wonder […]
- [Performing today!](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-today/): When we performed on Ganesh Chaturti for our society, despite all the hitches, we were asked to repeat our performance. We’re not quite repeating it; we’ve chosen different pieces this time. Our encore will be performed today; I hope it’s better than the last one!
- [Last Evening's Performance](https://varshaseshan.com/last-evenings-performance/): I have no pictures yet, but I can’t resist sharing yet another performance story. First of all, we were ‘late’. Apparently we were expected there by 7:30. Except that we were told we would begin at 8. Being the children of the society (well, we were children when we performed 13 years ago!), we were scolded as soon as we reached. And then, there was no music system. Everybody apologised to everybody else. We were told to sing while everyone waited for a music system. “Sorry,” we said, uncomfortably, “we don’t sing.” Finally, my mother brought a music system from […]
- [Performing this evening!](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-this-evening/): It’s been ages since my sister and I performed together at a programme organised by our society. I remember the time, ages ago, when the two of us practised on the little round stage in the lawn. It was in 97 or 98. How far we’ve come since then! We played our music on audio cassettes, rewinding and fast-forwarding, working on our synchronisation. Now, we probably practise as much or more, but differently. Synchronisation must be taken that many notches higher. Quality cannot possibly be compromised. I look forward to it!
- [The Lion King](https://varshaseshan.com/the-lion-king/): I belong to the generation that was addicted to The Lion King video game. I loved jumping on the giraffes’ heads, and loved to get the bonus points for a golden lion that did not look like a lion at all. I loved moving from level to level of jumping colour. However, I also belonged to the very small group of children who had not watched the movie. I remember a friend telling me that he had reached the Elephant Graveyard, and it was a very difficult level. “What elephant graveyard?” I asked. He looked at me wide-eyed. “The one with the […]
- [13 registrations done!](https://varshaseshan.com/13-registrations-done/): Thirteen children will be part of my reading workshop that starts on Sunday! Seven seats left . . .
- [Reading Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop/): I spoke to Ms Sugandhi from the British Library last Sunday, and she said that 11 children had already registered! There are just 20 seats in all; now is the time!
- [Teachers' Day](https://varshaseshan.com/teachers-day/): What a novel Teachers’ Day experience! The children impersonated the teachers; that was a treat. How funny it is to see how students see me! I couldn’t stop laughing. Another wonderful part of the day was a quiz about the 12th grade students, prepared by the students. And a treasure hunt in the block. I haven’t run up and down like that for a long, long time! Perhaps the performance during the latter half of the day was not as much of a delight as it could have been, but the rest of the day more than made up for […]
- [Treason](https://varshaseshan.com/treason/): The year is 1539. King Henry VIII is King of England. All three of his wives, Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour are dead. He has three children: Mary, Elizabeth and the long-awaited heir to his throne, Edward. Henry has broken away from the Church of Rome because the Pope would not allow him to divorce his first wife. Anyone who refuses to accept that he is the Supreme Head of the Church of England is accused of an offence that is punishable by death. Treason. That’s how the book begins. And it did not let me down. […]
- [How Green Was My Valley](https://varshaseshan.com/how-green-was-my-valley/): I read the book when I was eleven or so. It was among the very few books that made me feel I was too young to tackle that kind of emotion. I remember thinking that I would be able to feel everything better when I was older and did not need to look up words like ‘colliery’ which found their way into every chapter of the book. I never did read the book again, but I did watch the movie. I wept right through it. Family love is unique. Brother and brother, father and son, mother and son. How Green Was […]
- [The Emotions after . . .](https://varshaseshan.com/the-emotions-after/): I’ve lost track of the number of Arangetrams I’ve watched from the wings. But the mood of one that is well done is always the same. When I can feel what the dancer feels, I think it’s perhaps even more intense than a wedding day, except that I have no notion of how that feels. On the day of anyone’s Arangetram, I feel humility. I feel, “Can I do that? Can I do that as well as she does it?” On the day of an Arangetram, I feel pride and joy. “This girl has actually taken that step. She has […]
- [Available worldwide!](https://varshaseshan.com/available-worldwide/): Just discovered that The Story-Catcher is not available just in India and the US! It’s available in the UK too! (And perhaps elsewhere in the world that I have not discovered yet!)
- [Arangetram on Friday](https://varshaseshan.com/arangetram-on-friday/): Tejashree Natu, disciple of Guru Smt Mythili Raghavan, will be performing her Arangetram on Friday, the 30th of August, at Tilak Smarak Mandir at 5:45 p.m.  Credits Nattuvangam: Guru Smt Mythili Raghavan Vocal: Sri Sivaprasad Mridangam: Sri Sankar Narayanan Violin: Sri Anantharaman Make-up: Sri Mohan and Smt Lakshmi Compères: Nisha and Varsha Programme Alarippu (Panchajati) Thodaya Mangalam (Raagamaalikai) Varnam (Thodi) Keerthanam (Poorva Kalyani) Shlokam – Kastwam Bala Abhang Thillana (Hindolam)
- [Arangetram - Tejashree](https://varshaseshan.com/arangetram-tejashree/): The Academy of Indian Dances cordially invites you to Tejashree’s Arangetram.
- [Seatbelt](https://varshaseshan.com/seatbelt/): During an exchange programme with a school in France, I noticed something I had never noticed before – rickshaws do not have doors! The first time I went in a rickshaw with my French correspondent, my eyes widened. How comfortable would she feel? Would she be afraid of a vehicle like this without doors? I glanced sideways at her. But like a true exchange student, she had come with an open mind. I saw her steel herself and deliberately remain silent with respect to this doorless wonder. I breathed a sigh of relief. Inside the rickshaw, she looked around, confused. […]
- [Advertisement](https://varshaseshan.com/advertisement/): A banner I saw made me chuckle all the way to school: POSH ROOMS AVAILABLE ON COT BASIS
- [Mr. Popper's Penguins](https://varshaseshan.com/mr-poppers-penguins/): Perhaps Peppy created “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper corn.” Because Peppy, Mr. Popper’s personal assistant, takes particular pleasure in paraphrasing paragraphs to produce passages that permit plentiful pronunciations of /p/. What a delightful movie! Why is it, though, that I cannot watch a movie with animals in it without wincing inwardly at the thought of how those animals were trained? While watching horror movies, I find it difficult to step back and think of the characters as actors. While watching movies with animals, I cannot involve myself enough to be swept away by the love and loyalty […]
- [Dragonfly](https://varshaseshan.com/dragonfly/): Some pacy books are formulaic, and this one is one of them.Prince must marry Princess – it’s a political alliance. Prince and Princess hate each other; they have all kinds of adventures; then they love each other; then they get married.This fits in exactly. Yet, Dragonfly warmed me. There are some books that, like Disney movies, touch you even if you can tell, scene by scene, what’s going to happen. Tashi, the young princess, grows to be a person, not a white painted princess. The idea of romance across cultures is amusing, inviting and heart-warming. Yet, one idea in the book that […]
- [Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani](https://varshaseshan.com/yeh-jawaani-hai-deewani/): I watched the movie two months ago, but did not write about it out of – I can’t find a better word – cowardice. The whole world seemed to like the movie. On Facebook, everyone who spoke about it seemed thrilled to bits. When I hinted at things I found revolting about the film, I received a mild eye-roll with unspoken and spoken questions like It’s just a movie; why are you taking things so literally? and Why do you over-analyse entertainment so much?I was expected, apparently, to tuck my brains under the closest seat and be hugely entertained. Needless to say, […]
- [Independence Day](https://varshaseshan.com/independence-day/): I have a dear friend who is half-French, half-Brazilian. She’s been living in India for about five years now, and is a unique blend of several cultures. Here’s what she said about the 15th of August, 2013. How I feel during Independence Day…  So today is Independence Day and I went for Flag hoisting in my schoolThe attendance is compulsory and and I am a batch holder so there is no way I can miss. But even if i could I wouldn’t! People might think I’d get extremely bored… half the speeches are in marathi, and the songs in hindi […]
- [MRP](https://varshaseshan.com/mrp/): On the radio, I hear advertisements, urging the consumer to wake up and realise that the Maximum Retail Price is printed on all kinds of products. Consumers are duped by dishonest shopkeepers simply because they do not know that they should look at the MRP. I sometimes feel bad when I listen to these ads. I agree with the motive behind it, yes, but I feel bad because it was a shopkeeper who taught me to look at the MRP. As a child in Bangalore, I often went with my sister across the road to a shop to buy all […]
- [A Tribute: Prem Jeevan](https://varshaseshan.com/a-tribute-prem-jeevan/): I met her twice. Two memorable times. I know nothing or next to nothing about Osho, but once I had the pleasure of dropping this formidable lady, Prem Jeevan, to Koregaon Park. I had a long ride with her, during which she told me about her life, her daughters, and her association with the Osho Ashram. She told me about how she lived in a caravan, once upon a time. She wanted to know more about IB, and was thrilled that a board like this existed. She told me about a time when she spoke at The Bishop’s School and […]
- [Asylum](https://varshaseshan.com/asylum/): For once, the amount of time I’ve taken to read this says nothing about the book. I remember reading Bloom of Youth. I was faintly unhappy with it. I then somehow ended up reading Grandmother’s Footsteps and was so bored with it that I decided never to read Rachel Anderson again. Thankfully, despite what the proverb says, I always judge books by their covers. When I picked Asylum, I did not even notice the name of the writer, and the cover was so significantly different from the other two that I’d read, that I realised much later that it was by an author […]
- [The Pursuit of Happyness](https://varshaseshan.com/the-pursuit-of-happyness/): Yes, I know I ought to have watched this long ago. Yes, I know that practically everyone has already watched this. But it moved me to tears, and I cannot not write about it. The story of a struggle against all odds is always touching, but what truly moved me was love. When is it not? A child, five years old, willing to keep on going. A child whose biggest sorrow seems to come from losing a beloved toy. A child who wonders whether his mother left home because of him. A child who worships his father, and keeps on […]
- [Encyclopedias](https://varshaseshan.com/encyclopedias/): I remember a time in school when a teacher asked what we liked to read, and one child replied, “Encyclopedias.” I inwardly rolled my eyes and thought, “Oh my God! What an unimaginative sycophant!” (Well, maybe not those words, but you know . . .) Today, I apologise. In the library, I opened a volume of the World Book encyclopedia set, and it was like stepping into a world of knowledge far more beautiful than Wikipedia with its five hundred hyperlinks per page. I read up to prepare for a class ahead, and was amazed at how exciting it is […]
- [Theory of Knowledge](https://varshaseshan.com/theory-of-knowledge/): I teach ‘Theory of Knowledge’. That’s part of my job description now. We have many questions that count as TOK questions. Epistemological questions, ethical questions, ontological questions, the works. For once, though, I have a very strong TOK answer rather than a TOK question. The question is, “Can I explain humour?” The answer is ‘no’. Discussing existentialism in class, I naturally spoke about René Descartes and his famous ‘I think, therefore I am.’ Very stupidly, I decided to tell a joke as well about how Descartes walked into McDonald’s and ordered a burger. “Do you want fries with that?” asked […]
- [Toto Funds the Arts 2014](https://varshaseshan.com/toto-funds-the-arts-2014/): I wrote about having been long-listed for the Toto awards three years in a row, without being shortlisted even once – it’s time to try again! I know there are several young writers who read my blog, writers who don’t quite know how and where to begin. A competition is sometimes the best place. I know that’s where I made my beginning! So, anything I write for will now find a way into my blog. Why not?
- [Stories on a Postcard Challenge](https://varshaseshan.com/stories-on-a-postcard-challenge/): I found this such a charming idea that I felt compelled to share it! I have so many memories of postcards! My father used to send postcards like this to me when I was on vacation in Bangalore with my grandparents. Somehow, I remember one postcard very clearly. ‘Did you hear the one about the two holes in the ground? Well, well.’ I remember finding it inordinately funny. I still have the postcard! Needless to say, I will take part in this!
- [The Diary I'm Using](https://varshaseshan.com/the-diary-im-using/): I can’t stop laughing. I found an age-old diary. It’s a 1988 diary, and I seem to have started using it in the early nineties. Only a few pages are used, so I picked it up to use again. As always, one of the first few pages has space provided for personal details. Name, address, phone number, insurance policy number, driving licence number . . .   Little Varsha chose to fill in just three spaces. Name: Varsha Seshan Phone number: 612060 Height: Very short
- [Movies and Me](https://varshaseshan.com/movies-and-me/): I don’t like horror movies. Or even thrillers, or anything remotely frightening. I don’t find them funny, the way most people seem to. They don’t make me laugh and say, “How lame! That’s not scary at all!” I get scared. It’s as simple as that. I remember a time we got together to watch Hide and Seek. We were spending the night at a friend’s place, and, as is meet, we started watching the movie at night.  I was determined not to be afraid. I kept telling myself, “This is just a movie.” I drew my eyes off the screen over […]
- [The Peculiar English Language](https://varshaseshan.com/the-peculiar-english-language/): Of course we know that language is peculiar. And English? Any new speaker finds it ridiculously bewildering. I’m reading a book by Rachel Anderson called Asylum.  More about that will come in a book-review soon, but it brought me to laugh aloud at the ridiculous English language. We learned similes in school. As fresh as a? Daisy! (Never mind if none of us really knew what a daisy was) As cool as a? Cucumber! (I always thought of the vendors all the way up to Sinhagad, and imagined them calling out ‘as cool as a cucumber, as cool as a […]
- [Happy Birthday, Harry Potter](https://varshaseshan.com/happy-birthday-harry-potter/): How can I let this day go by without wishing one of my favourite fictional characters of all time? I don’t have the books in front of me, but phrases flash through my mind – ’emotional range of a teaspoon’ ‘Gred and Forge’ I can see Harry at school, praying not to get to into Slytherin. I can see him thinking about what ‘Wood’ Prof McGonagall could mean. I can see the glint in his eyes when he thinks of the fact that the Dursleys don’t know that he is not permitted to use magic at home. Ah, Harry, Harry. […]
- [The Decimal System](https://varshaseshan.com/the-decimal-system/): I was just thinking about how glad I was that the decimal system was in place. With the wonderful zero, 10 mm conveniently make a cm, 100 cm make a metre and all of that – how beautifully easy. No more thoughts of 12 inches to a foot, and complicated measurements for yards and miles. Coming to weight – no pounds and ounces. Only grams and kilograms. Count in tens; everybody’s happy. Leave all the peculiar twelves and other such-likes out. Sure, the world is a simpler place with the decimal system, but there’s one thing that had better stay […]
- [Guess what I received today!](https://varshaseshan.com/guess-what-came-i-receive-post-today/): A very dear, thoughtful friend of mine sent this to me! I know it’s unclear! But aren’t telegrams supposed to be? (Clicking on the picture does open a clearer image)  
- [The Haunting of Hiram](https://varshaseshan.com/the-haunting-of-hiram/): Yesterday, when MJ Shubhra asked me to recommend books at the ‘Book Club’ show, I was tongue-tied, somehow. I could think of nothing. On my desk lay an Eva Ibbotson, so I said ‘Eva Ibbotson’. My favourite by her remains Journey to the River Sea, but I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by her. The Haunting of Hiram was no different. It’s a wacky book about a Scottish castle, bought by an American millionaire, and transported to Texas. The millionaire has a daughter who has polio, and predictably, the millionaire (the Hiram of the title) wants to protect and mollycoddle her. So, the […]
- [Surprise Interview](https://varshaseshan.com/surprise-interview/): I never have call waiting turned on. Yesterday, somehow I did. An unknown number was calling me as I spoke to a very dear friend – a landline number. At first, I ignored it. I got another call. I was puzzled. And another. So I took it. “Varsha Seshan!” said the voice at the other end. “Ye-es…?” And it was MJ Shubhra from Radio One. I spoke to her, just like that, out of the blue. Did you listen in?
- [Radio One!](https://varshaseshan.com/radio-one/): Tune in to 94.3 FM Radio One – Maximum Music, Maximum Choice! Immediately! Surprise interview about The Story-Catcher and its author!
- [On Being Krishna](https://varshaseshan.com/on-being-krishna/): Watching the Indore video last night reminded me – For the last piece that all of us performed together, my teacher was keen that Krishna use a real flute. So a friend bought a flute for me and I diligently decorated it. I put lovely peacock feather tassels and gold ribbon around Krishna’s melodious flute. (My flute, just to make things clear, is not at all melodious. I can make a few harsh sounds. That’s all.) I did not really practise with the flute, but it was fun to have a flute, so I used it to my best advantage. […]
- [Circus School](https://varshaseshan.com/circus-school/): Originally, before we left for Chambéry, we were told that we would be taught a bit. We were told we would actually have a real circus lesson. Of course we were excited! Story-books and circus smells ran through my imagination as I thought about it! It was only when we got there that we realised that a lesson was not on the circus school’s agenda. The artistes were practising for an upcoming event, so they could not waste time teaching over-excited novices. We were disappointed, naturally. For many of us, I think the whole joy of the circus school was lost. […]
- [What is literature?](https://varshaseshan.com/what-is-literature/): I asked my AS Level class, “What is literature?” One by one, students came and wrote on the board what they thought. ‘The study of a language.’ ‘The study of poetry and drama.’ ‘The study of a language, poetry, prose and drama.’ “What about a diary or travelogue?” I hinted. ‘Anything that is written.’ “What about a story passed down from my grandmother? Is that literature?” ‘Anything that has grammar/ words.’ Eventually, we came to the next question, “What is poetry?” “Something with lines that rhyme,” suggested one student. “Does it have to rhyme?” I asked. “No… Okay, so something […]
- [Hyperbole and a Half](https://varshaseshan.com/hyperbole-and-a-half/): LOOK AT MY BOOK. LOOK AT IT. IT IS VERY NICE. I AM VERY IMPORTANT. 15 July 2013 at 07:30 I have been told that I need to promote my book so that people will know it exists and maybe some of them will pre-order it.   My first inclination was to accomplish this by sitting in my house and wishing really hard, but I’m almost positive that wishing isn’t an effective promotional technique. Unfortunately, neither is “pretending I didn’t write a book so that I don’t have to promote it,” “hoping for the best,” and “waiting for everyone to accidentally […]
- [I can't quite believe this . . .](https://varshaseshan.com/i-cant-quite-believe-this/): The Story-Catcher has been long listed for the Crossword Book Awards! So what if the long list is loooong? If it needs votes, I’m banking on lots of people!
- [Krishna and Radha](https://varshaseshan.com/krishna-and-radha/): We had practised, of course we had practised. With our guru, how could we not? Radha and Krishna were to sit together exploring their love during Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi Kisalaya. Krishna was to take Radha’s hand and press it against his chest. He was to put his arm around Radha’s shoulders and draw her close to him. Unfortunately, that was not what happened on stage. Krishna and Radha were not seated comfortably on the floor or on a wooden stool. Krishna tried to move close enough to Radha to put his arm around her, and the plastic stool on which he was […]
- [Sunday Times, Indore](https://varshaseshan.com/sunday-timesindore/): Press coverage – even if it’s just two lines – is press coverage!
- [Back from Indore](https://varshaseshan.com/back-from-indore/): A magnificent wooden stage – 50 feet long, 30 feet wide … Infrastructure that allowed us to use lights in a way that we have never done before … Guru Mythili Raghavan, determined to give her best to Kasturitilakam … Eleven dancers – all excited, all nervous, all thrilled at the opportunity … Of course things went wrong, but things went wonderfully right too. We performed at IIM, Indore, and delighted our audience. Photos and stories will come soon! But meanwhile, a view of the campus … The lapwing is not a chance visitor. We saw it (and its friends/ enemies) […]
- [Main Nahin Makhan Khayo](https://varshaseshan.com/main-nahin-makhan-khayo/): One of the highlights of this evening’s performance: The gopis carried tales to Yashoda, complaining time and again about how Krishna stole butter from them. But naughty little Krishna convinced his mother not to believe any of the complaints the other gopis made about him. When Krishna stole butter in his own house, however, things changed – because Yashoda herself saw him. Yashoda wanted to catch her little boy out and asked him, out of the blue, “Kanhaiya, did you eat butter?” Taken aback, the words escaped from Krishna’s mouth, “Main nahin maakhan khayo – I did not eat butter! […]
- [Kasturitilakam](https://varshaseshan.com/kasturitilakam/): Timeless, beautiful, expressive. Dance is all three, and much more. Classical dance in India is a language. With its ancient origins, it is a medium of communicating knowledge, expressing emotions and creating aesthetic pleasure. Kasturitilakam – conceived and choreographed by Guru Mythili Raghavan – explores each of these dimensions. Lord Krishna, playing his divine, melodious flute, has touched the hearts of millions. Stories of this beloved god find their way into languages, music and culture all over India. His naughty pranks as a child, his strength and bravery as a young man, his divine love for Radha and the other […]
- [Performing at Indore](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-at-indore/): The Academy of Indian Dances will be presenting Kasturitilakam – episodes from the life of Lord Krishna – everyone is welcome! Venue: IIM, Indore Date: 6th July, 2013 Time: 18:30 Credits: Choreography: Guru Mythili Raghavan Make-up: Shri Mohan and Smt Lakshmi Music compilation: Friends Studio, Pune Dancers: Ashwini Sashital, Charulatha Ramesha, Dhwani Lalai, Nisha Seshan, Pooja Shetty, Rashmi Shetty, Resham Abdagiri, Riddhi Joshi, Tejashree Natu, Suguna Nair and Varsha Seshan
- [Day Five: Reading Workshop at Friends Library](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-4/): Another wonderful reading workshop came to an end today. “Five minutes more.” “Please, last day!” “Can we stay till 1?” “Please …” Despite everything, we did not finish at 11:30 as planned, but at 12:30! It’s hard to refuse when children want more time with you!
- [Days Three and Four: Reading Workshop at Friends Library](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-3/): “How can it already be 11:30?” “Time is already up?” “I could sit here for five hours daily!” “Why is tomorrow the last day?”             Today, Day Four of Exploring the World of Stories, my reading workshop at Friends Library, I ended up extending my one and a half hour slot to almost two hours, simply because the children were so excited. It’s been wonderful, these four days. I can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day either!
- [Let's Read! - Reading Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-just-books-wanowrie/): Look what’s coming next! Register now! Call (020)30116811 or +91-7385022202 for more details.
- [Day Two: Exploring the World of Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-2/): Two more children joined the reading workshop at Friends Library today! With seven children in the cosy children’s section of Friends Library, Day Two of the reading workshop was a day of learning. We spoke about the publishing process and copyright. We designed book covers. We shared myths from around the world. And we had a quiz to round things up. Tomorrow promises to be fun too!
- [Day One: Exploring the World of Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan/): As of yesterday, I had no registrations for my reading workshop. I decided to go to Friends Library anyway. Three children came. And then one more. And one more. And one more promises to come tomorrow – all in all, it was delightful. Among other things, we played Pass the Story – a cross between Pictionary and Chinese Whispers, with the element of stories added into it. Here’s how it works: Participant One picks a chit. Suppose it says ‘Geronimo Stilton’. Participant One draws Geronimo Stilton and passes on his sketch. Participant Two makes a guess. Suppose Participant Two guesses ‘rat’. […]
- [Skellig](https://varshaseshan.com/skellig/): Skellig by David Almond is a human story, and like so many human stories, contains a little miracle. A scientific miracle, perhaps. Or maybe a spiritual miracle. Sometimes the two go together, along with angelic intervention, scientific study and William Blake. Skellig is not a story that wants to be believed. Yet it is not fantasy. It is not a story about magic. Yet, it contains the inexplicable. It is not a spiritual story of divine intervention. Yet, it is the story of a little miracle that brings Joy. Sparse, sometimes disgusting, often moving, Skellig is, above all, the story of a quiet boy who is […]
- [Three Days to Go for my Workshop at Friends Library!](https://varshaseshan.com/three-days-go-workshop-friends-library/): Are you ready? Have you passed the word? Will you please? Any queries? Write to me!
- [My Friend the Guitarist Veda](https://varshaseshan.com/guitarist-veda-olive-bistro-pune/): I remember when Veda was gifted her first guitar and all of us wanted to touch it. She was kind enough to let us touch it and we played with it, rather than playing it. Before we knew it, two years had passed, and Veda was the only girl in school who could play the guitar. As a result, she was taking part in The Merchant of Venice, performed by the 9th (or was it 10th) standard students. And before long, I could go to Veda’s house just to listen to her play. Yesterday was magical.   I went to Olive […]
- [My Favourite Male Characters in Fiction](https://varshaseshan.com/favourite-male-characters-fiction/): I wonder why most of the fictitious characters I love and admire are female! Is it because I want to identify with my characters and it is easier for me to identify with female ones? When I think about remarkable male characters, though, I don’t really run out of favourites. 1) Little Lord Fauntleroy: Just like Pollyanna, he should be too sugary to be lovable, but no. He is among my all-time favourites. Little Lord Fauntleroy is a story I tell all the time simply because it is so innocent an beautiful. 2) Rhett Butler – If Scarlett is remarkable, Rhett is […]
- [My Favourite Female Characters in Fiction](https://varshaseshan.com/favourite-fictitious-female-characters/): A question that always bothers me when I’m writing is whether I should concentrate on plot or character. Plot has the power to transport me, make me gasp and thrill me. But characters… Ah, they’re the people who become lifelong friends. 1) Pollyanna: Too good to be loved, but how I love her! She should be a saccharine goody two-shoes, but she’s not. Her glad game changed my world. 2) Anne: Anne in Anne of Green Gables is the best of the lot. That’s where my beloved “Carrots” emerges as the imaginative and dreamy spitfire I long to befriend. 3) Deborah Grantham: Faro’s daughter – she […]
- [Exploring the World of Stories: A Reading Workshop for Children](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-2/): Summer holidays! Time for yet another reading workshop! I’m moving to another library now – Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road Mark the dates: 19th May – 23rd May 2014 Age-group: 8-12 years Time: 10 am – 11:30 am Registration fee: Rs. 750 Join the fun! Let’s explore the world of stories!
- [Biskitwali](https://varshaseshan.com/biskitwali/): My dance teacher regularly gives the Salvation Army children food and biscuits, so everyone there, from the workers to the watchman’s son, knows her. The little ones have given her a name, too – ‘Biskitwali’. The most endearing feature of the epithet is that no offence is intended , and none is taken. Yesterday, I parked my bike outside my teacher’s house and a cheeky child came up to me with his bright smile. “Dance class,” he proclaimed. I nodded. “Dance class?” inquired another child. “Haan!” The tone said ‘naturally, don’t you know even that?’. “Tereko nahin malum kya?” Top-speed […]
- [The Macmillan Book Review Contest](https://varshaseshan.com/macmillan-book-review-contest/): Write a review; win a prize! And guess which book is on the list for the Macmillan Book Review Contest? You can write as many reviews as you want from the list. If you’re in the 7th, 8th or 9th standard, do write a review of The Story-Catcher!  Write a review before the 30th of June and you could win a Macmillan Book Hamper!
- [Parents and Kids Choice Awards](https://varshaseshan.com/parents-kids-choice-awards-4/): Second runner-up for the Parents and Kids Choice Awards among Indian books for the age-group 10-15! I’m thrilled!
- [Five Problems with Good Books](https://varshaseshan.com/five-problems-with-good-books/): 1) I forget that I’m a writer. I pick up Harry Potter determined to see how J.K. Rowling weaves the magic she weaves. I decide that I will look at her techniques, the way she gets me involved in the story and how she slides in her humour. Five chapters – that’s all it takes to get me so engrossed that I want to know what happens next (even though I know what happens next) and I don’t look at anything else. 2) I sometimes (often?) imagine meeting my favourite characters and talking to them – and then become woefully depressed when I realise I […]
- [Last Day to Vote](https://varshaseshan.com/parents-kids-choice-awards-3/): Somehow, seeing my book cover on Rivokids’s shortlist for the Parents Kids Choice Awards makes it all the more real. Thank you, those who voted. And thank you, all those who shared the link. Those who didn’t, would you do it now please? Voting closes today!
- [Anne of Green Gables](https://varshaseshan.com/anne-green-gables/): Anne, in Anne of Green Gables, wishes she were born in Camelot. A more romantic time and place. I envy L.M. Montgomery for having been alive and writing at a time when a first line like this passed unedited: Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool […]
- [Read before you vote!](https://varshaseshan.com/vote-for-story-catcher/): If you have not yet read The Story-Catcher and that is holding you back from voting, click here to read some excerpts. Rivokids says: Votes are streaming in! Make sure you Vote. Every Vote counts. Vote now!
- [Parents Kids Choice Awards](https://varshaseshan.com/parents-kids-choice-awards-2/): I’m thrilled to be shortlisted for the Parents Kids Choice Awards! Those who have already voted, thank you, and please spread the word (before the 6th of May). Those who have not, please do vote! Here is how – 1) Click on this link – http://www.rivokids.com/pkca 2) Go to I want to vote for Age group: 10 to 15 years 3) Click on The Story-Catcher among Indian writers 4) Vote for anything in the other categories. 5) Enter your details (name, email and city) The picture should help you too!
- [Goodbye Gurukul](https://varshaseshan.com/goodbye-gurukul/): I had decided what I would write about today, but was moved to tears more than once by everything students and colleagues from Vishwashanti Gurukul said to me, wrote to me and gave me. One student said, “I used to hate Shakespeare, but you made me fall in love with Macbeth.” Another confessed, “I have never taken English seriously but thanks to you, English is one of the most interesting subjects.” Yet another wrote, “You have changed my view towards English as a language.” And finally, the cake they ordered with the most charming message ever:
- [International Dance Day](https://varshaseshan.com/international-dance-day/): It’s International Dance Day! The best day, perhaps, to pay tribute to my guru, Guru Mythili Raghavan. Nobody can quite understand why she means so much to us. Why is it that we spend odd hours at her place? Why do so many of the seniors’ parents comment that we listen more to her than to our own parents? Why is there still (after 20 years) that fear mingled with respect when we have to tell Miss that we are not coming for class? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that her house has been open to […]
- [Thank you!](https://varshaseshan.com/thank-you-art-hop-pune/): For all those who came and watched me and listened to me at Art Hop Pune, thank you! I began with almost no one in my audience. In five minutes, there were over twenty people – a large number in such a small place. And as I was doing my last piece, the place was full. I was honoured! Of course, the result of having no one to begin with was that I forgot to market myself. I forgot to tell people that I was a writer and a dancer. In the very end, I apologised and said, “By the […]
- [Lecture Demonstration at Art Hop Pune](https://varshaseshan.com/lecture-demonstration-art-hop-pune/): Nritta is one of the two pillars of the magnificent structure called dance. Nritta is pure technique, with no hidden symbolism, no complex meaning and no detailed explanation involved. What is the purpose, then, of nritta? That’s one of the modules of today’s lecture demonstration at Oakwood Sen5es at 5pm. Be part of Art Hop Pune!
- [Fun 4 Kids](https://varshaseshan.com/fun-4-kids/): It’s workshop season! The Cultural Centre, Pune, is a new space in Mundhwa for different activities and programmes. “Fun 4 Kids” is a venture into a range of activities for children. I will be facilitating the ‘Literature’ activities with reading and writing workshops once a month. The poster says it all!
- [Workshop on Rasa at Art Hop Pune](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-rasa-art-hop-pune/): I will be facilitating a short workshop on Rasa: Understanding the Aesthetics of Indian Classical Dance on Sunday the 27th of April, 2014, at Oakwood Sen5es at 5pm as part of Art Hop Pune. I hope to see you there!
- [Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!](https://varshaseshan.com/happy-birthday-shakespeare/): An achievement I sometimes hide is that I won two medals for having topped a course on Shakespeare. I hide it because despite the medals, I can’t quite say that I know much about Shakespeare. It was a course where we studied about Shakespeare without studying texts. The thing about Shakespeare is that he’s such a grand and mysterious character that there are so many things we are unsure about. With his multiple signatures and the fact that he even changed his name to Shakeshaft once, we really don’t know much about him. Maybe that’s why I topped the course. Because writing […]
- [Website updated!](https://varshaseshan.com/website-updated/): My website has been updated! Here’s what’s new – – My story Sacrifice is now on the home page as well as in ‘Published Work’. It’s now easy to access through my site! – For those who tried to read The Caravan of the Cultures of the World, the link to the story has been fixed. – On the ‘Media’ page, there are two new additions + ‘Awards and Recognition’ now includes the TFA longlist 2014 + ‘Print and Web’ has the article from “Business India”, Writing in their Genes It’s time to revisit varshaseshan.com  
- [The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe](https://varshaseshan.com/lion-witch-wardrobe/): “How about watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?” a friend’s mother suggested when I was about eleven. I giggled. “What a funny name! What is that?” “You mean you haven’t read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?” Eyes wide open in amazement. And that is how I came to watch the old BBC movie before I read the book. I was so taken with it that as soon as the movie got over and I went to ‘play’ in the evening, I told my sister and my bestest friend the whole story, bit by bit. Even now, when I […]
- [The Red Dress](https://varshaseshan.com/red-dress/): As a child, I did not like anything about anything awkward. I did not like dirt (even though I asked my father where the Famous Five went to the loo and how they had baths when they went camping). I did not find ‘dirty’ humour funny, even humour aimed at children. I liked politeness and neatness in all. No burping, no rude signs or gestures, nothing. The Red Dress is one of those books I certainly would not have liked as a child. Even now, I find that I cannot quite understand why ugly things find their way into literature. From […]
- [Voted!](https://varshaseshan.com/voted/): It’s a duty, I know. It isn’t anything to be proud of. I should vote and I did. But hats off to those who took their duty seriously enough to come to Pune from places like Delhi just to vote. I just had to go down the road. And those who did not bother to go down the road, why don’t you? It’s even simpler now. Check online, find your centre. Go and vote. And you’ve done your duty. What say?
- [Hello? Is Anybody There?](https://varshaseshan.com/hello-anybody/): If you go to the moon, you would go up. But when you reach the moon, you land. You go down. And if you are on the moon and you look up, you will see the earth. That means that somewhere between here and the moon, up becomes down and down becomes up. I started reading Sophie’s World when I was about twelve. I was impressed and intrigued – but I could not finish reading it. There was just too much intensity that I was not prepared to deal with. Perhaps if I had read Hello? Is Anybody There? first, […]
- [Shadow Web](https://varshaseshan.com/shadow-web/): Everybody in the internet age does it at least once in a while. Type in ‘Varsha Seshan’, just to see what pops up. Don’t tell me you haven’t searched for yourself on Google. Jessica Allendon did just that. And the consequences were totally out of control. Shadow Web is not about time-travel. Time-travel is easy. You go back in time, but you know something about the history of the place. But what if you find yourself in a parallel world within the same time-space fabric? What can you do then? I delighted in Shadow Web. It opened out to me possibilities […]
- [Parents and Kids Choice Awards - Last Day to Nominate](https://varshaseshan.com/parents-and-kids-choice-awards/): For once, I’m taking on the role of marketing my work! If you like The Story-Catcher, do nominate it for the Parents and Kids Choice Awards! Because this is one award that does not depend on sales, publicity or distribution.  
- [Avameru](https://varshaseshan.com/avameru-2/): I began to read the book and licked my lips, wondering what I could say about it. A book by a dear friend can be a dangerous thing because you must have an opinion about it. With Avameru, the opinion was easy. I enjoyed it. Yes, in the beginning, I had thoughts in my head about how it was somehow not my kind of book. I don’t read ‘Young Adult’ – perhaps that was why it wasn’t appealing. Et cetera et cetera. And then I finished the first fifty pages. When I looked next, I had finished the book. Pacy, […]
- [Theory of Knowledge - Mathematics](https://varshaseshan.com/theory-knowledge-mathematics/): Planning my Theory of Knowledge class on Mathematics as an Area of Knowledge, I realise again what a strange mixture of art and maths I am! How I enjoy mathematics! Yet, I realise how much can be challenged. Is mathematics associated with beauty? What is the focus of mathematics – reliability, validity, certainty or truth? What is the point of mathematics? Is mathematics, as a system, a simplistic reduction of the world into categories that do not really exist? Is the study of integration/derivatives/imaginary numbers/irrational numbers a meaningful contribution to human knowledge? Thinking along these lines, I realised that in […]
- [Women of Pride](https://varshaseshan.com/women-pride/): Women of Pride unravelled a lot of questions before proceeding to respond to them, at least in part . There was so much about the devadasis that I did not know. Often in books I read, the history of these temple dancers was cheerfully summed up in a couple of sentences. The devadasis were nityasumangali – perpetually married. They were honoured and revered, but as time went on, they began to lose their patronage. They became associated with loose women, with no morals. Consequently, the entire system of being wedded to a God was abolished. Voilà, you have a history […]
- [Ram Navami](https://varshaseshan.com/ram-navami/): Three years ago, we performed on a beautiful stage as part of the Kannada Sangha celebrations in Pune. I can’t quite believe that it was three years ago. Waiting to perform again!
- [Arangetram](https://varshaseshan.com/arangetram-2/): Often, invitation cards say that ‘Arangetram’ means ‘ascending the stage’. Theoretically, all of us know that it is our first stage programme. Then why is it supposed to be so perfect? It is a beginning, an entrance. We often widen our eyes and raise our eyebrows at students who perform their Arangetram ‘too early’. At age seven? How ridiculous! After learning dance for just two years? Tut tut. Nonsense. Where do these ideas come from? A book I’m reading tells me about many of the last devadasis. Kumbakonam Bhanumathi (who described dance as ‘the sweeter unheard melody of our music […]
- [A Dream](https://varshaseshan.com/dream/): Last night, I had a dream. My sister and I were walking through old streets towards a tall block of flats. Beyond the building was a meadow. The grass was tall, gleaming in the sunshine. The two of us sat down on a bench nearby. “How wonderful it would be to live in a flat there, overlooking the meadow with grass that is waist-high!” Suddenly, a creature glistening with sweat ran through the grass. It was scurrying on all fours, almost hidden in the tall grass. As it turned, we saw the gleaming dark grey tail, flat like a beaver’s, […]
- [International Children's Book Day](https://varshaseshan.com/international-childrens-book-day-2/): Yes, today is International Children’s Book Day, a time for me to look back at all the wonderful children’s books I’ve read this year!
- [Tolulope Popoola](https://varshaseshan.com/tolulope-popoola/): “Your stories are too short.” “I want to know more!” “What happens after that?” “I would have liked some more description so that we get to know the people and place better.” It’s not uncommon for me to get responses like this to my writing, and so I snapped up the term ‘Flash Fiction’ as soon as I came across it. “I write flash fiction,” I tell myself (usually, no one else). “Not short stories; flash fiction.” Having come across this delightful term not more than a few months ago, I began trawling the internet for famous writers of flash. […]
- [Kung Fu Panda 2](https://varshaseshan.com/kung-fu-panda-2/): There’s nothing like a happy movie to raise your spirits when you have a cold and feel like doing nothing. And Kung Fu Panda 2 was as delightful as the first! Inner peace. I like inner peace.
- [Toro! Toro!](https://varshaseshan.com/toro-toro/): Is it true that the most moving books must be placed during wartime? How strange that the moments of greatest human kindness come during the cruelest of times! Toro! Toro! is not like the other Morpurgos that I have read, insomuch that it is not about the second world war at all. Yet, it is about cruel, incomprehensible war. I have never liked the idea of bullfights, not even when I was too young to know that the bull is killed and bleeds to death. I found the idea of a bullfight unnecessarily violent. I couldn’t (and still can’t) understand what […]
- [Winding Up - Creepy House Reading Challenge](https://varshaseshan.com/winding-creepy-house-reading-challenge/): Today, I will be part of the award distribution, the final get-together of all the participants of the Creepy House Reading Challenge at the British Library, Pune. Four workshops over the course of two months with children aged anywhere between 5 and 13. What fun it was! We’ll talk about what we learned, how we can take things forward and what we can do with books in our lives ahead. And then, I have the honour of having been invited to give certificates and medals to the children who successfully completed the challenge. Looking forward to another lovely morning!
- [Parents and Kids Choice Awards](https://varshaseshan.com/parents-kids-choice-awards/): Do you like The Story-Catcher? If you’re a parent or a child who likes my collection of short stories, do nominate it for the Parents and Kids Choice Awards! The idea of the award is lovely – an award that is not inspired by sales and popularity, but by the place it holds in your heart. Nominate The Story-Catcher by clicking here!
- [The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips](https://varshaseshan.com/amazing-story-adolphus-tips/): The best stories are the simplest ones of all. And who better than Michael Morpurgo to write simple stories so simply that they charm you? Boowie receives a letter from his grandmother, not very long after the death of his grandfather. It is undoubtedly the most remarkable letter of his life. As part of the letter, his grandmother sends him sections from her childhood diary. Slowly, little bit by little bit, she reveals the amazing story of her cat Tips. Part of the story is how Tips graduates to her grand name ‘Adolphus Tips’. And most remarkable of all is […]
- [The Great Escape](https://varshaseshan.com/great-escape/): The story of two dogs and a cat during the second world war brought to mind an aspect of war that I had never considered. What happened to all the animals, particularly pets, during the war? Startling statistics that Megan Rix has included after the novel reveal that there were far more animals killed during the war than civilians. By far more, I mean, if I remember correctly, seven times the number. The Great Escape is a take on this idea, albeit a lighthearted take. The three animals escape from cruelty and danger, making an incredible journey from the city […]
- [Luck](https://varshaseshan.com/luck-dhruba-hazarika/): Why are publishers so diffident about revealing the fact that a collection of short stories is just that – a collection of short stories and not a novel? I started reading Luck by Dhruba Hazarika with the distinct impression that it was a novel. I finished the first ‘chapter’ feeling deeply disturbed. I finished the second with a lump in my throat, expecting the ‘chapters’ to be linked in the third one. Then I finished the third one and then it dawned on me, finally, that it was not a novel after all but a collection of short stories. So […]
- [Twelve Minutes to Midnight](https://varshaseshan.com/twelve-minutes-midnight/): I’m still chuckling as I think about Twelve Minutes to Midnight. It’s been a while since my mind was so absorbed in a book that I kept waiting to get back to it. I even took it with me to the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School and pored over it. I felt a little like a school-girl again as I read, for I could not help remembering all the times I would sneakily pick up a book between classes, reading it slyly in the few spare seconds I had, before hastily putting it away deep into my bag. (When […]
- [Veda the Guitarist](https://varshaseshan.com/veda-guitarist/): Guitar through the Ages Where does the guitar we know and love come from? Unlike the piano and violin, it’s been around in different shapes and sizes, belonging equally to wandering folk musicians and to formal classical concert halls. The guitar grew up in the courts of Europe, lived through the Rennaisance and Industrial ages, and finally came into its own in the mid 1800s. From the Kithara of ancient Egypt, to the minstrels and their lutes, to French ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV used the guitar to serenade women, to salons of Europe, folk music all the way until the […]
- [Yellow Shoes](https://varshaseshan.com/world-storytelling-day/): Today is World Storytelling Day. Here is a story to celebrate the day! If you like it, use it. Read it out to children. Make them imagine and colour – spread the joy of storytelling!                 Alka sat down on the floor to tie her shoelaces. Weekends were fun. She could meet everyone, play Lock and Key and Polo and Crocodile-Crocodile and Zoop and… “It’s time to throw away this terrible pair,” said Alka’s mother, looking down at Alka’s blue shoes – her favourite pair for running. “No, Mamma, please!” said Alka, looking up, alarmed. “Please, Mamma, it’s my […]
- [Waterslain Angels](https://varshaseshan.com/waterslain-angels/): When I was about ten, I read British Folk-Tales (not linking this to a place where you can buy it because Amazon is selling it at an incredible price of 11,000 rupees) by Kevin Crossley-Holland and enjoyed it. I had my favourite stories in the collection and I read them over and over again.A few years later, I read The Seeing Stone and loved that too, even though the story was familiar, the old tale of King Arthur retold. And because I still enjoyed the experience of reading a story I knew, I picked up Waterslain Angels. I liked the […]
- [Girlie](https://varshaseshan.com/girlie/): When I was five years old, I moved from Vashi to Pune. There, I came across a strange word – ‘girlie’. If you didn’t know a girl’s name (yes, I went to a girls’ school), you would say, “Excuse me, girlie, what is your name?” The word felt awkward in my mouth. Girlie.What would I call a boy I didn’t know? Boyie? It was incomprehensible and most confusing. But, aged five, I wanted to fit in. So I started saying ‘girlie’. Excuse me, girlie, could I borrow your pencil? Excuse me, girlie, you’re sitting in my place. Excuse me, girlie, […]
- [Publicity and Me](https://varshaseshan.com/story-catcher-2/): Somehow, it seems as if I never do enough to publicize myself as an author. I sent links to my latest story, “Sacrifice” to friends and colleagues, and I put it up on Facebook and on my blog. I got responses, and a little feedback. ‘I REALLY liked the story!! 🙂 Looking forward to reading similar ones!’ ‘Wonderful as usual…varsha!  keep it up! Enjoyed this read more than the previous one…..you are getting better and better !’ And then a colleague sent me this – ‘Varsha!!! This is so catching and interesting …I was so engrossed in it. It’s a […]
- [Ace](https://varshaseshan.com/ace-dick-king-smith/): I always link my book reviews to amazon.in for people to buy the book there, but when I searched for Dick King-Smith’s Ace, the first thing I found was a hardcover priced at ₹12,527.41 + ₹99 delivery charge! I did find a copy that’s cheaper, though, and that’s a mercy; however much I enjoyed the book, even I wouldn’t pay so much for it! Ace is funny, lovable and altogether a hugely enjoyable half-hour’s read. An author who has lost count of the number of books he has written has to be a master storyteller, and there’s not doubt that […]
- [Fantastic Mr Dahl](https://varshaseshan.com/fantastic-mr-dahl/): Yes, Mr Dahl is fantastic. What I find interesting about Fantastic Mr Dahl, though, is the way in which Michael Rosen examines what makes him fantastic. Is it the fact that he used a special yellow pencil and special yellow paper (because his favourite colour was yellow)? Or because he loathed Christmas and loved Easter? Or because he had a lucky break when Disney was interested in making a movie of The Gremlins? For me, Fantastic Mr Dahl kept shifting from wonderfully perceptive to  ‘Okay that’s weird’. But in all, I finished with a sense of gladness that I had […]
- [Incredible Bus Journeys](https://varshaseshan.com/incredible-bus-journeys/): Yes, I have travel woes. Often. I faced a bird-hit in Ahmedabad. A light-bulb shattering in my hair on a train journey. Floods in Bengal and trouble in Bihar caused a train-detour of twelve hours. Aircraft crew went on strike to watch a football match. And that’s just scratching the surface. Of late, thanks to an irritating back-ache, I’ve taken to wearing a belt while travelling. Today, when the lock of the bus-door gave way, I used the belt in the most innovative way possible.  
- [Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie](https://varshaseshan.com/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/): So many TED talks make me chuckle and nod in agreement that I wish to express so strongly! “I agree!” I want to say. “Oh, I agree, I agree, I agree a thousand times over!” Sometimes, I think, “And I have more to add to that. Think about this, in the same context. I’ve felt and thought this, and this, and this!” And then I realise, sitting alone with my laptop, I’m agreeing with a screen and myself. I just listened to a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I had never heard of her, but now, she fills me […]
- [Royalty for The Story-Catcher](https://varshaseshan.com/royalty-story-catcher/): Royalty makes you feel good, even if it doesn’t make you feel royal! For the financial year 2012-2013 – that counts as roughly eight months considering the date of publication – 119 copies of The Story-Catcher were sold! (I don’t count the author copies, of course.) It’s not much, but I’m feeling pretty grand about it being my first real percentage royalty!  
- [Avameru](https://varshaseshan.com/avameru/): Since I know that this author will barely publicize his book, if at all … This is what I’m reading. There’s nothing like reading something (published) that is written by a real and very dear friend. Buy it now on Amazon!
- [What I used to write ...](https://varshaseshan.com/used-write/): I transcribed the story of the dame who hated plants some time ago, but found this in a drawer while I was hunting for inspiration –
- [British Library Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/blworkshops/):  
- [In the display window of 'Chapter and Verse'](https://varshaseshan.com/chapter-and-verse/)
- [Private Peaceful](https://varshaseshan.com/private-peaceful/): Charlie … Charlie … Charlie …I want to meet you, get to know you, look up and admire you. I wanted to sob my heart out when I finished reading Private Peaceful.I wish I hadn’t read it. It was so painful, so filled with a sense of injustice, so cruel.I feel privileged to have read it. It was so moving, so human, so gentle and so filled with love. My heart reached out to Tommo – who could have lived in Charlie’s shadow, but never did. Instead, he basked in Charlie’s glow. Tommo, little Tommo, is so human. He tells […]
- [Indian Coffee House](https://varshaseshan.com/indian-coffee-house/): smoke swirls coffee tastes peculiar i drink it anyway, along with something with mustard mainly for the mustard, rather than for the ‘something’ people stick political posters over the board that says ‘SMOKING IS A PUNISHABLE OFFENCE’ people ask for ash-trays and get them or they don’t ask for ash-trays and they tip ash on the floor, looked on indulgently by waiters two old men watch the people around them, silent in the midst of the noise and we chatter on about our writing and our dreams
- [Express Yourself!](https://varshaseshan.com/british-library-workshop-4/): Sigh. And that’s the end of another fun workshop at the British Library! We played, we laughed, we shared ideas. For once, I honestly believe the children enjoyed the workshop more than I did. One child had to explain the word ‘FREEZE’. The rules were – no acting, no translating, no using the words ‘ice’, ‘cold’, ‘still’, ‘fear’ and ‘move’. He stood, thinking, for a long time. Then he began, “Once upon a time, there lived an Eskimo. One day, he decided to go to Antarctica. He went all the way there and he made an igloo. But then on […]
- [My next workshop is tomorrow!](https://varshaseshan.com/british-library-workshop-3/): A custom-made workshop for the Reading Challenge at the British Library! Yes, each of these cards is hand-made. Each card contains a word from the Creepy House Reading Challenge. I’ve lost count of how many cards I made.
- [Trams in Kolkata](https://varshaseshan.com/trams-kolkata/): Yes, I’ve written about trams before, in a post with the same name as this. But how could I go to Kolkata again and not create some more tram memories? My grandmother often told me about how her father always gave her the fare for first class tram tickets to college and back. Like so many young people, she took a second class ride and used the money she saved to buy little things that young people want but cannot afford. Now, travelling by tram to work or college is absurd. It takes at least twice as long to commute […]
- [Varsha and the Kerosene Stove](https://varshaseshan.com/varsha-kerosene-stove/): “So, Mamma, there’s no geyser in this place and they’ve given me a kerosene stove to heat water. What to do?” “Hmm. Okay. What kind of stove is it?” “Mm?” “Does it have a pump?” “No.” “Good. Okay. There’s one cylindrical thing that’s loose. Pull it off. Okay? Now there should be another cylindrical thing with holes. Leave that. There should be a knob on the side that gets the wicks up. Turn it. Did the wicks come? No? Okay. Take off the next cylindrical thing with holes. Yes, yes, there is another cylindrical thing with holes inside. Now turn […]
- [Inspired by Taboo!](https://varshaseshan.com/inspired-taboo/): The next workshop I’m doing at the British Library promises to be fun! My father got a rubber stamp saying ‘VARSHA SESHAN’ long, long ago. I kept it safely. I visited a bookshop about six months ago and impulsively bought a stamp pad, but did not use it. I bought chart paper to make a lantern for Diwali (yes, five months ago) and never made the lantern. I put all of them together to make my own Taboo cards, using words that I found in books that are part of the Creepy House Reading Challenge. They look lovely; I’m waiting […]
- [The Butterfly Lion](https://varshaseshan.com/butterfly-lion/): This morning, I was reading Private Peaceful before I left for school. I glanced at my watch. Okay, one more paragraph. I read about Big Joe singing Oranges and Lemons in his attempt to pray for Molly. I glanced at my watch. Okay, one more paragraph. And one more. And one more. I just about did not get late for my bus. And so I decided to reread another favourite, The Butterfly Lion, which won my heart yet again. Michael Morpurgo, as always, combines innocence with wisdom to enchant both the child and the adult in me. Love, loyalty and determination […]
- ['What happens next?' at British Library](https://varshaseshan.com/happens-next-british-library/): The afternoon’s workshop at the British Library began with a presentation that helped the eight children understand the mood of terror. Sights and sounds, ghosts, enormous spiders, zombies, mummies and pirates found their way into ideas children expressed before they began to write. And then, I gave them their prompt – The crows cried out in the distance. Hundreds, thousands of crows perched on the roof of the old, empty house. Then, the door opened … I was prepared for a creepy story. I got eight creepy stories. One wrote of the ‘Door of No Return’. An old violinist opened […]
- ['Show and Tell' at British Library](https://varshaseshan.com/show-tell-british-library/): At the first of today’s workshops at the British Library, children in the age-group 5-7 brought their favourite toys to talk about. There were two little creatures called Sita and Gita. A boy made up a story about how squeaky Sita and jingly Gita walked into his room while he was asleep. He was frightened, but understood when he woke up. There was a Lego space-shuttle. A girl made up a story about how the shuttle went to a place where aliens experimented on humans. There was a pink-roofed house with Lego girls. The house was, of course, haunted. The […]
- [British Library Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/british-library-workshop-2/)
- [The Illustrator of The Story-Catcher](https://varshaseshan.com/illustrator-story-catcher/): I did not put up pictures from The Story-Catcher because the copyright isn’t mine, but I found this on Rishi Bhardwaj’s site and could not help sharing it.
- [The Tales of Beedle the Bard](https://varshaseshan.com/tales-beedle-bard/): Hermione Granger translates so well! I love her translations from the original runes. And of course, Albus Dumbledore’s notes reveal his genius and insight, providing valuable information about interpretations of beloved fairy tales. J.K. Rowling, though, talks down to us Muggle readers, underestimating our knowledge of the magical world.
- [Now](https://varshaseshan.com/now/): As usual, I judged a book by its cover and picked it up. An orange book, with two silhouetted figures – an old man and a child gazing at flames in the distance. Now promised to be more powerful than it was, or perhaps it just did not happen to me at the right time. The ideas there could have been deeply moving. A child grappling with guilt that does not have a foundation, similar to The Worry Tree I read not so long ago. An old man haunted by memories of the past, of the holocaust and the loss […]
- [What I've been reading ...](https://varshaseshan.com/longshot/): Yes, it’s been a long time since I wrote about books, so there are three books that I’ve read in the time that has passed. I remember when I started reading Dick Francis. I was amazed that a single writer could have written so many books about horses and the racing world. Longshot is one of those, but I realise, once again, how much a book strikes a chord within you when you read it at a time that’s right. The narrator of Longshot is a writer. A writer who has just quit a regular job to become a full-time […]
- [My Grandfather - R.I.P.](https://varshaseshan.com/grandfather-r-p/): On Friday, I decide to spend the night at my grandfather’s place. He sleeps at 8 o’ clock or so, so when I get there around 10, he is asleep. At 10:20, I hear him getting out of bed. He shuffles past my room and goes to the kitchen. I hear the balcony door creak open and close. I hear him wash his hands in the sink. Then, silence. He doesn’t walk by my room again. A little concerned I get up to find my grandfather standing by the sideboard. “What happened?” I ask. My grandfather, caught in the act, […]
- [Musée des Beaux Arts](https://varshaseshan.com/musee-des-beaux-arts/): I’ve been thinking of this all morning. Loss and suffering exist in astonishingly closed cabins, shut off from the world. Here is Musée des Beaux Arts by Auden. A classic. About suffering they were never wrong, The old Masters: how well they understood Its human position: how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating On a pond at the edge of the wood: They […]
- [Collections](https://varshaseshan.com/collections/): I once met a lady who collected Santa Clauses. She had over a thousand Santa Clauses, over half of which she had made using anything, from oil-cans to coconuts. She painted Santa Claus on glass bottles, or made a crochet Santa around a plastic bottle. She used the cover of a cheese-tin, a shankha, cane nets, ceramic pots, stones, rope, clay, everything, to make different kinds of Santas in different postures. My sister used to collect tissue paper. Wherever we went, she picked up a tissue paper. It became something she enjoyed so much that people started sending tissue paper […]
- [Oxford Bookstore 2002](https://varshaseshan.com/oxford-bookstore/): We know we belong to the previous generation when we complain about the way children waste time. “How much we used to play!” A friend and I lamented about how students at school spend more time at their laptops than at anything else. They are a generation growing up with email and Facebook; they’re attached to their laptops all the time. “We used to be on the ground, playing in the sun.” “Tree to tree, wall to wall…” “Hundreds of things. Right until the time we left school.” I fell silent. During my last two years of school, I really […]
- [I love book-sales!](https://varshaseshan.com/michael-morpurgo/): I never buy books. Never. I have too many books at home that I have not read. But what can I do when I find 70% (yes, SEVENTY PER CENT) off on a Michael Morpurgo collection? The Landmark sale is here!
- [The Goldsmith's Daughter](https://varshaseshan.com/goldsmiths-daughter/): Yes, The Goldsmith’s Daughter is the story of a girl restricted by her gender in a barbaric civilisation that is in conflict with another world with different beliefs. It is set in a moment in history when the Aztec civilisation must deal with Spanish invaders. The Aztecs need to accept that their emperor is, apparently, not the emperor of the world because there are people with peculiar features coming from across the ocean to the Aztec world. But I don’t always find history fascinating. I don’t typically spend hours researching and reading. And I knew next to nothing about the […]
- [Baby Krishna](https://varshaseshan.com/baby-krishna/): Finally, here are a few photographs of the baby that everyone loved so much. It’s a doll, yes, a doll, made by my French mother. It’s not a real baby, no. We dressed it (her) as Baby Krishna for our performance in December – here are a few pictures!
- [Kelemen Quartet](https://varshaseshan.com/kelemen-quartet/): What will I remember about this concert of the Kelemen Quartet’s a few years from now? The fact that it was the first time I watched a lady in a sari play the cello ? Maybe not. The music was so beautiful that I forgot within a few moments that people are usually so conscious of the way they sit in a sari. The fact that right in the middle of a compelling Bartòk piece, the trumpet of a wedding procession outside confused us all? Somehow, I think I will remember that. Even though I don’t want to. The fact […]
- [War Horse](https://varshaseshan.com/war-horse/): There’s something about Michael Morpurgo that haunts me. I remember being blown away by Kensuke’s Kingdom. I’ve read and reread so many of his books. Running Wild, The White Horse of Zennor, Adolphus Tips, and of course War Horse. They come to mind immediately. This was not the first time I read War Horse.I was not in a mood to read anything soppy. In fact, I began reading War Horse when I was in a rather cynical mood. I’m not quite sure why. Despite that, towards the end of the book I found myself smiling because I did not want […]
- [THREE HUNDRED POSTS!](https://varshaseshan.com/three-hundred-posts/): Yes, this is the three-hundredth post on my blog. It feels like just a few days ago that I signed my nine-page-contract for The Story-Catcher and asked two friends to witness it. It feels like just a few days ago that I read the proofs and sent them back to my editor. It feels like just a few days ago that I received the first copies of The Story-Catcher and began to talk about a website and maybe, in the near future, a blog. It feels like just yesterday that my website was launched. (How proud I was of it!) […]
- [5 Writers of Fiction Who Have Hugely Influenced Me](https://varshaseshan.com/fiction-writers/): Today, in a class about the role of literature in society, I began to think. Of course I love reading. Naturally a lot of my favourite writers have influenced my writing. I know I consciously started using adverbs more after reading Georgette Heyer. But then, I also began to wonder, which writers made me who I am? And then, I came up with my top five writers of fiction. I have no idea who I’d be without them. Enid Blyton When friends tell me that their parents threatened to send them to boarding school if they were too naughty, I […]
- [A Doll's House](https://varshaseshan.com/dolls-house/): I love how time changes the way I read a play. I read A Doll’s House. Again. I imagined how it would be on stage. I cringed, yes. I closed my eyes, yes. But I enjoyed it. I read it cover to cover without needing a break. I did not worry about how good or bad a translation it is. I just saw it as it was – a play that has the power to make you squirm from the time the curtains are drawn open to the time the door is slammed shut. And just about seven months ago, I […]
- [Airs Above the Ground](https://varshaseshan.com/airs-ground/): I remember quite enjoying Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart. Maybe I didn’t like it as much as The Ivy Tree or Madam, Will You Talk? but I did enjoy it. This time, I enjoyed the beginning. The Spanish Riding School, the levade, Timothy in his awkward state between adolescence and adulthood… I smiled through all of it. I liked the sudden unreliability of the narrative voice, the same technique that blew me over in The Ivy Tree. I liked the balance between description and narration. In fact, I think I liked the story till the husband makes an […]
- [Day One: Colour your Thoughts](https://varshaseshan.com/british-library-workshop/): At the British Library workshop for the 5-7 age-group today, I read out a story about a black dog. Mr Hope is afraid of the black dog because it’s as big as a tiger. Mrs Hope is afraid of the black dog because it is as big as an elephant. Adeline Hope is afraid of the black dog because it’s as big as a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Maurice Hope is afraid of the black dog because it is as big as Big Jeffy. “What do you think Big Jeffy is?” I asked. “I think it’s a very very very very very very very very very very very big alien,” responded one six-year-old. We discussed […]
- [Another Foggy Day](https://varshaseshan.com/another-foggy-day/): It was not a cold morning, so when I reached school, I was more than a little surprised to see that it resembled a hill-station once more. Once again, there was no school. I stepped out of the warm bus and was astounded to see that when I breathed, there was steam coming out of my nostrils! Perhaps it’s necessary to mention here that sometimes, when everyone else can create steam by breathing out, I often can’t. My breath, I’ve concluded before, simply is not warm enough. “Good morning,” two colleagues greeted me. I was still so caught up with […]
- [Colour your Ideas](https://varshaseshan.com/creepy-house-reading-challenge/): My first workshop as part of the Creepy House Reading Challenge is this Sunday! A workshop for the little ones (age 5-7), I call it … Read Aloud and Colour your Thoughts!  Sunday 12th January, 2014.  11:00 am – noon Stories are always more fun when they have pictures. When they have more pictures, they are more interesting! So read a story, or listen to a story and imagine… Whatever you imagine, put down on paper. Draw and colour images from what you read – fill your ideas with colour! The best illustration will receive a prize.   If the […]
- [The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/white-horse-zennor-stories/): I love short stories! I wrote in my diary not very long ago, I think short stories are far more exciting to write because they capture a spark of imagination that lasts right through the moment of the story. A full-length novel… It begins with the spark, but for me involves more laborious imagination and less exciting inspiration. I’ve read The White Horse of Zennor and Other Stories before, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Writing about the sea is an old idea. I think, of course, of Tennyson and so many others. Michael Morpurgo […]
- [All Because of Jackson](https://varshaseshan.com/jackson/): There’s a bubble of contentment within me whenever I read Dick King-Smith, and All Because of Jackson is no different. Filled with delightful pictures and dreams, All Because of Jackson is the story of a rabbit. Of course, with Dick King-Smith, it has to be about an animal. An animal that is perfectly ordinary, but different. Different because Jackson the rabbit wants to be a sailor. No rabbit becomes a sailor! Human beings eat rabbits!But Jackson wants to be a sailor. And so he does. All Because of Jackson is a twenty-minute voyage of joy!
- [Moon Pie](https://varshaseshan.com/moon-pie/): Every page of Simon Mason’s Moon Pie rang true. On the book-cover, I remember reading that someone called it an ‘ultra-modern’ story. I was not sure what to expect. I certainly did not expect this kind of brutal honesty. It made me shake my head and cry. Eleven-year-old Martha is puzzled by her father’s strange behaviour. Martha’s mother is dead, and the girl assumes that her father is grieving and so, naturally, behaving strangely. But Martha’s mother always said that someone had to think straight, someone had to keep his head. So Martha has to keep her head. After all, […]
- [The Story-Catcher in 2013](https://varshaseshan.com/story-catcher/)
- [PMC Award!](https://varshaseshan.com/mythili-raghavan/): When we introduce my teacher, we always talk about the prestigious Iyal Isai Nadagam award that she received. We have so many things to say about her, about countries she’s toured and things she has achieved. This time, we had the privilege of being present when Guru Mythili Raghavan received an award from the Pune Municipal Corporation – the Pandita Rohini Bhate Puraskar. Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi was the chief guest, felicitating first Guru Prabhatai Marathe and then five other recipients of the award. Pune’s mayor Chanchala Kodre came in late for the function and faced poet Ashok Vajpeyi’s brilliant […]
- [A Mouse Called Wolf](https://varshaseshan.com/mouse-called-wolf/): Whenever I read Dick King-Smith, I think about C.S. Lewis’s oft-quoted “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” How true it is! Whoever heard of a singing mouse? From the single line on the book cover, reading the book is like a joyful ride into a story that moves from the first page to the last in the course of about half an hour. When Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse was born, he was the littlest of all, so his mother wanted to give him a grand name. Her nest […]
- [Bus-Signs](https://varshaseshan.com/bus-signs/): I know that in situations like this, pictures speak more effectively than words, but I did not have the time to take a picture. At the back of a sleeper bus, I saw the sign: ‘Sleep in the Night, Morning in the Tight.’ What do you reckon it means?
- [Back from Baramati](https://varshaseshan.com/baramati-workshop/): My lovely workshop at Baramati has come to an end. One child made a card – out of a recycled wedding card. Another child naively told me, “This is Harsh’s gift from class V A.” Children shared what they had learnt. And one girl gave me a letter. Here’s just a little part of a three-page long letter that made me feel warm right down to my toes. The next workshop is just around the corner. Sunday: British Library!
- [Day Three: Bal Vikas Mandir](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-8/): Imagination, copyright, magic, wildlife, beauty, leadership … The list of things we discussed during the third session of my reading workshop at VP’s Vinodkumar Gujar Bal Vikas Mandir was endless. With individual and team activities as usual, the sessions flew by – and I can hardly believe that I have just one session left!
- [Free Workshop for Parents](https://varshaseshan.com/free-workshop-parents/): Here’s some media coverage of the free workshop I conducted for parents … Looking forward to the Reading Challenge: details in the news clip!
- [Reading Challenge Sakaal Times](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-sakaal-times/): Varsha Seshan’s workshops in the Sakaal Times today! With the Reading Challenge just around the corner, I conducted a special curtain-raiser today on getting children to read. “My children don’t read at all!” “I keep asking him to tell me about what he’s reading; he never tells me anything!” “His friend reads so much, but he doesn’t read at all!” “We made him join the library, but still he doesn’t read!” After every workshop, I face these responses, so I thought of conducting a session for parents before the actual launch of the reading challenge. It was a free session, […]
- [Day Two: Reading Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-12/): At VP’s Bal Vikas Mandir, workshops are not just enjoyable work. On Monday, after my first two sessions, I was not well. “Could I have just soup for dinner?” I asked. “Of course,” was the reply. Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door – Vicks and Crocin to ensure that I slept well. That’s what working in a place with thoughtful people is like! On my first day there, I met three teachers: one who had worked for 19 years, one for 22 and one for 35. I was astounded and commented on this to the principal, […]
- [Mythical Maze](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-british-library/): “Mythical Maze” – that’s the theme for this years reading challenge at the British Library. What is a reading challenge all about? What does it achieve? Here’s a bit about it. Children are divided into two age brackets – 5-7 and 8-13. Each age bracket has a select list of books that fit under the theme “Mythical Maze”. These books are carefully selected, and are especially useful to parents who want to know what their children ‘ought’ to read. The main advantage here is that a whole group of children is reading the same books, a kind of temporary book […]
- [Christmas Reading](https://varshaseshan.com/the-story-catcher/): Fills my heart with joy …
- [Reading Challenge, British Library](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-11/): Last year, it was ‘Creepy House’; this year, it’s ‘Mythical Maze’. Children in the age-group 5-13 can take part in a fantastic journey through books, discovering selkies, fairies and even the Trojan horse. There will also be three workshops for each age-group, aimed at building confidence and improving expression. Here are the details of the workshops: WORKSHOPS Juniors (5 – 7 year olds) Timing: 11.00 am to 12.30 p.m. 21 December 2014: “Reading and Role Play” by Varsha Seshan 4 January 2015: “Exploring Mythological Creatures in Indian Stories” by Pervin Saket 18 January 2015: “Myths from around the World” by […]
- [Reading Workshop at Baramati](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-baramati/): “Do you know who Augustus Gloop is?” I asked. “A Roman emperor!” responded a boy, promptly. We all laughed; we could not help it. Articulate, enthusiastic and full of energy, the children from Vidya Pratishthan’s Bal Vikas Mandir filled Monday and Tuesday with ideas and action. “Have you heard of Roald Dahl?” I asked another bunch of children. “He wrote ‘Daffodils’,” came the response. Spending eight crazy hours with over a hundred children, I delighted in how involved they were with each element of the reading workshop. One session is over, three more to go!
- [Changes](https://varshaseshan.com/changes/): I’ve been away from my blog for three weeks! Now, nothing seems Momentous enough to resume my regular writing. So, finally, I’m putting lots of things together just to set the writing rolling once more. 1) I got married. 2) I had another birthday and became one year older. 3) I discovered that Red Turtle (an imprint of Rupa) has a book called Great Books for Children: A Guide by Preeti Singh, which mentions The Story-Catcher as part of its list. 4) I’m beginning a new venture – workshops in schools. Starting this Monday, I will be conducting reading workshops […]
- [Workshop Cancelled](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-cancelled/): The workshop scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled … My apologies!
- [Arangetrams and Anniversaries](https://varshaseshan.com/arangetram-4/): My dance teacher does not remember the exact date of her Arangetram, but she does remember that it was in 1964. Just for today, I’m going to pretend to myself that her Arangetram was the 29th of October, 1964. Because today, I think of all the time that has passed since our Arangetram: my sister’s and mine. It’s ten years since ours. 29th October, 2004. Ten years. Ten years of learning, performing and teaching. Ten years of acquiring a blend of pride and humility. Ten years of discovering beauty and expression. Ten years of understanding our bodies better – not so […]
- [Reading Workshop, Poona Club Library](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-poona-club-library/): This is the first time I have received so many queries about the workshop! Here are a few more details, just to make things clear. Reading Workshop for Children Dates: 1st and 2nd November, 2014 Time: 10 am to noon Fee: Rs 500 per child Total duration: 4 hours Age-group: 8-12 years Objectives: To develop a love for reading To imagine and create To understand the process of making a book Highlights: Read aloud Act out a story Learn the process of book-publishing Play a vocabulary game Understand what copyright is
- [Of Education and Breaking Traffic Rules](https://varshaseshan.com/breaking-traffic-rules/): My signal turned green. I began to move – and banged into a motorcycle going the wrong way, and breaking the signal into the bargain. With my hand and foot mildly grazed, I was more than a little angry. I had not yet noticed that my bike was damaged, or I would have been still angrier. The rider was a little sheepish and did not say much, but the woman riding pillion was enraged with me. “My signal was green, couldn’t you see?” I fumed. “I was in the right! Why do people who cannot follow rules ride?” In turn, she […]
- [Diwali](https://varshaseshan.com/diwali/): We were in mourning this Diwali for my grandfather who died earlier this year. I remember, as a child, feeling so bad for people in mourning. I remember someone telling me about her father-in-law’s brother’s death, because of which the entire family was in mourning. And I remember feeling a little guilty about thinking about how pointless it was to mourn for a faraway relative. This time, though, it was not like that. I realised the difference between mourning and grieving. I think, to me, mourning is remembering. Each year at Diwali, my grandfather gave us 1,200 rupees: 300 rupees for each one. As […]
- [Reading Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-7/): I started going to the Poona Club library – no, I never called it ‘United Services Library’ – longer ago than I can remember. I do know, though, that in my head, Poona Club library was the only real library I knew. Not because it had exceptional books. Not because it opened my eyes to books I had never seen. But because it was a silent stone building full of books. A real library. Thrilled to be conducting a workshop there! Reading Workshop for Children Dates: 1st and 2nd November, 2014 Time: 10 am to noon Age-group: 8-12 years Registration fee: […]
- [Day Two: Vocabulary Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop-5/): I met a seven-year-old who could unscramble words faster than anyone I’ve seen. Apart from my parents of course. My parents have about thirty years of Scrabble practice, though. (That’s over four times the little boy’s age, for those of you who cannot do the math.) I met another seven-year-old, who was all too willing to give up after trying any given activity for about five minutes and then deciding that he did not understand what to do next. I met two eleven-year-olds, both quiet, but both totally different. I hope I meet many of them again, even though the Vocabulary Workshop […]
- [Day One: Vocabulary Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop-4/): The holidays have just begun, and you don’t want to sit in a library and develop your vocabulary. Yet, the ten children who came to JustBooks Magarpatta City had a crazy, noisy, active, fun morning. Word search puzzles, category games, drawing, acting and speaking – all found their way into two hours. Tomorrow promises to be grand too! If you would like to join in tomorrow, please contact the library: +91-95615500003.
- [Vocabulary Workshop Rescheduled](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop-rescheduled/): As Magarpatta City Public School has examinations until the 18th of October, the Vocabulary Workshop for Children has been postponed. Here are the new details: Dates: 20th and 21st October, 2014 Time: 10:30-12:30 Venue: JustBooks, Magarpatta City Age-group: 8-12 years Registration fee: Rs. 500 The last day for registrations is Sunday, 19th October. Please pass the word! Sorry for the inconvenience …
- [Vocabulary Workshop, Magarpatta City](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop-magarpatta-city-2/): Registrations for my vocabulary workshop at Magarpatta City close on Friday, 17th October. Vocabulary Workshop for Children Dates: 18th and 19th October, 2014 Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Venue: JustBooks, Magarpatta City Age-group: 8-12 years Registration fee: Rs. 500
- [Memorabilia - II](https://varshaseshan.com/memorabilia-ii/): My grandmother was a disciple of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan, and recalled, often, how Pandit Ravi Shankar called her a ‘child prodigy’ when she performed at the Allahabad Univeristy Music Conference. Here is what the press has to say about her: Last and not the least Kumari Ratnam Mahadeo’s Sitar recital should be commended upon. She played a sweet ‘Malkosh’ and showed her masterly treatment of ‘Tal’ … The promising artiste, Kumari Ratnam Mahadeo kept the audience spell bound with her Sitar demonstration. She executed some difficult “Toras” in fast ‘Laya’.
- [Memorabilia](https://varshaseshan.com/memorabilia/): Sorting out my grandparents’ things, we come across all kinds of things. Expenses incurred during my father’s wedding. Details of my father’s birth – time, place, date. Hundreds of bank things. Greeting cards. Invitation cards. Newspaper articles. Here’s one of many. Somehow, I don’t seem to have it preserved.
- [Vocabulary Workshop at Magarpatta City](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop-magarpatta-city/): Now moving to a new venue – JustBooks, Magarpatta City! Vocabulary Workshop for Children Dates: 18th and 19th October, 2014 Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Venue: JustBooks, Magarpatta City Age-group: 8-12 years Registration fee: Rs. 500
- [David](https://varshaseshan.com/david/): I rarely read something that is ‘Not Suitable for Younger Readers’ and, to be honest, I did not notice that David had this warning. Yet (or maybe because of that) David struck a chord with me. In Florence in 1501, it was essential to know what your political inclinations were. Either you supported the republic, or you supported the de Medici. Yet, things were not as simple as they seemed on the surface. Gabriele, drawn into politics against his will, found himself adhering by principles he did not entirely agree with. He found himself aligning himself with political ideologies that […]
- [Frederica](https://varshaseshan.com/frederica/): I was standing at the bank reading Frederica because even though it is not true that I ‘cannot’ put the book down, it is true that I don’t want to put the book down. There is nothing like a book that is addictive. It makes you want to read: during that one minute when the computer is booting, during the thirty seconds when your bottle is being filled, during the twenty seconds it takes for someone to pick up the phone. Back to the bank story. I was standing in line, waiting for my turn and I read about Felix, […]
- [Day Two: Vocabulary Workshop for Children](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop-3/): Time flew by at the second day of my vocabulary workshop, so much so that I hardly even took any photographs! It was a day of frantic word-hunting in the dictionary, attempts to communicate an idea with a single word, and word-building. Here are a couple of pictures, taken before the frenzy began.
- [Day One: Vocabulary Workshop for Children](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop-2/): “Both my daughters keep saying Varsha didi – Varsha – Varsha … I had to come and see what magic you do with them.” Probably the loveliest comment I’ve had so far I can’t decide what I like better – children I’ve met before coming back to me for more, or new children with new ideas and experiences. With word puzzles, team games, charades and drawing, we had a wonderful morning with words! Contact me if you would like to join in for Day Two of the Vocabulary Workshop for Children at JustBooks, Wanawadi!
- [Workshop this Weekend!](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop/): Vocabulary Workshop for Children Dates: 27th and 28th September, 2014 Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Venue: JustBooks, Wanowarie Age-group: 8-12 years Registration fee: Rs. 500 Workshop Overview: JustBooks Wanowarie, in association with Varsha Seshan, brings to you a vocabulary workshop for children. The playground is the best school. In a spirit of healthy competition, children will work in teams and individually to demonstrate their language skills and express themselves. Workshop Highlights: 1.Building your vocabulary and discovering the joy of new words 2.Individual games and team games to test your vocabulary 3.Theme-based word activities 4.Dictionary usage
- [White Dolphin](https://varshaseshan.com/white-dolphin/): Who does not like animal stories? As a child, I wanted to be an environmentalist and a vet. The problem was that I was afraid of biology and dissection, so I contented myself with animal stories, knowing no other option. Gill Lewis’s White Dolphin filled my heart. It was a story that jumped out of the pages and touched me despite the fact that I knew nothing about the particular problems it addressed. White Dolphin is a story of humane humans and their attempts to be what human beings should be – kind, brave and generous. Questions remain unanswered even […]
- [Vocabulary Workshop at JustBooks, Wanawadi](https://varshaseshan.com/vocabulary-workshop-justbooks-wanawadi/): My reading workshop at the British Library is over; it’s time for the next workshop! This one is on my side of town this time – at JustBooks Wanawadi. Vocabulary Workshop for Children by Varsha Seshan Dates: 27th and 28th September, 2014 Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Venue: JustBooks, Wanowarie Age-group: 8-12 years Registration fee: Rs. 500 Contact me for more details!
- [Read Something New! - Day Four](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-6/): Children’s imaginations are simply wonderful. Today, I met – a porcupine who dreamed of being a pillow – a hen that had three wings and could not fly – a snail that ran marathons – a dinosaur with twenty legs – a mouse that went to school and many more. Two by two, these animals had conversations. Another wonderful reading workshop at the British Library is over. I can’t wait for the next.
- [The Memory Cage](https://varshaseshan.com/memory-cage/): A truly wonderful book. What can a boy do when his grandfather has Alzheimer’s and everyone else in his family wants him to go to a home? How can he convince his family that it’s cruel? The Memory Cage is a stark depiction of war and loneliness. War is not about bravery and courage. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. Everyone knows that’s  a lie. But what happens if no one wants to know the truth? What happens when people want to look away from the truth that is staring them in the face? Memories of sadness, grief and […]
- [Street of Tall People](https://varshaseshan.com/street-tall-people/): I was intrigued by the title; who wouldn’t be? The World War has not yet begun, but anti-Jewish sentiments run high. I know nothing of this time. Street of Tall People is set in East London, about which, also, I know nothing. Yet, the story reached out to me. Awkwardness and friendship. Loyalty, trust and betrayal. Loneliness and the quest for someone who understands. Idealism and cynicism. Street of Tall People is one of those books that shows you that even in a cruel, heartless mob is someone who is not tied to you by blood or religion, but is still family. That person there is […]
- [Ten Book Challenge](https://varshaseshan.com/ten-book-challenge/): The ten book challenge has been doing the rounds for a bit, and I thought I’d write a bit more than the names of the books here. I think I owe the books that much. I’m taking the challenge literally and naming books, not series. 1) The Mystery of the Missing Necklace – Enid Blyton I’ve read this one more than any other book of hers, I think, which is saying a lot. If I mention Enid Blyton as a whole, I know the Faraway Tree series and the Famous Five series have to feature, but as a book in […]
- [Read Something New! - Day Three](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-5/): The second-last session of Read Something New! just came to an end. We had limericks, nonsense verse, drama, mimes and group rhymes. Our author in focus this week was Michael Morpurgo; next week, we’re going to talk about Dick King-Smith. Read Something New! Venue: British Library, Pune
- [Read Something New!](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-4/): Holiday over; I am back to work. Sometimes, I wonder which I enjoy more – the holiday or the work! Session 3 of my reading workshop Read Something New! at the British Library Pune is tomorrow. We are going to be talking about Michael Morpurgo, and I am excited. Read Something New! – Session 3 Venue: British Library, Pune Age-group: 9-12 Time: 3-5 pm Dates: 17th & 24th August and 7th & 14th September
- [Holiday Pictures](https://varshaseshan.com/holiday-pictures/): Two pictures I could not resist sharing …  
- [Goodbye, Gangtok ...](https://varshaseshan.com/goodbye-gangtok/): We woke up at 4:30 this morning. This far east, it is not as early as it sounds to my Western Ghat friends. The sun rose soon after, and we stood at the window and watched the clouds. We saw the Khangchendzonga. She played with us, hiding in the clouds and peeking out again. We saw the other stunning mountains. Those picturesque peaks played with us too. The sun glinted off the snowy slopes, almost blinding in its brightness. We said goodbye to the mountains, and before we left, the mountains said goodbye to us. By six o clock, all […]
- [The Story-Catcher in Gangtok](https://varshaseshan.com/story-catcher-gangtok/): Ebbani from Rey Valley International School was the first to arrive. “Thirteen more children are coming,” she informed me. I was anxious, anxious enough to have considered (night before last) cancelling the whole thing. I had never dealt with such young children before, and the children from Rey Valley who were coming to Rachna Books were children from LKG, UKG, and Grade I. Finally, I loved how everything turned out. There were thirteen children in all, not the 14 that Ebbani expected, and each of them was special. I feel like such a foreigner; I remember so few of the […]
- [Beautiful Gangtok - Day Two](https://varshaseshan.com/beautiful-gangtok-day-two/): When I was a child, my parents and I went to Darjeeling. We did a very touristy thing – went on a ‘Fun Ten’ tour of ten points in Darjeeling that visitors must see. This included a ride in a cable car and a visit to the zoo that housed a red panda. When we got back to the hotel, the diligent diary-writer that I was, I asked my parents and sister to rate what they liked the most. Today, I realise how unfair that was on my parents. I was able to choose my favourites quite easily as a […]
- [Gangtok!](https://varshaseshan.com/gangtok/): Rain, clouds, mist. The spectacular, fascinating Teesta river. Hot momos on the way. Welcome to Gangtok. While we were in New Jalpaiguri, I was more than a little nervous. The driver we had was aggressive and noisy, and seemed to think the road belonged to him. Would we get to Gangtok safely? The moment we started on the mountain roads, though, we could not have asked for a better driver. At one point of time, he leaned forward and peered. I thought he was looking in the rear-view mirror. It was raining and the roads were bad. Maybe there was […]
- [Pocahontas](https://varshaseshan.com/pocahontas/): Intrigued by the title of the series ‘Before They Became Famous’, I picked up Caroline Corby’s  Pocahontas. Just to make things clear, I haven’t watched the movie. In fact, I know nothing about the movie except the song “Colours of the Wind”. The book I read was lovely. ‘Pocahontas’ means ‘curious, lively, inquisitive’, and this was one of those historical novels in which the character came alive. Each character was real to me. There were no detailed explanations to teach me about the customs and livelihood, but there were enough clues to help me find my way, and that made […]
- [No Such Thing as Dragons](https://varshaseshan.com/thing-dragons/): An unusual book, No Such Thing as Dragons puzzled me. I think the promise that the book cover held (yes, I always judge a book by its cover) led me to expect more. I found that the characters had so much potential, and the plot could have been much more exciting, considering the lovely seed of the story. Since there is no such thing as dragons, the dragon-hunter knows that the best person to keep his secrets is a mute boy. The dragon-hunter has grand stories of courage and bravery, which he spreads from town to town as he goes […]
- [Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg](https://varshaseshan.com/fairy-dust-quest-egg/): Neverland. I remember my father reading out bits and pieces of Peter Pan to me. And I remember having an enormous book, probably as big as I was myself, with beautiful pictures of Neverland, Wendy and dreadful Tinker Bell whom I disliked so much, even though she was so pretty. Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg took me straight back to that vision of Neverland. It helps that the book in my hands was one of those where I could have spent hours just looking at the pictures and smelling the pages. With its thick glossy paper, and […]
- [Day Two: Storytelling Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-workshop-4/): We read aloud, acted, spoke, coloured, stamped and drew. I heard two stories about a zoo, and we read a lovely story about two rabbits and a fairy princess. What a feast of stories it was! The three-day storytelling workshop had: 1. Tikki tikki tembo 2. The Witch and her Two Daughters (adapted from two folktales by Varsha Seshan) 3. The Three Engines 4. The Hunter and his Five Sons 5. The Little Corner Shop (by Varsha Seshan) 6. The Fox and the Farm (by Varsha Seshan) 7. The Lady of the Lake (loosely based on a traditional tale) 8. […]
- [Day One: Storytelling Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-workshop-3/): Children aged between five and eight are such an enthusiastic and energetic bunch! I enjoyed myself thoroughly telling them three more stories, one of which was “The Little Corner Shop” from The Story-Catcher. It is so heartwarming when children fall in love with a story that is your own! Coming up: Storytelling Workshop – Day Two Date: Today, 26th August, 2014 Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road Time: 11 am to noon Age-group: 5-8 Fee: Rs 350 Vocabulary Workshop Date: 27th and 28th August, 2014 Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road Time: 4 pm to 5:30 pm Age-group: 8-12 Fee: […]
- [Photographs from Yesterday's Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops-varsha-seshan-3/): Sunday morning saw the end of my two-day workshop, Weekend with Words, at JustBooks Aundh. With Word Search, Word-Building and Word Train, we came to the end of a fun workshop! At the British Library, we had a day based on Roald Dahl! Today, we have: Storytelling Workshop Time: 11 am to noon Age-group: 5-8 Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road Registration Fee: Rs. 350
- [Storytelling Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-workshop-2/): Important update The timing of my storytelling workshop has changed from evening to morning, thanks to the rain we have every evening. Here are the details once more: Dates: 25th and 26th August, 2014 Time: 11 am to noonAge-group: 5-8 years Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road, Pune Registration fee: Rs 350 Sorry for the inconvenience!
- [Two Workshops Yesterday!](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops-varsha-seshan-2/): Here are some of the photographs from yesterday’s workshops! Weekend with Words by Varsha Seshan at JustBooks Aundh Storytelling with Varsha at Friends Library Mark the next ones! JustBooks, Aundh: The second session of Weekend with Words is today at 10:30 am British Library: The second session of Read Something New! is today at 3 pm Coming up … Storytelling Workshop Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road, Pune Age-group: 5-8 Dates: 25th and 26th August, 2014 Time: 6:30-7:30 pm Registration fee: Rs 350 See you there!
- [No Holy Cows in Business](https://varshaseshan.com/holy-cows-business/): Yesterday, my father Sekhar Seshan launched his second co-authored book – No Holy Cows in Business – at MCCIA, Senapati Bapat Road. NO HOLY COWS in Business – 9 Principles of Entrepreneurship by Kiran Bhat & Sekhar Seshan ISBN 978-93-83572-20-5 Price: Rs. 200 Publisher: Vishwakarma Publications [www.vpindia.co.in] I hope to have a shelf full of Seshan writings!
- [Charlotte's Web](https://varshaseshan.com/charlottes-web/): No other title do they know, The refrain is scarcely new – Tho the chances are their knowledge Came from a book review; They ask me if I’ve read it – I humbly whisper “No” (Thank God, again I’ve said it!) They clap their hands and glow. – From Louis L’Amour’s “I Haven’t Read Gone with the Wind” Unlike Mr L’Amour, I have read Gone with the Wind. Not once, but several times, I think. But when it comes to Charlotte’s Web, the poem reaches out to me and makes me cry out, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” People who have read […]
- [The Sandfather](https://varshaseshan.com/sandfather/): I love books that make my throat hurt with an aching sob. I love underplayed emotion that grips me tight when I imagine everything the character is facing without needing to be told. I love getting inside the skin of a character about whom I know nothing. The Sandfather by Linda Newbury filled me with moments of emotion that were so strong they threatened to overwhelm me. I held back the sob in my throat and the tears in eyes time and time again, closing my eyes when I felt the pain and joy of the story unfolding before me. […]
- [Day One: Read Something New!](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-10/): Spending a Sunday afternoon with enthusiastic children at the British Library is such a joy! The idea of this workshop was to get over Geronimo Stilton and Wimpy Kid, and begin to read something new. I know too many children who finish their Geronimo Stiltons and then say they have nothing more to read. With twenty children in the library with me, we began with a game of names. Children chose names for themselves – names of characters, books or authors. I had in my room,  a range of children, from Hermione Granger to Amelia Jane. All twenty ran from person to […]
- [Fortune Cookie](https://varshaseshan.com/fortune-cookie/): I have always loved fortune cookies. The cookie may taste like nothing, true. Yet, it’s nice to believe that the fortune inside is somehow, in some obscure and incomprehensible functioning of the universe, meant for you. No, I don’t like to imagine fortunes being manufactured and machine-cut before being inserted into cookies. Despite my desire to find connections and meanings, I found my mother’s fortune baffling. Please notice the punctuation too. It is not a question. It is a statement of fact. Interpretations, anyone? I will duly pass them on to my mother!  
- [Workshops Ahead](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops-varsha-seshan/): Here is what my next two weekends look like! Workshop Details Weekend with Words: Age-group: 9-12 Registration Fee: Rs. 500 Read Something New! Age-group: 8-12 Registration fee: Rs. 1,200 for members; Rs. 2,200 for non-members (complimentary six-month gold membership with each registration) Storytelling with Varsha: Postponed from 15th August 2014 to 23rd August 2014 Age-group: 5-8 Free entry!
- [Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission](https://varshaseshan.com/magnus-fin-moonlight-mission/): If you watched and loved Captain Planet as a child, I know you will feel as warmly about Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission as I did. When I watched the heroism and drama of Captain Planet, I loved the idea of people getting together to save the world. This book feels something like that. The downside of the book is how it begins, though. When I started reading it, I found it rather painstaking. As I went on, though, I realised how much of a problem I experience with first chapters. Sometimes, however hard I work them, first chapters are not perfect. I may edit, rewrite and […]
- [Weekend with Words](https://varshaseshan.com/weekend-with-words-workshop/): A workshop at the other end of town now! This one does not revolve just around reading; it’s about word-building. How good is your vocabulary? How quickly can you think of words everyone knows? How easily can you express yourself? Join me for a weekend workshop at JustBooks, Aundh! Dates: 23rd and 24th August, 2014 Time: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm Registration fee: Rs. 500 Age-group: 8-12 years Contact: (020)69336944 or 7385022201
- [Arangetram - Chaitrali, Diaspina and Purvi](https://varshaseshan.com/arangetram-chaitrali-diaspina-purvi/): “How was the Arangetram? How did Chaitrali do?” my mother asked. I had one word in response, “Moving.” And it was moving for more reasons than one. When Chaitrali, despite her hearing and speaking disability made her speech, many of us were in tears. “I thank the didis,” she said, painstakingly. “Varsha didi … Nisha didi … Resham didi …” I pursed my lips to hold back the tears. When she finished her solo, many of us were crying again. Those of us who have our five senses intact should be ashamed of erring on stage when she managed. Somehow, she […]
- [Arangetram](https://varshaseshan.com/arangetram-3/): The Academy of Indian Dances welcomes you to the Arangetram of Chaitrali, Diya and Purvi. Chaitrali is a special girl with a hearing disability despite which she has persevered and come to this stage. Her Arangetram is a proud moment for her parents, her guru, and somehow by extension, all of us. Diya and Purvi – hats off to them for their cooperation and support. Things have been different for them because they have the overwhelming responsibility of being better than ever and making no mistakes at all. This Arangetram is certainly going to be memorable. Venue: Tilak Smarak Mandir […]
- [Storytelling on Independence Day](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-with-varsha/): I’m conducting a free storytelling session on Independence Day! Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road, Pune Time: 6 pm to 7 pm Age-group: 5-8 years
- [Esty's Gold](https://varshaseshan.com/estys-gold/): I never stay up reading. I love books and I enjoy reading, but staying up beyond my bed-time? No, that’s not me. I remember when I was reading the fifth Harry Potter, I had one chapter left to finish and I went to sleep, to the horror of some of my friends. Maybe that was because I wanted to hold on to my fictional friends a little longer. Esty’s Gold forced me to stay up reading. I read page after page. Just one more chapter. And one more. This chapter was too short to count. So just one more. And […]
- [Tilly's Moonlight Fox](https://varshaseshan.com/tillys-moonlight-fox/): When I started reading Tilly’s Moonlight Fox, I did not quite like it. Both the story and the writing style seemed outdated. The kind of finish that so many new books have was not there. But the book grew on me. It’s the kind of book that you should read when you are eight or nine years old, growing up on books like Anne of Green Gables and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. There are no complex twists in the plot. There is nothing that keeps you waiting with bated breath. But it is a charming book nonetheless. […]
- [Rainbow!](https://varshaseshan.com/rainbow/): For so long, for so many years, I’ve been looking at the sunshine and the rain and thinking, “The sky owes me a rainbow. It is too hot to wear a raincoat, but if I don’t wear one, I’ll get wet. The sky owes me a rainbow.” But I didn’t see one. For years. And then, suddenly yesterday, arching its way across the eastern sky, I saw one! As I watched, a small double rainbow emerged. My skin tingled. I watched it until it faded away, wondering how the people in the building far away felt – the ones who […]
- [The Lost Island of Tamarind](https://varshaseshan.com/lost-island-tamarind/): The first word that comes to mind while reading The Lost Island of Tamarind is ‘vivid’. I don’t usually like descriptive stories. I feel, “Sure, things around look like that; the weather is like that; the people look like that. Get on with the story!” The Lost Island of Tamarind was not one of those. It was probably the first book I have ever read where my eyes widened at the descriptions. The richness of detail and texture astounded me. I could feel the humidity, see the blue fireflies and hear all the sounds of the jungle. It was fabulous. Sometimes, during […]
- [Read Something New!](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-3/): Back to British Library with my next reading workshop! Dates: 17th August, 24th August, 7th September and 14th September Time: 3 pm – 5 pm Age-group: 9-12 Registration fee: Rs. 1,200 for members; Rs. 2,200 for non-members  (You get a complimentary Gold 6-month membership free when you register) See you there!
- [Monsoon!](https://varshaseshan.com/monsoon/): I love the rain. It’s magical. My mother got three stems of lavender hibiscus from my grandmother and we dumped them in a mug of water. Days passed. Finally, when the leaves were wilted and the twig was mouldy, we felt guilty enough to stick them into a pot of mud. The next day, there were two bright green new leaves. And we have something else coming up, apart from our pink lilies and our spider lilies and our bamboo that thinks it’s Jack’s beanstalk. Brahmakamal buds! Monsoon makes everything rejoice in being alive!
- [Day One: Abhinaya](https://varshaseshan.com/day-one-abhinaya/): The day was full of surprises, with just two participants for our workshop. We had questions about whether we should cancel. We decided against it, and perhaps it was a good thing. The workshop was an experience. Things that we had planned could not take place simply because there were not enough people. Yet, it taught us much. I came away with no regrets about having done it, but lots of questions. Tomorrow will be an experience too. With a performance scheduled, it will be strange if there are just two people, and even stranger if there are fewer. Maybe […]
- [Abhinaya - A Workshop on Indian Classical Dance](https://varshaseshan.com/abhinaya-workshop-indian-classical-dance/): This weekend, we bring to you a dance workshop – Abhinaya …
- [Performances and Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/performances-workshops/): Many books on dance talk about how the layman likes quick movements and rhythmic pieces. There is a certain amount of condescension when dancers write about quick eye-movements and complicated-looking footwork because all of that is eye-wash. It is easy showmanship for an uninitiated audience. The true connoisseurs of art, say dancers, are those who realise the beauty of slowness and depth rather than eye-catching speed. In 2012, we had three performances in France – two in Renage, and one in Voiron. After our Renage performances, we asked our friends and members of the audience which pieces they liked so […]
- [Small Change for Stuart](https://varshaseshan.com/small-change-stuart/): When crossword puzzles, triplets and magic come together, the combination is a delightful mixture of commonsense, logic and madness. Small Change for Stuart is about a very short boy with slightly crazy parents.  The parents do not realise that their short son is going to be traumatised through life because his first initial and surname invite a nickname that he has to live with – S. Horten. Moving to the tiny village of Beeton, Stuart is lost. He has no friends yet because he cannot count the irritating triplets next door called April, May and June. Stuart does, however, have […]
- [Great-Great Grandmother](https://varshaseshan.com/great-great-grandmother/): Anyone on Facebook knows that babies are born all the time. Pictures are put up and everybody makes appropriate appreciative comments. But not everyday is a great-great grandmother born. I had the privilege of knowing my great-grandfather, who lived to be a 105. His amazing life spanned from 1895 to 2000. He supported Gandhi during the freedom struggle and stopped wearing leather slippers, choosing instead to go barefoot. This, for me, was particularly incredible because he was a lawyer in Madurai, so he walked those scorching roads day after day barefoot. When I knew him, he was a slightly deaf […]
- [Technician](https://varshaseshan.com/technician/): I have lost track of the number of times I have been in charge of lights and sound. As a small performing troupe, we can’t always afford a professional lights and sound manager. And we most certainly cannot afford to have a technician with us for all our practices. At IIM Indore, it was fascinating. The scope of those lights was tremendous, and I enjoyed myself to the fullest, wishing I had more time to work things out and use the lights to our best advantage. At various other programmes, I have been in charge of the sound – both […]
- [The Famous Adventures of Jack](https://varshaseshan.com/famous-adventures-jack/): When a little girl called Jill is told that she has to meet Jack, she begins a wonderful journey of stories with Mother Greenwood and a few Jacks here and there. The Famous Adventures of Jack by Berlie Doherty is a collection of new tales that have the same charm, predictability and comfort of well-loved classics. With Jack the Giant-Killer, Jack’s magical snuff-box and Daft Jack, the book is packed to the brim with familiar, old-world stories that are utterly new. It’s almost like taking a quilt you love and stitching it into different patterns that are just as beautiful!
- [Double Decker Train](https://varshaseshan.com/double-decker-train/): I saw a double-decker train after so long today! I did not even know they still ran! I remember when I went on one as a child. The extreme excitement and anticipation. The dread that we would actually have to sit down. Blue train, blue seats, silver stairs. Running up and down those stairs, careful not to shriek with excitement and risk being yelled at. I can’t remember whether we sat upstairs or downstairs. I just remember the thrill. Today, though, Adults came on that train, not Children. Children are delighted with thrill. Adults need luxuries like leg-room and space […]
- [The Feeling After Reading a Good Book](https://varshaseshan.com/dragonfly-pool/): I sit on the sofa looking at the wall in front of me. Hundreds of images cover the wall. A young brown girl. The book does not say anywhere that she is brown. In fact, she is English. But her great-great-aunt – or was it another relation? – used to wash the socks of tramps. An old king has a friend who speaks five languages. He is a fantastic man who takes children out all the time. The progressive school. Imagine being in whatever lessons you like, if you like. A cedar tree. I don’t even know what a cedar […]
- [Nayanabhinaya](https://varshaseshan.com/nayanabhinaya/): What is Nayanabhinaya? Divide the word and we get “Nayana” (eyes) and “Abhinaya” (loosely translated as expression). The eyes are an essential part of Indian classical dance, and that is one of the reasons why they are highlighted with thick kohl. The eyes express emotion and create beauty. Learn the basics of Nayanabhinaya at our workshop on Abhinaya at The Cultural Centre. Dates: 26th and 27th July, 2014 Time: 5 pm – 7 pm Fee: Rs. 1,500
- [Ashadi Ekadashi at Prashanthi Nilayam](https://varshaseshan.com/ashadi-ekadashi-prashanthi-nilayam/): Standing there, behind the backdrop, we held our breath. We had been working with 43 Bal Vikas children with little or no knowledge of dance since May, and this was the outcome of all our efforts.   Working towards the performance for Ashadi Ekadashi at Prashanthi Nilayam was often frustrating, but ultimately, deeply rewarding. The children had practised just once at the final venue – the day before the programme. We finished practice around 10:30 at night and then the children got up at 3 in the morning for their make-up because all of them had to be ready by […]
- [The Story of Cirrus Flux](https://varshaseshan.com/story-cirrus-flux/): “Where are you, Varsha?” “I’m not here!” I call back. “It looks like you are.” “No, I’m inside here.” (pointing to my book) That’s the way it was with The Story of Cirrus Flux. I enjoyed the ride through 18th century England, with Matthew Skelton’s small liberties with historical facts. I wondered again at how far science has come, but how cruel the human race is. We’re such a bunch of contraries. We are capable of great kindness and great cruelty. We are capable of infinite selflessness and inhuman selfishness. We want revenge, but want to forgive. We go to […]
- [Hastaabhinaya - expressing through your hands](https://varshaseshan.com/hastaabhinaya-expressing-hands/): Classical dance is a language that has the power to express your deepest emotions. When we learn a language from scratch, where do we begin? When you read, you begin with A-B-C; when you sing you begin with Do Re Mi … The alphabet of dance consists of mudras or patterns formed with your hands. With four fingers and a thumb, the number of mudras we can form is extensive. Codified by the Natya Shastra, a treatise on dramaturgy, mudras form the base of Indian classical dance. What makes a mudra beautiful? What can we express with our hands? Who sets down these rules? How can I understand […]
- [Abhinaya: A Dance Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/abhinaya-dance-workshop/): What is abhinaya? Does it really just mean ‘expression’? Etymologically, abhinaya comes from two words ‘abhi’ (towards) and ‘niya’ (leading). So, Abhinaya leads you, the audience towards something. And what is that something? Rasa – aesthetic pleasure. Considering that these ideas come from the Natya Shastra, the abhinaya aspect of dance is linked to theatre and drama. It involves the aspect of dance that deals with storytelling, expression and emotion. Come, experience the richness and depth of abhinaya with us at “Abhinaya: A Workshop on Indian Classical Dance” at The Cultural Centre later this month. Dates: 26th and 27th July, […]
- [The Midnight Fox](https://varshaseshan.com/midnight-fox/): It is not that I have not been reading. As a matter of fact, I have been reading quite a bit. I read A Beautiful Lie by Irfan Master and enjoyed it. I read three of Dick King-Smith’s Sophie books. But nothing prompted me to write until this one – The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars. The Midnight Fox builds suspense so brilliantly that I had to keep taking time out to breathe a bit. I needed to know what happened next, but did not want to know. With old books, I am usually pretty sure that somehow or the […]
- [Workshop Coming Soon ...](https://varshaseshan.com/dance-workshop/): We are conducting a dance workshop (followed by a performance) soon … I will share the details in the next few days!
- [Not the Mona Lisa](https://varshaseshan.com/mona-lisa/): Entry to the Louvre is free on the first Sunday of each month, and I landed in Paris on the first Sunday of June. Jet lag is a luxury that people who have time and money to spend in a foreign country can afford. I couldn’t. Whatever debate may surround the aesthetics of the pyramid of the Louvre, within, you have everything to choose from. For a few seconds, we stood there, letting history and culture seep into our blood. “So, where do you want to go?” My sister smiled at me. “Not the Egyptian zone, that’s for sure.” I […]
- [Storytelling with Varsha - Tomorrow!](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-varsha-tomorrow/): Here are some pictures from the past. See you tomorrow! Storytelling with Varsha Age-group: 5-8 years Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road Registration Fee: Rs. 350 Date: 20th June, 2014 (Friday) Time: 6 pm to 7 pm
- [Storytelling at Friends Library, Pune](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-varsha-seshan-3/): When I conducted a reading workshop at Friends Library, many parents came to me and asked me to do something for younger children. Finally, here is a storytelling workshop for the littler ones. Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road, Pune Date: 20th June, 2014 (Friday) Time: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Fee: Rs. 350
- [Storytelling Photographs](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-photographs/): Here are a couple of photographs from my storytelling session at The Cultural Centre. Looking forward to my next workshop!  
- [To Kill a Mockingbird](https://varshaseshan.com/kill-mockingbird/): Atticus, Atticus … How I love you! Who says that you are not a good parent? To Kill a Mockingbird is moving, painful and joyful. It fills my heart with the goodness and stupidity of humanity. When I read a story like To Kill a Mockingbird, I feel the power of literature. Literature can echo in your head with phrases and pictures that make you want to close your eyes and relive each moment. A man, be he any colour of the rainbow, is equal in the eyes of law. I love that. I remember that one line from the first time […]
- [Storytelling at The Cultural Centre, Pune](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-pune-varsha-seshan/): What better place to tell stories than in the silence of a place surrounded by nature? The Cultural Centre Pune is ideal. I had a truly enjoyable session with five children from three different countries. In keeping with the international spirit, we told stories from three different countries. And then, I had the fortune of listening to a fascinating story told by one of the children there – about a tiger and a wild boar. It is about the wild boar’s unhappiness at not getting a return gift at the tiger’s birthday party. So much does he complain and so generous is the […]
- [Storytelling with Varsha at The Cultural Centre, Pune!](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-varsha-seshan-2/): Yesterday, I secretly did a storytelling session for a child’s birthday.We recited together, we acted together, we laughed and shouted together. It’s coming back tomorrow – at The Cultural Centre! Here’s how to get there.   And here are the details once more: Age-group: 5-8 years Date: Saturday, 7th June, 2014 Fee: Rs. 350 Time: 11 am – noon Please register your child at tcc@prelocate.com. For further queries contact 09764 441 478 See you tomorrow!
- [The Macmillan Book Review Contest on Rivokids](https://varshaseshan.com/the-macmillan-book-review-contest-rivokids/): Why are there no reviews of Indian books for the Macmillan Book Review Contest yet? This is true for all the age-groups! Do invite children in the age-group 10-15 to review The Story-Catcher; the carrot dangling at the end of the stick is a Macmillan book hamper! Last date for entries is the 30th of June.
- [Olivia's First Term](https://varshaseshan.com/olivias-first-term/): When I picked up Olivia’s First Term, I was more than a little sceptical. The book was light purple, with splashes of silver on it. It did not promise to be the kind of book I would like. I don’t like books that run on crushes and fantasies and lipstick and shoes and make-up. And lavender, purple and mauve books are often filled with just that.   Happily, Olivia’s First Term was nothing like that. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I experienced after a very long time the joy bordering on addiction that I felt when I read Malory […]
- [Storytelling with Varsha](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-varsha-seshan/): This time, I have something coming up for younger children. If you know children between the ages of 5 and 8, tell them to join me this Saturday at The Cultural Centre Pune for a storytelling session followed by activities that give free rein to their imaginations!
- [Day Five: Reading Workshop at JustBooks](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-9/): Another workshop came to an end yesterday. Lots of parents came in and asked me when I would do something like this again. Soon, I hope, soon. For now, I am filled with gladness. Comics, stories, poems, myths … A reading workshop is so fulfilling!
- [Day Four: Reading Workshop at JustBooks](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-8/): My reading workshops are always learning experiences. If not for those who attend mine, for me! Yesterday was a day of comics and stories. One child made a comic depicting a race to win a golden sword. One write a fable and illustrated it. One wrote an essay with a picture. They showed me, again, how inspiration can come from anything!  
- [Day Three: Reading Workshop at JustBooks, Wanawadi](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-7/): Each day brings more happiness! Yesterday, day three of my reading workshop at JustBooks, was lovely. We told a story together, then wrote letters and played a new game – the Word Train! Children constantly inspire me to be creative!
- [Day Two: Let's Read at JustBooks, Wanawadi](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-6/): One hour is not enough for everything I like to do with the children at the workshop! It was still lovely, though, with understanding copyright (and asking whether Google will know who owns the copyright for the Bible) and telling stories. Myths, book covers, publishing, copyright and a quiz – all on Day Two of the reading workshop at JustBooks, Wanawadi. Let’s Read!
- [Day One: Reading Workshop at JustBooks, Wanawadi](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-varsha-seshan-5/): The week began with another reading workshop! It’s a new place for me, with new children and new activities. One thing remains the same, though. It’s still all about books and a library is the perfect place! It’s not too late to join in – come, Let’s Read, at JustBooks, Wanawadi, Pune!
- [The Court Painter's Apprentice](https://varshaseshan.com/court-painters-apprentice/): I love novels that read like short stories. I don’t like it when the plot is so complex that my excitement reaches its peak too early. When I read a book like that, I’m just waiting to find out what happens in the end, not enjoying the journey. The book I read before this, The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43, was like that. In the last two chapters, you’re just waiting for resolution, no longer anticipating what could happen. The Court Painter’s Apprentice was nothing like that. In many ways, I found its telling old-fashioned, and I liked that. I liked how different […]
- [Author Interview!](https://varshaseshan.com/author-interview-varsha-seshan/): The Story-Catcher was the second runner-up for the “Parents and Kids Choice Awards 2014” for Books (Indian authors) in the age-group 10-15. TeamRivo interviewed me – read the interview on rivoblog!
- [Workshop at Ahmedabad](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-at-ahmedabad/): Here are a couple of photos from the workshop I conducted at FD School, Ahmedabad, under the banner of Ratna Sagar. It was a lovely experience, working with enthusiastic teachers. We worked on the story of Pinocchio, exploring integrated learning and the importance of conducting different kinds of activities while teaching. We spoke about reading and why we enjoy reading. We discussed the role of non-language teachers in the teaching of English. All in all, it was a rewarding session!
- [The Story-Catcher: A Review by Arushi Upadhyaya](https://varshaseshan.com/the-story-catcher-a-review-by-arushi-upadhyaya/): Some time ago, I mentioned a book review of The Story-Catcher by 9-year-old Arushi Upadhyaya. Finally sharing the whole review here! It made me smile all over again.  
- [Flight to Dragon Isle](https://varshaseshan.com/flight-to-dragon-isle/): One of the reasons I love travelling is that I have so much time that I can spend reading without feeling guilty about everything else I could have been doing instead. Waiting, sitting around, marking time until my workshop begins … What else can I do? I loved The Dragon Whisperer; I wanted to know what happened next. And there was the sequel, Flight to Dragon Isle, sitting on the shelf in the library, waiting for me to borrow it. The Grand Master is intent on treason, but even Quenelda’s father the Earl is not convinced that his childhood friend Hugo could have gone so […]
- [Ahmedabad](https://varshaseshan.com/ahmedabad/): How I love to travel! Sitting at the airport this morning, I watched the people around me. Some confident, some scared. Most busy on their mobile phones and laptops. Impatience: that’s what’s in the air. I watch everyone even as I read, my eyes darting from book to face, book to face. How do I appear, I wonder …? Landing in Ahmedabad made my lips twitch. I was in a plane that reminded me of days gone by, a small plane that looked like it belonged to a different age … I let my imagination  go wild. And then I […]
- [The Witching Hour](https://varshaseshan.com/the-witching-hour/): Seventeenth century Scotland. The Presbyterians are convinced that the word of God is not equivalent to the word of King Charles, sitting far away in England. The Black Cuffs are everywhere, rounding up suspected Presbyterians because by the law enforced by Charles Stuart, it is illegal to pray outdoors; you can be fined for not going to the kirk for Sabbath; you can be penalised for denying the authority of the king’s bishops and ministers. Each one suspected of Presbyterianism must go through the Test – or be hanged. Elizabeth Laird’s The Witching Hour is a powerful novel told from the point of view of young […]
- [Nightjars](https://varshaseshan.com/nightjars/): When I think of nightjars, I think of poetry. Was it in “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas? Or did I come across a nightjar in something by Keats or Byron? I think of nightjars and I have the sense of something I do not know. Something that I can only imagine. And then we saw them – both earlier this year in Nagzira, and this time in Tadoba. In the pre-dawn light, little, brown birds sat on the red road. The jeep’s headlights fell on them as they sat there. We watched wide-eyed, as unblinking as the small, round birds with their black […]
- [Back from Tadoba](https://varshaseshan.com/back-from-tadoba/): We were famous, the talk of the town. Everyone knew us; the official at the gate wrote my name down each morning and each afternoon without having to consult the safari ticket. He grinned at us, exchanged a few words, and wished us luck. “Now at least, you must …” At the end of each safari, as we signed out, he looked up hopefully. We shook our heads, almost delighted at being so difficult, and he let out his breath and gave us a crooked smile. “Everyone is talking only about you,” said our driver Ashish. “All the time, everyone in Navegaon […]
- [A Face Like Glass](https://varshaseshan.com/a-face-like-glass/): How would it be to have a face like glass, a face that is a window that can tell the truth and only the truth? And how would it be to have a face like that in a world where Facesmiths sculpt each expression on each individual’s face? A Face Like Glass is a remarkable book, which took me on a journey through the twists and turns of Caverna, an underground land that is just about being held together by the Grand Steward. A Kleptomancer is on the loose, though, one who steals unpredictably, and seems to delight in taking Caverna by storm. Into all […]
- [The Raven Boys](https://varshaseshan.com/the-raven-boys/): Last week, the members of the Writers’ Club wrote book reviews of books they’ve read recently and loved. Here is a review by Riva Verma of The Raven Boys, a book I have not read. Welsh kings. Ley lines. Hidden bodies of ancient monarchs. This novel is filled with adventure and mystery. That is what I like best about The Raven Boys. There were parts which intrigued me so much that I had to know what was going to happen, scenes where I was scared for the characters, times when I experienced each and every emotion alongside them. My favorite character is Blue […]
- [Reading Day](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-day/): Helen O’ Grady’s Navi Mumbai chapter invited me to be part of its Reading Day celebrations in honour of Dr Kalam’s birthday. What a crazy day I had with enthusiastic children from St. Mary’s School, Koparkhairane, and Gold Crest High, Vashi! The children were full of questions. One commented, “Most authors now don’t really write; they type. Why do we call them writers? We should call them typers.” Children asked me where my inspiration came from; they asked me what I enjoyed reading and what my journey towards publication was like. They asked how many times my work had been rejected, and did not […]
- [The Dragon Whisperer](https://varshaseshan.com/dragon-whisperer-lucinda-hare/): Last week, I conducted a workshop at the British Library on inculcating the habit of reading in children. There were principals and representatives from several schools in and around Pune, and many asked me where they could find book reviews. I realised I haven’t written about books for a while, so for the next few days, that’s what I’m going to be writing about! I loved this one! When characters in books become friends you care about, you know that the book you are reading is exceptional. Riding dragons comes naturally to Quenelda. She does not like fussy court life, where ladies are concerned […]
- [Reflection](https://varshaseshan.com/reflection/): The IB methodology taught me the importance of reflecting on what we have learnt. I often keep that in mind as I conduct workshops, in the hope that reflection will help participants consciously use what they learn in their lives ahead. The girls from St. Mary’s have now attended eight sessions of the Writing Club. They reflected on what they have understood, and thought about what they need to do ahead. Here is what Remanika Sohal, a student of class VII has to say: Based on the comments I have received on the assignments I have done so far, I […]
- [The Gruffalo's Child](https://varshaseshan.com/the-gruffalos-child/):  
- [My First Violin Recital](https://varshaseshan.com/my-first-violin-recital/): I’m conducting a Writing Club at St. Mary’s School for 25 girls from classes VI and VII. Every time I give them a writing assignment, I will be publishing the work I like best on my blog.  I will be editing the work very slightly, if at all. It’s Friday again, and time to publish. This week, each girl wrote a poem inspired by any experience. I chose this one, by Advika Dhar from class VII, because of its simplicity and choice of form. I have preserved the original haiku, unedited.  My First Violin Recital – Advika Dhar Camera lights flashed, Butterflies in my stomach, My first […]
- [Pop! Goes the Music](https://varshaseshan.com/pop-goes-the-music/): I’m conducting a Writing Club at St. Mary’s School for 25 girls from classes VI and VII. Every time I give them a writing assignment, I will be publishing the work I like best on my blog.  I will be editing the work very slightly, if at all. This week, each girl wrote a poem inspired by a piece of music of her choice. I chose this one, by Jayde MacFarland from class VII, because I enjoyed the rhythm of the poem. On what inspired her, Jayde wrote: This poem is based on pop music. I felt inspired to do this as it is the […]
- [Workshop at Silvassa](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-at-silvassa/): Travelling to Silvassa, I realised how rusty my geography has become. Silvassa – I was pretty sure it was the capital of Dadra & Nagar Haveli. At least, I remember having learnt that in school. We had endless lists of states and union territories, and we had to learn the capital of each one, in addition to other details that have been wiped out of my memory. (Perhaps I should not complain. There are more states now than there used to be when I was in school.) I ‘alighted’ (I find the word so beautifully archaic, but the station had a […]
- [Gnomeo and Juliet at Artsphere, Pune](https://varshaseshan.com/gnomeo-and-juliet-at-artsphere-pune/): The British Council Library and Artsphere Pune hosted a screening of the movie “Gnomeo and Juliet”, and I was invited to talk about the movie, about Romeo and Juliet, and about Shakespeare. I was tremendously excited – I love working with the British Council; I was going to work in a new venue with a new audience; I was going to work with Shakespeare! I began my preparation by re-reading Romeo and Juliet. I have an edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare that used to belong to my grandfather. Within, I found this … … and I read Romeo and Juliet with […]
- [Reading Challenge Workshop at Mumbai](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-workshop-at-mumbai/): Twelve hours of travel-time, and a three-hour workshop. I can’t promise to do it again, yet it was fun! The British Council, Mumbai, has rolled out the reading challenge programme in several schools in Mumbai. I conducted three workshops at Universal High, Dahisar, and had a lovely time. We worked with Sophie’s Snail by Dick King-Smith, a story I love. Classes one and two read the story with me, and enjoyed it as much as I did! We couldn’t get over the size of the snail. The whole class chorused with me, “It’s bright yellow and just the size of Sophie’s middle fingernail!” With […]
- [The Story-Catcher - A Review by a 9-year-old](https://varshaseshan.com/the-story-catcher-a-review-by-a-9-year-old/): I’ve been waiting for something momentous before writing my blog – what could be more momentous than a review of The Story-Catcher by a nine-year-old? Arushi Upadhyaya had to design a book-jacket for a school competition. The entry she submitted is with the school, but she sent me the rough plan she made. At the back, she informs me, she put in the ISBN details and the name of the publisher. On the side, she wrote the name of the author. Within the book jacket, she wrote a synopsis of The Story-Catcher. And guess what? She won the first prize! She has also sent a review […]
- [Alma Mater](https://varshaseshan.com/alma-mater/): Thoughts come to me in bits and pieces. The house charts  are still displayed at the back of the hall. They’ve become bigger and grander, not restricted to single sheets of chart-paper. Also, the availability of print-outs means that girls with neat handwriting don’t make all the charts. There are big boards on the wall, displaying the names of achievers, including prefects, toppers and those who achieved something in sports. There is a projector in our assembly hall! The grand piano is still there, except that it no longer has the sign that we used to find hilarious: ‘DO NOT […]
- [Books for Rainy Days](https://varshaseshan.com/books-for-rainy-days/): It’s been a while since I wrote, mainly because I’ve been reading. Here’s a look at some of what I’ve read recently. As a child, I enjoyed reading and collecting the entire Animal Ark series. As I grew older, I learned that Lucy Daniels, the author of the series, did not exist. Just like Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon. While I never enjoyed Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, I loved Animal Ark. I loved the names of the books – Owl in the Office, Hamster in a Hamper, Roo on a Rock … I wanted to have them all. I imagine the Silver Dolphins series somewhat like that. […]
- [St. Mary's ... St. Mary's ...](https://varshaseshan.com/st-marys-st-marys/): When I read the title (and when I was writing it), I could not help singing it. I’ve been writing for ages now. I’ve had about 25 stories for children published. I have a book to my credit. Yet, I can’t deny that I am happy to see an article in the St. Mary’s School magazine! I have the usual writer’s complaint, though – I wish it had not been edited. The editor in me is cringing a little bit.  
- [Paying a Tribute - Sakal Times](https://varshaseshan.com/paying-a-tribute-sakal-times/): Thank you, Sakal Times, for the article about our Kalakshetra performance!
- [What Went By](https://varshaseshan.com/what-went-by/): It’s taken me a while to write about the last month. How full of emotions it has been! We performed in Kalakshetra for Pushpa Teacher and Jaya Teacher, my teacher’s teachers. We peaked and fell, rising and falling with a tide of emotions. We felt we underperformed, and then we were overwhelmed by everyone’s responses. The teachers praised the performance; nothing else is important. My heart is brimming with joy and gratitude. In Bangalore, I did a two-day reading workshop. I wrote about day one here on the blog, but kept postponing it, even though I’ve been waiting to talk about how wonderful […]
- [Day One: Reading Workshop at Atta Galatta](https://varshaseshan.com/day-one-reading-workshop-at-atta-galatta/): It’s wonderful to have a dear childhood friend attend a workshop of mine and diligently take pictures! I had a delightful morning at my reading workshop at Atta Galatta, Bangalore.
- [Empty Quarter (Girl on the Run Book 2)](https://varshaseshan.com/empty-quarter-girl-on-the-run-book-2/): I sat at Coimbatore train station, book in hand. “What happened?” asked my sister, looking at my face. I grinned. “I’m inside this book.” I added, quickly, “Will you keep a lookout for the train? I may not notice when it pulls in.” That’s how Empty Quarter was. As with Cat’s Cradle, I jumped straight into the series without reading the first book. It was simply wonderful. What impressed me most of all is how rounded each character is. Christopher Lock is the perfect combination of grandfather and career-obsessed, calculating official. I love Darcie Lock, her stupidities and her beauty. […]
- [Reading Workshop at Atta Galatta, Bengaluru](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-at-atta-galatta-bengaluru/): I’m conducting a two-day reading workshop at Bengaluru! Highlights: >Read aloud >Act out a story >Develop a love for reading >Imagine and create >Play a vocabulary game >Learn about book-publishing >Understand what copyright is Age-group: 8-12 years Dates: 4th and 5th July, 2015 Time: 11 am to 1 pm Total duration: 4 hours Fee: Rs 500 per child Venue: Atta Galatta Phone: 080-4160 0677 Contact Varsha at 09890798756 seshanvarsha@gmail.com
- [Kalakshetra Performance - The New Indian Express](https://varshaseshan.com/kalakshetra-performance-the-new-indian-express/): Yes, we really performed. Even though the picture does not show it, I was really there too.
- [Performing at Kalakshetra!](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-at-kalakshetra/): To say that we are honoured, privileged and humbled all at the same time is to say nothing at all. We are going to perform at Kalakshetra, the place where our beloved guru became the dancer and person she is … What words of mine can begin to touch upon all our thoughts and feelings? Like a little girl, I will say I am excited. I have butterflies in my stomach, but I am almost giddy with excitement. I am happy, nervous and determined to do my best. What warms my heart is that we have friends from Pune who are coming […]
- [Cauldron Spells](https://varshaseshan.com/cauldron-spells/): What happens when a foolish dragon falls into a cauldron and makes it too misshapen for it to function normally? What happens when the bottle of frogspell that you thought you were carrying turns out to be blueberries mixed with porridge? What happens when a young girl sets out to become a squire? Cauldron Spells was delightful, full of bubbles of laughter and fun. Accompanied by the dragon Adolphus and the rat Ferocious, Max and Olivia are set to turn the Arthurian world upside down. Fortunately, Caradoc the bard (who turns out to be someone quite special at the end) and Merlin are looking out for […]
- [The Indian in the Cupboard](https://varshaseshan.com/the-indian-in-the-cupboard/): I picked up The Indian in the Cupboard full of apprehension. For a long time, I have intended to read this book. Yet, I have realised of late that I have read so much modern writing that older writing seems dry and slow. 1980 is rather a long time ago, and I was not sure how much I would enjoy the book. I was scared I would be offended by the term ‘Indian’. I wondered if the part of my mind that studied English literature and critical theory would find the book racist or offensive. It did not. The Indian in the Cupboard was […]
- [Sea of Tears](https://varshaseshan.com/sea-of-tears/): The cover illustration of Sea of Tears was just lovely. The wake of a boat curving into a big ‘S’, a little girl looking out at the sea … It was a cover I could keep looking at. The book could have been better, though. I enjoyed much of it, but there were parts that left me cold. In many places, Jasmine’s emotions were sudden and unexpected, leaving the reader far behind. I realise over and over again that the difference between fact and fiction is that fiction needs to be believable. Jasmine is a twelve-year-old whose parents decide to move […]
- [Berlin Olympics](https://varshaseshan.com/berlin-olympics/): I picked up Berlin Olympics assuming it was about a real person. Sure, I expected historical fiction, but my knowledge of Olympic swimmers is not good enough to have known that Eleanor Rhys Davies is not a real person. In the beginning, I was disappointed. I don’t know why; I don’t know what I expected. Yet, as I read on, the story grew on me. What I enjoyed most of all is how natural the whole story feels, echoing classics like The Diary of a Young Girl. Eleanor, like Anne Frank, spoke to me through the pages of the book, making me believe in […]
- [Storytelling at the British Council Library, Pune](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-at-the-british-council-library-pune/): Summer holidays are nearly over; here’s my last activity before school begins. This storytelling session is for the little ones at a venue I always love! Date: Sunday, 31 May 2015 Time: 3.00 to 4.00 pm Venue: British Council Library,Pune Overview: Stories are magical. When young children listen to stories, they develop into readers as they grow older. They begin to imagine and create, exploring worlds of their own. Interactive storytelling allows children to experience the magic of stories. Through role-play and drama, the children begin to express themselves and become immersed in each tale. Fees: Rs 350/-per participant for British Council Library Members; Rs […]
- [Cat's Cradle](https://varshaseshan.com/cats-cradle/): Sometimes, especially when you read a lot of different kinds of books that you’ve picked up based solely on the cover, one book jumps out and takes you by surprise. It makes you read on and on, and it makes you chuckle even when you are in a public place and ought to be behaving decorously. Cat’s Cradle was exactly like that. I shouted with laughter, giggled and grinned. I was drawn into the story of Cat and her search for her family, even though this is the sixth book in the series, and I have not read any of the […]
- [Reading and Writing Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-and-writing-workshop-2/): I have one photograph with the children at Cedarwood!  
- [Reading and Writing Workshop at Cedarwood](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-and-writing-workshop/): Half of my reading and writing workshop at Cedarwood is over, and I’ve finally convinced myself that I am not going to be taking any photographs. I keep intending to, and then I get so involved in everything we’re doing that somewhere along the line, I forget. We’ve done so much in the last few days. Here are a few things that stand out. One of the girls came up with the idea of a magical die. The die has letters of the alphabet on it, not numbers. The character in the story, Gouri, rolls the die and sees what […]
- [Pippi in the South Seas](https://varshaseshan.com/pippi-in-the-south-seas/): No, I have not yet Pippi Longstocking. Maybe I should apologise. In my defence, I have wanted to read it for very long. When I read Pippi in the South Seas, I realised why it’s so famous and why so many people love it so much. Pippi is a classic in a world of her own. She is not like Anne of Green Gables. She is not like Sara, the little princess; nor is she like Little Lord Fauntleroy. She is in a class of her own. During the very first chapter of Pippi in the South Seas, I was chuckling aloud. Yes, there were […]
- [Billy the Bird](https://varshaseshan.com/billy-the-bird/): Dick King-Smith is an author I love. Whenever I pick up a book by him, I do so with complete faith in the story. As usual, I was not disappointed. Billy the Bird is the story of a little child who becomes weightless when the moon is full, but can remember nothing of his nightly flights when the next day dawns. Billy’s sister is the one who witnesses his nocturnal flights, and keeps his secret – because no one will believe her if she tells them her brother can fly. The story of a girl, a boy, a cat, a cat-burglar, […]
- [Sovay](https://varshaseshan.com/sovay/): A book that promised to be exciting, I think the best thing I can say about Sovay is that the story made me curious enough to keep reading until I finished the book. As I turned page after page, though, I found myself skipping large sections of the book because I wanted to know how it would all end, and nothing else. Set in England in the late 18th century, Sovay had all the makings of a wonderful historical novel for children. I loved the atmosphere and choice of character, but the promise of the book remained unfulfilled. Sovay’s character, which began with the power […]
- [The Duomo in Milan](https://varshaseshan.com/the-duomo-in-milan/): Torino, the parts of it that we saw from the bus that was not a train, seemed like an interesting city, but not interesting enough for us to change our travel plans. We took from Torino a train to Milano, and we were lucky to get places together. Trains in Italy are a lot more like trains in India, in terms of the number of people. Soon after we left Torino, there were even people standing. We reached Milan and we were flooded with memories. I’ve written already about how we went back to the counter for instructions on how […]
- [Chambery to Torino](https://varshaseshan.com/chambery-to-torino/): From Lyon, I went to Chambéry to meet my correspondent from the French exchange programme and her family. It was a lovely stay, though short. My ‘Maman’ in Chambéry is a boat-driver, and, as I was there in summer, she had long hours of work, so I did not want to impose on them for too long. My sister came to Chambéry to meet me, and we stood in queue to reserve places on a train to Milan. The plan was that we would get to Milan, go from there to Bologna and finally, find our way to Greece. With Eurail passes, […]
- [The Truth about Leo](https://varshaseshan.com/the-truth-about-leo/): It’s unfair to compare any book with any other book, I know that. Yet, I could not resist comparing The Truth about Leo with Moon-Pie. The subject was similar – a dead mother and a drunk father. But Moon-Pie moved me in a way that The Truth about Leo did not. Leo spends each day covering up for his father Dr Rake. Dr Rake is a surgeon to the world, but nothing more than an alcoholic to Leo. Building a world of his own, Leo finds himself living there more and more so as not to face the realities of school and a drunk father. The careful, […]
- [Language and Literature Workshop, VPEMS](https://varshaseshan.com/language-and-literature-workshop-vpems/): A hectic, lovely month came to an end with a heart-warming valedictory function and the last session with each of the nine batches I worked with at Vidya Pratishthan’s English Medium School. As usual, I got too involved with the workshop to take any photographs, but my mind is full of pictures. Children ran to me to tell me they had read stories on my website. Others asked me when I would come next. Some came and promised to read right through their summer vacation. A few said they would write stories and poems and send them to me. I’ll answer […]
- [Summer Camp - Cedarwood Afterschool](https://varshaseshan.com/cedarwood-workshops/): For all those who have been asking me whether I have any workshops planned for the summer … I’m doing four exciting weeks under the banner of the Cedarwood Afterschool Program at Magarpatta City. The modules I’m conducting include – – A five-day reading workshop for the age-group 7-12 – A five-day writing workshop for the age-group 7-12 Do call Cedarwood for details!  
- [Session III - Language and Literature Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/session-iii-language-and-literature-workshop/): A few photographs from Session III of the Language and Literature Workshop at Vidya Pratishthan’s English Medium School, Baramati.  
- [Language and Literature Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/language-and-literature-workshops/): Each activity during the Language and Literature workshop revealed something new and delightful. The second session with nine batches of children at Vidya Pratishthan’s English Medium School, Baramati, is over! “What did you learn during today’s session?” I asked them. Promptly, a child responded, “We learned that there is so much to read! So many stories!”  
- [We Said Go Travel](https://varshaseshan.com/we-said-go-travel/): Two of my personal narratives have been published on the travel site “We Said Go Travel”.    
- [Drama](https://varshaseshan.com/drama-workshop/): Children love to act. All of us love to act, or Dumb Charades would not be such a popular game. One thing I stress during all my workshops is the importance of copyright. I insist that children don’t just rip images and articles off the internet, print them and use them. In keeping with that idea, I usually use my own stories during workshops, in addition to traditional tales from around the world. A story I love is a Japanese tale of Amaterasu, the radiant one who lights up the sky. Her brother Susanowa ravages the earth with storms, so Amaterasu hides […]
- [Little Red Riding Hood](https://varshaseshan.com/language-literature-workshop-2/): In the first session of a workshop, particularly one with a heavy name like “Language and Literature Workshop”, I like to start on a light note. Humour is a great place to begin, and I turn to an all-time favourite – Roald Dahl. This time, I chose five of my favourite poems – “The Crocodile”, “The Porcupine”, “The Tummy Beast”, “The Anteater” and “Little Red Riding Hood”. I divided the participants into groups of five, and gave each group a poem to read. I gave them ten minutes to read and understand the poem, and then asked them to perform a little skit […]
- [Language and Literature Workshops in Schools](https://varshaseshan.com/language-literature-workshop/): Moving on from reading workshops in libraries to Language and Literature Workshops in schools is a lovely step! Working with 250 children was a whole new experience for me …  
- [Spellbound](https://varshaseshan.com/spellbound/): Too much telling and too little showing. Never mind. I’ll read some more. This is strange and unbelievable. Never mind. I’ll read some more. That is exactly how I ventured into Spellbound. And before I knew it, I had finished reading it. Athene and Zach are opposites in every possible way. They just happen to be brother and sister. Athene hates Zach. She hates him, resents him, and takes joy in bringing him grief. Zach, on the other hand, is a happy-go-lucky kid and never seems to mind that his sister Eeny is always nasty to him. Everything changes when Athene meets Humdudgeon […]
- [Lyon](https://varshaseshan.com/lyon/): On the 15th of June 2006, I validated my second Eurail pass, officially valid for fifteen days. Maybe the official at the station was being nice; maybe he could not count. He marked the end date as the 30th of June, giving me 16 days of free travel. Building up to my departure from Grenoble, we did many, many things. I visited museums and churches. We played children’s games like ‘Duck-Duck-Goose’. I took a ride in an ‘egg’ – the ropeway up to the Bastille. My sister was leaving Grenoble, perhaps never to return, so we filled our days with things […]
- [Paid Artists](https://varshaseshan.com/paid-artists/): I have been learning dance for 22 years. Yes, that is a lot. Often, people ask us whether this means that we have our own dance classes. No. That is not the only reason to learn dance. “How much would you charge for a performance?” is the next question. “It depends on what sort of performance it is,” I reply. “If you want a full-fledged dance drama, obviously, our cost is higher, so we charge more.” If it is not a dance drama, people ask, “Why is it so expensive?” I never know what to reply. I have so many ideas […]
- [Too Small to Fail](https://varshaseshan.com/too-small-to-fail/): I read Now a while ago and I was not impressed. When Too Small to Fail caught my eye, I realised that it was by the same author, Morris Gleitzman, so I put the book away again. When I visited the library, it caught my eye again. And again. It was time to read it. Too Small to Fail was sweet and pacy. I am not a fast reader. I like to mull over books I read as I read them. I don’t devour books, unless they capture me wholly. I read Too Small to Fail in one sitting. Oliver’s parents own a bank, but he wants […]
- [Cet espace ...](https://varshaseshan.com/cet-espace/): “Yuk, what is that disgusting smell?” I asked. My sister chuckled and pointed to a board – “Ici, je fais ce que je veux” – “Here, I do what I want”, accompanied by the picture of a dog. I found that lovely. Not only were there designated zones where dogs could do “whatever they want”, there were cute little signs saying so, all over the city. The next day, I took a deep breath, ignored passing stares, and took a photograph of the board. I went around Grenoble taking photos of all the dog boards that I could find, to the […]
- [Musée Dauphinois](https://varshaseshan.com/musee-dauphinois/): “My parents loved the Musée Dauphinois,” a friend told me. “It was the best one of all.” Intrigued, I decided to go. As usual, I had nothing to lose – the museum was free for those under 25. It was farther than I expected, not being a fan of climbing the Bastille alone, but I did reach, eventually. “The ground floor was – um – uninteresting, to say the least,” I’ve written in my diary. The museums I had seen before, right there in Isère, were much better. All the Musée Dauphinois had was general information about the history of humankind, without even the […]
- [Isère](https://varshaseshan.com/isere/): The river Isère gives a region around the Rhône-Alpes its name. Left to my own devices for a long time, I wandered around, exploring Grenoble and the region around it. Grenoble’s Bastille was deliciously confusing. I had wonderful, detailed ideas about the history of the Bastille and the storming of the Bastille and all of that, accompanied by utter cluelessness of the geography of France and where these stirring events really occurred. When I got to Grenoble, everyone was talking about ‘climbing the Bastille’ and ‘going to the Bastille’. There was even a ropeway up to the Bastille for those who […]
- [Seshan/XB](https://varshaseshan.com/seshanxb/): Nisha had a ‘Carte 12-25’, which entitled her to ridiculously cheap tickets on trains in France. When she went to buy tickets from Paris to Grenoble, she produced her card and booked a ticket for her sister and herself. Instead of asking for my name (bound to be a complicated Indian name, of course), the gentleman decided to call me XB. I feel like the distant cousin of a pencil.   We reached Grenoble and began to practise for one of the many performances we did in France. We were to perform in a place called Gap, a name that I did […]
- [Straight to the Louvre](https://varshaseshan.com/straight-to-the-louvre/): The conversation I overheard while I was at CDG airport convinced me that I simply had to make the most of my youth and of being young in France. I landed in Paris on the 4th of June, 2006, a Sunday. It was the first Sunday of the month, and I was in Paris. That meant only one thing for us – free entry to the Louvre! So, luggage and all, we went straight to the Louvre. France has always been like that for me. Pack as much as possible, as much as possible, into each minute there. So what if […]
- [Flying Alone](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-2006/): “Window or aisle?” “Aisle, please.” I took my boarding pass and boarded the flight. No sister with me this time. No one to hold my hand. No one to exchange sparkling glances of excitement with. Sure, I was going to meet her, but on this journey in 2006, I was alone. The journey to Milan from Mumbai was a long one, but I sat straight, willing myself not to fall asleep. What if my head dropped and I leaned against the man sitting next to me? Mortifying! Better to be sleep-deprived. I was travelling alone, I reminded myself, and I […]
- [Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Café](https://varshaseshan.com/madame-pamplemousse-and-the-time-travelling-cafe/): What takes you back to old remembered places and half-forgotten memories? What makes you revisit forgotten parts of your life? Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Café explores the idea that taste can make you go back in time and visit parts of history. A contraption that looks like a coffee-machine, fed with the right ingredients, can recreate in your imagination a time that is so vivid that you go back there yourself! In this sweet book set in Monsieur Moutarde’s French café in Montmartre, we meet a white cat called Camembert who wears an eye-patch, a young girl, a scientist – and of course, Madame Pamplemousse […]
- [The Story-Catcher - Kindle Edition!](https://varshaseshan.com/the-story-catcher-kindle-edition/): After three years of good old paperback sales, we now have an e-book! For all those who said you did not buy the hard copy, here’s your chance!    
- [Backpacking through Europe](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-through-europe/): That year, we went from Salzburg to Munich. We spent a few hours at Munich and then went to Berlin. And from Berlin, northward to Amsterdam. Our night in Amsterdam was another night out, but after so many journeys and so many crazy backpacking experiences, we’d figured out a few things. We had Eurail passes that we kept gushing about – we could use them. We spent the night on trains. Took a train to Utrecht, then another to Rotterdam, and then one back to Amsterdam. That’s how we spent the night. We didn’t see tulips or windmills. We did see […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Still in Salzburg](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-through-europe-still-in-salzburg/): However comfortable a waiting-room may be, it is not a comfortable place to spend the whole night. With hard steel chairs with immovable handles as beds and backpacks as pillows, the night seemed endless. We waited forever for the sun to rise, growing colder and colder as the night went by. At 5:30 in the morning, we finally decided we had had enough of the waiting-room, and we went for a walk. If we had thought the station was cold, outside was freezing. The small consolation was that everything was beautiful. We passed Mozart’s house and admired delightful miniatures in shop […]
- [Being Billy](https://varshaseshan.com/being-billy/): When I started reading Being Billy, I felt uncomfortable, but I did not know why. I just could not lay my finger on what made me draw into myself and step back from the book. After a few pages, I realised I was supposed to feel uncomfortable. The book wanted to reach within me and squeeze something that I had buried deep within. For as long as I resisted that, the book made me uncomfortable. The moment I allowed it to touch me, I sobbed my heart out. Sitting in a train, oblivious to the world around me, I sniffed and licked the […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Salzburg](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-salzburg/): We hopped onto the 12:34 from Vienna to Salzburg, delighted as usual with our Eurail passes. At Salzburg station, though, we spent the most depressing time of all. I was 17; my sister was 19. We had spent a long time away from home already. We had little money and less experience. We had been making decision after decision for several days, and we were exhausted. “No, there are absolutely no hostels available for tonight at Salzburg.” Florence was fresh in our minds, and we did not want to repeat the horror of a night outdoors. “Maybe we should go […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Vienna](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-vienna/): I’ve already written so much about Vienna. The lady in the train, who warmed our hearts by taking us to the dining car and giving us tickets as if we were doing her a favour. Our crazy attempt to find the Burggarten. The Schmetterling Haus. Mozart and crisp apple strudel. Vienna was much more, though. We found our cheapest youth hostel there, at €15,50. We met dozens of wonderful Austrians; even in the middle of the night, people went out of the way to help us find our hostel. Our first hostel in Vienna gave us the most charming room we had […]
- [Clover Twig and the Incredible Flying Cottage](https://varshaseshan.com/clover-twig-incredible-flying-cottage/): Clover Twig is a very tidy girl with very neat hair. She is very particular about things being clean and proper. She won’t do anything she is told not to do. In other words, she has a little bit of an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. When Clover begins to work for the witch Mrs Eckles, she welcomes the challenge. But working with a witch is never easy, however nice the witch may be. Worst of all, good old Mrs Eckles has a nasty sister who wants to steal Mrs Eckles’s cottage! It could all have been a nice domestic legal dispute if it […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Goodbye, Italy!](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-goodbye-italy/): We tried to feel sentimental about leaving Italy, but could not find it in ourselves to do so. Italy was beautiful, but we were going to Austria – the land of Mozart and “The Sound of Music”! (Both came later, though, because we went to Vienna before Salzburg.) With our Eurail passes, we did not need to book trains everywhere we went, but the train-schedule we received with our passes was outdated. Our plans of taking a night-train to Paris from Amsterdam fell through because we discovered there was no night-train from Amsterdam to Paris. Even so, the Eurail pass […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Venice](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-venice/): Venice was the place where we relaxed. When we got there, we were told at the information booth at the station that there was no way we would find cheap accommodation in Venice at the weekend. The best we would get was a place that cost €65 a night for three people. Okay, we said, okay. We’ll be back. We went to our old faithful, the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF) map and found a phone number. The YH cost €17,50 per head and accommodation was available; so there. The line was unclear, but I heard clearly enough to get excited that we had […]
- [Witch Fire](https://varshaseshan.com/witch-fire/): I always judge a book by its cover, and this one said: Ancient witchcraft. Modern world. And then the title Witch Fire. It intrigued me immediately, and it did not let me down. I did not do any research before I started reading. I did not find out whether Witch Fire was part of a series. As I read on, I realised that the book either had an awe-inspiring back-story, or it had a prequel. I only just discovered that the second is true, and therefore the first too. Witch Fire makes a world come alive. Lucas Stearne and Gloriana Starling are worlds apart, almost […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Still in Florence](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-still-florence/): We had nowhere except the station to spend the night, so we wanted to get there as late as we possibly could. We had dinner at a fancy Italian place instead of on the street: it took longer. After dinner, we walked slowly towards the bus stop and discovered that the next bus (which was the last bus) to the station was 45 minutes away. After the day’s adventures, we were more than a little tired, so we made our way to the river and sat around for half an hour just looking at the city lights. We got back […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Florence](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-florence/): We spent just a few hours in Florence, but they were truly splendid. As with every place we visited, it took us about 45 minutes to figure out where to go from the station and how. Finally, we bought tickets to Piazza Pitti, which had the most interesting-looking museums according to our map. The bus-ride gave us our first sight of Florence. It was charming, everything that I wanted it to be. Quaint bridges and picturesque houses … What more does one need?   Unfortunately, a lot more. Enough people find Florence charming for it to be rather expensive too, and we discovered that […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Pisa](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-pisa/): Tempers were frayed on that journey to Pisa. What was the point of going to Pisa at all? Pisa was just a tourist gimmick, like the Brindavan Gardens in Mysore. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was the only thing to see; it could not be worth it. We would spend just a few hours there. I would rather go to Florence. Grumpy moods made us assume that the lady in the train compartment with us was also grumpy, so we avoided talking to her for quite a while. Finally, when it seemed that the bad temper in the air was tangible, […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Rome](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-rome/): We didn’t visit the Colosseum. I get that confession out of the way right in the beginning. We saw the Colosseum from the outside, all lit up and magnificent at night, but we did not go there at all to visit the inside as tourists. And today, when I look back I don’t know why. Rome was beautiful despite that. We bought a day pass for the city bus, valid until midnight, and just wandered all over the city seeing what there was to see. We walked everywhere we could, and when we grew tired, just hopped on to a bus […]
- [Apache](https://varshaseshan.com/apache/): It’s been a while since I wrote about what I was reading for some reason. I did read quite a bit, though. Some of the books were worth sharing, but I was too lazy to talk about them. Some were important for me to read – like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The Perks of Being a Wallflower taught me, finally, what a ‘coming-of-age’ novel is. Honestly, I was not old enough to read it when I was physically coming of age. Maybe children today are; maybe they aren’t. I could, at best, have read it seven years ago, definitely not in my teens. […]
- [Imagine and Innovate: A Workshop on Books for Children](https://varshaseshan.com/imagine-innovate-workshop-books-children-2/): It’s just three days away!   Date: Saturday, 28th February, 2015. Time: 11 am – 1 pm Fee: Rs 500 per child Age-group: 8-13 Venue: The Cultural Centre, Pune To register: Send an email to tcc@prelocate.com with your name and contact number. [Email subject: Imagine and Innovate Workshop] Visit the Facebook event page for more details.
- [Cedar Reading Club](https://varshaseshan.com/cedar-reading-club/): I was part of the lovely Cedar Reading Club this evening, sharing the magic of stories with seven children in the age-group 6-8. The children meet each week, read a story, talk about it, act it out … More reading clubs for children around the city would be welcome!  
- [Bhigwan](https://varshaseshan.com/bhigwan/): My European travelogue has to wait; I went to Bhigwan yesterday. A journey of two hours brought us to Bhigwan, which has a lake that is roughly east-south-east of Pune. Flamingos, they say, come to Bhigwan, and stay there till the end of February. We left home at 5 in the morning, but by the time we got on to the boat at Bhigwan, the sun was well up in the sky, and we knew that we would see nothing. Birds, we know, come out only early in the morning, before it gets hot. How wrong we were!   Flamingos, spoonbills, […]
- [Backpacking through Europe: Rome](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-3/): People say that Italy is like India, and there are many similarities I see: honking on the road, noise, people talking everywhere … Rome’s metros are full to bursting point. The only difference between Mumbai locals and the Rome metro is that there are doors that slam shut in the latter, so you cannot hang out. But you have to stand on tiptoe if you want to avoid standing on someone else. Our worst encounter in Italy, though, was not the metro. It was not the fact that we got separated by the doors that banged shut, and had to find […]
- [Map-Reading: The Crazy Travelogue Continues](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe-2/):   I invite you to examine the map above. Notice where the ‘Ostello’ is. It’s right between the QT8 metro station and the Lotto metro station. When we got to the youth hostel the first time, it was simple enough. Sign-boards guided us from the metro-station QT8 to the hostel. On day two in Milan, we had different plans. We thought we would be a little adventurous. We were backpacking through Europe: we had to do cool, new things; we had to forge new paths! We decided to begin by getting off at Lotto, instead of QT8. No crystal clear directions here, but […]
- [The Crazy Travelogue - V](https://varshaseshan.com/backpacking-europe/): Coping with a new language, staying with people I did not know and attending school with friends who were much better at French than I was was too trying an experience for me to have written about my experience every day. I wanted to write, but it was all good intentions and nothing more. On the 13th of June, 2004, though, our adventure actually began – three young Indian girls backpacking through Europe. I will never forget those two weeks. Unbelievable, educational weeks.   We reached Milan at 9 in the morning and did not know where to begin. We did […]
- [Indians in France](https://varshaseshan.com/french-exchange-programme-2/): (Part IV of The Crazy Travelogue) My sister, our French correspondent and I were sitting on a bench outside a bookshop, when two young men walked past. After a few moments, they turned around and walked back. Ignoring our French companion, they turned to the two of us brown-skinned people. “Excuse me,” asked one in French, “could we ask you two questions? Just two questions?” My sister and I exchanged glances. “Erm … Okay …” “Are you Indian?” “Yes …?” “From the north of India?” “No, from the south.” (Technically, our two questions ended there, but they did not seem […]
- [The Crazy Travelogue: All About Food](https://varshaseshan.com/french-exchange-programme/): This is part three of the crazy travelogue about the French exchange programme. Much of our day, especially in the beginning, seems to have revolved around food, if my diary is anything to go by. On the 22nd of May, 2004, I’ve written about melon (not exactly a unique experience) and a tart (‘not sweet’) with spinach and goat cheese. That’s when I remember that we had not yet started being adventurous with meat. We were vegetarian then, clearly so. On the 23rd of May, we have hot chocolate and McDonald’s as our highlights. (To be fair, we did not want […]
- [The Crazy Travelogue: French Exchange Programme - II](https://varshaseshan.com/crazy-travelogue-french-exchange-programme-2/): ‘I don’t think anyone cried,‘ I’ve noted in my diary. What? I read it again. I don’t think anyone cried. I frown as I read it. It is a singularly strange thing to have noted down. We were going on the French exchange programme – a four-week programme. I have no idea why seventeen-year-old me wanted someone to cry. Evidently, though, I wasn’t the only one who found things incomplete. Many of us wanted something more dramatic, something beyond the ‘cycling-shorts drama’ I wrote about yesterday. “I want something to happen,” G said. “Something should happen.” It was just a while before […]
- [The Crazy Travelogue: French Exchange Programme - I](https://varshaseshan.com/crazy-travelogue-french-exchange-programme/): When you are seventeen and off on Fergusson College’s famous French exchange programme, everything seems special. There is nothing that is not worth noting down. Now, I chuckle in delight. There is so much to remember. We begin with what I call the ‘cycling-shorts drama’ in my excited record of each detail. We had been told to carry cycling shorts because we were going to have a lesson at the circus school in Chambéry. We were fifteen teenagers, bouncing with joy. We whispered to one another. “Did you carry a pair?” “Oh no! I forgot!” “I didn’t either!” “Nor I.” “Oh […]
- [Imagine and Innovate: A Workshop on Books for Children](https://varshaseshan.com/imagine-innovate-workshop-books-children/): Workshop Outline: How do books come alive? What happens in the mind of the writer, and how does it finally reach the hands of the reader? “Imagine and Innovate” explores each step of the journey: from the idea to the making of the book. Children will come together to create a story, design and make a book, and learn what copyright is. It will be a morning of imagination, creativity and learning: a writing workshop for all children aged about 8-13.   Overview: 1. A memory game to get to know one another. 2. Make up a story together; design your […]
- [Jatayu Moksham](https://varshaseshan.com/jatayu-moksham-2/): The Kalakshetra troupe performed in Pune for the first time last evening. Finally. When I watch them dance, I understand. I understand why Kalakshetra is such a reputed name in the dance world. I am awed by the vision of Rukmini Devi, and her incredible imagination. I see dance as architecture, performance and storytelling. I am moved to laughter and tears, empathy and revulsion. I don’t particularly like the Ramayana as a story. I find Sita a rather insipid character, whimsical and petulant. Rama, to me, is too good to be true. Too much of an unbelievable mixture of human and god. I am […]
- [Creative Writing Masterclass with Prof Bill Herbert](https://varshaseshan.com/creative-writing-masterclass-bill-herbert/): I did not know what a masterclass was. ‘Masterclass’. It was something my musician-friends spoke about, but I had never experienced myself. When the British Library organised a masterclass in creative writing with Prof Bill Herbert, I knew I had to enroll. Sometimes, there are many things about writing that you know. Rule #1: Show, don’t tell. Rule#2: Always treat your first draft as what it is: a first draft. Rule#3: Read what you have written. Step out from your world to read. Rule #4: Understand the role of the senses while revealing character. Rule#5: Read aloud to taste the […]
- ["For Boys"](https://varshaseshan.com/gender-stereotype/): When will we stop gender stereotyping children?  
- [Lari Don](https://varshaseshan.com/lari-don/): I was introduced to Lari Don thanks to the Mythical Maze Reading Challenge, and if for nothing else, I’m glad of the challenge for that! Of the First Aid for Fairies series, I read the last one first, and then I had to read the others. Once again, I realised why children like series. A single book is not like a short story. A short story delivers what it promises to deliver – a picture. A book makes you want more – a sequel, a prequel, a continuation. If you fall in love with a book, you fall in love with the characters. When […]
- [Leopard III](https://varshaseshan.com/leopard-nagzira-2/): It was a cold, cold morning in new Nagzira. We had already won the appreciation of the guides there because we showed up diligently at 6 every morning, despite the fact that we saw ‘nothing’ (read: no tiger). New Nagzira, as many blogs and reviews would tell you, has barely any animals. A few bison, if you are lucky. A couple of deer (literally, two). A handful of monkeys. That morning, apart from the trees, we had seen nothing. Not a single deer, not a single monkey, not a single bison. We had heard a parakeet screeching – that was about […]
- [Leopard II](https://varshaseshan.com/leopard-ii/): It was nearing the time to leave the forest, but we headed back towards the rest house in old Nagzira. The guide needed to use the washroom. There are lots of deer and monkeys near the rest house, so tourists invariably stand around taking photographs. On that day, there were people standing in their jeeps, looking fixedly in one direction. “There’s something there,” I said, frowning. “Must be deer. People are always excited to see deer.” “No …” I insisted. “People don’t stand to see deer.” And that’s when someone gestured to us frantically. “Leopard, leopard!” It was right there, at the […]
- [Mythical Maze - Workshop II](https://varshaseshan.com/mythical-maze-workshop-ii/): The Mythical Maze Reading Challenge is nearly over! After Reading and Role Play and Idioms Are My Cup of Tea, today has Myths from around the World and Myths and Fables. I showed the little ones a map of the world. These children are in the age-group 5-7. We were reading a ‘story from Arabia’, Where There is Will. “Do you know where Arabia could be?” I asked. One child stood up. “I think it is here,” she said, pointing to the entire Gulf region. “Good!” “Do you know how I know?” “How?” “See, this is India. Over here, this sea is called the Arabian […]
- [Leopard](https://varshaseshan.com/leopard-nagzira/): We did our research before we went to Nagzira. We knew there were barely any tigers, but we also knew that many, many tourists saw a leopard in Nagzira. Surely, in eleven safaris, we would see one too. The first, second, third, fourth (in Koka) and fifth safaris were over. We were restless. Much as we enjoyed each safari, we wanted something more. Something to write home about. I love bison. I love monkeys, deer and birds. I love trees and sunshine. But I wanted more. In Nagzira, we often felt as if we were the only people in the forest. Unlike […]
- [Starry, Starry Night](https://varshaseshan.com/starry-starry-night/): “There’s nothing in new Nagzira.” “Why don’t you go to Koka?” “It’s about 35 km from here.” “Anyway, Nagzira is closed on Thursdays.” “You could go to Koka on Thursday.” “Maybe you’ll see a sloth bear.” “Or bison.” We didn’t agree that there was nothing in new Nagzira. There were fewer animals; we did not deny that. Yet, New Nagzira is the most beautiful forest I have seen. A green forest, with sunlight filtering in through the leaves. Birds everywhere, weaving their way around all kinds of trees. That does not count as ‘nothing’ in my book. We went to Koka anyway. […]
- [Nagzira](https://varshaseshan.com/nagzira/): Ten days away from the city. No internet. Phone connectivity for about an hour a day. Eleven safaris into the beautiful jungle. Three leopards. A leopard making a kill: whose side are you on? The leopard’s or the fawn’s? Wild dogs in the distance. A herd of bison.   Flycatchers, thrushes, drongos, night-jars, parakeets, hoopoes. A ride in an open gypsy through the forest at night. Starry skies that I remember from my childhood. Nagzira.
- [Idioms are my Cup of Tea!](https://varshaseshan.com/idioms-workshop/): That was the title of my last workshop at the British Library. We tried translating “It’s raining cats and dogs” to Hindi and Marathi to giggles, shouts of laughter. We compared the literal meaning of “He kicked the bucket” with its figurative meaning. We performed the Herculean task of linking mythology with idioms, and then the children spilled the beans about the fact that most of their knowledge of Greek mythology came from Percy Jackson. When it came to Norse mythology and Biblical terms, their knowledge collapsed like a house of cards and they commented, “We have a long way to go […]
- [Reading Workshop in Viman Nagar](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-viman-nagar/): Here’s what’s next! Reading Workshop for Children Age-group: 8-12 years Venue: JustBooks, Viman Nagar Dates: 29th and 30th December, 2014 (The last workshop of the year!) Time: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm Fee: Rs 500
- [Reading Challenge at Clover Dale, Aurangabad](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-clover-dale-aurangabad/): I put a ten-rupee coin into the bubblegum machine Soon, bubblegums flew out and hit my head! For a moment, I wondered; then I realised That I’d put a hundred-rupee coin into the machine instead! – adapted from a poem written in about seven minutes by one of the participants at yesterday’s workshop.* *If anyone who reads this knows the name of the writer, please share it in the comments below! I love the Reading Challenge, and The Big Friendly Read is among my favourite themes. “Could you name a book you enjoyed?” I asked. “Grrr,” replied a serious-faced young participant. For […]
- [The Emily Series](https://varshaseshan.com/the-emily-series/): If I wanted to make friends with Anne Shirley, I was Emily. I deliberately use the italics Emily loves; Mr Carpenter isn’t here to censure! With a pang that borders on envy, I wonder, how could L.M. Montgomery create so many wonderful characters? Emily of New Moon tells the story of a sensitive young girl who cannot choose not to write. As I read it, I was convinced that I alone could understand Emily’s “flash”! No one around her understands what she means; of course not! “The flash” is so unpredictable, so incomprehensible, so wonderful! With the first mention of “the flash” I […]
- [The Anne of Green Gables Series](https://varshaseshan.com/anne-green-gables-series/): Pictureskew. Kindred spirits. The Lake of Shining Waters. Carrots! Rilla-my-Rilla. Puffed sleeves. The first time I read Anne of Green Gables, I felt the queer ache that Anne describes when she comes across something  beautiful. Beauty that is intangible, almost unknowable. If I’d known the word ‘sublime’, I would have used it. Of course there were parts that were dull. Of course there were parts were the sentences ran on and on. Of course there were paragraphs on end that I skipped. But I loved Anne. I loved Anne so much that I was jealous of Diana Barry. Diana, mundane and […]
- [Vidya Valley Literature Festival](https://varshaseshan.com/vidya-valley-literature-festival/): If you think children don’t find reading interesting anymore, think again. At Vidya Valley School’s Literature Festival, it was absolutely delightful to see children running around, roaring with excitement, thrilled to bits with the very idea of a lit fest! This was my second year at the festival, and it was even better than the first. I was asked to talk about my railway adventures to class V, and the experience was invigorating. I was astounded by the number of children who knew how bullet trains run. I didn’t know a thing until I began this project! “Magnets,” many said, […]
- [I used to think](https://varshaseshan.com/i-used-to-think/): I used to think That if I held my breath, I could make friends with Anne Shirley, George, Sara Crewe, And Dorothy. I used to think That if I oiled my doll’s hair And shampooed it Maybe trimmed it now and then; If I took care of it, It would grow. I used to think That if I just knew how, I could transport myself To the Lake of Shining Waters Or Kirrin Island Or even Norway, which was as made up as the rest. I used to think That if I caught the mirror unawares, I would find it […]
- [Creative Writing Workshop at The Story Station](https://varshaseshan.com/creative-writing-workshop-story-station/): Every time I work with children, I realise how much I enjoy it! They are much more imaginative than others, and much less inhibited. When The Story Station asked me to conduct a writing session with children over the age of eight, I knew it would be fun. For me, the highlight of the session was the story “The Dictionary” from my The Story-Catcher. It’s not the first time I’m working with this story, but it’s fun each time. I told the story of ten-year-old Sana, off to visit her grandparents for her holidays. In her favourite room at her grandparents’ […]
- [The author in you](https://varshaseshan.com/the-author-in-you/): The Story Station turns two! The Story Station is a reading centre in Aundh, Pune, where adults and children can discover the love of books. A space that’s always bursting with energy, it hosts all kinds of activities, revolving around reading, storytelling and creative writing. I’m delighted to be part of their birthday week fest. ‘The author in you’ is a creative writing workshop that I will be conducting this Sunday for children over the age of eight. See you there!
- [Books and Travelling Go Together!](https://varshaseshan.com/books-travelling-go-together/): I’ve had a lot of work to do, so I’ve obviously been avoiding it by reading everything I can. I read a few old favourites, swallowing them whole as comfort reading as I postponed all the work that lay pending. I returned to Georgetter Heyer after a long time, rereading Venetia and These Old Shades … Ah, how I enjoyed them! I think the word ‘sparkling’ suits her writing so well! I also got around to reading a lot of books that have been on my reading list for ages, so here’s a list from the last month. Yes, I just read the wonderful Pippi Longstocking for the first […]
- [More Books - AFCC 2017](https://varshaseshan.com/books-afcc-2017/): AFCC 2017 had a charming activity that was open to the public. Pick up a public programme and explore the book fair, programme in hand. As you visit each stall, get your book fair map stamped. If you’re among the first 20 to get all the stamps, you win a book voucher worth ten dollars! Walking through the book fair reminded me of all the times my parents took me to bookshops – and once, to a book-ship. This time, I was drawn more to the picture books than anything else, and I ended up buying one picture book and one chapter book. Both were […]
- [Reflections: AFCC 2017](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-afcc-2017/): The first two days of the Asian Festival of Children’ Content were the highlights for me, but sessions here and there stood out too. On the first day of the teachers’ congress, I attended a lovely session on reading and empathy conducted by Maria Alessandrino. More than the first half of the session, I thoroughly enjoyed the second half, where we went through all kinds of books that build empathy in the reader. I have a whole new list of books that I am waiting to get my hands on. I ended up buying just one of the books Maria recommended […]
- [Reflections: Day Two at AFCC 2017](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-two-afcc-2017/): This is probably the only time in my life when I signed a contract, committing to playing Illustrationary, the AFCC version of Pictionary, at a certain date and time. But when have I not enjoyed a game of Pictionary? I’m getting ahead of myself, though, because the highlight of the day was my book launch! This charming little place called My Treehouse was where I launched Bholu and the Smart Card, the fifth in my series of railway adventures for young readers. I began with a Connect the Dots activity, which everyone loved, much to my delight. I enjoyed it too, and […]
- [Reflections: Day One at AFCC 2017](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-one-afcc-2017/): When I went for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content last year, I wondered when – and whether – I would go again. Yes, it was a wonderful experience, but Singapore … Again … Expensive, and all that. But my paper ‘Writing about Us’ was accepted through the call for entries and then, how could I not go? I began by attending a lively session on taking self-promotion back by Amy Ng. I particularly enjoyed the section on how not to write a query letter (and was mightily relieved to find that I’ve never written one of those!). She spoke about […]
- [Guest of Honour, Global Indian International School, Chinchwad](https://varshaseshan.com/guest-honour-global-indian-international-school-chinchwad/): It was an honour to be part of the investiture ceremony at Global Indian International School, Chinchwad! With the chief guest as the ex mayor of Pune, Prashant Jagtap, it was a privilege to be the guest of honour! One of the first things that warmed my heart was the fact that I was welcomed with a tulsi sapling rather than a bouquet. Bouquets make me sad because of how soon they die. My sapling, on the other hand, is going to be with me for a while! I was also struck by the attention to detail, the kind I witness […]
- [The Lit Bug Fest 2017](https://varshaseshan.com/lit-bug-fest-2017/): Do you see all the red marks? That’s what I attended at the Lit Bug Fest yesterday! The first event of the day was a play written by a young girl and performed by Pushkar Rangmanch. A sweet story, performed with enthusiasm! A few months ago, I invited Leela Gour Broome to address the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s. Yesterday, I watched how she told a story to children of varied ages. I also watched Kakoli Bagchi tell a story for the first time. With lovely little puppets, they brought Mrs Broome’s story Red Kite Adventure to life! After that, she told the […]
- [Reading Camp](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-camp/): A new set of children and a new set of activities … I was invited to conduct a reading camp for children in a society, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly! From word search puzzles to skits and storytelling, we packed as much as we could into eight hours. As always, the children were an enthusiastic bunch, willing to do everything together, without once complaining that they were bored or that reading was dull.
- [My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece](https://varshaseshan.com/sister-lives-mantelpiece/): As Gratiano didn’t quite say, I love this book, and ’tis my love that speaks. I loved the book, but I did have issues with it – issues that made shuffle uncomfortably. As I read My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, I think the first thing that startled me was the imagery that seems to compare Sunya to a present and her hijab to sparkly wrapping paper. Honestly, I don’t know why the line bothered me so much. It seems so inoffensive there, not really objectifying, not really saying anything that could be so disconcerting. But I think that exactly was the […]
- [The Lit Bug Fest](https://varshaseshan.com/lit-bug-fest/): How many of us are familiar with Bholu the guard-elephant, mascot of the Indian Railways? Join me on an exploration of a series of railway adventures that will take us on thrilling train journeys all over India. Every story is accompanied by a unique activity – ranging from jigsaw puzzles and colouring books for young children, to building your own steam locomotive for older children. Listen to a story at the Lit Bug Fest, and discover the wonder of the railways! ” slug=”The-Lit-Bug-Fest-29-Apr-2017″ order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″] The Lit Bug Fest is just around the corner, and I’m delighted to be part […]
- [The month ahead](https://varshaseshan.com/the-month-ahead/): There’s so much around the corner! This month, apart from all the regular workshops, I’m going to be part of The Lit Bug Fest! The Lit Bug Fest is a children’s literary fest to be held on the 29th of April at Persistent Systems, Bhageerath, Senapati Bapat Road. It is an all-day event, and I’m looking forward to it! In May, I have wonderful things in store for me too. I’m going to be speaking at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, Singapore. The first one on the list is Pictionary by another name. I can’t quite believe that I’m […]
- [The Secret Hen House Theatre](https://varshaseshan.com/secret-hen-house-theatre/): It’s been such a long time since a book forced me to stay up and finish reading! I loved The Secret Hen House Theatre. It made me imagine. It got me excited. Yes, there were parts that were uneven, but how does it matter when you’re caught up in the emotion and excitement? I remember reading The Worry Tree some time ago and thinking about children who worry about everything around them. I know so many people like that – people who try to balance everything, make everything okay. Some worry and keep wanting to do something. Some worry and do one thing after […]
- [Udhagamandalam](https://varshaseshan.com/udhagamandalam/): At school, all of us took great pride in saying ‘Udagamandalam’; I’m not quite sure why. We also felt very proud when we managed to say Udagamandalam while playing ‘Place-Place’. (Everyone knows the game, and in India, we must repeat. Teacher-Teacher. School-School. Place-Place. All of that.) Yesterday, I realised that here in Tamil Nadu, we spell it Udhagamandalam because, you see, the first /d/ is soft different from the second, hard /d/. We must make that clear! So Udhagamandalam, it is. Past Wellington, past Coonoor, and all the way up to Udhagamandalam. I do wish we’d taken the charming toy train […]
- [Book Launch at Atta Galatta](https://varshaseshan.com/book-launch-atta-galatta/): Launching my railway adventures for children in a city in which I know very few children was bound to be a challenge, but it was such fun! The event began with a college friend who came to show her support – and she made my day. I hadn’t met her for a decade, making her presence even more special. As children started trickling in, we began to explore the series of railway advenures through the audio books and activity kits. The joy of each of the railway books is that it is sold both as a book and as part […]
- [Reading Workshop and Book Launch in Bengaluru](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-book-launch-bengaluru/): I have two events coming up in Bengaluru this week – a book launch tomorrow, and a reading workshop on Saturday. I hope to see you there! Book Launch at Atta Galatta, Koramangala, Bengaluru Date: 9th March 2017 Time: 5:30 pm Open to all! Reading Workshop at Kids Collective, Jayanagar, Bengaluru Date: 11th March 2017 Time: 11 am to 1 pm Age-group: 8-12 Workshop fee: Rs 500 per child
- [Guru Mythili Raghavan](https://varshaseshan.com/guru-mythili-raghavan/): What makes Mythili Maami special? Why have so many of us been with her for two decades and longer? Why did we not leave the Academy of Indian Dances and set up on our own like so many other dancers? The answer lies in a story that each one of us is only too willing to share. My teacher has her stories too – of learning to dance and sing, of being chosen to say the prayers at school, of sitting on a train and hugging her bag all the way to Patna from Chennai … She has stories about Kalakshetra and stories […]
- [Writing Workshops at Gurukul School](https://varshaseshan.com/writing-workshops-gurukul-school/): The British Library invited me to conduct writing workshops for the fourth and fifth standard students of Gurukul School, and what fun it was! A student of mine introduced me to a lovely activity that I improvised for the fourth standard. I handed out sheets of paper to groups of children, and asked them to write six characters. Here’s what they wrote: I find the denture, toothbrush and fork the most interesting characters of all! Then, I asked them to write six settings. I like Crystaly! I wonder where it is. Then, I asked them to write actions. Here’s what we […]
- [Urja - A Classical Dance Festival](https://varshaseshan.com/urja-classical-dance-festival/): Maharashtra Cultural Centre has invited the Academy of Indian Dances to perform for Urja, a classical dance festival. For this performance, we’ve taken an old theme, one that we presented in 2012, Naaritva: Exploring Womanhood. The performance explores the journey of a woman through traditional pieces, both classical and folk. We begin with girlhood, associated with fun and play. Young girls performing a kolattam will represent this stage of life. What is growing up without friendship and bonding? And when there’s exciting gossip to share, friendship becomes even more spicy! The journey of a woman would be incomplete without friendship! And then […]
- [My Stamp](https://varshaseshan.com/my-stamp/): “My Stamp”: the brand name for personalised postage stamps. Karan saw the ad outside the GPO, and guess what we got made? The only problem with using a book cover, rather than a passport sized picture of a person as advertised, is that we need a square image, not a rectangular one. Even though we had to crop the images quite a bit, how can I not be excited about these Duronto and Toy Train stamps? I can actually use them when I send letters (though I’m not yet convinced that I will!)! What I loved about the process of getting these made was that the […]
- [Scuba Diving in Krabi](https://varshaseshan.com/scuba-diving-krabi/): Fifteen years ago, I went scuba diving for the first time. Fresh out of school, I wrote SCUBA, not scuba, because I knew it was an acronym (and probably wanted to show off that I knew). I remember standing on the white sand of Lakshadweep. It was all a bit overwhelming. There were sixty of us, on a Lakshadweep camp. I was at an age when I wanted to fit in, but did not want to fit in. I wanted to be welcomed, but just did not belong. Lakshadweep, with its breathtaking beauty, took me out of my own deep-rooted self-consciousness. […]
- [Workshops at Symbiosis International School](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops-symbiosis-international-school/): I love the concept of the language week that is held at Symbiosis International School. The students organised a language quiz; they explored the cultures associated with different languages; they had competitions … And I was invited my to conduct creative writing workshops for grade VIII. In November last year, I conducted reading workshops with grade VII and thoroughly enjoyed myself, so I was sure these would be fun too! As I was going to be there anyway, I was also asked to judge an event, and it was wonderful! Students of the seventh grade dressed up as characters from books and made […]
- [AFCC 2017](https://varshaseshan.com/afcc-2017/): Last year, I attended the Asian Festival of Children’s Content for the first time because I was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award. This year, I’ll be attending it again–as a speaker! I’m speaking as part of a panel discussion titled “Writing about Us”. Here’s a little about where the whole thing came from. At workshops I conduct, I find that participants rarely write about Indian children, especially when they write fantasy. I meet Harry, Lucy (sometimes even pronounced Lucky because the name isn’t real to the children) and Mary, and a few made-up names too, but almost no Indian […]
- [Narratives, Routes and Intersections in Pre-Modern Asia](https://varshaseshan.com/narratives-routes-intersections-pre-modern-asia/): Narratives, Routes and Intersections in Pre-Modern Asia, edited by my mother Dr Radhika Seshan was launched on Thursday at the international seminar ‘People, Places and Cultures in Asia and the World’ at Savitribai Phule Pune University.  
- [Picture Books for Winter Nights](https://varshaseshan.com/picture-books-winter-nights/): I just finished reading a handful of picture books; they’re such a comfortable way to spend a winter evening! Chuckling, tucking your brain aside, reading and looking at pictures – what more could I possibly want? All Mine was my absolute favourite. Written by Zehra Hicks, it is a picture book that does have a moral, but I was surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway! I loved the simplicity of its illustrations and the fact that the word count was kept to the bare minimum. Title All Mine Author Zehra Hicks Genre Picture book Rating (out of 5) 5 […]
- [Hetty Feather](https://varshaseshan.com/hetty-feather/): Many, many years ago, a friend gave me The Suitcase Kid for my birthday. I devoured it — and did not understand it. I cannot explain that. I had never felt that way about a book before, and I have never felt that again. The chapters are arranged alphabetically, with each chapter starting with one letter. It was U that confused me, I remember. So I read the whole book again, and I still did not understand what exactly happened. I decided I would read it again, but somehow, haven’t got around to it yet. When I found a book by Jacqueline Wilson […]
- [Mr Oliver's Diary](https://varshaseshan.com/mr-olivers-diary/): I enjoyed reading this review of Mr Oliver’s Diary written by Arwen Banerjee, one of the students of the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School. The theme of the month was school stories, and this review was a refreshing change from the ones on Malory Towers, St. Clare’s and others! Mr Oliver’s Diary: Review Arwen Banerjee Ruskin Bond has written a lot of enjoyable books but Mr Oliver’s Diary is my personal favourite. Mr Oliver, a PT, Maths and English teacher is the main character and this book is his diary. He has noted every incident that has occurred in his hostel. […]
- [Our Performance Last Week](https://varshaseshan.com/performance-last-week/): Many things went wrong. Too many things went wrong. Mahatma Phule Sanskrutik Bhavan informed us on the 5th of December that the mayor required the hall on the 18th, so all performances scheduled for that day had been cancelled. And yes, our performance was scheduled for the 18th. 59 children were to perform. We had musicians coming in from Mumbai. And just like that, our world fell apart. Unlike at halls like Tilak Smarak Mandir, rehearsals are charged at the full rate too. We had a rehearsal booked for the 8th of December – and had paid Rs 17,250 for it […]
- [How to Capture an Invisible Cat](https://varshaseshan.com/capture-invisible-cat/): Yes, I picked it up because of its name. No surprise there. Wouldn’t you pick up a book that seemed like a guidebook to capturing an invisible cat? I’m sure you don’t know how to do it, and who knows when you’ll need to? How to Capture an Invisible Cat was a funny book, one that was funny enough for me not to read it in public so as not to appear crazy. More importantly, there were lots of parts that were my kind of humour. I’m not a big fan of slapstick comedy, or “disgusting-therefore-funny”. I love word play, sarcasm and […]
- [Kothi Heritage, Jodhpur](https://varshaseshan.com/kothi-heritage-jodhpur/): You know how fancy, hoity-toity people tell you that when you go to Rajasthan, you absolutely must stay in a palace? “It’s part of the experience,” they say. And depending on the kind of person you are, you may nod politely and say mentally, ‘Ya, right’, or you may just shoot the suggestion down. We didn’t stay in a palace, no, but we did stay at Kothi Heritage, which was used for two months in a year as a vacation home. And how was that possible? Because Make my Trip offers you a free night when you do a certain […]
- [People and Places, Jodhpur](https://varshaseshan.com/people-places-jodhpur/): I think local cuisine is a big part of the travelling experience. At Hotel Prateek in Jodhpur, the menu card had a little note telling me what to visit and what to eat! And I love meeting new people when I travel; it’s all part of the experience! Walking down from Mehrangarh Fort, we met a couple standing outside their little blue house. It was a steep slope, and we really had no idea where we were headed. We wanted to know whether we would get a rickshaw at the foot of the hill. “Bilkul! Kyun nahin? Lekin kahaan jaaoge aap?” “Bas, poochna tha […]
- [Ghantaghar, Jodhpur](https://varshaseshan.com/ghantaghar-jodhpur/): A Ghantaghar, a huge clock tower, stands at the centre of the market at Jodhpur. In my mother’s time, there were camels around the Ghantaghar too, but now, I can barely imagine there being enough room for a goat, let alone a camel! The clock cost three lakhs way back in 1911. One lakh was paid for the making of the clock in London, one lakh was paid to have it installed in Jodhpur, and one lakh was paid to ensure that a clock like that was never made again! From the Mehrangarh Fort, we saw it standing out of the Blue City. […]
- [Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur](https://varshaseshan.com/mehrangarh-fort-jodhpur/): Jodhpur – how welcoming you were to us! I know that Jodhpur, much more than Jaipur, is a place I’ll visit again! After my workshop at Central Academy, Pal, I heard stories about the Jodhpur Fort. I heard about how there are people who do not want to leave Jodhpur because they cannot live without their daily darshan of the fort. I don’t know how true that is, but it is true that the fort took our breath away! Sure, India has many beautiful forts. I’ve been to a few. Sinhagad – I’ve been more times than I can count. Daulatabad – […]
- [You Can't take an Elephant on the Bus](https://varshaseshan.com/cant-take-elephant-bus/): It’s Children’s Day; what better time to celebrate a picture book I loved? You Can’t take an Elephant on the Bus is one of the books in this year’s Reading Challenge collection, and I loved it! I enjoy picture books that rhyme. I also enjoy whacky books that don’t have a hidden agenda – to teach, preach, etc. I love how books express crazy ideas that make me chortle as I read. So naturally, I loved You Can’t take an Elephant on the Bus. The theme for this years Reading Challenge is The Big Friendly Read, and it celebrates 100 years of Roald […]
- [The Reading Challenge is Back!](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-back/): The Reading Challenge is back at the British Library, Pune, and this time, the theme is ‘The Big Friendly Read’! Celebrating 100 years of Roald Dahl, we have a lovely collection of books as usual. Many feature Dahl characters that I fell in love with as a child, and of course, many others with the wonderful illustrations of Sir Quentin Blake. There are all kinds of stories, though, so even if you’ve read everything Dahl ever wrote, there will be something for you to read too! For those who have never taken part in the Reading Challenge, it is an exciting […]
- [Monkeys at Matheran](https://varshaseshan.com/monkeys-matheran/): The monkeys at Matheran are notorious. Everyone has a monkey story – here’s mine. I stepped out early in the morning, and was charmed. I love the freshness of mornings, and Matheran was exceptional. It was one of those times when I felt I simply had to share the morning withe everyone, so I went back into the room and tried to wake everyone up. Unsuccessfully. Before long, I myself had slipped back into bed. The warmth of the bed was as enticing as the cool outside. I woke up with a start. Sitting on our chair, with a packet of […]
- [Matheran - Day Two](https://varshaseshan.com/matheran-day-two/): At Matheran, all we really wanted to do is get away from all the people and explore. So, the day after our visit to the market, we decided to walk to ‘Nature of Panorama Point’. I, for one, could not stop smiling at the name. The moment we left the smell of people and horses behind, there was no one. Everyone wanted to go to the market, it seemed. We left them far away and walked along a mud path, breathing in freshness that seems to have disappeared from Pune. The weather was not consistently pleasant – it did get hot – […]
- [Matheran - Day One](https://varshaseshan.com/matheran-day-one/): Everyone keeps talking about Matheran. All my life, I’ve heard about how beautiful it is. People keep telling me that there are no cars, only horses, and that it’s a breath of fresh air. This Diwali, I finally went to Matheran–and realised that everyone was right! In The Toy Train, I wrote about how the steam engine in Darjeeling was pulled off the tracks because there too many accidents. And guess what? That’s what happened to the toy train at Matheran. I don’t take ownership for that; I promise! The moral of the story, though, was that we drove to Matheran and […]
- [The Boy with the Tiger's Heart](https://varshaseshan.com/boy-tigers-heart/): The cover of The Boy with the Tiger’s Heart is one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen. When I picked up the book, I didn’t notice the tiger, and when I did, it took my breath away! My reading of the book was certainly influenced by how beautiful it was. Every time I closed the book to take in what I had read, I saw that tiger, those wonderful silhouettes, the wonder of the image. And the book was impressive. Set in a dystopian city where the wild is considered so dangerous that it must be destroyed, The Boy with the Tiger’s Heart is the […]
- [Journeys with Shakespeare](https://varshaseshan.com/journeys-with-shakespeare/): When I was asked to speak about Shakespeare at a gathering of school principals and English teachers, I was more than a little nervous. I borrowed and read books; I watched DVDs about his life; I pulled out notes from my Master’s course on Shakespeare … And I enjoyed myself thoroughly! Reading about Shakespeare again made me chuckle and wonder at the amount people have read and written about him. The interpretations people have come up with are amazing! From saying that he was (definitely) a moneylender to saying that he was a butcher’s son who would make a speech while killing a calf, […]
- [Indywood Media Excellence Award](https://varshaseshan.com/sekhar-seshan-indywood-media-excellence-award/): My father Sekhar Seshan received the Indywood Media Excellence Award for magazines at the Indywood Film Carnival held at Ramoji City, Hyderabad! The Indywood Film Carnival is a four-day festival with fifteen major events, including Golden Frame Awards, International Film Business Awards and Indywood Excellence Awards.
- [The Puppy Who Wanted to Fly](https://varshaseshan.com/puppy-wanted-fly-play-caron-thomas/): I enjoyed reading this short, simple play by Caron Thomas, one of the girls at the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School. I’ve published it here for you to read (with her permission, of course). The Puppy Who Wanted to Fly Caron Thomas Characters Puppy Little bird Mommy Daddy Cat __ Scene I A warm afternoon, under a tree. Stage right: A large field with many trees; stage left: a cottage Puppy: I wish I could fly just like the birds. (Goes around the tree and scratches his head) Yes! I have decided. I will go to the birds and ask […]
- [Reading Challenge at MIT Gurukul](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-mit-gurukul/): Going back to a school at which I was once a teacher was a whole new experience for me! Despite all the reasons I quit, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I walked around the school. This time, I was not there an employee, but as an independent trainer from the British Council. Going to the buildings where I taught English and ToK, visiting the library and the refectory, and, most importantly, meeting all the lovely people I worked with … What a grand day! MIT Gurukul has taken on the Reading Challenge, and I worked with the PYP section […]
- [Flickering Flames at the Pune International Literary Festival](https://varshaseshan.com/flickering-flames-pune-international-literary-festival/): The authors of Flickering Flames, an anthology of short stories and poems, were part of the Pune International Literary Festival (PILF) 2016! The young girls, all in the age-group 11-13, got the opportunity to read excerpts from their work at an event that welcomed a range of eminent speakers and writers. Of the thirteen members of the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s, ten spoke at PILF 2016.  One girl spoke of how Flickering Flames was born, after which each of the girls read a little of what they had written. They spoke of their journey with me, writing, rewriting and editing. The audience asked questions, engaging in a lively […]
- [Performance at Tirupathi](https://varshaseshan.com/performance-tirupathi/): As a child watching a cricket match live on television, I remember asking my grandfather, “How does the camera know where to look?” Two days ago, looking at five people sitting together and ensuring that our performance was screened live all over the world, I remembered my question and smiled. Performing in Tirupathi was an experience that I could never have imagined. All artistes dream of full houses, yes. At Tirupathi, it was impossible to count how many people were sitting there and watching us perform. Streams and streams of people kept joining the crowd, sitting on the steps and watching us dance. During Rama […]
- [Flickering Flames - A Review](https://varshaseshan.com/flickering-flames-review/): Flickering Flames is a collection of short stories and poems written by the members of the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School. Here’s a little about it. Ishitaa Shevate, one of the students in the next batch of the Writers’ Club, reviewed the book: here’s what she has to say! This is a very nice book. It draws the reader into each and every poem or story. I couldn’t stop turning pages. It is by the girls of my school. My favourite story was ‘Room 37’. This book is filled with excitement. I would recommend this book to people who like poetry, […]
- [Weekend Workshops at Bengaluru](https://varshaseshan.com/weekend-workshops-bengaluru/): The joy of travelling is when I can mix leisure with work. Last weekend was a long weekend, and in Karnataka, it was longer still because of Varralakshmi Poojai. Many were apparently traveeling, yet, several turned up for both workshops I conducted. At Atta Galatta, Koramangala, I conducted a creative writing workshop for the age-group 9-13. It was lovely, exploring elements of a story, techniques and style. We did lots of activities and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly! At The Kids Collective, Jayanagar, I conducted a reading-cum-storytelling workshop with children aged 7-10. We explored Bholu at the Level Crossing, Bholu at the School Excursion and many others. One child […]
- [Creative Writing at Vidya Valley School](https://varshaseshan.com/creative-writing-vidya-valley-school/): In the pouring rain, we made our way across the city to a school far, far away. It was beautiful. Greenery all around us, streams in the most unexpected places – this was not a part of the city I knew. I’d heard about Vidya Valley, and met a few students from the school at other workshops. This time, though, I was visiting the school to conduct three sessions with the sixth standard as part of the build-up to the school’s very own lit fest. Teaching creative writing to a whole class is always challenging. In a class of forty, […]
- [Creative Writing Workshop in Bengaluru](https://varshaseshan.com/creative-writing-workshop-bengaluru/): Last year, I conducted a reading workshop at Atta Galatta, and I knew I had to go back there and do something else! The place is perfect, the ambiance charming and the children I met were lovely. So now it’s time to do something else, something new! Conducting the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School has shown me how much I enjoy working with children who enjoy writing. It’s full of imagination, whacky ideas and magic! Creative Writing Workshop for Children Age-group: 9-13 Venue: Atta Galatta, Bengaluru Dates: 13th and 14th August, 2016 Time: 11 am to 1 pm Fees: Rs. 1,000 […]
- [The Great Cheese Robbery](https://varshaseshan.com/great-cheese-robbery/): Lots of books on my blog this week: that’s what happens when I do a workshop for the British Library’s Reading Challenge! The Great Cheese Robbery was a delightful picture book that brought back memories of Disney’s “Dumbo”. I remember the first time I watched “Dumbo” and saw the elephants shriek at the sight of a mouse. I chuckled at the movie as a child, and the same images came back to me as I read this book! When I started reading The Great Cheese Robbery, I was already prejudiced towards it simply because so many children who had enrolled for the […]
- [The Paper Dolls](https://varshaseshan.com/the-paper-dolls/): I love Julia Donaldson! I came across her work for the first time when I read and watched The Gruffalo’s Child. Then, I read Running on the Cracks – a completely different book for a completely different audience. And now, as part of the Record Breakers Reading Challenge, I read The Paper Dolls, first by myself and then during my workshop with children at MGM Clover Dale. It was just lovely! I’m one of those who prefer picture books that rhyme to those that don’t. I find rhyme, when well done, truly delightful and very easy to read. More than anything, I love how […]
- [Reading Challenge at MGM Clover Dale](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-mgm-clover-dale/): The Imagination Box, which I wrote about yesterday, as well as the books I’ll be writing about in the days ahead, were part of the Reading Challenge organised by the British Library. As always, I enjoyed myself thoroughly conducting a series of workshops at MGM Clover Dale High School in Aurangabad. The theme for their Reading Challenge was “Record Breakers”, and there were record breakers amongst them! A pair of twins read 16 books in the last three weeks because they enjoyed the challenge so much! The first workshop, for younger children, was a lovely storytelling session. I introduced them to Julia […]
- [The Imagination Box](https://varshaseshan.com/the-imagination-box/): Isn’t the name wonderful? The Imagination Box is the story of a boy called Tim, who has convinced himself that all he needs in life are his pencil and paper (and some confectionery would do no harm). Recently adopted, he knows that all the papers have been signed, but cannot help thinking of his new home as temporary. His easiest defence mechanism is to convince himself that he does not need friends. He is happiest by himself. No one else matters. Until, of course, he meets Professor Eisenstone, inventor of the imagination box. Never one to curb his curiosity, Tim tries […]
- [The Boy in the Dress](https://varshaseshan.com/the-boy-in-the-dress/): I started reading The Boy in the Dress long ago and never ended up finishing it. I don’t know why. Maybe I was in no mood to deal with all the mucus in the second chapter. Or maybe I was just not in the right mood. I picked up the book again because I watched a “Britain’s Got Talent” video and was charmed by the way David Walliams responded to one of the participants – a xylophone player. It made me think that I had to give the writer another shot. And I’m so glad I did! The Boy in the Dress was simply lovely. Though […]
- [Author Visit](https://varshaseshan.com/author-visit/): Yesterday, the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School welcomed Leela Gour Broome, author of Flute in the Forest and Red Kite Adventure. Mrs Broome introduced her two books and spoke to the children about the process of writing them. “I’m not a fan of fantasy,” she said when the children asked her what she reads. “I think we need more realistic Indian fiction that children can read!” Her own books are inspired by experiences she’s had through her close interaction with nature, experiences that help her stories ring true. “Even when you imagine, there’s a limit, right? For instance, you could write about […]
- [Workshop on Communicative English](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-on-communicative-english/): The six-hour journey from Pune to Beed was lovely. I love travelling in the monsoon through pouring rain, looking at all the shades of green passing by. I love the hills in the rain. They’re so full of life, so different from the parched summer browns! My workshop last weekend was with Gurukul English School in Beed. Like so many other schools, it is an English medium school that is attended by children from non English-speaking families. It’s a huge challenge for the teachers, one that we can barely begin to tackle. Walk through the corridors and you’ll hear a mix of […]
- [Flickering Flames](https://varshaseshan.com/flickering-flames/): Last week, St. Mary’s School officially launched Flickering Flames, an anthology of poems and stories I edited as the facilitator of the Writers’ Club. The teachers have their copies already, and I’ve heard some lovely comments about the book. Here’s a little about it for those who are reading about this for the first time … In the academic year 2015-16, I started a Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School, Pune. We began with nearly sixty girls, but as they discovered how much work goes into writing, they slowly dropped out. Finally, thirteen girls submitted work that was put together in an anthology. As it is […]
- [Shine](https://varshaseshan.com/shine/): What a puzzling book Shine was! It leaves me all mixed up in terms of what I feel about it. It’s a page turner, that’s for sure. I began to read and just kept reading without ever stopping. Yet, there were just so many places when I groaned and felt it was too predictable. There were things that were dramatised that were not, I felt, in any way dramatic. There were many places where I felt Nah … This is just too convenient. But I never write about books that I dislike. In more than one place, despite its predictability and and the […]
- [Kalakshetra 2015](https://varshaseshan.com/kalakshetra-2015/): One year ago, three of us had the privilege of dancing at Kalakshetra in front of my teacher’s teachers. I can’t believe that a year has passed since that wonderful day that was so filled with emotion. We were scared, but our teacher was terrified – she had to play the nattuvangam on the same stage that her teachers had played. What would they say about her? What would they say about her students? Her choreography? Would they criticise her? Would they criticise us? Would they be upset? And the three of us … Were we capable? Would we let our beloved teacher […]
- [A Monster Calls](https://varshaseshan.com/a-monster-calls/): Stunning. Absolutely stunning. I picked up A Monster Calls in the same way that I pick up all other books – randomly. No one recommended it to me. I read no reviews. I did not read the blurb. Sometimes it’s better that way, simply because you have no idea what to expect. Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls is a truly remarkable book, so remarkable that I cannot write anything about it. It wrung my heart. I sobbed as I held on to the book I had just finished. It was over. I didn’t want it to be over. Young Conor has the same terrifying dream, night after […]
- [Reflections: Day Three at AFCC 2016](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-three-afcc-2016/): The last day of my first ever literary festival … I began day three at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content by attending a roundtable discussion on entering markets abroad, conducted by Cynthea Liu, Emily Lim, Helen Mangham. What was particularly wonderful about this event was the rounded perspective it had, as the speakers comprised one publisher, one writer and one literary agent. Author Emily Lim’s words spoke to me the most, as she told us with her charming tinge of humour about how the key to getting a publisher, national or international, is a mixture of perseverance and patience. She spoke of standing on the […]
- [Reflections: Day Two at AFCC](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-two-afcc/): Visiting a place for the first time can’t be work and work alone, especially when there’s so much to see and do. On days two and three at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, I attended fewer sessions, trying to make the most of my time in Singapore! Penning for the Preteen, conducted by Holly Thompson, was a good experience for me, since that’s the age-group I write for, and it’s always nice to have ideas and thoughts affirmed by a group of writers. It helps me feel a little less lost. During the session, what struck me most were views on what […]
- [Reflections: Day One at AFCC 2016](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-one-afcc-2016/): The Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore was the first literary festival I attended. Here’s what I did there. The first session, Cracking the Golden Egg at Literary Festivals, was conducted by Felicia Low-Jiminez and Maria Alessandrino. It was a useful panel discussion, even though it focused more on how to deal with being invited to speak at literary festivals than on ‘cracking the golden egg’ when you’re just another attendee, which is what most of us were. The fine line between networking and pestering people to keep in touch or read your work remains unknown terrain for me! The […]
- [Workshop at Mane's International School, Ratnagiri](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-manes-international-school-ratnagiri/): People on the road selling karvand, mangoes and jackfruit. The lilting language that makes me listen to the tune rather than the meaning. The dark sand and the crashing waves. Joy! And Mane’s International School was beautiful. It’s a small school as of now, just a baby. There are mango trees everywhere, and the principal spoke of how the children run round and round the trees as they play. Apparently, the rains night before last made the mangoes come crashing down, but until then, the boughs were heavy with fruit! On the way to Ratnagiri, we stopped to buy karvand, offered to […]
- [Back from AFCC 2016](https://varshaseshan.com/back-afcc-2016/): So much excitement, so much fun! I attended the Asian Festival of Children’s Content at Singapore for the first time, and the opening ceremony was the grand event at which the winner of the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2016 was announced. My unpublished work, Dragonflies, Jigsaws and a Rainbow, was one of the five shortlisted entries, and it was a wonderful feeling being there, waiting, anticipating … The shortlisted entries were: Chasing Freedom by Tina Cho (South Korea) Codex: The Lost Treasure of the Indus by Aditi Krishnakumar (India) Dragonflies, Jigsaws and a Rainbow by Varsha Seshan (India) Island Girl by Ho Lee Ling, […]
- [Storytelling Workshop at Palm Groves](https://varshaseshan.com/storytelling-palm-groves/): A group of parents got together and invited me to conduct a weeklong storytelling workshop at a housing society. Storytelling has never been more fun! Working with my own stories is a lovely experience in itself, and when the story comes with its own kit … The enjoyment reaches new levels! Here’s a group of children putting together the jigsaw puzzle of Bholu at the Level Crossing … It was such fun telling this story, with the children making the same sounds that Chitra makes in the book, imitating the train – Poooonnnn! Chug-chug-chug-chug, chug-chug-chug-chug. One observant child commented that the red […]
- [Record Breakers at Cathedral Vidya School](https://varshaseshan.com/record-breakers-cathedral-vidya-school/): 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 […]
- [Travel the World: A Journey through Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/travel-world-journey-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 […]
- [Reading and Writing Workshops at SGI, Kolhapur!](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-writing-workshops-sgi-kolhapur/): I spent three days at Sanjay Ghodawat International School, Kolhapur, and conducted a series of reading and writing workshops with 204 children as part of the British Library’s Reading Challenge programme. We worked on myths from around the world, read aloud Fragoline and the Midnight Dream and George and the Dragon, played with idioms, wrote stories … What fun it was!
- [Performing on 8 May!](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-8-may/): I’ve lost count of the number of times people have asked me when we’re performing in Pune. Finally, here we go! The senior students of the Academy of Indian Dances bring to you a traditional Bharatanatyam programme, featuring a range of pieces that explore nritta, nritya and natya. Beginning with an invocatory dance, we move on to a pure nritta composition, raagamaalikai jatiswaram. The longest and most elaborate piece compares the lives of Rama and Krishna, exploring the abhinaya aspect of Bharatanatyam to the fullest. The devotee wonders which of the two gods to worship. Krishna was born in a dark prison in the middle […]
- [More First Prints!](https://varshaseshan.com/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?
- [Shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award!](https://varshaseshan.com/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 […]
- [Flickering Flames - Now Available!](https://varshaseshan.com/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 […]
- [Duronto and Level Crossing Resource Packs!](https://varshaseshan.com/duronto-adventure-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 […]
- [Our Performance on Sunday](https://varshaseshan.com/academy-of-indian-dances/): Performing for three minutes is often more trouble than it’s worth … not this time, though. People often assume that a three-minute performance is no big deal. Let’s look at it this way, though. Leaving aside the time we take to choreograph, learn, coordinate and practise, we could just look at the day we perform. On Sunday, we performed at Empress Garden for Basant Utsav. The programme started at 9 in the morning. Wind back the clock. You need to factor in make-up, hair, costume and travel. We met at 6 to start. We got ready, made our way to […]
- [Writers' Club - The Last Session](https://varshaseshan.com/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 […]
- [Launch at National Rail Museum](https://varshaseshan.com/duronto-and-level-crossing-launch-at-nrm/): I wrote about the launch of The Duronto Adventure and Bholu at the Level Crossing about three weeks ago. Finally, here are some pictures! The National Rail Museum was set up on the 1st of February, 1977. So, on the 1st of February this year, we were keen on launching at least the first book for each age-group. The Duronto Adventure, the first book for older readers, explores the electric locomotive, so here’s a model that you can make for yourself if you have the kit! Bholu at the Level Crossing, the first book for younger readers, shows you a goods train. The goods […]
- [Reading Challenge at Dr Kalmadi Shamrao High School](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-at-dr-kalmadi-shamrao-high-school/): Today was the closing ceremony of the Reading Challenge Programme at Dr Kalmadi Shamrao High School. Look at all the proud faces! I conducted two workshops for the children: one on idioms, the other on myths from different parts of the world. During the first one, we solved a crossword puzzle, played team games differentiating between idioms and proverbs, and attempted to guess the meanings of several idioms. I was very impressed by the number of idioms the children were able to explain! The second workshop I conduct as part of the Mythical Maze Reading Challenge is always more fun for the children. I divide them into […]
- [The Duronto Adventure Resource Pack](https://varshaseshan.com/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!
- [Two new books by Varsha Seshan!](https://varshaseshan.com/two-new-books-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 […]
- [Kayani Bakery](https://varshaseshan.com/kayani-bakery/): If you have not been to Kayani Bakery on a Saturday afternoon, you cannot have any idea what it’s like. I cannot describe the way people crowd around the counter that they can reach, and around the counters that they cannot. I cannot describe how the red-faced men behind the counter serve customer after customer, cheerfully ignoring other customers who insist on shouting out their orders. Some of the men behind the counter smile and converse. Others give you withering looks. Still others lecture you on how you should wait for your turn. It’s all part of the experience. Today, I was in […]
- [Books I've Been Reading](https://varshaseshan.com/books-ive-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 […]
- [A Brand New Series of Books on Trains: Coming Soon!](https://varshaseshan.com/a-brand-new-series-of-books-on-trains-coming-soon/): Do you know who Bholu is? Since 2002, this friendly guard elephant has been the mascot of the Indian Railways. I’m delighted to be writing a series of stories for children, featuring Bholu, along with many other characters. The series will target two age-groups: Younger readers (aged 5-8) Older readers (aged 9-13) The books for younger readers will have Bholu at the forefront; the ones for older readers will be adventure stories — all set in and around the Indian Railways. Coming soon – both in print at the National Rail Museum, Delhi, and as ebooks!
- [Let's Break Some Records!](https://varshaseshan.com/lets-break-some-records/): Of late, I’ve been too busy to post updates about events I conduct, but here’s a quick heads-up. I’m conducting a workshop at the British Library tomorrow! Explore novel records that you can see yourself setting! Work on all four language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking. Interact with other children with varied interests. Reflect on everything you have read so far and why it interests you. Most importantly, let’s have some fun! It’s part of this year’s Reading Challenge, but you’re welcome to attend the workshop even if you aren’t part of the challenge! Here are the details: […]
- [Burrapahar, Kaziranga](https://varshaseshan.com/burrapahar-kaziranga/): You know how in the buffer zone, they keep telling you that anything can happen? You know how all guides have stories about sightings of big animals on the main road? It never happens to me. I keep hoping, but no. Nothing on the main road. Until Kaziranga. All around us, like a wispy cushion on the tea estates, was  the early morning fog. Shivering in the open jeep, we had our first sighting of the day – a rhino visible clearly from the main road. Bakul didn’t even stop to look at it. He clarified later, “From the main road, you […]
- [Agaratoli, Kaziranga](https://varshaseshan.com/agaratoli-kaziranga/): The eastern zone of Kaziranga is much more forested, not primarily grassland. It was joyous being in there, looking at the crazy trees and ferns. Some trees look like they’ve set up hanging gardens of their own, with leaves of different kinds growing out of their trunks. I couldn’t stop marvelling at them. Bright green leaves glistened, almost as if they had been polished. My father chuckled. “It looks like Pati gave them a good clean to make them shine!” My Pati loved to make things shine. Her brass never had a dull moment. In Kaziranga, many tourists are accompanied by […]
- [Bagori, Kaziranga](https://varshaseshan.com/bagori-kaziranga/): Pelicans! The safari in Mihimukh showed me not just the Lesser Adjutant Stork and the Woolly Necked Stork, but also the Open-Billed Stork, Bar-Headed Geese — and pelicans! When Bakul first pointed them out, I didn’t quite believe him. Then I saw those incredible pouchy beaks. I stared, filling my eyes with them. I found myself thinking, “Oh, so pelicans do belong in the world outside cartoons …” At the end of each day in the forest, I close my eyes and let all the images of the forest dance in my head. On our first day, I could see the […]
- [Turtles, Ducks and Elephants, Kaziranga](https://varshaseshan.com/turtles-ducks-and-elephants-kaziranga/): Bakul identified the turtles for us. I did not understand at all, not even enough to figure out for myself later. Himalayan Box Turtle? Perhaps. That was a name I discovered. But I know nothing about turtles. Can anyone help? Ducks – we saw hundreds of them. A beautiful orangish red duck was everywhere. “Radisson duck,” said Bakul. Or at least, it sounded like it. I came home and looked it up. ‘Radisson duck’ sounded believable enough. A Google search threw up images of Radisson ducks, though. Click there and you’ll find out what I found out. The ducks we […]
- [Rhinoceros Unicornis, Kaziranga](https://varshaseshan.com/rhinoceros-unicornis-kaziranga/): “Haan, rhino hai, udhar,” said Bakul. “Rhino?” I repeated. I had to have misheard. He could not be so calm. He could not tonelessly say ‘rhino hai udhar’ and leave it at that. In my head, though, I was saying, Rhino! Oo, rhino! Rhino! Where’s the rhino? I want to see … And there it was. Across a lake, eating away to glory. Rhinoceros unicornis. The real thing. Thoughts tumbled one after the other. Does it get cock-eyed looking around its horn? It really has a horn! It’s so big! It’s slaty-grey. It’s … it’s a rhino! In my experience with forests so […]
- [Mihimukh, Kaziranga](https://varshaseshan.com/mihimukh-kaziranga/): How different Kaziranga is from the other reserves I’ve visited! For one, you can get off the jeep in several places. In each zone, there’s a watch tower which you can climb to look at the world around you. And the zones don’t have complicated, circuitous routes. There’s no decision to make about what path to take, where to go … The gate to the reserve opens at 7:30, much later than at Tadoba. Expecting the cold of 6 o’clock safaris, I was armed with a beanie crocheted by a friend, in addition to my jacket, shawl and socks. I was set. Safaris in December […]
- [Back from Kaziranga](https://varshaseshan.com/back-from-kaziranga/): Elephant grass. Anything could be hiding there. (A rhino, perhaps?) Huge birds that made me think of pterodactyls. (Wasn’t it enough that the word ‘rhinoceros’ tempted me to say ‘rhino-saurus’? Hog deer. (My auto response, by the way, said I was away looking at/for rhinoceroses.) Swamp deer. (I wonder … Why don’t we use the second part of the one-horned rhinoceros’s Latin name? Wouldn’t that be exciting?) Cold, cold December days. I didn’t know whether it was just the cold that was making me shiver, though. Many years ago, I had a pen pal from Assam. I remember him going […]
- [Running on the Cracks](https://varshaseshan.com/running-on-the-cracks/): So much to do, so much to read, so much to write! I haven’t written my blog for ages because I’ve been busy writing a brand new series on trains … But more about that when we’re closer to the date it’s to be launched. Running on the Cracks made me create a little space in the whirlwind of activity that has made up the last few months. I read and watched The Gruffalo’s Child a while ago, and when I saw a book by Julia Donaldson in the library, I had to read it. And I read on and on. Moving beyond the ‘political […]
- [Why not Indian literature?](https://varshaseshan.com/why-not-indian-literature/): I read article after article about how Indian literature for children is on the rise. I read about lit fests and how these promote Indian writers and Indian literature. I read about new publishers and new writers all over the country. I feel encouraged, thinking about my future (and present) as a writer. Yet, against all that optimism, a few things come to mind. I often play a game with children, encouraging them to find out what the others read. Recently, I watched sixty children running around enthusiastically as they played the game, shouting to one another. When they shared what they loved […]
- [Whale Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/whale-boy/): I don’t know a single child who has read and not liked animal stories. I remember Animal Ark. I think of Gill Lewis’s White Dolphin. There are hundreds of horse stories that I’ve read and loved – Stallion Club comes to mind immediately. Whale Boy is one of those beloved animal tales. Growing up in Rose Town, Dominica, Michael learns very early on to manage on his own. His mother was, according to his grandmother, ‘not mother material’, and abandoned him as a baby. His father went to London in search of her and never returned. Legend says that there is a place where […]
- [Yumthang Valley](https://varshaseshan.com/yumthang-valley/): I remember the first time I watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I watched the old movie, of course, where Mr and Mrs Beaver were people in beaver costumes, and the section where the children ride on Aslan was old-fashioned animation, to put it mildly. Yet, I loved it so much that I still remember much of it word for word. I remember the white witch saying, “How dare you come alone?” I remember “Turkish delight? For my little prince?” I remember the faun Mr Tumnus saying, “Always winter, and never Christmas!” Narnia is magical. And I could not stop thinking about it as […]
- [The Road to Yumthang](https://varshaseshan.com/the-road-to-yumthang/): It was a bright, cold day. Bundled up in thermals, sweaters, mufflers, gloves and coats, we set off for Yumthang, famously known as the Valley of Flowers. In spring, a carpet of flowers rolls over the valley, and in winter, a blanket of snow. As we shivered with cold and excitement, we hoped we would be allowed all the way to Yumthang. The previous day, vehicles had been stopped because the roads were slippery, but perhaps today would be different. The day was clear, and our driver and guide Pempa, who belonged to Lachung, was optimistic. All along the road, […]
- [North Sikkim](https://varshaseshan.com/north-sikkim/): “Should we really go?”“Is it safe?”“Just yesterday, people got stuck in Lachung and had to be rescued!”“And vehicles have not even been allowed to go towards Yumthang.”“Maybe we should just cancel our Lachung-Yumthang plan and stay in Gangtok.” On the 10 January, NDTV reported that over 150 tourists were stuck in the Lachung Valley and were rescued by the army. Was it sheer stupidity to stick with our original plan and visit Lachung anyway? We were to go there on the 12th, just two days later. We asked my friend from Gangtok, “Do you think we should go to north […]
- [Jannat Point, Pench Tiger Reserve](https://varshaseshan.com/jannat-point-pench-tiger-reserve/): It’s been over three weeks since the year started, and they have been incredible. I have much to write about–my heart and mind are full of stories. I wrote about bringing the new year in with the sight of a leopard at Pench Tiger Reserve, but anyone who loves the jungle knows that a “sighting” is not the only exciting thing about a safari. There’s much more. The very sight of the gate makes my heart beat faster–unexplored, unpredictable worlds lie beyond! Pench, particularly, is teeming with wildlife. I would not be exaggerating if I said that we saw over […]
- [The Forest Calls](https://varshaseshan.com/the-forest-calls/): It was New Year’s Day. We sat in the gypsy, shivering with cold and excitement. There were fewer people in the jungle probably because many had stayed up to bring the new year in, and could not wake up in time for a safari on the 1st of Jan. For us, the whole point of being at Pench Tiger Reserve on New Year’s Eve was that we would end one year with a safari and begin the next one with the thrill of another. As we turned into one of the forest lanes, we saw a tiger conservationist whom we’d […]
- [Top Ten: Young Adult Books in 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/top-ten-young-adult-books-in-2018/): There’s so much happening in the world of Young Adult books! Some people may classify a few of these books as MG rather than YA, but again, I put forth the usual disclaimer – associating an age with a reading level is impossible. Many of these books are crucial – they deal with ideas and issues that need to be addressed. Yet, when I read, the “issue” cannot ever be all-important. I cannot love a book simply because it is important. And that’s why, even though I read books that are arguably more “important”, my favourites remain ones that wring […]
- [Top Ten: Middle-Grade Books in 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/top-ten-middle-grade-books-in-2018/): My list of favourite middle-grade books was the most difficult one to make! Until the second I hit ‘Publish’, I kept changing my mind about which books to include. I almost made this top fifteen – it is my blog after all, no one is dictating how many I should have here … But I restricted myself. And yes, there are at least five more that I want to put here but didn’t. The Girl Who Walked on Air The Girl Who Walked on Air is the perfect combination of adventure, suspense and drama. Louie dreams of becoming the showstopper of the […]
- [Top Ten: Books for Young Readers in 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/top-ten-books-for-young-readers-in-2018/): I know that ‘books for young readers’ is a very vague title, but these aren’t all chapter books, though the age-group for all the books on the list is similar. I also don’t read as many chapter books as I do other children’s books, but as I was making this list, I realised that I probably should read more because I’ve enjoyed each and every one of these! The Last Tiger (Mark Greenwood) A work of non-fiction, The Last Tiger is exactly the kind of book I would have loved to read age eight. Even as a child, I was […]
- [Top Ten: Picture Books in 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/top-ten-picture-books-in-2018/): It’s when I make lists like this that I realise how many books I read each year. It makes me deeply conscious of how privileged I am to be able to devote so much time each year to reading. Year after year, I read more books. More often than not, I don’t buy them – it’s impossible to buy every book I want to read – but libraries, online platforms like StoryWeaver, Kindle Unlimited … These are a great source of stories. Many of these stories were not published in 2018; they’re just books I read last year. It was […]
- [Invisible People](https://varshaseshan.com/invisible-people/): How does one begin to write about a book as powerful as Invisible People? Stories of hope and courage – that’s what the cover promises, yet I did not expect to be moved as much as I was. I knew I would come across extraordinary stories because I have faith in the fact that there are extraordinary people in this world. But Invisible People? Each story moved me so much that I had to look away, swallow a gulp in my throat, and just feel all those thousands of emotions that make me human, before I could read on. In the […]
- [Bhigwan 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/bhigwan-2018/): It was 8 in the morning. We’d woken up at 4:45 and driven over a hundred kilometres to Bhigwan. We waited a long while for our boat, and as we waited, we looked at terns, gulls, storks and stilts around us. And then, eventually, we boarded a boat and made our way across the waters towards the flamingoes.As we sat there, watching geese and ibises, I looked at the water around me and thought about what draws me to Bhigwan year after year. Why do I wake up in the pre-dawn hours and travel before light to a place two […]
- [Carthick's Unfairy Tales](https://varshaseshan.com/carthicks-unfairy-tales/): Have you ever thought of Cinderella from the point of view of the mouse? No, not one of the sweet singing mice in Disney’s version. Instead, from the point of view of a hapless mouse who becomes a steed for one night. What happens to the mouse after Cinderella gets her ‘happily ever after’? Does the mouse get its own happily ever after? Carthick’s Unfairy Tales had me chuckling more than once. Full of wit, with surprises lurking at every corner, each story was thoroughly enjoyable. Yes, I did get annoyed in places because of Indianisms that, for me, jarred […]
- [Tilly and the Time Machine](https://varshaseshan.com/tilly-and-the-time-machine/): Just thinking about Tilly and the Time Machine makes me chuckle, even though I finished reading it a couple of days ago. It’s been a while since I read such a lovely book written for seven-year-olds. Tilly’s father is a scientist who works for the government. Unfortunately, it seems as if his work is below expectations, so they have to let him go. The way Tilly sees it, letting him go seems to be a good thing. He has more time at home, he doesn’t have to go to work, and Tilly can do lots of fun stuff with him […]
- [Unique Flavours](https://varshaseshan.com/unique-flavours/): Wanderlust. I write about it so often. Yearning is lovely. But sometimes, the joy of travelling is not in the yearning; it’s in the humour. It’s in the crazy things that happen all the time, all around us. When I travel, I try to eat things that are typical to the place I’m visiting. It was Spaghetti Bolognese in Bologna, though I dislike pork. Fishy things in Calcutta, though I don’t like fish. You know. But sometimes, local food is unaffordable, or just inaccessible. Then, I try to get something that I can finish on my own – and roti […]
- [Big Books at the Writers' Club](https://varshaseshan.com/big-books-at-the-writers-club/): Aren’t lit fests delightful? Last week, I was invited to St. Mary’s School’s first lit fest, and it was lovely. We walked into books like this one … And we had a panel discussion where we spoke about stories, poems, writing, dancing and music. We then visited classrooms and saw the work the children had put together through the course of the year – book reviews, poetry, charts, models … And we saw eight big books that the tenth standard girls had made for the prep school children. I saw those books and knew I had to share them with […]
- [The Peculiars](https://varshaseshan.com/the-peculiars/): Kieran is one of only two male Reception class teachers on the Isle of Wight.His days mainly consist of singing nursery rhymes, tying shoelaces, trying to locate who has had an ‘accident’ by sense of smell alone, and vast, endless mountains of paperwork.  Author profile on Goodreads Aren’t you interested already? Writing good author bios is an art. I remember the first one I had to write. I spent a day agonising over it and then asked my father to do it. He was much amused – I never ask for writing help – and he did it in three […]
- [Our Own Voices](https://varshaseshan.com/our-own-voices/): I just skimmed through yet another article about how, growing up, we associated ‘white people doing white things’ with ‘people doing people things‘. This is an idea that I have to confront all the time, for racism is everywhere. It has forms that we unwillingly perpetuate too. For instance, I have an Indian friend who is studying in the US, and she is not working on South Asian writers. This is something she repeatedly has to defend. “Why don’t you work on your own culture?” everyone asks. In the beginning, this is a seemingly harmless question. In fact, it is […]
- [Paradise End](https://varshaseshan.com/paradise-end/): Especially when I’m struggling with my writing, I find myself wondering all kinds of things. What makes a good book? What keeps me reading? When do I roll my eyes at melodrama, and when do I have to swallow a gulp in my throat? Where are all these boundaries? Also, I’m a picky reader. I used to beat myself up about not finishing books, but I think somewhere along the line as a literature student, I realised that it was impossible for me to read everything I wanted to read. There were books I actually enjoyed but could not finish. Middlemarch comes […]
- [History Mysteries: The Last Tiger](https://varshaseshan.com/history-mysteries-the-last-tiger/): The Last Tiger broke my heart. The thylacine – what a wonderful, curious animal. A pouched dog with a wolf’s face. A dog with stripes. The Tasmanian tiger. At the Asian Festival of Children’s Content last month, I attended a talk by the history hunter, Mark Greenwood. It was a talk that filled me up. His storytelling brought me so close to tears that I ended up impulsively buying a book of his. (I would have liked to buy them all, but my pocket didn’t permit it.) Despite all the emotion that prompted me to buy his book, I somehow didn’t […]
- [Boy 87](https://varshaseshan.com/boy-87/): Boy 87 came frighteningly close to becoming too much for me as a reader. As I read on, there was one stage where I was filled with a sickening sense of dread. I remembered Chalkline, which I could not finish reading because it was so well told that the story was overwhelmingly traumatic for me – more than I could take. And then I also remembered The Bone Sparrow, a wonderful tale of war and hope. Boy 87 fits somewhere between the two. At the stage when I was not sure if I could read on, I quickly skimmed through a few of the […]
- [Reading, Writing, Dancing](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-writing-dancing/): Two weeks ago, I asked the children at my Writers’ Club whether they would like to make readers laugh or cry. Three girls said they wanted to make readers laugh. 12 said they wanted to make readers cry. When a few said they would like to do both, those who had already raised their hands dithered. Finally, though, most agreed that making readers cry was more important. This was both surprising and not. Funny books that sparkle with humour are wonderful. Yet, I do know that the books that stay with me are books that make me cry. The best […]
- [Bye, bye, Malaysia!](https://varshaseshan.com/bye-bye-malaysia/): On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Jonker Street in Melaka becomes a night market. There are hundreds of vendors, plus shops set up cats out on the street to sell stuff. It is so lively! And unlike in Kuala Lumpur’s Alor Street, we didn’t find white people asking for money to fund their travels around the world. Though we were tired, we walked up and down eating random things and just taking in the sights. I love watching people! It was lovely. And then, it was time to head back – back to Kuala Lumpur and then, back home. In KL, […]
- [Sungai Melaka and Kampung Morten](https://varshaseshan.com/sungai-melaka-and-kampung-morten/): I originally thought that the name of the river in Melaka was Sungai. I looked it up later, though, and discovered that ‘Sungai’ means ‘river’, so Sungai Melaka is simply Malacca (as it is still sometimes spelt) River. Especially as sleepy Melaka shuts down early on non-market days, the river cruise is a charming thing to do in the evening. It costs MYR 18 per non-Malaysian adult, and at another time, I would perhaps feel that it isn’t worth it. In the mood that I was, though, the cruise was quite lovely, just how I wanted to spend a calm […]
- [Colonial Hangover](https://varshaseshan.com/colonial-hangover/): Taman Negara was incredible, and my mind is still full of the wonder of the forest. Yet, we did have to say goodbye to it when it was time to move on to Melaka. And Melaka was incredible too. A world apart from Taman Negara, I think it was the first city outside India where I felt I would like to live, and I cannot quite lay my finger on why. I know part of what speaks is my colonial hangover. What makes the red buildings in the Dutch Square reach out to me? Why do I find a little […]
- [Of long walks in the jungle](https://varshaseshan.com/of-long-walks-in-the-jungle/): For the most part, I dislike treks. I don’t think I’m lazy, though I cannot really be sure. I just don’t like pushing myself up a hill, or feeling undercurrents of sympathy when some people don’t walk/climb as fast as others. Sure, everyone is nice. People help other people out. It’s just that my body is not convinced that it is worth it. Walking, on the other hand, is a whole different thing. A walk in the jungle is incomparable. Sometimes, at rough patches that require a little climbing, I am a bit of a scaredy-cat, but once I take […]
- [Night Walk at Taman Negara](https://varshaseshan.com/night-walk-at-taman-negara/): We read a lot about the night walk at Taman Negara before we left India. Most people said that it was a waste of time and money and that all you could see were spiders and insects. That did not deter either of us. Honestly, I did not expect to see an elephant in the jungle at night, and I cannot imagine why anyone would. Isn’t a walk through the rainforest at night thrilling in itself? At every forest we’ve visited, we’ve tried to spend time with the guides listening to their stories. Often, guides tell different versions of the […]
- [Canopy Walkway - Taman Negara](https://varshaseshan.com/canopy-walkway-taman-negara/): I’m always amused by how the concept of distance depends so much on where people live.“The canopy walkway is very close, just about half an hour or maybe a little more.” That’s what we were told when we bought our 5 ringgit tickets to the canopy walkway. For most people I know, 1.8 km does not quite fit with the phrase ‘very close’. We walked through the jungle, marvelling at the fact that we were there, feeling privileged to be in a place that is so old and so wild. As we walked, we promised ourselves that we would take […]
- [Taman Negara - Part I](https://varshaseshan.com/taman-negara-part-i/): I don’t know how people decide what they want to visit in a new country. India, I would think, is particularly difficult, if only because it is so large. Does one do history-things, or nature-things, or things other people have talked about? Or does one simply go visit people one knows? In Malaysia, we had no idea where to go. It was not a country we’d always longed to visit; it was just accessible from Singapore. But where were we to go? Minimal research drew us to Taman Negara. We love forests, and Taman Negara is the world’s oldest rainforest, […]
- [Bhusawal](https://varshaseshan.com/bhusawal/): About three years ago, I began working on an exciting project with the National Rail Museum in New Delhi. The idea was to create stories set in and around trains in India.  It was challenging but fun. I dived into details of engines and their working in a way that I had never done before. Among other things, I needed to ensure that the story led naturally to the technical pages, while also being independent of them. In other words, a reader who was completely uninterested in technical details could still enjoy the story and cheerfully skip the technical pages. […]
- [Malaysia Visa](https://varshaseshan.com/malaysia-visa/): Travelling is all about the stories you make, isn’t it? Our Malaysia visas formed yet another story. We chose to go to Malaysia practically on a whim. Though the Scholastic Asian Book Award shortlist was released just a few weeks before the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, we were determined not to visit just Singapore this time round, so we began to look up places that did not require Indians to have a visa. Cambodia was on one of the lists we found, but it was practically as expensive to go to Cambodia from Singapore as it was from India. […]
- [The Contrasts of Kuala Lumpur](https://varshaseshan.com/the-contrasts-of-kuala-lumpur/): I come from India, a land of contrasts, I know. I might once have been presumptuous enough to say the land of contrasts. I see so many contradictions everywhere that I should be used to them. I remember shrugging at French friends who asked me who would go to South City Mall in Kolkata to drink tea for 150 rupees when it is 1.5 rupees across the road at the tea stall. How does one explain contradictions to a baffled tourist? Yet, in Kuala Lumpur, I was the baffled tourist. Glass-fronted MRT stations and a slightly dilapidated monorail. Huge screens with ads […]
- [Travel Diaries: Malaysia](https://varshaseshan.com/travel-diaries-malaysia/): Part of the joy of travelling is writing about everything I see. My diary has pages and pages of random things that strike me. I remember something I wrote about in 2004 when I went to France on an exchange programme. When we were checking in, we were told at the counter to preserve our ticket counterfoils because we would not see tickets like that again. We did not quite believe that random prints would replace the ‘proper’ tickets issued by airline companies. That was, perhaps, the beginning of all the ‘impossible’ things in my travelling life. From e-tickets and web […]
- [Special Events: AFCC 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/special-events-afcc-2018/): Pop-up reading The pop-up reading at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content is a fun event organised by Denise Tan of Closetful of Books. Authors who are willing to brave the chaos of the book fair read out a short excerpt of one of their books. Though I had not registered for this in advance, I jumped at the opportunity to read from Dragonflies, Jigsaws, and Seashells. It was a brand-new experience for me – reading from a book of mine that I was seeing for the first time! I read an excerpt from “A Drawing Lesson”, the story of a […]
- [Reflections: Days Two and Three at AFCC 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-days-two-and-three-at-afcc-2018/): On day two, I attended a session called ‘Rhyming Round Reading’, which touched upon ideas that I use all the time at workshops on reading: rhyme. Focussing on a book titled Rhyming Round Singapore, the session had a lot to offer even to non-Singaporeans like me, primarily because of the concepts behind the book. How many of us have found nursery rhymes morbid? Think about Three Blind Mice and Humpty-Dumpty. Yet, like so many morbid fairy-tales, they have stood the test of time. Easy to sing, supported by elaborate gestures, these nursery rhymes have been taught for so many years that […]
- [Reflections: Day One of AFCC 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-one-of-afcc-2018/): AFCC 2018 was a bit of a whirlwind experience for me. For one, with work commitments that I could not break, I got to Singapore only on the day that the festival was to begin. So, sleep-deprived but fuelled by adrenalin, I arrived at the National Library Board after the keynote had begun. Exhaustion took its toll on me, though, so on days two and three, I was barely able to attend any sessions. Despite that, AFCC 2018 was wonderful, full of new ideas, energy and the urge to create more. I began AFCC 2018 with a session conducted by […]
- [Back from AFCC 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/back-from-afcc-2018/): Four years ago, I had not heard of the Asian Festival of Children’s Content. I did not know that Singapore’s National Library had 16 floors of books. And then, I was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2016, which was momentous enough for me to buy a festival pass and attend my first AFCC. I didn’t win the award, but that was the beginning of a new journey – one that has led to my first Scholastic publication, Dragonflies, Jigsaws, and Seashells (originally Dragonflies, Jigsaws and a Rainbow). Then, in 2017, I answered a call for papers and was invited to […]
- [Today I Am ... A Writer!](https://varshaseshan.com/today-i-am-a-writer/): The worst thing about being a writer is not writer’s block. Not by a long stretch. The worst thing is all the waiting. Waiting for people to respond. Waiting for a book to be ready. Waiting for a book to hit the market. Every time I get an email – even a rejection – there is a little Varsha inside me that celebrates, simply because the waiting period is over. That’s why this week has been particularly incredible. So incredible that I don’t know what to write about first. So, not in any order of importance, here goes. I was […]
- [Dear Future Reader ...](https://varshaseshan.com/dear-future-reader/): Imagine that you are writing to a reader who has not yet been born. Perhaps you’re writing to your own grandchild or great-grandchild. Or maybe you’re writing to someone whom you don’t know at all. What would you say? Here are a few of my favourites from this year’s Writers’ Club. There are many, many more! I do believe that a good book can change a life. Perhaps even yours Read if you like, but I’m sure both my GOGGLERS know the whole story by reading it many times. If you really want to find out what GOGGLER means, find […]
- [Memory Challenge!](https://varshaseshan.com/memory-challenge/): I sometimes happen upon random blogs and I loved this one, so I decided to do it myself! The idea is to try to answer these questions without sneakily checking online or peeking over your shoulder at the bookshelf behind you. I’m taking the challenge I got from The Book Blogger memory challenge and then adding a few questions of my own. If you try the challenge too, let me know! Name a book written by an author called Michael Private Peaceful – Michael Morpurgo Name a book with a dragon on the cover The Dragon Whisperer – Lucinda Hare […]
- [Writers' Club 2018-19](https://varshaseshan.com/writers-club-2018-19/): The Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School is now in its fourth year! We started so that we could commemorate the sesquicentennial year with a collection of work put together by the children, but then just carried on from there. Today, we discovered how we have stories within us, just waiting to be told. This is an activity I love to conduct with children and parents. I divide the children into pairs and each one narrates an anecdote to her partner. Never do I have more than ten seconds of silence – everyone has a story to tell. What comes […]
- [Kittu's Very Mad Day](https://varshaseshan.com/kittus-very-mad-day/): Packed with more characters than I could count, reading Kittu’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Mad Day is a crazy experience. Kittu’s family is the most chaotic one in the world – and the description of the entire family ordering a meal made me chuckle because it is absolutely en pointe. I remember being embarrassed, nearly mortified, when I was with a huge group of friends and we simply could not make up our minds about what to order! But that’s the lightest part of this review. What I liked most about the book requires a little background. Over the last couple […]
- [A Library of Lemons](https://varshaseshan.com/a-library-of-lemons/): The cover of A Library of Lemons caught me with one line – ‘The bittersweet story of a family lost in books’. A family lost in books. Like mine? A Library of Lemons was nothing like anything I imagined. Young Calypso lives with just her father; her mother died of ovarian cancer when Calypso was just five. Half-remembered moments fill Calypso up – moments of warmth, hugs and laughter. Moments when her father smiled more and did not work all the time. Above all, Calypso’s father values inner strength. Inner strength is what makes it possible for you to live on your own, […]
- [The Bone Sparrow](https://varshaseshan.com/the-bone-sparrow/): ‘I wish this book had never needed to be written. I wish that the circumstances that led me to write this story had never occurred.’ I close my eyes at the end of The Bone Sparrow, and I echo Zana Fraillon’s words. I wish she had never needed to write the book. What do we know about the Rohingyas? What do we do when we read news about their persecution? We feel bad and we turn to something else. Maybe we share the news we read. Or maybe, if we come across something on Facebook, we put a ‘sad’ or […]
- [When She Went Away](https://varshaseshan.com/when-she-went-away/): I was a little sceptical about reading a book called When She Went Away. A book with a name like that could well be a melodramatic romance novel, which really is not my type. I typically don’t even finish reading stories that are too melodramatic for me; enjoying them is a long way away. And I know because I’ve tried. The moment I read the first paragraph of When She Went Away, though, I knew it was not about a romantic ‘she’, but about Maria’s mother who decided she’d had enough of living her life with her family and went away. […]
- [The Not-a-Pig](https://varshaseshan.com/the-not-a-pig/): I’m still chuckling over Mango and Bambang #1 – The Not-a-Pig. It was just such a crazy, sweet book! Another story about an unlikely friendship, The Not-a-Pig is about a girl called Mango and a tapir! And I don’t know about you, but I’ve never read a book about a tapir before. There is a huge traffic jam because there’s a hump on (or is it in?) the zebra crossing. What could the hump be? It is black and white, just like the rest of the crossing. What could it possibly be? Enterprising young Mango is the only one who dares to find […]
- [The A-Z Djinn Detective Agency](https://varshaseshan.com/the-a-z-djinn-detective-agency/): Ashwin Kamath is determined to earn enough money to sponsor his own school trip. Unfortunately, his determination translates into one disastrous idea after another. On the surface, each idea seems perfectly harmless. When the idea turns into action, the madness begins. Things take a delightful turn when Ashwin finds a book on summoning a djinni. At first, of course, he pooh-poohs the idea of a djinni. Later, though, a little intrigued, he decides to give it a shot. And he summons Zubeida. The A-Z Djinn Detective Agency had me chuckling time and time again. The characters were all lovely – from the […]
- [Daddy Come Lately](https://varshaseshan.com/daddy-come-lately/): Priya knows that her father is dead. She is a ‘post-humorous’ child, as she calls herself until her mother gently corrects her, saying that it is ‘posthumous’, not post-humorous – and that she isn’t posthumous anyway. Her father is alive, and has just found out that he has a daughter. Worse, he wants not only to meet her, but also to get to know her. And Priya, man-hating as she is convinced she is, knows that this spells bad news. Characters leap out of the pages of Daddy Come Lately, and so many of them are wonderful! Priya is (mostly) a […]
- [A Wonderful Month](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops-upcoming-books/): Every so often, I think about doing a monthly round-up of workshops I’ve conducted and books I’ve read. And then I think, maybe next month. But the month that went by was just so full of wonderful things that I want very much to share everything that happened and everything that’s coming up! Last month, I was invited to a teachers’ conference in Bengaluru. It was one of the most heart-warming events I conducted. I shared a few pictures already, but what made it special was how involved the teachers were. I conducted two sessions – one on reading and one […]
- [Dear Mrs. Naidu](https://varshaseshan.com/dear-mrs-naidu/): Dear Mrs. Naidu has been on my list of books to read for a long time now. I finally read it today, and it came at the perfect time. Sure, the book is important. It is an eye-opener. But to talk about just those things to the exclusion of all else is to take away the charm of the voice of the lead character Sarojini. She is one of my favourite characters in literature. I love how she writes! Twelve-year-old Sarojini goes to a government school in Bangalore. When a new teacher, Annie Miss, joins the school, Sarojini is puzzled […]
- [The Elephant Thief](https://varshaseshan.com/the-elephant-thief/): The Elephant Thief was one of those books that I would have loved to read as a child, and thoroughly enjoyed as an adult. At the back of the book, there are three words that describe it – animal, adventure and thrilling. I think the first two sum up the book perfectly. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was thrilling, but it certainly was exciting. The twists and turns in the plot were sometimes surprising and sometimes predictable. As always, more than twisting plots, characters drew me in. The special relationship in this book is the one that […]
- [Just Henry](https://varshaseshan.com/just-henry/): Have you read Goodnight Mister Tom? If you haven’t, you must. I can’t quite believe that I never wrote about the book. It’s a classic, one that touched something deep inside me, the way only classics can. I remember the first time I read the book – I borrowed it from the library, and read and read and read and read … And the last page was missing. I don’t need to write about how frustrating that was. Then I read it for the second time and sobbed over it all over again, but finished it. Ah. It’s one of those books. […]
- [Meet the Monsters!](https://varshaseshan.com/meet-the-monsters/): The huge, purple monster is on the loose! It has 12 arms, 12 legs, one eye, one horn, two mouths and 43 teeth, and it’s going to take over the town. It eats 12 people every day: it ate my neighbour and my children; it even destroyed a nearby building! It stinks to high heavens, and people are trying to kill it with fire. So far, they have been unsuccessful because after all, what can kill a monster who is so enormous that even an elephant is like a rat to it? Meet the Crushing Monster – this one can […]
- [How Not to Disappear](https://varshaseshan.com/how-not-to-disappear/): Wow. What a wonderful book. It kept me reading and reading and reading. I had to wipe away tears more than once, and I kept shaking my head at the power the story had over me. For me, How Not to Disappear is not a Young Adult book, and I cannot understand how it is classified as one. If I had read it as a young adult, I would have been traumatised. There’s violence, abuse, isolation, drunkenness … Hattie, who thinks she is in love with Reuben, needs to make an important decision. The one thing she takes a while to […]
- [The Lie Tree](https://varshaseshan.com/the-lie-tree/): The Lie Tree looked fascinating, but I wondered if it was my kind of book. Everyone who was quoted on the cover said it was ‘dark’ and compelling, and I cannot say that I am a fan of dark literature. I get scared too easily, and I don’t enjoy getting scared. I decided to borrow it anyway and it was only when I got it home that I noticed that it was by Frances Hardinge. I’ve read two books by her – A Face like Glass, which was gripping, and Fly by Night, which is famous, but not one that I enjoyed as […]
- [And then, there was Goa](https://varshaseshan.com/and-then-there-was-goa/): I have never been a huge fan of Goa, especially as I’m not particularly fond of beaches. In addition, we went on a banana boat ride at Baga once, and I was disgusted by the amount of dirty seawater I ended up swallowing. Plus, New Year’s eve at Calangute eight years ago was a nightmare. So, when a workshop in Goa came up, I was happy, but not overly excited. But this time for me, everything was different. Panaji is so beautifully green! I love the wide pavements and the relaxed lifestyle that seems to permeates into your skin as […]
- [Au revoir, Bali!](https://varshaseshan.com/au-revoir-bali/): There’s so much I could write about Bali, but pictures would work better to convey much of what we saw. Statues towered over junctions, gateways reached up to the sky. Art hid in little corners surrounded by every shade of green. We had only two proper days to explore Bali, so there was so much we did not visit, including its magnificent temples. And because there’s so much to say that is random and unrelated, I’ll end my travelogue with a little bit about the quirkiness of Bali. Shop signs always make me smile, everywhere in the world. I wrote […]
- [A Balinese Home](https://varshaseshan.com/a-balinese-home/): It was only after the visit to the coffee plantation that our cycling tour actually began. There was supposed to be a quick stop at Kintamani to see the volcano, but our guide Nyoman learned that there was too much traffic en route, so we skipped that and went straight to the place where we were to start cycling. Nyoman, by the way, is a traditional name for the third child in the family. The first child is called Wayan, the second child is called Made (Maa-day), the third is called Nyoman and the fourth is called Ketut. This name […]
- [Indonesian Coffee Plantation](https://varshaseshan.com/indonesian-coffee-plantation/): Have you heard of Luwak coffee? I had heard of it before visiting Bali, but hadn’t yet made the connection between two. Luwak coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world and is euphemistically described as ‘part-digested’. Honey is pre-digested too, isn’t it, so why should coffee be so different? I won’t get into the details here, but you can read about it on Wikipedia, if you’re curious. Let’s just say that the process of making it, plus how much it cost, prevented me from tasting it. Additionally, with such a huge variety of coffees to taste, I honestly […]
- [Cycling Tour](https://varshaseshan.com/cycling-tour/): I was nervous about doing a cycling tour. Everyone we spoke to, from hotel receptionists to travel agents, said that it would be ‘mostly downhill’. To me, that was a euphemistic way of saying there would be some rough uphill stretches. I don’t cycle regularly. Riding 25 km all of a sudden? I wasn’t sure if I was up to it. But the cycling tour turned out to be my top experience in Bali. Sure, there were parts when I fell back, particularly when we went off the main road and onto little mud tracks. I’ve never ridden a geared […]
- [Books that I must write about!](https://varshaseshan.com/books-must-write/): I couldn’t wait any longer. I just had to write about at least some of the books I’ve been reading. Last night, I sat and reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s not my favourite, but then, it’s Harry Potter, probably the only series of books I’ve ever stayed up reading. I even took part in a midnight treasure-hunt at a bookstore the day the seventh Harry Potter book was to be released. It pushed me to write today about all these other books I’m reading, books that aren’t nearly as famous. The good part about reviewing books long after […]
- [Shopping in Bali](https://varshaseshan.com/shopping-in-bali/): Sure, shopping is fun in Bali. When we spoke about our top experiences there, shopping featured in the top three of many. Here’s a sample of how it works. “It’s a good sarong – 3 metres, Batik print on both sides.” “How much?” “Very good print, it–” “How much?” “400,000.” (Quick calculations. How much is that? 2,000 rupees!? No way I’m paying that much!) “No, thank you.” (Walk away.) “Okay, how much you give? Ma’am! How much you give?” (What I’m willing to give is too little to even start bargaining, so I shake my head.) “Okay! I give for […]
- [Monkey Forest, Ubud](https://varshaseshan.com/monkey-forest-ubud/): I’m an Indian tourist. Monkeys aren’t new to me. We see them along railway lines, on walls, trying to get into houses … I’ve written about Matheran too, where a monkey came into the room, picked up a packet of milk powder, and then calmly looked around, trying to figure out what else to take. So, no, monkeys are not an exotic species that I would go and see. I am not tempted by the prospect of feeding monkeys sweet potatoes or corn or bananas. I don’t want a video of a monkey climbing all over me. In fact, I […]
- [Young Writers' Club - Mystery Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/young-writers-club-mystery-stories/): A priceless necklace has been stolen from a museum and you are one of the suspects. How can you convince the jury that you’re innocent? “I was on a plane to Kashmir,” said one girl. “I can show you the ticket!” A little later, she added, “And I even have a photo that the air hostess took to prove that I was there!” And immediately, the cross-questioning began. “Why did she want to prove you were there? What air hostess takes a photo of the passengers? It looks like you’re trying too hard to prove you were somewhere else! You’re […]
- [The Lit Bug Fest 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/lit-bug-fest-pune-2018/): The Lit Bug Fest, Pune’s own literary fest for children, was held yesterday, and I’m sure everyone who was there is still on a high. For me, just like last year, it was a delightful experience interacting with readers, talking about my books, sharing ideas, and even being interviewed by two child-journalists! The energy of a lit fest is unmatched. I kept sneaking away from the stall and attending bits and pieces of events, hovering on the outside sometimes, and sitting in at other times. Each session I attended was lovely! I began my day with a story with which […]
- [Taxis in Bali](https://varshaseshan.com/taxis-in-bali/): When you read about the public transport system in Bali, you learn about bemos that are too crowded to use and Bluebird taxis that are reliable and reputable. I still don’t know what a bemo is. We saw bus stops that seemed impossibly high, and I never saw a bus stopping at any of them. Taxis are often awkward too if you don’t know how much something ought to cost. You need to persuade the driver to go by meter, and then you still end up paying more than you would if you have a local SIM and download an […]
- [Back from Bali](https://varshaseshan.com/back-from-bali/): Today, I finally finished writing my travelogue, which is over 50 pages long. I needed to get that done quickly before I forgot all the details! And now, I can leisurely write my blog, bit by bit, with one exciting detail after another. We were a group of ten dancers, and we were put up at Alam Puri, a resort that lives up to its name. ‘Alam’ means ‘nature’ or ‘natural’, and ‘puri’ is a castle. Alam Puri was really like a castle in the midst of nature! Yet, I would say that that’s true of almost everything we saw […]
- [What is travel without adventure?](https://varshaseshan.com/travel-without-adventure/): Would we travel at all if there were no stories to tell? The things that go wrong make stories – and things that almost go wrong make the best stories of all. A train journey to Varanasi did not promise to be exciting. First, our train was from Mumbai at an unearthly hour. The journey was about 27 hours long, and we would reach, again, at an unearthly hour. But then, we were in a group, so things were bound to get entertaining, in one way or another. Water dispensing machines have been installed at stations all over the country. […]
- [Performing in Varanasi](https://varshaseshan.com/performing-in-varanasi/): The last time I visited Varanasi, I was nearly run down by a charging bull. Not surprisingly, when the planning began for a dance trip to Varanasi, I was not overly excited. Varanasi, for me, was a place where religion was elaborately performed, as if every day was a festival. I was also utterly put off by a sign outside Kashi Vishwanath temple that said that non-Hindus were to remain outside. They could go see the temple from a nearby library. I was there with two French guests – how could I ask them to stay outside? It seemed more […]
- [My Name's not Friday](https://varshaseshan.com/names-not-friday/): My Name’s Not Friday. I love the title. My name is not Friday. It says so much to me. In the afterword, Jon Walter talks about markers in the book like the embargo on cotton, which happened in the first year of the American Civil War. Yet, he warns the reader that if you try too hard to figure out the timeline of the novel, for there is one red herring after another – he did not want to restrict himself to a ‘true’ timeline or even to just real places. If I ever write historical fiction, I wonder, will I […]
- [Workshop for Women's Day](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-womens-day/): Yes, I was a bit sceptical about doing a workshop for children to mark International Women’s Day. What would I do? How much would I say? How would I even begin to talk about the inequality we see around us every day without even noticing it? Talking about equal pay means nothing to these children. Pay is something far, far in the future. Unequal opportunities and conditioning do not ring true to them. Believe me, I’ve tried. Most are too idealistic to think that these could be true – and perhaps that’s a good thing. So, I began with home. […]
- [Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World](https://varshaseshan.com/fantastically-great-women-changed-world/): The British Library is organising several women’s day related events this weekend, and thanks to that, I came across a gem: Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World. Featuring Jane Austen, Gertrude Ederle, Coco Chanel, Frida Kahlo, Marie Curie, Mary Anning, Mary Seacole, Amelia Earhart, Agent Fifi, Sacagawa, Emmeline Pankhurst, Rosa Parks and Anne Frank, Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World is an absolutely lovely read. With wonderful illustrations and an engaging layout, I think it’s a delightful book, no matter how old you are, and this despite the fact that it is an ‘educational’ book. (Oh, and I just had […]
- [Writers' Club - Another Year Ends](https://varshaseshan.com/writers-club-another-year-ends/): The Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School has been running for three years now! The third year ended on a high, with children (and me on the inside) running, shouting and celebrating. All through the year, we played games around writing, kept inspiring one another, wrote and rewrote – and this was the result. In 2016, the children had their work published in a collection called Flickering Flames. This year, a fourth standard child suggested the title that we finally chose – The Book that Speaks. To add to the excitement, the children took part in a competition that was judged by […]
- [Unbroken](https://varshaseshan.com/unbroken/): I would be lying if I said that I read award-winning books objectively. Sometimes, my reading is tinged by, Oh, it won this award; I’m sure it’ll be great! And sometimes, by Okay, let me read this book and see what’s so great about is. Especially when I approach a book with the latter, I find myself overly critical. I recognise that and apologise for it. Yet, Unbroken affected me enough to write about it, and I rarely, if ever, write about books I don’t like much. The first thing that annoyed me about the book (I read the Kindle edition, so I don’t know […]
- [Charmed Life](https://varshaseshan.com/charmed-life/): I remember reading something by Diana Wynne-Jones a few years ago and not particularly enjoying it. I can’t even remember which book it was. I don’t know what made me pick up Charmed Life, but I’m so glad I did! Not only did I find a wonderful book, but I also found a list of books waiting to be read! Gwendolen is a witch, and her younger brother Cat knows that. In fact, he thinks the only reason he is alive is that she is a witch who saved his life when he was drowning. Gwendolen is talented and ambitious, determined […]
- [The Wolf Wilder](https://varshaseshan.com/the-wolf-wilder/): The Girl Savage. Rooftoppers. And now, The Wolf Wilder. How can one person write three such wonderful, and wonderfully different books? I started reading The Wolf Wilder with unfairly high expectations. For one, I’ve read and loved Katherine Rundell’s other books. For another, the cover of The Wolf Wilder has a quote from Philip Pullman saying it is a triumph. What more validation does a book need? Yet, about halfway through the book, I was conscious of disappointment. Sure, it was a nice book. But it wasn’t great. It wasn’t the kind of book that forced me to keep reading. I could not gasp at Rundell’s […]
- [Planetarium and Science Park, Bengaluru](https://varshaseshan.com/planetarium-science-park-bengaluru/): Every year since I was born, I’ve visited Bangalore, or Bengaluru, if you prefer. Yet, I’ve barely done any touristy things there. Last year, I went to Cubbon Park, which was lovely. That opened my eyes to everything else I could do in the city! So, this year, we went beyond Corner House and all the other usual eating things, and visited the planetarium and Science Park. I didn’t even know Bangalore had a planetarium! It does, with shows right through the day in English and Kannada. It is nice and easy to access by metro – the closest metro station […]
- [Perijee and Me](https://varshaseshan.com/perijee-and-me/): Caitlin is sure her disguise will work. She will escape from the camp that is supposed to keep her safe from the monster that is taking over the world. She will save her friend. Caitlin dons a chef hat, and even writes ‘chef’ on it. If that’s not convincing, what is? Unfortunately, she looks like a ten-year-old. Also, she has always found reading and writing difficult, so she’s spelt ‘chef’ with an ‘s’, and she’s put the ‘e’ the wrong way around. Somehow, the guard is not convinced that she’s a chef. Caitlin is an absolutely charming character. Lonely and […]
- [Sophie Someone](https://varshaseshan.com/sophie-someone/): When I started reading Sophie Someone, I simply could not figure it out. I was also a little put off by the idea that the whole story was told from the point of view of a pigeon. I have no love for pigeons. But then, something made me frown and say, ‘Let’s give this another shot.’ I turned to the back of the book and saw a little pie-chart put there by the publisher. The pie-chart said the book was mainly about secrets. A small part of the book would deal with pigeons. And a bigger part would deal with word […]
- [So Many Books, So Little Time!](https://varshaseshan.com/many-books-little-time/): I’ve been reading so many lovely books that I think it’s finally time to write about them. When I am on a train with co-passengers I don’t want to talk to (which is 99.999% of the time), I end up reading almost throughout the journey. And when it’s a 20-hour journey … Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot is what I would call an important book. Whenever I’m choosing a book to recommend to a child, I want to choose the right book. And sometimes, the ‘right’ book is not one that I personally enjoy. I recommend Agatha Christie, though I […]
- [Reading Challenge Workshops at MIT Gurukul](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-workshops-mit-gurukul/): Six workshops with six different batches. Six hours of workshopping, one session after another. And it was so much fun! MIT Gurukul is using a mixed bunch of reading challenge books this year. Some children are reading Space Hop, some Creepy House, and some The Big Friendly Read.  So, beginning with Grade V, I decided to move away from all the stories they’ve been reading, and I read out Bholu and the Thief, followed by a word puzzle. The children read, participated … And absolutely loved the Word Search! With Prep-II, I read out a delightful book by Sir Quentin Blake […]
- [The Joys of Conducting Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/joys-conducting-workshops/): There are so many things I love about conducting workshops! I just finished a five-day creative writing workshop at Baner, and it was, as always, good fun. We began with limericks, which are always exciting. Sometimes, they’re funny; sometimes, just fun. Here are a few the children came up with during the session. Day two introduced the children to the wonderful Shel Silverstein. Every time I introduce his poetry to children, I fall in love with it all over again! I used his poetry workshop kit, and here’s an epigram that one of the children wrote. And that leads me […]
- [Reading Challenge at Indus International School](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-indus-international-school/): “The circus has come to Pune!”“Yes, and it can fly!”“Yes, and there are gymnasts jumping from the ceiling!”“Yes, and there is a flying unicorn!”“Yes, and there are singing koalas!”“Yes, and the tiger can bark!”“Yes, and the dogs are miaowing!” I love playing ‘Yes, and …’ with children. They are just so imaginative. We created a crazy circus together, full of dancing dragonflies, flying kangaroos and a robot or two thrown in. With the older children, we spoke about animal rights and bullying, with one group presenting a very balanced idea of the circus – as entertainment, as a home for […]
- [What animal are you?](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-junior-workshop/): Have you ever played Chinese Pictionary? I used it as part of my junior workshop for the British Library’s Reading Challenge this year. It’s a combination of Chinese Whispers and Pictionary, and it promises to be hilarious. Especially with young children, or people who cannot draw, it becomes a crazy game that is loads of fun. Here’s how it goes. The first child got this chit: He had to draw it, and this is what he drew: (In his defence, he’s not even seven years old) The next child looked at the picture and tried to guess what it was. […]
- [Solve the Mystery!](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-senior-workshop/): Of all the workshops I conduct, the ones at the British Library remain special. Maybe it’s because that’s where it all began. For the Animal Agents Reading Challenge, I conducted my first pair of workshops at the new premises. Logic, imagination and laughter are such a delicious combination! For the seniors, I conducted a session called Solve the Mystery! The children began by being detectives themselves. Each one took on an alias. Then, by asking one question to each other participant, they had to figure out who was who. Everyone was unmasked quite rapidly – we have many detectives in the making! […]
- [Reading Challenge at the British Library](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-challenge-british-library-2/): I can’t believe that this is the fifth year that I’m conducting workshops for the British Library’s Reading Challenge!  I began with … Then came the challenge that probably has my favourite set of books: I thoroughly enjoyed the workshops in my third year with the Reading Challenge: With Dahl, you can’t go wrong, so of course the challenge last year was exciting: And now, for this year, we have: I’ve read a few of the Animal Agents books, and they were good fun. I’m all set for my workshops this Saturday too – puzzles, games, creative writing … Here’s […]
- [Children's Day at the Writers' Club - Who Am I?](https://varshaseshan.com/childrens-day-writers-club/): “I know that,” I said, irritably. “But that’s no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours.” I threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore, hoping he was going to tell me something, but he didn’t, so I went on. “A fine thing it would be if, on the very day YouKnow-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?” Who am I? I live in Oxford College in Jordan. My […]
- [Reading Workshop at JustBooks Baner](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshop-justbooks-baner/): New characters, new stories and comics – today’s session at JustBooks Baner was lovely! During the ice-breaker, I met all kinds of new characters. I usually encounter only Geronimo Stilton, Thea, Greg and Harry Potter. Today, I met Xan, Rafe and Joe, whom I don’t know at all! And I was also delighted to find the charming Fantastic Mr Fox, Small Fox, Matilda, Bella, Arjun and Chota Bheem … It was so much fun! Working with listening exercises brought music to the workshop, and then, before I knew it, the morning was over! A note to parents who read this: […]
- [Sisters at Dance Class](https://varshaseshan.com/sisters-dance-class/): Perhaps because Nisha and I have always been so close and so affectionate towards each other, I have always been intrigued by relationships between sisters. At dance class, we do have the odd pair of sisters joining class. These aren’t as common as I would imagine. Often, one sister (usually the elder one) joins class, and the younger one simply could not be bothered. A bit like Nisha and me, I suppose, except that I persevered. At the moment, one of the pairs of sisters at class shares a warm, fierce relationship. The elder one, Shruti, joined us a few […]
- [Smart](https://varshaseshan.com/smart/): How do you write a modern novel with a child detective? Famous Five and Secret Seven aren’t really believable anymore because now, everyone thinks of the tape that cordons areas off, and the fact that clues simply aren’t that easy to find. Smart by Kim Slater shows you how it’s still possible to write a mystery story, despite all these practical considerations. And she gives you a story that is not just about a murder being solved, but also about slow learning, race, drugs, domestic violence, and love. When I finished about half the book, I did a mental recap. I […]
- [An Eagle in the Snow](https://varshaseshan.com/an-eagle-in-the-snow/): Every book by Michael Morpurgo that I’ve read so far has been gripping from the very first chapter. When I saw An Eagle in the Snow at the library yesterday, I snatched it up, thinking of a lovely weekend with a wonderful book for company. And then I had nothing to read while I waited for a bus, so I decided to start reading it … and I just finished reading it. Historical fiction is lovely when it brings a time and place alive to the reader. The joy of historical fiction, to my mind, is that I start reading it […]
- [Little Bits of Sky](https://varshaseshan.com/little-bits-sky/): The cover of the edition of Little Bits of Sky that I read is absolutely gorgeous. I felt like a child when I looked at it. I stared and stared. And then I played with the dust jacket a little bit. And then, just like a child, I was afraid I would damage it or something, so I quietly put it back in place and got on with the book. In many ways, Little Bits of Sky is an old-fashioned book. I don’t say this just because it’s set in the 80s and 90s; the feeling the book gives you is of something that […]
- [Why Performances are Fun](https://varshaseshan.com/why-performances-are-fun/): Anyone who has ever performed knows about the adrenalin rush, the energy, the feeling of having achieved something. But more than all of these, I think performances are fun because they’re full of stories. Some are dramatic stories that we tell and retell, like when we performed in Chidambaram, and the time when Nisha and I entered from the wrong side when we performed in Aix. Sometimes, though, they’re small stories that we store somewhere inside us, and share when we finish the programme, but slowly forget. Last Friday, we performed for Dignity Foundation with my teacher. It was not […]
- [Dreaming the Bear](https://varshaseshan.com/dreaming-the-bear/): Dreaming the Bear reminded me, in some ways, of White Dolphin. I loved it and I hated it. Because the story took the turn it had to take, and what ‘should’ happen did. Read the story to figure out what I mean. An intriguing story, Dreaming the Bear took me into minds that are distant from me. The narrative voice shifted and floated – there’s no other word I can find for it. It was this floating that I enjoyed, where Darcy, who has just recovered from pneumonia feels as if she is floating out of her body, looking at things from a […]
- [Dashami Poojai](https://varshaseshan.com/dashami-poojai/): Each year, we have a poojai at dance class for Dashami. Now, at the Academy of Indian Dances, there are four teachers, including me. Mythili Mami is, of course, head; that goes without saying. On Dashami, a little girl crept up to the corner where we were standing. “I want to speak to Ma’am,” she whispered to my teacher. None of us knew how to respond to that – even the children call Mythili Mami ‘big teacher’. She’s the first “Ma’am”, who makes the decisions. But clearly, this little girl did not want to speak to her. “What happened?” Mami […]
- [The Fastest Boy in the World](https://varshaseshan.com/fastest-boy-world/): Four years ago, I read Elizabeth Laird’s Oranges in No Man’s Land, and was deeply moved. Then, two years ago, I read The Witching Hour, and loved it. And now, her The Fastest Boy in the World did not let me down. Eleven-year-old Solomon lives in a small village in Ethiopia. When his grandfather announces that he will take the boy to visit Addis Ababa, he is thrilled. To make things even more exciting, Solomon’s heroes, who have won medals for Ethiopia in the Olympics, are landing in the capital the very same day … Things prove to be even more exciting, and Solomon’s […]
- [Mayil Will Not Be Quiet!](https://varshaseshan.com/mayil-will-not-quiet/): I woke up in the middle of the night, frowning. I had a bit of a story in my head, and I could not remember who had written it. It was one of the Mary’s girls, I thought … A young writer, I was sure. Maybe one of the sixth standard girls? And then I realised, it was Mayil Ganeshan. That’s what I admired most about Mayil Will Not Be Quiet! The voice was so authentic that the book never once felt like it was written by two adults trying to write like a child. Each entry in this diary-like book rings […]
- [Queen of Ice](https://varshaseshan.com/queen-of-ice/): Didda knew that a grand destiny awaited her. She sometimes wondered whether her mother had bribed the astrologer to predict greatness and fortune so that Didda, who was not just a girl, but also lame, would not be killed at birth. But the prediction was made, and Didda was determined to fulfil her destiny. Queen of Ice took me through beautiful, turbulent tenth century Kashmir, bringing alive a time and place about which I knew nothing. I usually do enjoy historical fiction, and this was no exception. Court intrigue and the sheer power of the characters made me turn page after […]
- [Fortunately-Unfortunately](https://varshaseshan.com/fortunately-unfortunately/): Option 1 “I am going to meet a monster today.” “Fortunately, it doesn’t bite.” “Unfortunately, that means it will just gobble you up.” Option 2 “I jumped into the swimming-pool today.” “Fortunately, the pool was heated.” “Unfortunately, I cannot swim.” “Fortunately, it was not deep.” Which beginning do you find more entertaining? I was very surprised to find that many, many girls at the Writers’ Club find the second story more promising. I would choose the first, any day. How does this activity work? It’s a hugely entertaining one, which I learned from the book Creating Stories with Children by Andrew Wright. […]
- [Talking of Muskaan](https://varshaseshan.com/talking-of-muskaan/): Talking of Muskaan has been on my to-read list for a long time, and I finally bought it, read it and loved it. It was everything it promised to be – moving, relatable and real. Muskaan knows herself better than a lot of others her age. That does not make life easier for her; in fact, it makes things much more difficult. It is impossible for her to pretend to be something she is not. More importantly, why should she need to? But it’s the people around her – her “friends” – that make all the difference. She doesn’t come out […]
- [I love limericks!](https://varshaseshan.com/i-love-limericks/): Limericks are fun! Very often, during a short session on creative writing, we work with limericks. They’re good fun, sparking much conversation and laughter. Many, many children love limericks too – one of my students even wrote a short story in limericks, which is part of Flickering Flames – An Anthology of Poems and Short Stories. But that one deserves a post on its own, so I’ll come to it some other time. Recently, we were talking about limericks at a workshop for 7 to 10-year-olds. One girl wanted to share a limerick she knew by heart, so she did. It’s […]
- [Listen to the Moon](https://varshaseshan.com/listen-to-the-moon/): I keep saying that with Michael Morpurgo, you can’t go wrong. Once more, with Listen to the Moon, I realised the truth of that. Had it been almost any other writer, I would have been daunted by the thickness of the book and the idea of beginning to read it when I know I’m busy. But Michael Morpurgo? Any day. Another World War I novel, Listen to the Moon is set on the Isles of Scilly. We move from one time frame to another, and the two are just a few months apart. Merry MacIntyre tells part of the story. He father, a Canadian, is wounded […]
- [Ink](https://varshaseshan.com/ink/): More often than not, fantasy serves as an allegory of the world we live in. Sometimes, the allegory is clearer than at other times, and I suppose part of that is cultural. For instance, when I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the first time, I didn’t know enough to make the obvious connections. With Ink, it was different. Especially with the right wing on the rise all around us, the links between the the protagonist Leora’s world and our world assault us. In the fantastic world of Ink, every important event is marked on your skin. Your name, your family, your qualifications. And […]
- [Secrets of a Sun King](https://varshaseshan.com/secrets-of-a-sun-king/): The first book I read by Emma Carroll was The Girl Who Walked on Air, and I loved it enough for it to have been one of the top ten middle-grade books I read in 2018. As a child, I devoured Galliano’s Circus and I picked up the book with nothing in mind other than the fun of exploring another, different circus. When I saw Secrets of a Sun King at Lightroom, a delightful children’s bookstore in Bengaluru, I recognised Emma Carroll’s name and after a very slight hesitation, I decided to pick it up. I’m glad I did. In the Q&A section at the end of the book, Emma […]
- [World Read Aloud Day 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/world-read-aloud-day-2020/): Five days late, but why can’t every day be read aloud day? I happened to have a session with my Writers’ Club on World Read Aloud Day, so each of the girls chose something to read. It was delightful! Above all, I was struck by how well most of them read, without burying their faces in their books and without too much stuttering and stumbling. That is privilege, isn’t it? That level of fluency? Also, this time, I loved that nearly all of them chose their pieces well. While last year, I had children struggling to read an abridged version […]
- [Books I Read in January 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/books-i-read-in-january-2020/): I wrote already about the three hOle books I read, as well as about The Lilliputians. But there’s so much more, as always, especially as I was travelling! Instead of doing one post per book, here’s a list of books I read and loved. Neel on Wheels Neel on Wheels is a lovely picture book written by Lavanya Karthik (who also created the cover of The Prophecy of Rasphora) and illustrated by Habib Ali. I love picture books that play with rhyme and rhythm! In this delightfully imaginative book, Neel’s wheelchair becomes his superpower. It can fight dragons and can scare monsters away! Title Neel on […]
- [The Lilliputians](https://varshaseshan.com/the-lilliputians/): Street-smart Tilly ropes Poesy in to audition for the Lilliputians, a children’s theatre group that is to travel to America. Poesy qualifies, only to discover that the world of acting and singing is rather different from everything she had dreamed it would be. For one, it seems that everyone cannot be friends with everyone else. There is more backbiting than she had ever imagined, and suddenly, she needs to grow up. Nothing is the way it seems on the surface. Being naive is going to get her nowhere. The reader is sucked into this world of gossip, rumour and drama […]
- [Three hOle Books](https://varshaseshan.com/three-hole-books/): Who doesn’t love a hole in a book? I love the idea of the hole, and I do wish it were possible to make the holes part of every illustration! I’m sure the illustrator would probably find that rather restrictive, but even so, I delighted in each picture that used the hole in some way. Petu Pumpkin: Tooth Troubles What if you really need a football and the only person who can get you one is the tooth fairy? And then, what if the tooth fairy bargains with you and says that a football is worth at least two teeth […]
- [Bangalore 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/bangalore-2020/): Bangalore is probably among my favourite cities in the world. I love the weather, I love the trees (even though so many have been cut), and most of all, I love the mood of the city. As a child, I used to spend every summer there, at my grandparents’. Now, I continue to go there at least once a year, sometimes more. This year, I went for my great-aunt’s 80th birthday. For a long time, my great aunt and great uncle have been asking us to perform at the senior citizens’ residency where they live, and we finally did! It […]
- [A Day in Luxembourg City](https://varshaseshan.com/a-day-in-luxembourg-city/): The strangest thing about visiting Europe in the winter is how late the sun rises. In France, it was bewildering. Pre-dawn hours, to me, should be unearthly. But 8 a.m. in December is still pre-dawn! The lovely thing about the late sunrise in Luxembourg, however, was that I had a table at the window and could watch the daylight slowly purpling the sky and spreading over the city. I sat and wrote, watching the lights of the city go off, and the sunlight make it all come alive. From the warmth of a heated room, it felt like a beautiful, […]
- [Luxembourg - A Train and a Bus](https://varshaseshan.com/luxembourg-a-train-and-a-bus/): More than once, we went to the station to check if our TGV from Paris Gare de l’Est to Luxembourg would run. We went first to Bouray, and were told to check at Paris. When we went to Montparnasse, we went to the station there. Our train, we were told, was ‘sure to run’, despite the strikes. Yet, just to be on the safe side, we decided to leave early and get to the station. Sure, options of buses existed, but we had tickets already. Most importantly, even if everything else got delayed or cancelled, we needed to reach Luxembourg […]
- [Christmas - and Food](https://varshaseshan.com/christmas-and-food/): Is it possible to write about France and not talk about the food? Much more plastic conscious than ever before, I didn’t buy any of the little cups of fruit yoghurt, or the chocolate mousse at the supermarkets, or anything that stood there on the stands in single-use plastic. But staying in a French family brings so much to the table that I missed nothing! I’ve written before about being what I once called ‘impure veg‘. I do eat meat, yes, once in a while. But I rarely – if at all – choose to eat meat. When I was […]
- [Chartres](https://varshaseshan.com/chartres/): I visited Chartres last about ten years ago. When I told my French family that, they were concerned. Would I like to go to the same place again? Should we try to do something else instead? Was there something else I had in mind? I shook my head. I remembered how struck I was by the grandeur of the cathedral and I knew I would love to go again. The problem, always, is that the memory retains so little. Or maybe it isn’t a problem. It allows us to experience things afresh, almost as if it is for the first […]
- [Paris](https://varshaseshan.com/paris/): I have so many stories about Paris by night. During the exchange programme, we were sorely disappointed because Paris by night turned out to be just Paris by evening because we went in May and were told we couldn’t stay too late. As a result, as soon as the lights of Paris started coming on, we were indoors once more. To make up for that, a few years later, my sister took me to see the Eiffel Tower by night, and that was another experience altogether. In winter, it’s much easier to sit and gaze at the lights of Paris, […]
- [Travelling to France during the Strikes](https://varshaseshan.com/travelling-to-france-during-the-strikes/): Only yesterday I read about Paris transport being set to return to normal after a 45-day strike. 45 days. It’s a long time. For part of this time, we were in France too, and there, we learned about why these strikes are important to so many people. Despite my faltering, rusty French, we spoke about the gilets jaunes, about the importance of protests and the effect of the proposed pension reforms on teachers, rail workers and others. For many, Christmas 2019 and New Year 2020 were perhaps the worst times to visit France. The country witnessed the longest strike in […]
- [My Year in Travel](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-travel/): I’ve seen and experienced so much this year! I brought 2019 in in beautiful Pench, shivering in the cold and rejoicing in the sight of a jackal and a leopard amongst so many other wonderful wild animals. Later the same month, we travelled to Sikkim and Kolkata, a city I love. I also wrote a travel article about our experiences in north Sikkim, reliving the adventures we had. For work, too, I travelled quite a bit – to Mumbai of course, but also to Goa, Aurangabad, Bhusaval, Akola, Chandrapur … I love it! And finally, we ended the year in […]
- [Top Ten: Young Adult Books](https://varshaseshan.com/top-ten-young-adult-books/): Being a young adult is to inhabit a complex and confusing world. When books address this phase of life beautifully, they can be breathtaking. Here are my top ten YA books of 2019. Stargirl Writer: Jerry SpinelliPublisher: Laurel Leaf Thinking about Stargirl makes me smile, for the character of Stargirl is impossibly sweet, impossibly wonderful. Leo loves her, but unlike her, he is bound by this world. He seeks the approval and acceptance of people around him and he wants Stargirl to be normal, even though he assures her that he loves how not-normal she is.For a while, Stargirl tries, […]
- [Top Ten: Middle-Grade Books](https://varshaseshan.com/top-ten-middle-grade-books/): Narrowing down to my top ten middle-grade books is always the hardest of all! Some of these books are younger than others, as always, because age ranges are hard to define. A few of these would be borderline chapter books; a few would be borderline young adult. The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop Writer: Clare BaldingIllustrator: Tony RossPublisher: Penguin UK As a child, I loved the Animal Ark series so much that I longed to be a vet. When I learned that studying medicine involved cutting things up, I balked. Yet, animals were special to me, and I would go as far […]
- [Top Ten: Chapter Books](https://varshaseshan.com/top-ten-chapter-books/): Calling all the books that I’ve listed here ‘chapter books’ is perhaps unfair. Some are quite a bit longer than others. I’m uncomfortable defining books on the basis of age too, as reading levels differ widely even within one school, let alone across schools, areas and countries. I think, broadly, this list comprises books that I enjoyed reading as an adult and would probably have loved when I was eight or nine. Me and Mister P Writer: Maria Farrer Illustrator: Daniel RieleyPublisher: Oxford University Press What can I say about the delightful Mister P? Though I read Me and Mister P almost a […]
- [My Year in Dance](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-dance/): 2019 was not an easy year for me as a dancer. In February, I fell and sprained an already weak ankle and nursed a swollen ankle for three months or more. I continued to teach, but practising and performing were out of the question. I was restless, of course, but I do know that I gained much from the experience. For one, for the first time in many years, I watched our troupe perform. I wrote about it in a Facebook post, and it sums up what I feel. So often, when we perform, people come and tell us how […]
- [My Year in Writing](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-writing/): Being a writer is never easy. Things take too long, and there’s little to show for it. Long silences, endless waiting and wondering, a general feeling of isolation … Yet, the highs are so high that they make everything worth it. In 2019, among the biggest highs for me was the discovery of warm, supportive groups on social media. I didn’t even know that this was something part of me needed, simply because I’m so used to the feeling of submitting stories into the void and never hearing back from editors and publishers. Rejection, too, is equally normal. Form rejections […]
- [Dance Exams](https://varshaseshan.com/dance-exams/): We didn’t have dance exams when we were children, and I think I’m glad of that. Sometimes, though, I wonder – if we had appeared for exams, would we have been more driven to learn? Or would we have wanted to stop learning dance? I was one of those kids who loved exams, but I was also one of those kids who hated dance, so I have no way of knowing. Now, though, as I watch children say the adavu shollu kattu and respond to the examiners’ questions, I realise how many things I enjoy about being on the opposite […]
- [A Theme-Based Reading Programme](https://varshaseshan.com/a-theme-based-reading-programme/): A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post for StoryWeaver about a training programme I have been conducting for the last three years for librarians in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, and the ways in which I use StoryWeaver and Pratham Books for the reading programme they implement in schools. I have grown so much through the workshops I purportedly conduct! Working with a range of librarians with limited resources has been an eye-opening experience for me, an experience that I treasure. Each year, I tweak the programme slightly, trying to make it more accessible to every level of […]
- [Dear Fictional Character](https://varshaseshan.com/dear-fictional-character/): Yesterday, to round off our letter-writing activity, we wrote two more letters. One began with ‘Dear Reader’, and this is an activity I’ve done more times than I can count. I tweaked it slightly this time because of the idea of posting their letters to them. Instead of telling them that what they wrote would go into books in the library, I told them their letters would go in the mail to someone else in the room. They enjoyed it tremendously! (Here is an explanation of the activity, plus a link to a video you could use.) The second was […]
- [Letter-Writing at the Writers' Club](https://varshaseshan.com/letter-writing-at-the-writers-club/): I’ve been waiting to do this activity ever since I thought of it, and it was well worth the wait — particularly because two children said this was the best Writers’ Club session ever! Receiving a letter is lovely. I enjoy every part of it – the anticipation, seeing something in the postbox, seeing that it is addressed to me, opening it and reading it. That’s why I decided to bring that to the Writers’ Club. I asked each of the girls to bring an envelope to class; I brought the rest. For me, the first and biggest surprise was […]
- [The Racehorse Who Wouldn't Gallop](https://varshaseshan.com/the-racehorse-who-wouldnt-gallop/): Ooh! That’s Polly! Let me wave out to her!Oops. I’m at an auction and I just ended up buying a horse for a thousand pounds. No, I’m not quoting, but this is the lovely premise of a heart-warming story of a racehorse who refuses to gallop. Ten-year-old Charlie Bass loves horses, but she has only ever ridden a cow on her farm. When she accidentally bids for a racehorse that her father must now buy, Charlie is determined to make the purchase of Noble Warrior the best decision ever, even if it means additional expenses on Folly Farm for a […]
- [Characters at the Writers' Club](https://varshaseshan.com/characters-at-the-writers-club/): Excitement is so contagious! The Writers’ Club was full of energy today because of two activities we did based on the idea of how characters come alive to readers. A week ago, I asked the girls to think of a character they would like to present to the rest of the club. We had a few rules and then, because we had about a thousand questions, we had a few more rules. The bottom rule was this: try to make it fun for everybody. To work towards that, we had a few ‘suggested’ rules: Don’t say too much; don’t say […]
- [After Tomorrow](https://varshaseshan.com/after-tomorrow/): Flawed narrators make me squirm. When I read a story from the point of view of a character who does not make the right decisions, I often don’t know whether to read on. Fictional friends are important to me as a reader. I read to befriend the characters. What if the protagonist doesn’t seem like the kind of friend I would like to have? I read After Tomorrow slowly for exactly that reason – it made me uncomfortable. However, the point is that the story is supposed to make me uncomfortable, for it’s dystopic, set in a time when the pound […]
- [The Island at the End of Everything](https://varshaseshan.com/the-island-at-the-end-of-everything/): Amihan lives with her nanay on Culion, the island at the end of everything. Unlike most of the others – who came by boat to this beautiful, lush green island with blue skies – Ami was born on the island, an island of lepers. Except that they don’t use the word ‘leper’ on Culion; instead, they say that the people there are Touched. Ami’s mother, her nanay, is her world, her everything. But Mr Zamora, a government official, has other plans, founded on segregation. Everyone on Culion is to be tested for leprosy. Those who carry the disease must live […]
- [The Boundless](https://varshaseshan.com/the-boundless/): The Boundless starts slowly; I almost did not read it. But that’s what made me realise once again how important reviews are: I read on only because Katherine Rundell was quoted as having said, ‘WHAT A BOOK!’ And though there were parts I skimmed over, and parts that irked me (like the tiny peculiar sentence in Hindi), I have to agree – The Boundless is a phenomenal book in many ways. It’s wild, imaginative and breath-taking, full of the kind of danger and adventure that keeps you reading on and on, however much you may skip on the way. The Boundless is […]
- [The Charm of Children's Literature](https://varshaseshan.com/the-charm-of-childrens-literature/): I read and review books all the time. A glance through my blog shows me that I’ve written over 300 posts about books! Though I didn’t look through all of them before writing this post, I’m sure a majority of them are reviews of children’s literature. I’ve written about fictional teachers, rereading old favourites, writers who have influenced me, and so much more. Last year, I did a series of top ten – picture books, books for young readers, books for middle-grade readers and YA books. This got me thinking. I don’t read children’s literature simply because I’m a children’s […]
- [Pig Heart Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/pig-heart-boy/): Cameron’s heart is weak. He does not know how long he has to live. But there’s a doctor who believes that a heart transplant from a pig will give him a chance. And Cameron decides to take the chance. Pig Heart Boy is an incredible story, overwhelming me with all the ideas it encompasses. Life and death, family, friendship, betrayal, economic hardship, incomprehensible greed, animal rights … The nuances of the story took my breath away. Cameron’s parents fight all the time, and the thirteen-year-old boy hates it, especially as he knows he is central to many of their quarrels. Even when […]
- [Making Millions](https://varshaseshan.com/making-millions/): Nicholas wants to go for a masterclass, but his parents refuse to shell out the money he would need. What do real friends do when a friend is in need? Even though Cass thinks that yet another class is strange, this masterclass is what her friend Nicholas wants. So, of course, Cass and the Bubble Street Gang need to make money – and quickly. While they’re at it, they decide to become millionaires – there’s no need to keep their dreams small, is there? And so, that’s the Bubble Street Gang’s next project – making millions. Making millions is not […]
- [Radhika Takes the Plunge](https://varshaseshan.com/radhika-takes-the-plunge/): A little over a year ago, I read the picture book Clumsy! by Ken Spillman and I enjoyed it. It is a sweet, heart-warming story about a girl who is often called ‘clumsy’, ‘careless’, ‘butterfingers’. That becomes her identity until her grandmother gives her a box of paints. I loved the simplicity of the story; that’s what made me pick up Radhika Takes the Plunge. Radhika has an over-protective mother, who refuses to let her go swimming. For as long as Radhika lived in Delhi, she did not mind very much. When she moves to Australia, she is mortified by the fact that […]
- [A Place Called Perfect](https://varshaseshan.com/a-place-called-perfect/): I was a bit apprehensive about reading a book that promised to be ‘Perfectly Creepy’. I’m not a big fan of creepy stories. But I loved the cover and the title intrigued me, so I picked it up and started reading. And before I knew it, I had finished the book. A Place Called Perfect is the story of a perfect town with just one problem. Somehow, people at Perfect soon become blind and need special rose-tinted glasses to see. Violet hates the place before she even goes there. She did not want to move, and she hates the fact that her father […]
- [The 1,000-Year-Old Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/the-1000-year-old-boy/): “References to historical dates, places and words in old languages are accurate only in the sense of being ‘not very’. Ross Welford in his Author’s Note to The 1,000-Year-Old Boy Isn’t that a promising note to an imaginative story? The 1,000-Year-Old Boy is about Alfie Monk, who has been eleven years old for a thousand years. To some, this may sound fantastic. But Alfie now just wants to grow up. Thanks to two life-pearls, panic and an accident, his cat Buffa and he cannot die naturally. This does not mean that they’re immortal; rather, they’re biologically immortal, meaning they can be killed. But until […]
- [Using Pratham Books and StoryWeaver in School Libraries](https://varshaseshan.com/using-pratham-books-and-storyweaver-in-school-libraries/): This post first appeared on the StoryWeaver blog on 9 October 2019. As a British Council trainer, I’ve conducted numerous reading workshops and facilitated many interactive sessions for theme-based reading challenges. I’ve worked in schools as well as at the British Library itself, interacting with a range of children, from those who devour books to those who yawn at the sight of a library. So, when Anubhooti Learning Solutions (then ‘Experiential Learning Solutions’) asked me whether I would chalk out a reading programme to be administered by librarians at municipal schools in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, I was interested. The project was a CSR initiative by D-Mart and the crux of […]
- [Mockingbird](https://varshaseshan.com/mockingbird/): Several years ago, I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. That was when I came across Asperger’s Syndrome for the first time. I read up bits and pieces about it, and was overwhelmed by the power of the brain and the ways in which it processes information. I picked up Mockingbird without knowing that it was written from the point of view of a girl with Asperger’s. Caitlin’s world is confusing – why do people speak in riddles? Why do people say things they do not mean? A beautiful, heart-wrenching read, Mockingbird explores grief, loss and healing. How can Caitlin find closure when her […]
- [Stargirl](https://varshaseshan.com/stargirl/): Sweetness is such a wonderful ingredient, and so rare in a YA novel. When Stargirl joins regular school after having been homeschooled most of her life, she is something of a phenomenon. She dresses strangely and does odd things. She seems to know everybody’s name and everyone’s birthday. She strums her ukulele and sings ‘Happy birthday’ to each one. She is the weird girl at school, but diverting enough to become popular. The problem, though, is that Stargirl does not seem to see a difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’. At basketball matches, she cheers equally for both teams – for […]
- [Diamonds and Daggers](https://varshaseshan.com/diamonds-and-daggers/): When Piotr’s father is suspected of having stolen celebrity actor Betty Massino’s diamond necklace, the boy’s world seems to fall apart. For Piotr, the UK is home, but his father is fed up of being treated with suspicion simply because he is Polish. He is suspended from his job as a security guard, though he has not officially been charged with the crime because no incriminating evidence has been found. Yet, Piotr’s parents have made their minds up. They’re going back ‘home’ to Poland. Piotr is horrified by the idea. When he tells his friends that he is moving to […]
- [Catching Up: Writing](https://varshaseshan.com/catching-up-writing-2/): On the writing front, things are moving slowly, as usual. I have lots of things in the air, waiting to become either concrete or virtual. In their own time. Older books continue to bring me joy, though, in their own ways. The Prophecy of Rasphora – A New Review Very few things make me happier than a review of one of my books. At the Writers’ Club yesterday, one of the students from my previous batch handed me this – my first child-review of The Prophecy of Rasphora. WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS Transcription Title:- The Prophecy of RasphoraAuthor:- Varsha SeshanPublisher:- Mango DC BooksIllustrator:- Lavanya […]
- [Catching Up: Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/catching-up-workshops-2/): The more workshops I conduct, the more I realise how much I learn from them and enjoy them. The last workshop post was about a guest at the Writers’ Club, but a lot has happened since then. Writers’ Club At the Writers’ Club, I am constantly struck by the role experience plays in the way I organise my sessions. For at least the last three years, in an attempt to get children to explore different genres of writing, I also push them to explore all kinds of stories when it comes to reading. To do that, I choose a theme […]
- [Catching Up: MG and YA Books](https://varshaseshan.com/catching-up-mg-and-ya-books/): So many wonderful, wonderful books and so little time! Here are a few middle-grade and young adult books I read in the last couple of months. Gorilla Dawn I know a little about gorillas being endangered because I began to read up bits and pieces about it when I saw articles linking the fate of gorillas to the largescale use of palm oil. But even in the articles I read, I had no idea about coltan and its use in every electronic device we use. The threat that mining poses to gorilla habitat is real and frightening.(And so, first of […]
- [Seven Fictional Teachers I Love](https://varshaseshan.com/seven-fictional-teachers-i-love/): It’s Teachers’ Day – the day when every teacher goes home with a mountain of cards. As a writer and teacher, how can I not celebrate all the fictional teachers I love? When I started writing this post, I thought, first, of all the teachers I’ve created in my stories. The Story-Catcher has very few; offhand, I can think of just the nameless coach in “The Nationals”. Dragonflies, Jigsaws, and Seashells has three; perhaps because I started teaching a lot more …? Mr Kaushik Natraj from “Treasure-Hunt”, Miss Philips from “A Drawing Lesson” and Miss Kala Ramdev from “A Retired Teacher”: I like Mr […]
- [Touching Spirit Bear](https://varshaseshan.com/touching-spirit-bear/): I’m usually not one of those readers who sits and finishes a book in a day. Unless a story is really compelling, I get distracted easily. I have a hundred other things to do each day, and I do them without being drawn back to my book. I also usually keep track of a storyline, so I can return to a book a month later and continue where I left off. But Touching Spirit Bear drew me in and held me in the story. It moved me to tears more than once and was compelling enough to keep me reading, pushing away […]
- [A Guest at the Writers' Club](https://varshaseshan.com/a-guest-at-the-writers-club/): I love inviting people to talk to my Writers’ Club – I think a new person brings a new kind of energy. With this being my fifth year with the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s, I’ve started planning my sessions better, and involving previous batches each time we do something new and different. Yesterday, I invited Samiksha Deshpande, an ex-Writers’ Club student, to talk to the girls. She was part of my very first Writers’ Club batch and wrote two stories for our sesquicentennial collection, Flickering Flames. More recently, her poem was one of the nine winners of the Book Trotters […]
- [Words and Worlds at the Vidya Valley Lit Fest 2019](https://varshaseshan.com/words-and-worlds-at-the-vidya-valley-lit-fest-2019/): I was unwell and could not stop coughing. Yet, armed with my enthusiasm (and a pill), I went for the Vidya Valley Lit Fest–and came back energised. The excitement pulsing through the school kept me going – and of course, the thoughtfulness of the team of parent volunteers in organising a mic helped! Every time I speak to groups of children at lit fests, I realise how different one group is from another. During my three sessions with Class VI at Vidya Valley, I was struck by this yet again. One group was noisy and enthusiastic; the second was almost […]
- [The One and Only Ivan](https://varshaseshan.com/the-one-and-only-ivan/): I just went onto Goodreads and saw that The One and Only Ivan has over 110,000 reviews. I’m not surprised, though. It’s exactly that kind of book, the kind that makes you want to tell everyone about it. It’s achingly sweet: a lovely story that leaves you sad, happy and everything else in between. Things aren’t perfect, but somehow, in the only possible way given the circumstances, amends have been made. Ivan is a gorilla who deludes himself into believing that the glass cage in which he lives is his domain. He is a silverback, the leader of his troop. Except that in his […]
- [Using StoryWeaver in Class](https://varshaseshan.com/using-storyweaver-in-class/): I’ve been resisting writing this post for ever so long because it sounds like some sort of advertising campaign. I promise it’s not. It’s just that I’ve used StoryWeaver so many times during workshops that I really wanted to share how easy it is to bring such wonderful resources into the classroom. Why StoryWeaver? The first answer – it’s wonderful material that is free for use. Is that two answers already? Considering the amount of material teachers require for class, free resources are a boon. We need them. We need to be able to share stories and ideas freely and […]
- [The Mumbelievable Challenge](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mumbelievable-challenge/): Isn’t the name itself delightful? Mumbelievable is such a fun word! The Mumbelievable Challenge, true to its name is a lovely read. It’s one of those rare books that is part of a series but does not require you to read the first one first! In fact, I didn’t even know that this was the second Dadventure (another fun word) until I started writing this post. Mum has a challenge for Holly and her dad – a screen-free five days in a log cabin. Not only does Holly have to live without access to any kind of screen, but she also finds […]
- [Lit Fests in Schools](https://varshaseshan.com/lit-fests-in-schools/): Last year, St. Mary’s School had its first lit fest, and I was delighted to be part of it. Talking to starry-eyed children is an experience like no other, and that’s why lit fests in school are special. After addressing the children who were gathered together in the hall, we visited a few classrooms, met the girls and looked at the work they had put together. It was good fun, and I wished I had more time with each child. In an hour, I could do no justice to 150 very different reading-related projects. Stories, 3-D projects, book reports, reviews […]
- [Moin and the Monster](https://varshaseshan.com/moin-and-the-monster/): Moin and the Monster has been on my list of books to read for a long time, and I finally got around to reading it mainly because of the essay I did for The Curious Reader on “The Problem With Monster Stereotypes In Literature”. Of course, it was impossible to read every book on monsters for a 1000-word essay, but finally, I had the perfect reason to put everything aside and read this one. It was excellent: deliciously funny and wholly unusual. I chuckled at Moin’s uneasy relationship with a monster that is full of rules that it spouts all the time. Moin […]
- [Before We Were Free](https://varshaseshan.com/before-we-were-free/): All of us know stories of the Holocaust. Recently, I read something on social media that claimed that The Diary of a Young Girl is among the ten most widely read books in the world. Don’t get me wrong; stories of the Holocaust are crucial. They teach us lessons that are horrifyingly relevant today. Yet, when we read stories about Germany, Hitler and the Jews to the exclusion of stories of horrors that have occurred – and continue to occur – in other parts of the world, we feed into the age-old problem of Eurocentricism. We need other stories so that we don’t think of […]
- [Monsters and Stereotypes](https://varshaseshan.com/monsters-and-stereotypes/): I’m so happy with all the lovely responses I’ve been getting to my essay, “The Problem With Monster Stereotypes In Literature”! Thank you for the love. It’s been ages since I wrote something remotely academic, so I was nervous about this piece. The writing of the essay started with all the monster posts I’ve been writing here on my blog, particularly after workshops I conduct with children and adults. How do we imagine monsters? What forms the bedrock of our imagination of monsters? With all my activities around the creation of monsters, it was time to take the idea further, […]
- [Working with Poetry](https://varshaseshan.com/working-with-poetry/): Many children write poetry. Rhyme is fun, having your poem published in the school magazine is even more fun. Teachers and parents encourage children to write poetry, which is good. Of course there’s a ‘but’. People have been writing poetry forever. Forget the ancient languages, in English alone, even those who don’t opt to study Old English begin by studying Chaucer et al, who wrote almost 700 years ago. When children write about rainy days and their favourite pets, what are they doing to make their work stand out? Why will their work be special? That’s what we work with […]
- [Working with Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/working-with-stories/): Stories are magical; we all know that. What is even more magical is when you can feel creative energy pulsing all around you and then see those ideas transforming into stories. Creative Writing with Children Yesterday, at The Story Station, I met a group of enthusiastic young children, bursting with ideas. One boy had made a list of ideas that he wanted to develop into stories. And as a writing exercise, he came up with a portal to Legoland! A six-year-old told me she wants to write scary stories. Her first story was about Nina and the monster under her […]
- [The 13-Storey Treehouse](https://varshaseshan.com/the-13-storey-treehouse/): Have you ever read a book that was not at all “your” kind of book, but you ended up enjoying it anyway? The 13-Storey Treehouse was exactly that, for me. It was a gentle reminder that I never know what my “kind” of book is until I read it. Why was it not my kind of book? Two reasons immediately come to mind. One, I don’t like books with so many pictures unless they’re picture books. Two, I often don’t like the kind of humour we find in The 13-Storey Treehouse. Why did I pick it up? One huge reason: children love it. When […]
- [The Explorer](https://varshaseshan.com/the-explorer/): With some writers, I feel I just cannot go wrong. Katherine Rundell is one of them. Sure, I like some books more than others, but at the end of each one, I find myself smiling, deeply contented. I didn’t write about the first two books I read by Rundell (The Girl Savage and Rooftoppers), but I did review The Wolf Wilder, which was one of the top ten middle-grade books I read in 2018. The Explorer began slowly, just like The Wolf Wilder. I took a while to get into the story and feel for the characters – I even read another book in between. Yet, […]
- [The Case of the Candy Bandit](https://varshaseshan.com/the-case-of-the-candy-bandit/): There were so many things I liked about The Case of the Candy Bandit! For one, I enjoyed the fact that the Superlative Supersleuths were a pair of girls – aided (temporarily) by another girl. I liked the seriousness with which Rachita went about the business of being a detective, and I loved all the sprinklings of humour, particularly the outrageous hypotheses the girls came up with. Could the candy bandit be the counsellor conducting some sort of secret research experiment on the children? At Rachita and Aarti’s school, to encourage the children to finish their lunch, the counsellor suggests that they be given a […]
- [His Royal Whiskers](https://varshaseshan.com/his-royal-whiskers/): I giggled and gasped at how imaginative this crazy story is. Full of puns and clever humour, I chuckled at Empurrer Alexander, six-year-old prince who is turned into a cat by a young alchemist, Teresa. It could have been a CATastrophe; instead it was purrfect. I know lots of people would not recommend this book to children; I wonder whether I would have enjoyed it as a child, for there are parts that are gloomy, other parts that are gory, and still others that are gruesome. Yet, I enjoyed the book. Sam Gayton’s imagination is incredible! The first book I […]
- [Arangetram - Sakshi and Shivona](https://varshaseshan.com/arangetram-sakshi-and-shivona/): As I write this post, I look back at the number of times I’ve written about an Arangetram. Some are just posts sharing details of upcoming arangetrams, but others … The emotions after – in August 2013 A reflection on the idea of the Arangetram itself What I felt after an Arangetram in 2014 Our Arangetram anniversary I write so frequently about the Arangetram because for us, at the Academy of Indian Dances, each Arangetram is significant for everyone. I don’t know if this is true for other dance schools too, but for us, it is a moment when all […]
- [Operation Eiffel Tower](https://varshaseshan.com/operation-eiffel-tower/): Jack hates it when his parents row. He wants to hide away from all the shouting, crying and smashing of plates. It is no different for his little sister Ruby. When their parents fight downstairs, Ruby sneaks into Jack’s room, afraid and anxious. Jack knows that somehow, he has to get his parents together again. They were in love once; what changed? Is it … could it be … that there are too many children? Are Lauren, Jack, Ruby and little Billy the real problem? Lauren and Jack, being the oldest, come up with a plan to get their parents […]
- [Karma Fights a Monster](https://varshaseshan.com/karma-fights-a-monster/): Karma Tandin is a monster hunter, and he is determined to capitalise on it. With his friend Chimmi’s help, he makes posters advertising his services. Among other things, he hopes to impress pretty Dawa, who, for whatever reason, continually seems disappointed in him. Unfortunately, the poster does not turn out very well; the photograph of him is awful. Additionally, his mother (incidentally one of my favourite characters in the story) notices that Karma has put his number wrong. So much for that. With this promising beginning, Karma embarks on his first adventure — and I loved it. I enjoyed the […]
- [Catching Up - Reading](https://varshaseshan.com/catching-up-reading/): Picture books The thing about picture books is that I read so many delightful ones one after the other, particularly thanks to Storyweaver. I finish one, another is recommended to me and I read it … And so, I don’t end up writing about any of them! Here are a few that stayed with me. The Best House of All, written by Natasha Sharma and illustrated by Kaveri Gopalakrishnan, is a delightful read, with the best kind of protagonist of all – an enterprising little girl. I love the repetition and the illustrations, and I think the book is perfect […]
- [Catching Up - Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/catching-up-workshops/): It’s always fun to do workshops when I don’t have to organise them! Last week, I conducted a fun workshop at The King’s School in Goa. We worked with critical thinking – something that is close to my heart also because I taught Theory of Knowledge and enjoyed it so much. Lots of people ask me what a critical thinking workshop involves. For me, it involves understanding our prejudices and assumptions. Of course we need to make assumptions all the time. But perhaps we could look at the ways in which we jump to conclusions, what fallacies creep in, and […]
- [Catching Up - Writing](https://varshaseshan.com/catching-up-writing/): It’s that time again, when I’ve postponed blogging for so long that I don’t know where to begin. I keep saying that I intend to do monthly roundups and that never happens. I’m now planning to do a series of posts, catching up with what’s gone by, though. In terms of writing, I’m working on multiple things, and that’s a wonderful place to be. I just had a poem published by Scoop – a UK-based children’s magazine that has published writers like Neil Gaiman, John Agard and Jacqueline Wilson. If I don’t count the poems that were published when I […]
- [The Mighty Miss Malone](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mighty-miss-malone/): Deza Malone’s teeth are rotting, but her family cannot afford the luxury of a dentist. Her elder brother Jimmie has achieved the grand height of a twelve-year-old and does not seem to be growing any further. Eating welfare food – sometimes filled with bugs – is normal for the Malones. Set in the years of the Great Depression, The Mighty Miss Malone, the story of a black family in Gary, could have been a tale of woe that would make me weep. In fact, that is what I expected when I picked the book up. But The Mighty Miss Malone is, instead, a story of hope. […]
- [A Tigress Called Machhli](https://varshaseshan.com/a-tigress-called-machhli/): A Tigress Called Machhli has added at least three places to my neverending list of places I want to visit: Kokkare Bellur, the village of storks, Kalo Dungar in the Rann of Kutch and Jawai for the leopards. A collection of true animal stories promised to be delightful, and A Tigress Called Machhli did not let me down. I loved the lighthearted style, and how easily facts are woven into engaging stories. Perhaps you know about the tigon – the result of irresponsible mating between a tiger and a lion – but how does that become a story? Supriya Sehgal’s storytelling style is simple, and the brevity […]
- [Al Capone Does My Shirts](https://varshaseshan.com/al-capone-does-my-shirts/): Doesn’t the title just grab your attention? The edition of Al Capone Does My Shirts that I picked up begins with a letter from the author Gennifer Choldenko, where she talks about having set out to write a book for boys. And somehow, Natalie, an autistic sixteen-year-old, slipped into the story, making it far more steeped in emotion than she had intended. And yes, boys did like it too. Boys do also like emotional stories, given a chance. The story of a family on Alcatraz, Al Capone Does My Shirts is a unique tale told from the point of view of Moose, a boy with a specially-abled sister. […]
- [World Dance Day 2019](https://varshaseshan.com/world-dance-day-2019/): What did you do on World Dance Day? We put up two performances! To be completely honest, we did not plan the performances keeping World Dance Day in mind; things just fell into place that way. We were scheduled to perform in Udupi on the 28th of April, and one of the dancers in our troupe was keen on seeing whether we could perform at Murdeshwar Temple and Chitrapur Math too. It was just her determination that made it possible! At Murdeshwar, we didn’t have a fixed audience. Of course, dressed as we were in Bharatanatyam costumes, we drew curious […]
- [Experiences on Stage - Udupi](https://varshaseshan.com/experiences-on-stage-udupi/): Performances, performances. So often, the joy of dancing on stage comes from the story it creates, which can be told and retold ad infinitum. I’ve written about this before, so many times. My first performance with the ‘big girls’, when we got so immersed in the drama that we ignored the recorded music The time when we staged the Ramayana: Ravana did not come in time for the swayamvara, and we were on stage trying to buy time Our performance in Chidambaram, when the music suddenly looped back The time Nisha and I entered from the wrong sides of the stage […]
- [Performances Ahead](https://varshaseshan.com/performances-ahead/): Why do we dance? And why do people suspend their lives for a couple of hours to watch? Performing arts seem to exist in a world of their own, with their own rules and rigorous demands. What other field has a saying like ‘The show must go on’? I think the joy of a performance is that it feels like a huge secret that the artistes share. A secret is special. It creates oneness, like being part of an inside joke. What unfolds on stage is just a tiny part of everything that goes into a performance – hours of […]
- [The Lit Bug Fest 2019](https://varshaseshan.com/the-lit-bug-fest-2019/): So often, I come across posts that talk about how lit fests are a waste of time for authors, and how lit fests exclude rather than include. For me, though, lit fests remain unadulterated fun. Does this have something to do with being a children’s writer, perhaps? The Lit Bug Fest, Pune’s own lit fest, is in its fourth year, and I have been involved with it for the last three years. I love everything about it – the anticipation, the fest itself, and then, the high I’m left with for a few days after. Writing about the day helps […]
- [Explore the Prophecy of Rasphora](https://varshaseshan.com/explore-the-prophecy-of-rasphora/): Last month, The Story Station invited me to interact with a group of young writers. I spoke about my journey as a writer and conducted an activity based on my latest middle-grade novel, The Prophecy of Rasphora. A little about the book … Three young girls stumble upon Rasphora, a land behind a waterfall. There, they begin to teach Rasphorans the languages they know, and slowly, they pick up the Rasphoran language and are soon speaking like natives. Where the story led … When Vaishali, founder of the Story Station, told me that the theme of this year’s Lit Bug Fest would be […]
- [Pen to Paper Creative Writing Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/pen-to-paper-creative-writing-workshop/): The Pen to Paper competition was a nationwide search for young writers, organised by Edupeer and ICICI Lombard. It received about 10,000 entries! These were narrowed down to 2,000 and 1,000 and then, finally, the top 150 writers from all over the country were selected to receive training from an author. When FunOKPlease contacted me to ask whether I would be willing to facilitate the Pune chapter of the workshop, I hesitated. I don’t usually work with non-fiction; I find fiction more engaging, more fun. Yet, I was intrigued. I do enjoy workshops with children who don’t yet know one […]
- [One](https://varshaseshan.com/one/): Every so often, you come across a book that brings life around you to a standstill. It makes you stop and feel more than you think you are capable of feeling. It makes you hug yourself and breathe, so that you don’t get lost in the raw beauty of human emotion. And as I live in the pages of a book like One, I find myself wondering, How can anyone write so beautifully? One is among the most moving books I’ve ever read. Twice, I was able to sniff and move on. Once, I had to put the book away and let myself cry before […]
- [Hell and High Water](https://varshaseshan.com/hell-and-high-water/): Recently, I wrote about rereading The Goldsmith’s Daughter by Tanya Landman and looking out for more books by her. I almost didn’t pick up Hell and High Water because the cover did not catch my eye. Only when I noticed the name of the writer did I pick up the book–and I’m so glad I did. Hell and High Water was just as good as Apache and The Goldsmith’s Daughter. It is told from the point of view of a “darkie” Caleb, a boy of mixed race. When Caleb’s Pa is transported as a convict for a crime he did not commit, Caleb learns of the existence of his aunt […]
- [What if ...?](https://varshaseshan.com/what-if/): I love ‘what ifs’. What if there’s another me on the other side of the mirror? What if a half-boy-half-deer wanted to fit in? What if someone experimented with smells and could create them? What if an old Bajaj scooter began to fly? These were some of the what-ifs that inspired the stories in The Story-Catcher. What-ifs can go anywhere. We don’t need to rein them in and pull them back. And so, during creative writing workshops, I love to see where they can take us. Here’s what a few children came up with yesterday. I love ‘What if all my […]
- [The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare](https://varshaseshan.com/the-extraordinary-colours-of-auden-dare/): I took a while to sink my teeth into The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare. I went slowly through the first few chapters: I found the narrative voice a little puzzling, and I could not figure out whether I liked the protagonist, Auden Dare. Once I got sucked into the book, though, it was a different story. The cover asks whether a friendship can save a world under threat – and the way Zillah Bethell deals with this idea is tender and moving, for the friendship is a most irregular one. A dystopian novel, The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare is set at a time when a war is being […]
- [The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day](https://varshaseshan.com/the-infinite-lives-of-maisie-day/): As I read The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, I realised yet again that Christopher Edge is a writer I want to look out for. The first book I read of his was probably Twelve Minutes to Midnight. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up buying two copies of it – one to keep and one to gift. Somehow, the sequel, Shadows of the Silver Screen, did not make such a powerful impression on me. I liked it, but I can barely remember it now – in my defence, I read it five years ago. Then, I read The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, which I loved. It was unlike anything I’d ever read before […]
- [The Bubble Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/the-bubble-boy/): I had just started reading The Bubble Boy, when I came across an article on ‘sick-lit’, which made me think. There really are a lot of books about children who are ill, but I’d never thought about it in that way. And yes, the idea of the dying girl redeeming a broken man would irritate me. As a result, I was unfairly wary when I got through the first few chapters of The Bubble Boy. I didn’t want the emotional manipulation that plays out like a formula in literature where someone may die, and I was more than a little sceptical. But I said […]
- [On Rereading](https://varshaseshan.com/on-rereading/): As a child, I thought rereading books was a H*U*G*E waste of time. I devoured books, especially Enid Blytons, and later, Roald Dahls. I read the odd Richmal Crompton, went on to the classics – loved Five Children and It, pushed myself through others, left still others incomplete. But one thing I rarely did was reread. I did not have the time. Too many books, too little time, I kept telling myself. Then, at some stage, I realised that reading was not really a race. It was okay if I did not read every single good book in the world. At times, the […]
- [Wildwitch Wildfire](https://varshaseshan.com/wildwitch-wildfire/): Wildwitch Wildfire. The name seems to hark back to an earlier time, a time when magic was different, ancient, unknown. Yet, the cover, with its bright red, and a cat staring a girl down gave me the idea of something almost modern. I picked it up, curious about what it would offer–and put it down when I had finished reading it. Wildwitch Wildfire won me over with the wonder of its storytelling. A beautiful story, simply told – is there anything more fulfilling than that? Clara Ash is mauled by a huge cat on her way to school, but that’s hardly […]
- [Septopus: Trouble on the High Cs](https://varshaseshan.com/septopus-trouble-on-the-high-cs/): Question 1: How many books have you read about octopuses?Question 2: How many books have you read about an octopus with seven and a half tentacles?Question 3: How many books have you read about an octopus band – an oct-estra – playing Mozart? The answers to those questions will show you how unusual, unexpected and quirky Septopus: Trouble on the High Cs is. As octopuses have eight tentacles, all of them have names that end with ‘8’, so this book features Rot8, Irrit8, Imit8, Emul8, and my favourite – Po8 (say it aloud a few times if you don’t get this one immediately). For convenience […]
- [No. 9 on the Shade Card](https://varshaseshan.com/no-9-on-the-shade-card/): When I started reading No. 9 on the Shade Card, I was not sure if I would enjoy it. I liked the idea, and I was fascinated by the fact that we never seemed to learn the narrator’s name. We know her so well, but we don’t know her name – unless I just missed it because I got too involved in the story. Yet, as I went on, I realised that I was enjoying the book thoroughly. I kept telling myself that I would read ‘just one more chapter’ and if that isn’t a sign of how engrossing the book is, I don’t know […]
- [The Night Diary](https://varshaseshan.com/the-night-diary/): Recently, I revisited a review of a book I loved – My Name is Rose. The book made a particularly powerful impression on me because the lead character cannot speak, not because she is mute, but because of the weight of the world on her shoulders. Nisha from The Night Diary is a character just like that. Already overcome by crippling shyness and enormous social inhibitions, life does not do Nisha any favours. There are only two people in the world Nisha feels comfortable talking to – her twin Amil, and their domestic help who is practically family, Kazi. To top it all, it is […]
- [The Diamond of Drury Lane](https://varshaseshan.com/the-diamond-of-drury-lane/): I love Julia Golding. There were a couple that I didn’t end up writing about – The Glass Swallow and Ringmaster (Darcie Lock Book 1), but there were others that I devoured and simply had to gush about. Here are four that come to mind: Empty Quarter (Girl on the Run Book 2) Dragonfly Cat’s Cradle The Middle Passage And now, The Diamond of Drury Lane, which begins with the wonderful lines: Reader, you are set to embark on an adventure about one hidden treasure, two bare-knuckle boxers, three enemies and four hundred and thirty-eight rioters. It is told by an ignorant and prejudiced author – me.” Cat Royal – […]
- [Dead Man's Cove](https://varshaseshan.com/dead-mans-cove/): The cover of Dead Man’s Cove, the first of the Laura Marlin Mysteries, has a snippet from a review, proclaiming that the book will delight Enid Blyton fans. And so, even though I read the second book, Kidnap in the Caribbean, some time ago, I began this one with different expectations. The most wonderful part was that those expectations were met. As a child, I was convinced that smugglers were exciting. Anyone who has read Five Go to Smuggler’s Top and The Secret of Spiggy Holes will, I think, have similar responses. Ooh! Smugglers! What fun! Smugglers, for me, were equated with adventure. Even when people spoke to me of binoculars and cameras […]
- [Creative Writing Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/creative-writing-workshops/): What’s better than a creative writing workshop with enthusiastic children?Two creative writing workshops with enthusiastic children! On Saturday, I did a workshop at Meridian Kids Club for the first time. New place, new children – it’s always fun! An activity I love is creating monsters together, and this time was no different. We played a game during which the children came up with a huge greenish monster with twenty heads, a hundred eyes, one tooth, no noses and just one foot. The interesting thing about this monster, though, was that he was ugly and good. He would clean up the […]
- [The Writers' Club 2018-19](https://varshaseshan.com/the-writers-club-2018-19/): Another year at the Writers’ Club has come to an end, and what a wonderful session we had to bring a creative year of stories to an end! We began, as always, with an announcement of the winners of this year’s Writers’ Club competition. Competitions are such fun! They create a mood of anticipation and celebration, which ensures that the energy stays high throughout the session. As before, two girls from a previous batch evaluated the entries, for I feel that learning to critique work is an important part of growing as a writer. Their responses and comments were heart-warming, […]
- [Me and Mister P](https://varshaseshan.com/me-and-mister-p/): There are times when only a polar bear will do …” Arthur and Liam’s Mum I’m still smiling as I write this review, even though I finished reading Me and Mister P yesterday. It’s such a charming read, one that reminded me of Nurse Matilda and Mary Poppins. Except that there’s no nanny here – because there are times when only a polar bear will do, right? Arthur is fed up with the fact that his brother Liam, who is specially abled, gets all the attention from his family. Everything is now about Liam. Liam cannot take the school bus because he does not like […]
- [Reading and Data](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-and-data/): Adults love data. They love graphs and statistics and numbers. During workshops with adults, the moment I put up a graph, I have everyone’s attention as if I’m finally saying something ‘real’. And that’s why I started working with real-time polls through Mentimeter. I show my audience a question and all those with smart phones (usually nearly everyone in the room) vote. And they see numbers, which makes everyone happy. Question One: What do you read most often? For this question, I allow participants to choose more than one option. This helps them feel comfortable, not pinned down to choosing […]
- [Making Creative Writing Engaging](https://varshaseshan.com/making-creative-writing-engaging/): Sometimes, I wonder whether secretly, I conduct creative writing workshops more to inspire myself than to inspire the children I work with. Whatever it is, I do know that I enjoy myself tremendously whenever I teach creative writing. I feed off the enthusiasm of the children and I come home ready to write, which is invigorating. Children and Writing Many children love to write. I was one of them, and I wrote all kinds of things, mainly inspired by what I read. I wrote about magic and school, and things that I thought would be moving – like earnest poetry […]
- [The Little Rainmaker](https://varshaseshan.com/the-little-rainmaker/): It is the year 2028, and it hasn’t rained for ten years. The last time it rained, Anoushqa was in her mother’s womb. She kicked when it rained. That’s her only experience of rain, an experience that she does not even remember. Sometimes, she wonders if rain is even real, or just part of one of her Grampa’s stories. The Little Rainmaker is a heartwarming read. I was moved to tears on multiple occasions because it was impossible not to feel and live Anoushqa’s passion. At ten, we’re superheroes, aren’t we? Self-doubt has not really begun to creep in yet. Even when […]
- [The Lies We Tell](https://varshaseshan.com/the-lies-we-tell/): I finished reading The Lies We Tell last night. I woke up this morning, still disturbed. For a moment, I just had a vague sense of unease that I could not place, but a few seconds later, I knew I was still in another place, in another character. I was still Irfan Ahmed. I read Talking of Muskaan two years ago, and it made such a powerful impression on me that I knew I had to read The Lies We Tell. Yet, halfway through the latter, I was frowning. I did not feel that the promise of the title was kept. Sure, all the tumultuous adolescent emotions felt […]
- [Bungee Cord Hair](https://varshaseshan.com/bungee-cord-hair/): Five months ago, an editor mentioned to me that publishers in India believe that Asian literature, apart from books written in the subcontinent, will not sell. I was taken aback by the idea, but I didn’t know what to say. I had not thought about it at all, so I did not have an opinion. Naturally, the conversation got me thinking. What was the last book I read that was Asian, but not from the subcontinent? I thought of Chinese Cinderella and The Joy Luck Club. Both long ago. It was time to change that. I began with Pachinko and […]
- [Reading Workshops: Why? What? How?](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-workshops-whywhat-how/): Many, many parents ask me what a reading workshop is. What happens during a reading workshop? Who should attend a reading workshop and why? What will the outcome of a reading workshop be? This post tries to explain all that. What children read and why Often, at reading workshops I conduct, we talk about books we love. I’m not very fond of the question ‘What is your favourite book?’ because I think it is impossible to have a favourite book. I do realise, however, that it’s a promising start to a conversation, plus a way for me to get an […]
- [World Read Aloud Day at the Writers' Club](https://varshaseshan.com/world-read-aloud-day-at-the-writers-club/): The Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School meets only twice a week, so World Read Aloud Day sometimes becomes Writers’ Club Read Aloud Day, but so what? I celebrated it for the first time last year and it was so much fun that I did it again this year. This time, children came forward and read work of their own, which was heart-warming. Others read out poetry, including a hilarious poem by Ruskin Bond. Still others read scenes that moved them – excerpts from Train to Pakistan, from Good Wives, and from Wonder. Yet, as the girls came forward to read, I […]
- [Working with Librarians](https://varshaseshan.com/working-with-librarians/): During the first two weeks of the year, I made lists of books I loved, and more than once, I found myself writing about how reading levels differ so much that it is difficult to associate a level with an age. Thinking about all of this, I decided write about a reading programme I’ve been working with for a couple of years now. Two years ago, I was approached by Experiential Learning Solutions and asked whether I would design a reading programme that can be administered effectively by a group of librarians in municipal schools. As a CSR initiative, D-Mart […]
- [West Sikkim](https://varshaseshan.com/west-sikkim/): Pelling, in West Sikkim, won my heart. We stayed at a place called Ifseen Villa, about a kilometre and a half away from the one-street town of Pelling. And I loved the place. Outside our balcony were lemon trees, and in the distance, the magnificent Khangchendzonga* range. On each of the three mornings we spent there, I woke up with a fluttering sense of excitement. Pelling inspired me, though I cannot quite lay my finger on why. It was beautiful, fresh and free. (I discovered in Pelling, by the way, that when the weather is very cold, my ball pen […]
- [Kolkata Diaries](https://varshaseshan.com/kolkata-diaries/): Excited as I was about our adventures in North Sikkim, I dived in and wrote about Lachung and Yumthang. But the first place we visited was Kolkata. That’s where the journey really started, and we spent a day there because it is a place close to my heart. My grandmother grew up in Calcutta. Having studied at Loretto Convent in the pre-independence era, she often told us stories about her childhood. One story that stands out in my memory is that of her classes on etiquette, where all the girls were taught to stir sugar into their tea without making […]
- [Writing about Cyber Crime](https://varshaseshan.com/writing-about-cyber-crime-2/): What a fun session we had with digital forensic investigator Shweta A. Chawla yesterday! The children had all kinds of questions, and all kinds of stories. Nearly every child had a story of a parent or relative receiving a call and asking for an OTP or bank details. It just shows you how close cyber crime is to us! One child said, “We should keep changing our passwords, but it’s difficult to remember them. So I write them in an Excel sheet.” Before Shweta could respond, he said, “The Excel sheet is password protected.”And I found myself thinking, Do I […]
- [Books and Important Conversations](https://varshaseshan.com/books-and-important-conversations/): No, I don’t believe that every book needs to teach us something. Absolutely not. I read to laugh, have fun and unwind. Yet, every so often, I come across a book that invites discussion and makes me think. At my reading programme for ages 9 and 10, we’re reading Flying with Grandpa. Yesterday, we were to read the section where Grandpa refuses to eat. He makes a fuss and keeps banging his fork on the table. I paused as I reread this section in preparation for my reading session. The children at my book club had clearly said that they had […]
- [Writing about Cyber Crime](https://varshaseshan.com/writing-about-cyber-crime/): During my writing programme last year, I met many children who wanted to write detective stories. What would a detective story involve? How did investigations really happen? This got me thinking. What could I do that would be new and unusual? I’ve never solved a crime. I have no inside knowledge. And if children (and I!) don’t want to write about smugglers and private islands and the like, what detective stories can we write? My answer was cyber crime. And that led to the very first guest session of my creative writing programme. About the Facilitator Shweta A. Chawla is an independent […]
- [The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop](https://varshaseshan.com/the-very-glum-life-of-tootoolu-toop/): A fully trained ten-year-old witch chooses to live with regular human beings. The premise itself is delightful. Sure, you want to be a witch or a wizard. You want to do magic. But have you ever thought about the other side of the story? The magical creatures who want to be part of a regular world? Enter Tootoolu Toop, who loves books and regularly sneaks into the cottage of an old lady nearby to “borrow” what she can. She’s forced to do this because ever since the great war, the written word has been banned in the magical world, and […]
- [Workshops During a Pandemic](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops-in-a-pandemic/): Last week, I started reading Maya in a Mess with my book club for seven and eight-year-olds. As part of the discussion, I asked them, “Have you ever been a monitor in class? How do you feel?” “I feel like a king!” said one child.“I love it,” said another. “You don’t have to just stand in line with the others. You can actually do things.”“It feels good,” said a third. “You feel responsible.” One avid reader in the batch isn’t seven yet, but she’s at par with the others. When it was her turn, she said, “I haven’t ever been […]
- [Once Upon an Alphabet](https://varshaseshan.com/once-upon-an-alphabet/): Stories are made of words and words are made of the alphabet. What if there was a special story for each letter of the alphabet?That’s the premise of this zany, wonderful book, Once Upon an Alphabet, by Oliver Jeffers. My father bought the book for me some three years ago, or so I understand. And he forgot to give it to me. My mother and my sister just assumed that I had seen it and left it there because I’m not a hoarder, because I didn’t want to take it right away, because … because.But the truth is that I […]
- [When the World Went Dark](https://varshaseshan.com/when-the-world-went-dark/): I was fortunate that I didn’t have to deal with death when I was a child. Yet, I was terrified of people dying. My father remembers a day when I stood on the terrace, watching for my mother who was to return from work. My fear – when I was about ten years old – was What if she died? Where do these fears come from? I have no idea.Are we equipped to deal with them? Not really. Books like When the World Went Dark are a step in a direction that I believe can help. Yes, it’s a book […]
- [Book Uncle and Me](https://varshaseshan.com/book-uncle-and-me/): I discovered verse novels quite recently. I began by reading a few for young adults and then I slowly went down the age ladder. I love them. I love how much they say with such few words. Would I have enjoyed verse novels as a child? I have no way of telling, for I was such a mix. I liked things that were familiar, so it is possible that I would have rejected them out of hand as weird. On the other hand, I was never a fan of long paragraphs, so I don’t know. I do know, though, that […]
- [Wisha Wozzariter](https://varshaseshan.com/wisha-wozzariter/): Wisha Wozzariter. Say it aloud. Wisha Wozzariter was what pushed me to launch this reading programme! Several parents have called to ask if my online creative writing programme is suited to children who want to begin the process of writing. The answer is ‘no’ because, for the most part, the children who enroll already enjoy writing. They write regularly and don’t find written assignments a chore. For children who don’t already write, the course could be daunting, and the last thing I want to do is to put children off writing altogether! So I wanted something that would introduce creative […]
- [The Absent Author](https://varshaseshan.com/the-absent-author/): The Absent Author. The Bald Bandit. The Haunted Hotel. The Zombie Zone. Isn’t this the kind of series you could see any child longing to collect? Book series are special and that’s why, for each reading programme, I try to introduce at least one. They’re sure shot ways of getting children hooked to reading! During my first reading programme, I introduced the hOle books with Trouble with Magic. During the second, it was the Amelia Bedelia series. Now, it’s the A to Z Mysteries. Dink invites his favourite author, Wallis Wallace, to Green Lawn, and joy of joys! He receives a […]
- [The Clockwala's Clues - The Story Behind the Story](https://varshaseshan.com/the-clockwalas-clues-the-story-behind-the-story/): When I wrote of how Sisters at New Dawn and Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells came into being, I had every intention of documenting the journey of each published book. So much for that. It’s been three months since The Clockwala’s Clues was published, and I kept postponing writing the story behind the story. Yesterday, however, I visited Kolsa Gully, which inspired my Tipu Gully, so I decided to take a few pictures and finally write Clockwala Uncle’s story. Unlike my other books, The Clockwala’s Clues is heavily inspired by Pune, the city in which I grew up. In particular, it’s based loosely on […]
- [Nimmi's Dreadtastic Detective Days](https://varshaseshan.com/nimmis-dreadtastic-detective-days/): Dreadtastic. What could dreadtastic be? A little imagination led me to the right answer – dreadful + fantastic. Aha! I love books that play with words, as well as books that feature characters that enjoy words. I recently read (and wrote about) Friends Behind Walls, and the word games we played when we read it at my reading programme. The first book I read by Shabnam Minwalla is about writing and words too – Lucky Girl. Even as I read it, I planned how I would use it for my reading programme. It produced giggles and fun, poems, new book […]
- [Playing with Kangaroo Words](https://varshaseshan.com/playing-with-kangaroo-words/): When I wrote about using Friends Behind Walls for my online reading programme, the first thing I thought of doing was playing with words. Putti loves breaking words up to make sense of them. Brouhaha = brew+haha, but has nothing to do with brewing tea or being funny. Yesterday, we thought of words like this. We thought of ‘unfortunately’ and ‘perspective’, as we hunted for humorous ideas.“Is ‘guin’ a word?” one child asked me. Of course he wanted to do something with what a penguin is not. One idea led to another and we came to kangaroo words. I’m not […]
- [Flying with Grandpa](https://varshaseshan.com/flying-with-grandpa/): I read Flying with Grandpa some time ago and enjoyed it. I wanted to read it with children, but had not yet figured out how. The book is slightly difficult for ages seven and eight, the age-group I was working with.  When parents started asking me about writing programmes for readers who are reluctant writers, the seed of an idea took root. A reading programme with smaller elements of creative writing would be perfect – and there! I had the perfect setup to read Flying with Grandpa! Xerxes wants to be like his grandfather, his beloved Mamavaji, but his mother has other […]
- [Reflecting on Reading on International Women's Day](https://varshaseshan.com/reflecting-on-reading-on-international-womens-day/): A few years ago, I was invited to judge a ‘Come as a Character’ competition at Symbiosis International School, and it was good fun. I encountered all kinds of characters, ranging from Matilda to Ebenezer Scrooge. I’ve now seen multiple schools that conduct similar activities; I’ve done so myself at my Writers’ Club. Yet, for a while, I’ve been thinking about something that makes me rather uncomfortable.  Dozens of girls dress up as Harry Potter, Geronimo Stilton or Charlie Bucket. But no boys dress up as Matilda or Thea Stilton or Katniss Everdeen. This was brought into sharp focus recently, […]
- [Loki Takes Guard](https://varshaseshan.com/loki-takes-guard/): What draws me into a story? What makes me long to know more? What keeps me reading? Character. Always, character. That’s probably why I don’t typically enjoy detective stories very much. Suspense isn’t what drives me as a reader, and all too often, good detectives remain elusive. Their enigma is part of why people are drawn to them – and I’m not. I’m drawn to characters that show themselves at their ugliest, most vulnerable moments, as well as their silliest ones. I’m drawn to characters like Loki. Loki Takes Guard is the story of an 11-year-old who tells you straight […]
- [The Mystery of the Secret Hair Oil Formula](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mystery-of-the-secret-hair-oil-formula/): The first edition of my online reading programme for ages 9 and 10 is here! For a while, I’ve had queries from parents about children who love reading but don’t know how to get started on their writing journeys. They want to write, but they don’t know what to do or how to go about it. I began mulling over it. Would a writing workshop help? Perhaps it would, but I felt that beginning on familiar ground – reading – would work better. And so, here it is – my first reading programme for this age-group. What better way to […]
- [Maya in a Mess](https://varshaseshan.com/maya-in-a-mess/): It seems to have become something of a tradition to begin each batch of my online reading programme with a hOle book. For the third edition of my programme, it’s going to be Maya in a Mess, a delightful book that made me chuckle. Peopled with sparkling characters, this book is ideal for ages seven and eight, so how could I not include it in my programme? Maya is the cupboard monitor. The proudest moment of her life is when she is entrusted with the key to the class cupboard. The pride! The honour! The triumph! I remember the moment […]
- [Past the Halfway Mark](https://varshaseshan.com/past-the-halfway-mark/): Four books in six weeks – that’s what my current online reading programme involves. And just like that, four weeks have gone by. If I make participants reflect on their journeys with me, I suppose it is because I enjoy the process of reflection myself. Each time I look back, I find myself nodding slowly at some new learning, some new revelation. Now, at just past the halfway mark, I can’t stop thinking about reading tastes and how much they differ. “I’m a cheetah reader,” a child said proudly, referring to our second book, Hungry to Read.“Me too!”“Me too!”“I’m a Bull!” […]
- [Mini's Money](https://varshaseshan.com/minis-money/): Sometimes, when I pick up a book for children, I wonder, “What would I have thought of this as a child?” Mini’s Money would probably have appealed to me, but what really made me stop and think was the idea of colouring the story. Colouring in a book was a strict no for me, but would this series have changed that? Perhaps it would, for I enjoyed the book! Mini’s Money is an early chapter book, perfect for voracious young readers. Many 5- and 6-year-old readers have already moved beyond short, 32-page picture books full of colour. They want more […]
- [Workshops Launching in April 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops-launching-in-april-2021/): REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR ALL THESE PROGRAMMES. The next reading programmes begin in the first week of June, and the next writing programmes will be held in October. I will also organise three short guest sessions as part of my writing programme. These will be free for those who are part of the programme, but will also be open to non-participants on payment of a fee. More details coming soon! If you would like to receive email notifications about my workshops, please fill this form. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – for regular updates. […]
- [Happy Book News](https://varshaseshan.com/happy-book-news/): On Saturday afternoon, the doorbell rang. It was a courier. For me. From Penguin Random House. When you receive an unexpected package, do you try to guess what it could be? I do. It was a slim package, so the easiest guess would be that it contained one book.But why would Penguin send me one book? Could it be a calendar? On the 6th of February? Or a review copy? But surely someone would have written to me saying they wanted a review! I opened it to find one copy of The Clockwala’s Clues. There was no letter, nothing. I […]
- [Online Reading Programme - Looking Back](https://varshaseshan.com/online-reading-programme-looking-back/): Magic potions. Superpowers. Word games. Adjectives, homophones, homonyms, mazes. Codes, recitation, performance. What fun my first reading programme was! The first book we read together was Trouble with Magic by Asha Nehemiah. A reading programme involves more than simply reading the book, though, so we used our imaginations. What would we get if we put different ingredients together? A medicine? A magic potion? An explosion? Each of the children came up with something different, and it was such fun! Take a look at just one of them. Our second book was Shrinking Vanita by Manjula Padmanabhan. Apart from word games, where we […]
- [Amelia Bedelia Means Business](https://varshaseshan.com/amelia-bedelia-means-business/): Amelia Bedelia. The name just asks you to read it aloud. And what a character Amelia is! As with the very best fictional characters (I’m thinking of Anne Shirley, Pippi Longstocking and the like), Amelia’s personality leaps out of the pages. She makes you chuckle at her sheer optimism, at her zest and her drive. Obstacles? What are those? Amelia sees Suzanne’s new bike and knows she has to get one for herself. But her parents are unwilling to give her an advance Christmas-cum-birthday present. What they are willing to do, however, is meet her halfway. If she can find […]
- [Bena's Summer](https://varshaseshan.com/benas-summer/): Poetic. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I think of Bena’s Summer. It’s a slow, almost languorous read, evoking the in which summer in a small town stretches before us. And this summer, we see through eight-year-old Bena’s eyes. Bena, who is a precious, precocious child, a mix of childlike innocence and equally childlike wisdom. Bena is short for Benazir. She is innocent, generous, and, in the way children sometimes are, cruel. What makes her special, though, is her courage. Her moral compass points true, and she knows when she must stand up for those who are […]
- [I Wish, My Street, Timmi in Tangles](https://varshaseshan.com/i-wish-my-street-timmi-in-tangles/): January 2021 has already been so full of lovely things! I launched the second edition of my online reading programme, and I’m delighted that it came into being because parents of participants in my current programme wrote and asked if I would consider continuing the sessions. It was also a month when I received so many reader reviews of my books – take a look! What I’ve been reading In the meantime, of course, I’ve been reading. When am I not reading? But I haven’t written much about what I’ve been reading because I was busy blogging about my best […]
- [Hungry to Read](https://varshaseshan.com/hungry-to-read/): If there was one thing that could push you to read, what would that be? How would you get someone who doesn’t like reading to read? When Arjun’s teacher announces a competition in school, Arjun is thrilled – until he learns that it is a reading competition. He is no reader; he likes logic, facts and all things mathematical. The problem is that the prize is so attractive that Arjun is tempted. The question, though, is how far he is willing to go to help his class to win. The reasons I chose Hungry to Read for my reading programme […]
- [Ahimsa](https://varshaseshan.com/ahimsa/): Ahimsa has been on my TBR list for a long time and finally, it was my first read of 2021. What a lovely, lovely book. When I started reading it, I was a little puzzled. We’ve studied about the independence struggle several times in school. We know about Gandhi, his fasts, the swadeshi and boycott movements and his call for ahimsa or non-violence. We know about freedom fighters having been imprisoned and about the Hindu-Muslim riots that erupted all over the country. There seemed to be nothing new in Ahimsa, nothing that would make readers everywhere to talk about the […]
- [Lucky Girl](https://varshaseshan.com/lucky-girl/): Lucky Girl is a hilarious book. It’s imaginative, wacky and full of surprises. Sumi is a lucky girl. With her pink bed, a window that overlooks the sea, soft toys and a chef for a mother, she must be a lucky girl, right? Wrong. As I chuckled my way through this hOle book written by Shabnam Minwalla and illustrated by Tanvi Bhat, I knew I had to work with it at my reading programme! Here are a few things I plan to do with the book. Funny recipes Pammi Gupta makes pumpkin peel muffins and furry leaf parathas for Sumi. […]
- [Online Reading Programme - Second Edition!](https://varshaseshan.com/online-reading-programme-second-edition/): Registrations are now closed for this reading programme. I was just about halfway through my first reading programme when parents started reaching out to me to check if there will be other batches. Even when I launched the first one, I knew I would continue the programme if enough people expressed interest. And so, here it is – the second edition of my online reading programme! What does a reading programme involve? Essentially, reading.  As there are four books spread across 12 sessions, we take roughly three sessions per book. Naturally, this means that we do not read the entire […]
- [My Year in Dance - 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-dance-2020/): Each year, I write about all our performances, all our little dance anecdotes and all the travel that goes with dance. This year? We had a whole new set of dance experiences. I wrote about going online with our dance classes and everything that went with it, but already, less than six months after I wrote that post, so much has changed. It’s wonderful how much more comfortable my teacher is with the online medium. What I love is how generous she is when it comes to giving credit where it is due! Nisha taught her how to leave and […]
- [My Year in Writing - 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-writing-2020/): I’m beginning to write this post on a day when I received a miserable royalty report for one of my books for the year 2019-20. Yet, the year 2020 has been all kinds of wonderful in terms of publishing for me. So many of my projects have seen light of day, though they have suffered for it too, thanks to the pandemic. With ecommerce, distribution and retail taking a blow, perhaps it was not a great year to have books release. But how can I not be happy to see my work out there? Poetry Creatures of the Dark Published […]
- [My Year in Workshops - 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/2020-my-year-in-workshops/): 2020 was a tough year, such a tough year that it’s become rather redundant to say it. Many of us had to step out of our comfort zones and do things differently. For me, of course, it was no different. For several years now, workshops have been my prime source of income. I’ve had my writers’ club at St. Mary’s School, teacher training sessions for Ratna Sagar, and the odd workshop here and there with libraries. When my fifth year at the Writers’ Club came to an end in February last year (was it really not even a year ago?), […]
- [Top 14 Picture Books I Read in 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/top-14-picture-books-i-read-in-2020/): I read so many picture books each year that I’m sure I’ve missed out at least a few that I read and loved in 2020. Also, I find it difficult to review picture books in detail, so this is just a list, with links to earlier posts I wrote about the books, or, in the case of books I read on StoryWeaver, links to the books themselves. The Manasa Series I love meeting the same character again and again, so the Manasa series is special! Manasa Finds a Rainbow A Hairy Problem Who’s That in the Mirror? Art is Everywhere […]
- [Top Six Young Adult Books I Read in 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/top-six-young-adult-books-i-read-in-2020/): I’ve already shared two lists of books, but I think it’s important to say – again – that reading levels differ widely, and in multiple ways. For instance, I know that as a child, my linguistic level (in English) was higher than that of some of my peers, but I often read books for children who were younger. I was still reading what was clearly children’s literature, while friends of mine had ‘graduated’ to murder, romance and thrillers. A list of any kind must be taken with a pinch of salt, and this one is no different. With that out […]
- [Top Nine Middle Grade Books I Read in 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/top-nine-middle-grade-books-i-read-in-2020/): I love middle grade reads, so this is my longest list this year. In no particular order, here are the books to which I gave a five-star rating in 2020. This is a book for keeps. More often than not, in India, books that address homosexuality are categorised as young adult or adult books, but with this book more than any others before, I disagree. To Night Owl from Dogfish is clearly a middle grade book. The characters, the themes, the tone – everything, for me, is middle grade.  Avery and Bett learn that their dads are going to get […]
- [Top Five Chapter Books I Read in 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/top-five-chapter-books-i-read-in-2020/): At the beginning of each year, I make a list of books I read and loved in the previous year, and I always begin with the same disclaimer – these books were not necessarily published in 2020. They came my way in 2020, and so I read them. One thing that I’m doing differently this year, however, is that I’m not listing ten books for each category. Rather, I’m just compiling the books that got a five star rating from me in 2020. It works better for me this way! So, here goes – in the reverse order that I […]
- [Creating Memorable Characters with Sophie](https://varshaseshan.com/creating-memorable-characters-with-sophie/): And just like that, the third and last guest session for the current batches of my online writing programme is over. It doesn’t feel like very long ago that I announced the programme, wondering whether there would be enough participants. I did not promise guest sessions because I knew it would depend on the response I received. It needed to be feasible to invite guest speakers, both in terms of the number of participants and in terms of my ability to pay the speakers. But here we go, two batches for two age groups are nearly over! Sophie’s writing workshop […]
- [Workshop Anecdotes](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-anecdotes/): So many little things happen during workshops! That’s what makes them so much fun. For instance, my reading programme began on Tuesday and I started with Asha Nehemiah’s Trouble with Magic. We spoke about all the wonderful things we’d invent because, in some ways, science and magic are pretty much the same thing. One child would invent a door. You step through the door and get to whatever place you want to go. You just have to tell the door where you’d like to be.“And what trouble could you have with magic of this sort?” I asked.The boy thought for […]
- [Half Brother](https://varshaseshan.com/half-brother/): About a year ago, I read Kenneth Oppel’s The Boundless. I did enjoy it, but it wasn’t a book that wowed me. I read it, quite liked it and moved on. That’s why Half Brother was not high on my list of books to read. I knew I would read it, but it sat on my shelf for a bit, while I read other books, including Nomad’s Land and To Night Owl from Dogfish. And then, Half Brother made me sob the way only the best books can. Just like Pig Heart Boy, it raises all kinds of questions – […]
- [Creating Memorable Characters](https://varshaseshan.com/creating-memorable-characters/): Both batches of my online creative writing programme began in October. Two months out of three have flown by, and I can’t quite believe that I’ve had eight sessions with each batch. We’ve had two wonderful guest sessions too – one with author Nalini Sorensen and one with Dr. Sreeja Nag. It’s time to announce my third and last guest session for this batch, with a multicultural writer-friend, Sophie Gaden. About the Facilitator Sophie is a French-Brazilian writer, teacher, and translator. She spent her childhood in Brazil, but at the age of 12, she moved to India where she lived […]
- [Science Stories with Sreeja](https://varshaseshan.com/science-stories-with-sreeja/): What a whirlwind weekend I’ve had! With the Scholastic Writing Awards ceremony, a guest session at my online creative writing programme, and a weekend workshop for the ten winners of the Scholastic Writing Awards, the weekend has flown by in the best possible way! As with every guest session, yesterday was special. I’ve invited Sreeja before and I know how exciting conversations with her can be for a group of curious young writers. She’s exciting, warm and generous with her interactions, never dismissing a question or an idea out of hand. For instance, there was a moment yesterday when a […]
- [To Night Owl From Dogfish](https://varshaseshan.com/to-night-owl-from-dogfish/): I love epistolary novels. I think I’ve always loved them; they intrigue me. Off the top of my head, I think about Dear Mrs Naidu, Ketchup Clouds, Daddy Long-Legs and The Night Diary, though I’m sure I’ll think of several more by the time I finish writing this blog post. To Night Owl from Dogfish is right up there with the best of them. It’s crazy, full of laugh-out-loud humour, and poignant (yes, I did cry over it). Dogfish, aka Bett, loves snooping on her father. She checks his email and discovers that he is in a relationship with Avery’s […]
- [The Sheep-Pig](https://varshaseshan.com/the-sheep-pig/): A few months ago, one of my publishers, Mango Books, began a series of posts on social media about books authors read when they were young. The book I chose was The Sheep-Pig, a delightful chapter book by a favourite writer, Dick King-Smith. Dick King-Smith’s stories are a treat. I loved The Sheep-Pig, the sequel Ace and so many more – Saddlebottom, A Mouse Called Wolf, The Hodgeheg … Every time I went to the library, I would look out for his books, hoping to discover at least one more book I hadn’t read. Why is this book part of […]
- [Shrinking Vanita](https://varshaseshan.com/shrinking-vanita/): Shrinking Vanita is a delightful read, full of laughter, madness and the unshakeable belief that children can and will save the world! With a little help, of course. From a puppy called Giggles and a bag full of fridge magnets. Three days to go before a gigantic killer asteroid will end life on Earth! Everyone is in a panic. Everyone, that is, but Vanita, who has things to do. Such as saving the planet. – from the blurb of Shrinking Vanita Isn’t that a wonderful premise? Shrinking Vanita delivers what it promises – a feisty protagonist, a mixture of science […]
- [Reflections - Part 2](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-part-2/): A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the first series of reflections, written by children from my first batch of the creative writing programme. The idea of a reflective statement is something that I came to appreciate when I was teaching the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. While I was teaching, however, many students hated writing reflections because they had to write them. The checkbox needed to be ticked for the IB. Now, on the other hand, I find that most children enjoy taking this time out to think about how far they have come and how much they have […]
- [A Few More Writing Activities](https://varshaseshan.com/a-few-more-writing-activities/): A few days ago, I posted five writing activities that I created last month; here are a few more. I find that short activities of this sort are wonderful ways both to get started and to wind down. Finishing a workshop with some sort of activity leaves participants feeling energized, rather than exhausted. Quick ones of this sort are always handy! Humorous Hyperboles Children are masters of hyperbole. Think about the way they tell stories and how, with each telling, the story becomes grander and more eventful. Adults do it too, even if they pretend otherwise! So, naturally, working with […]
- [Nomad's Land](https://varshaseshan.com/nomads-land/): Last evening, I spoke to the friend who gave me Nomad’s Land for my birthday.“Are you okay?” she asked. “You sound like you have a cold.”I promised her I was fine. “But I just sobbed over Nomad’s Land.” How does one review a book as beautiful as Nomad’s Land? It’s one of those books that you just have to put aside once in a while to take the time out to feel, even though you’re itching to know what happens next. It’s poetic and lyrical, and silly and sweet. It made me cry. It made me smile and roll my […]
- [Five Writing Activities for Children (and Adults!)](https://varshaseshan.com/five-writing-activities-for-children-and-adults/): As I was preparing to launch my online creative writing programme, I posted one writing activity per day on social media, and I loved the responses I received. Writing activities can be so much fun, and not just for children. They work just as well for adults who want to sit down and start writing too! Here are the first five; you could do one a day for the next five days to get you started. Surprising Similes This one is always a favourite! During a creative writing session, I asked a child to complete the simile as annoying as […]
- [Stories of Space Robots and Rockets](https://varshaseshan.com/stories-of-space-robots-and-rockets/): A couple of weeks ago, I found myself thinking – an online writing programme is not a lit fest. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to invite people who would be able to do something entirely new? What could I do to bring in a new kind of story? And here was my answer: How can I make my science fiction story believable?Do we need more stories about women in science? Fee ₹400 per head (UPI: seshanvarsha@okhdfcbank or bank transfer – please contact me for my bank details; my number is in the poster) Age-group 9-13 Date 5th December 2020 Time 10 […]
- [Writing Stories with Nalini Sorensen](https://varshaseshan.com/writing-stories-with-nalini-sorensen-2/): Guest sessions are full of fun! Yesterday, I went on not one, but several writing journeys with children’s book author Nalini Sorensen. What did I take back from my journeys? Several things, actually! For one, I love Nalini’s phrase ‘story eyes’. Just like Nalini, the question I hear most often is ‘where do you get your ideas from?’ Nalini made us close our eyes and imagine an incredible experience. She took us on a journey to the top of Mount Everest, a journey that’s unique, special. And then, she told use that we didn’t need experiences like that to create […]
- [Welcome to Nowhere](https://varshaseshan.com/welcome-to-nowhere/): When I read books like Welcome to Nowhere, part of me reads with a sinking heart for I realise that I don’t have the courage to tell stories like this. Yes, I do know that every story matters and each one has a role to play, but powerful books like this are in a class of their own. Elizabeth Laird’s books are exceptional. Look at Oranges in No Man’s Land, set in Lebanon, or The Witching Hour, a wonderful work of historical fiction. Then there’s the wonderful YA book Red Sky in the Morning and the very different Paradise End. […]
- [Online Reading Programme](https://varshaseshan.com/online-reading-programme/): I’ve been working with the British Library’s reading challenge for a long time. I’ve worked with a range of themes – Circus Stars, Mythical Maze, Record Breakers, The Big Friendly Read, Animal Agents … And I’ve enjoyed each one. I love the range of books the British Library has, and the reading challenge collection is always special. Being a British Council trainer was always a huge advantage during the reading challenge season because I got secret access to all these books that weren’t yet available to regular library customers! However, as I associated with schools and children at the library, […]
- [Reflections - Part 1](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-part-1/): During the course of any creative writing programme I conduct, about two or three times, I ask children to stop and reflect on everything they’ve felt and everything they’ve done during their sessions with me. Now that we’re one month into my online programme, it was time. And as usual, I could not stop smiling when I read their work. Afreena, 11, listed everything she’s learnt – from acrostic poems to rebuses. She remembered the list poem she wrote, the limericks we read and all the literary devices we worked with. Her reflection was simple, clear and straightforward; I loved […]
- [Out of My Mind](https://varshaseshan.com/out-of-my-mind/): Why had I never heard of this book? Published in 2010, Out of My Mind was on the New York Times bestseller list for two years, and I just read it! When I wrote about Moonrise a few weeks ago, I mentioned how children often ask me which the first book that made me cry was. I usually respond by telling them, instead, about the most recent book that made me cry – and now, it’s Sharon M. Draper’s Out of My Mind. Eleven-year-old Melody Brooks is smart. She has a photographic memory and a delicious sense of humour. She […]
- [Writing Stories with Nalini Sorensen](https://varshaseshan.com/writing-stories-with-nalini-sorensen/): Each morning, among the first things I do is visit my creative writing forum. I love it. I love that every day, there are new pieces to read, all shared by young writers who are part of my online creative writing programme. I’ve done four sessions with one batch and three with another; it’s time to bring a little more excitement in – a guest session! I spoke to author Nalini Sorensen, and we finalized things super quickly. I’m delighted to announce a one-hour writing workshop with this warm, lively, award-winning writer. While the event is free for those who […]
- [How to Be a Writer](https://varshaseshan.com/how-to-be-a-writer/): My online creative writing programme served as the perfect excuse to get a copy of How to Be a Writer. And as I read it, every few lines, I found myself thinking, “This, exactly this!” For the first time, I highlighted sections all over the book (ebook, not physical book, just saying) simply because so much of it resonated with me. In some places, I was drawn to the words as a writer; in others, as a teacher of creative writing. Instead of my usual kind of review, I’m going to share tiny excerpts of the book. If I talk […]
- [Dashami - Version 2020](https://varshaseshan.com/dashami-version-2020/): Dashami is special. Each year, we have a small performance for all the children at dance class. They wear nice clothes and jewellery. Their faces glow with the anticipation of a dance programme. It’s the one day in the year that parents are allowed to come for class and watch them dance! Dressed in their best, adjusting their bangles and dupattas, they are the stars of the show. Plus, there’s food. It’s like a party because our teacher, Mythili Mami, makes sundal for all of us. When I say ‘all of us’, I do really mean that. There are about […]
- [Giggi and Daddy and Four Others](https://varshaseshan.com/giggi-and-daddy-and-four-others/): Yes, this post is about five picture books I read last week, but Giggi and Daddy is special, so special that I think it’s probably one of my favourite picture books of all time! I bought a bunch of books at Pickle Yolk Books’ birthday sale and ah! I could read all of them over and over again. And on that note, if you haven’t yet had a look at their sale yet, do. It is on right through the month of October.  Of my treasures, I read The Tree Boy first. I was intrigued by the title and the illustrations, plus, […]
- [How to Write a Limerick](https://varshaseshan.com/how-to-write-a-limerick/): What is a limerick? A limerick is a (usually humorous) five-line poem with a strict AABBA rhyme scheme. It’s fun to write and, usually, fun to read. I’ve always loved limericks by Edward Lear, and over the past few years, I’ve read many, many more. Do you remember the nursery rhyme ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’? That was probably the first limerick most of us learned! Why should I write a limerick? While I can’t give you an answer to that, I can tell you why I work with limericks so often at creative writing workshops I conduct. Limericks are fun. Limericks […]
- [Queen of Earth](https://varshaseshan.com/queen-of-earth/): In the author’s note at the end of Queen of Earth, author Devika Rangachari talks of Queen Prithvimahadevi’s story having been ignored by gendered historiography. That gave me pause. I’ve barely thought about that. I’ve barely thought about all the women who, most certainly, made significant changes to the course of history, but have been ignored by a patriarchal telling of the course of events. And that’s why historical fiction of this kind is important. It brings alive untold stories that inspire wonder. Just like Queen of Ice, which I read three years ago, Queen of Earth is the story […]
- [Moonrise](https://varshaseshan.com/moonrise/): I’ve been so busy working with my online creative writing programme that I simply haven’t had the time to write about all the books I’ve been reading. Two of them stand out, and one of those is Sarah Crossan’s Moonrise. This is the fourth book that I’m reading by this wonderful writer, and it seems as if I can’t get enough of her work. I began with the one I enjoyed most of all – One. I went on to Apple and Rain, which I loved for completely different reasons. Apple’s poetry teacher, Mr Gaydon, is one of my favourite […]
- [Creative Writing with Children](https://varshaseshan.com/creative-writing-with-children/): Every time I work with children on creative writing, I realise why I enjoy it so much. Each interaction is full of laughter, fun, and most joyous of all–moments when children finally understand something and it shows on their faces. I’m still elated after yesterday’s online creative writing session! Since I launched the programme on the 5th of October, I’ve had a regular routine. Early in the morning, I log on to my forum. What will I find? Which of the writers would have contributed something delightful? One morning, I discovered a letter to be placed in a high technology […]
- [A Week of Reviews](https://varshaseshan.com/a-week-of-reviews/): As a writer, receiving (nice) reader reviews is always delightful. This week has been special! One child read How I Feel as part of his weekly library activity and enjoyed it thoroughly. When he found out that I was the author, he was thrilled because he’s read Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells too! And that was just one of the many responses I got from readers – young and not so young – this week! Handwritten notes are lovely, aren’t they? The girl in the picture, I’m told, is little Shraavya, not me. I love the story “Treasure Hunt” too, so much […]
- [Online Creative Writing Programme (ages 9 to 11)](https://varshaseshan.com/online-creative-writing-programme-ages-9-to-11/): Please note that registrations are now closed for this batch. To find out about the next batch for this age-group, please fill this form, or follow me on my social media handles – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Outline​ Different kinds of poetry Making a story engaging Creating believable characters Working with plot and setting Genre Structure Dialogue writing Editing and publishing Details​ Age-group: 9-11 years Start Date: 5th October 2020 End Date: 28th December 2020 Online Interactions will be held every Monday from 4 pm to 5pm. Please note that Monday the 16th of November will be a holiday for Diwali. Fee: ₹15,000 […]
- [Online Creative Writing Programme (ages 12 to 14)](https://varshaseshan.com/online-creative-writing-programme/): Please note that registrations are now closed for this batch. To find out about the next batch for this age-group, please fill this form, or follow me on my social media handles – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. “I’ve written five poems. Will you read them?” “I’ve written three stories. How can I get them published?” “What is self-publishing?” “How can I have my book sold at Crossword?” This 12-week creative writing programme seeks to answer all these questions and more. It will guide children through their creative journeys. Participants will explore a range of literature to hone their writing skills, […]
- [Number the Stars](https://varshaseshan.com/number-the-stars/): What does it mean to be brave? And how can we help one another to be brave? Number the Stars is a beautiful work of historical fiction set in Denmark during the second world war. I love historical fiction that comes alive to me. Some time ago, I wrote about ten works of middle-grade historical fiction set in ten different places, and if I had to rewrite the piece, I would add Number the Stars to the list. Annemarie, who lives with her family in Copenhagen, knows stories about courage, but she is sure that if her bravery is ever […]
- [The Chat Box](https://varshaseshan.com/the-chat-box/): I love virtual school visits. I enjoy talking to children about my books, encouraging them to explore reading and writing, and taking them through my journey as a writer. Visiting schools virtually was such a novel experience that I wrote an essay for The Curious Reader about it. But of course, as virtual visits go on, more stories are created. That’s the fun of working with children, isn’t it? Recently, I did a session with a group of about 200 children. I know from experience that it’s important to lay down the rules at the outset, and one of the […]
- [One Crazy Summer](https://varshaseshan.com/one-crazy-summer/): I took a while to get sucked into One Crazy Summer. I was intrigued, yes, both by the setting and by the characters. Yet, I needed more. I wanted to like the characters, which I could not really do–also because you’re not meant to. Delphine, Vonetta and Fern go to Oakland to visit their mother Cecile. Cecile is unwelcoming–she does not want them there, she never asked them to come, and she makes it clear that they must stay out of her way. Delphine, the eleven-year-old narrator, is shocked that she does not even call herself Cecile anymore. She is […]
- [Inside Out and Back Again](https://varshaseshan.com/inside-out-and-back-again/): When a ten-year-old is forced to leave Saigon and immigrate, what would she go through? After having been one of the smartest students in class back home in Saigon, she is at the bottom of the class in Alabama. What would that be like? Her new classmates can’t understand that her name isn’t Ha, but Hà, with the diacritical mark. How can she stop them from teasing her by saying ‘Ha Ha, Ha Ha’? In the notes at the end of Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhhà Lai explains why she chose to write the book in verse. When the […]
- [Nine Days of Spine Poetry](https://varshaseshan.com/nine-days-of-spine-poetry/): I’ve been fascinated by spine poetry for a while, but I’ve just been too lazy to try it out. A couple of weeks ago, I shed the laziness and began. Like all kinds of writing, I liked some poems more than others. Some of the poems were so unappealing after a couple of days, that I didn’t even bother to share them. But for the rest, over the last nine days, I have been sharing a poem a day on my social media handles. Here they are, all together. Which one(s) do you like most? Edited to add: I deleted […]
- [5 Times Fictional Friendship Won My Heart](https://varshaseshan.com/5-times-fictional-friendship-won-my-heart/): When I was at school, Friendship Day was associated with all kinds of secrecy. We would hide writing boards under our desks, and make friendship bands while pretending to listen to the teacher. Friendship bands would get confiscated, much to our indignation. They came under the category of ‘ornaments’, which were prohibited. Some girls made beautiful friendship bands and their chosen friends wore those bands like badges of honour, hiding them in their pockets whenever teachers were around. Today, Friendship Day makes me smile. Yes, friendship is something I treasure, and I try hard to write about. I try to […]
- [When Morning Comes](https://varshaseshan.com/when-morning-comes/): I haven’t read or studied much about South Africa, though I do remember studying about apartheid and Nelson Mandela in school. Yet, when we’re children, it’s easy to think of things as ‘long ago’. Even a year is a long time in a child’s life. Reading When Morning Comes, I realised with quite a shock that 1976, the year when the book is set, was not so long ago. The Immorality Act astounded me, for I read about it with a clear understanding of how recently it was a reality. It made me think of posts I’ve seen on social […]
- [Flyaway Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/flyaway-boy/): What an unexpected book! I’ve been meaning to read Flyaway Boy for a while, but technological problems came in the way. I bought a Kindle edition only to learn that the ebook is not compatible with my Kindle, which meant that I had to read it on my laptop. Sitting at my laptop and reading doesn’t feel like reading at all. It feels like I’m working, even though I do so much that is not work when I’m at my laptop. I love to lounge and read and my laptop isn’t really conducive to that. But Flyaway Boy was a […]
- [The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling](https://varshaseshan.com/the-surprising-power-of-a-good-dumpling/): I met author Wai Chim at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in 2017. I didn’t just meet her, we were part of the same panel, called Writing About Us. She came for my book launch, a poorly attended event because I knew very few people there in Singapore, and the launch was tucked away in the basement. Don’t get me wrong. The basement was beautiful. It was the children’s library and the most stunning one I’ve seen. The problem was there was no way of getting people’s attention and having random passers-by attend. Wai Chim came for the event, […]
- [The Misfits](https://varshaseshan.com/the-misfits/): The story of how I got my hands on The Misfits is a tale in itself. I ordered it during the Zubaan Women’s Day sale, and it was dispatched about a week later. With the lockdown and then Nisarga, it never came. There was no way to track it and quite honestly, I didn’t try very much. It was too tiny a problem to worry about when it felt like the world was collapsing around us. I just gave up, figuring that I would order the book again some other time.And then, out of the blue, on the 14th of […]
- [Online Dance Class](https://varshaseshan.com/online-dance-class/): Yesterday, at dance class, we broke into spontaneous applause. You know how sometimes, when someone’s internet connection falters during an online class, the layout suddenly changes? And if you’re completely unused to anything technological, what are you supposed to do? Yesterday, our dance teacher Mythili Mami clicked those three vertical dots, found and clicked ‘change layout’, and chose a tiled layout. We all roared with appreciation and clapped. To understand the import of what she achieved and why we were so excited, here’s a little background. The Backstory My teacher uses nothing technological. She still uses audio cassettes, as far […]
- [The Ammuchi Puchi](https://varshaseshan.com/the-ammuchi-puchi/): I’ve been looking at books from Lantana Publishing for a while, and I want to read so many of them! The books look gorgeous and for the most part, receive glowing reviews too. When I discovered that The Ammuchi Puchi is being offered as a free ebook in times of Corona, I sank my teeth in. Stories about grief are important. I wrote about Boo! When My Sister Died, a book that deals with death and love. The Ammuchi Puchi is another beautiful book that addresses the difficult topic of death in a book for children. Aditya and Anjali used […]
- [Across the Line](https://varshaseshan.com/across-the-line/): What a powerful, beautiful book. Across the Line is one of the South Asia Book Award Honor Books 2020. I was intrigued by the title and the cover image, but I didn’t know anything about the book, except that it was South Asian, probably Indian. And the name naturally suggested to me the partition. I was not wrong. And yet, Across the Line is much more. It’s about the cultural baggage we continue to carry, so many years after India was divided. The story begins in 1947 when the line was drawn, dividing the nation. Mountbatten chose to leave India […]
- [What to Read on StoryWeaver](https://varshaseshan.com/what-to-read-on-storyweaver/): At this moment, StoryWeaver has 22,487 stories. 22,487. Let’s do some maths. If I read a story a day every day of my life, I will need over 61 years to read all those stories. That’s not even taking into account the fact that there will be many, many more stories by then. So, here’s a list to start on that journey. This is a set of books I read recently and loved. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll read more than a story a day, so maybe you won’t need 61 years to catch up with them all. […]
- [Crenshaw](https://varshaseshan.com/crenshaw/): Look at that gorgeous cover. It invited me in with all its charm, its wonder, its mystery. And the book was just as heart-warming. Jackson likes facts. He’s the kid who runs backstage and then reveals to everyone just how the magician pulled a rabbit out of his hat. He knows facts about bats and cats and dinosaurs and all kinds of other creatures because facts are real. Facts are important.If only his parents would tell him facts too, instead of trying to be all cheery and optimistic, and pretending that everything is going well. The other problem with Jackson’s […]
- [The Good Thieves](https://varshaseshan.com/the-good-thieves/): I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – you cannot go wrong with Katherine Rundell. The Girl Savage, Rooftoppers, The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, and now, The Good Thieves. I’ve loved all of them. I love the poetry in the storytelling, the feisty characters and the power of relationships. Katherine Rundell’s work just sucks me in each time and holds me in the story until I’ve read the last sentence. A rich conman Sorrotore has swindled Vita’s grandfather out of his home, an old castle that is falling apart. Sorrotore insists that he bought the castle cheap – […]
- [All of Me](https://varshaseshan.com/all-of-me/): It’s been a while since I wrote a book review, simply because I haven’t been reading much for the last two months. I wrote about that for The Curious Reader – about reading old favourites, but not really taking the plunge and reading something altogether new. Finally, a few days ago, I settled into a newer kind of reading. I began (finally!) to look for books to buy and read on my Kindle to keep me going until libraries reopen and I feel comfortable enough to go visit them. And the first book I bought was All of Me by […]
- [Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells - The Story Behind the Story](https://varshaseshan.com/dragonflies-jigsaws-and-seashells-the-story-behind-the-story/): Stories of rejection can be empowering if they have happy endings. I realised that when I shared the story behind the story of Sisters at New Dawn. I think, since writing is such a solitary affair anyway, knowing that you aren’t amassing those rejections alone makes you feel warm, and a little less alone. So, here’s the story of Dragonflies and how it came into being. It’s the story of the rejections I accumulated before being shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award. The book is out now, available in India, and now is as good a time as any to write about […]
- [Letters I Receive - VI](https://varshaseshan.com/letters-i-receive-vi/): Okay, so this blog post cheats a little because even though it is about letters I’ve received, I’m also going to write about ones I just received – as photographs. They’re letters that I sent over 18 years ago. In my previous post, I wrote about the only crossed letter I ever wrote. I just saw a picture of the crossed letter and I realised I got it all wrong. So much for that. A crossed letter doesn’t have upside-down writing; it has writing at 90º to the original text–that’s what makes it crossed. Oh, well here’s my only attempt […]
- [Letters I Receive - V](https://varshaseshan.com/letters-i-receive-v/): I’ve written about both Sreeja and her grandparents before. When Sreeja was studying at IIT-Kharagpur, she invited Veda and me to come for Diwali and see the magnificent illumination and rangoli on campus. All the dates went awry and we finally reached Kharagpur the day after the illumination. Oh, well, we saw what was left of it all. And Kolkata was special. We stayed with Sreeja’s grandparents in Calcutta. They’re exceptionally warm people, who, like so many other Indian grandparents, showed all their love for us through food. This was in 2005. When we got back home, in the way […]
- [Letters I Receive - IV](https://varshaseshan.com/letters-i-receive-iv/): Recently (well, not recently really, but not long before the lockdown began), I did a letter-writing activity at a couple of workshops. I’ve always loved receiving letters. A letter in the mailbox with YOUR NAME on it? Ooh, the joy! I wanted children to experience that too, and what better way than through a workshop? But the world has changed. I learned a lot through my letter-writing activity – including the fact that some children have been taught not to tell other people their address – ever! I understand that, don’t get me wrong, but I couldn’t help thinking about […]
- [Letters I Receive - III](https://varshaseshan.com/letters-i-receive-iii/): Have you ever had chicken pox? But more importantly, did you have a special friend to write letters to when you were quarantined? My sister Nisha missed her sixth standard final exams because she had chicken pox. Right through those weeks, she was extra careful, taking precautions rather similar to the ones we’re taking right now in times of Corona, though sanitiser was unheard of then. She didn’t touch things I would touch; she sat in one sofa; our beds were socially distant (of course, we didn’t think of it like that). After my exams, after Nisha recovered, I got […]
- [Letters I Receive - II](https://varshaseshan.com/letters-i-receive-ii/): Once upon a time, we had a dial-up connection. I don’t know if younger readers of my blog even know what that is. Email took ages to load. You could read a book while you waited for the connection to be established and then … Never mind. For some reason, I had a usa (dot) net email id. They later made it a paid service, so I just stopped using that email address. I began to use rediffmail instead. It was modern and quite cool, but internet was still expensive, and I didn’t yet know how to type. My sister […]
- [Letters I Receive - I](https://varshaseshan.com/letters-i-receive-i/): Have you ever wondered who uses the stationery in a hotel room? I mean, who needs an envelope and letter-writing paper and all of that when you spend one night in a hotel? I raise my hand. It’s me. And I take after my father. During the lockdown, I plan to share a story about a letter, or just a picture of a letter each day. Here’s one. This one is from my father. I’ve always loved receiving letters from him! Each year, we would go to my grandparents’ place in Bangalore for the summer, and each year, he would […]
- [Writer's Discipline](https://varshaseshan.com/writers-discipline/): Yes, I know today’s post ought to be about World Dance Day, but somehow things don’t work that way. I’ve finished working on projects that have been works-in-progress for a while. I need to set them aside and do something new. That’s how I work. I have spreadsheets of when to look at work again and start the rewriting process. As I said to my sister just yesterday, I’m a terrible writer. But I’m a good rewriter, which is what makes my writing passable. And yes, sometimes I write 12 and 13 drafts of the same story before I’m remotely […]
- [The Peril Trilogy](https://varshaseshan.com/the-peril-trilogy/): In the time of lockdown, Kindle Unlimited books are such a boon! I’ve been devouring books by Julia Golding for a while now, and when I discovered the Peril trilogy by Joss Stirling (same writer, different name), I was thrilled. Three books to read! Except that they’re so fast paced that I didn’t spend very long over them. Peril (Book 1) Meri Marlowe is the last of her kind, except that she doesn’t know that. She knows that she can see a colour called Peril that no one else seems to be able to see. Her parents died protecting her, […]
- [Ragged Wolf](https://varshaseshan.com/ragged-wolf/): I’m home. Coronavirus. Twisted ankle.My instinct is to sit with my laptop and work all day, but I know I will be exhausted if I do that. So, what can I do? I’m afraid of running out of books (yes, really) and I ration them, until I remember that I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Ever since Duckbill was acquired, though, I haven’t used Kindle Unlimited much because Duckbill books aren’t there any longer. Halfheartedly, I checked if my favourite writers had anything new there, and … yes! So much for rationing my reading, though, I read Ragged Wolf practically all […]
- [Where the Mountain Meets the Moon](https://varshaseshan.com/where-the-mountain-meets-the-moon/): What a truly delightful story! In the shadow of Fruitless Mountain live Minli and her family. Everything in her village seems grey and dull, except Minli, who sparkles with life. That sparkle is, perhaps, the result of Ba’s stories. Night after night, he tells her stories about dragons, the Never-Ending Mountain and the Old Man of the Moon. Ma harrumphs and disapproves, for what use are stories when their fortune will not change? Life is hard and they must strive to make ends meet. With all the stories she has heard, Minli knows that only one person can help change […]
- [Leap Day](https://varshaseshan.com/leap-day/): I’ve always been fascinated by leap years. Who hasn’t? Magically, out of nothingness, a day appears every four years. Where does it hide, squished between the 28th of February (a special month anyway) and the 1st of March? What does it do when it is hiding? Equally, I’ve been torn by envy of and pity for people born on the 29th of February. The uniqueness of the day surely makes you a special person. But poor you! How does it feel to have a real birthday only once in four years? I was so fascinated by the idea that in […]
- [The Writers' Club 2019-20](https://varshaseshan.com/the-writers-club-2019-20/): I can’t quite believe it’s been five years with the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School. I remember we had a maths teacher in class V who had been teaching there for FOUR YEARS. And I thought that it was pretty much forever. I’m there now. My first batch was created for the sesquicentennial celebrations, and it led to the publication of Flickering Flames. In the second year, we put together a book of our own, handmade, and we called it The Book that Speaks. And in the following three years, I held a writing competition, with the results being announced during the very […]
- [Annexed](https://varshaseshan.com/annexed/): I was not planning to write a review of Annexed because of all the questions it raised in me about historical fiction. The Diary of a Young Girl, with its optimism and intimacy, made the Annexe come alive to all of us. I read it years ago and was left feeling hollow because vivacious Anne Frank, who died perhaps equally of loneliness and of typhus, could not have, should not have died. But what of the others in the Annexe whom we see only through Anne’s eyes? What of her father who survived and the others who didn’t? What of Peter, the only young boy […]
- [Broken Soup](https://varshaseshan.com/broken-soup/): Unlike most other books that I pick up, the cover of Broken Soup did not attract me. But I’ve read and loved two other books by Jenny Valentine (The Ant Colony and Fire Colour One), so I borrowed this one – and, once more, I loved how the story was told. Rowan’s family falls apart when her brother Jack dies. Jack was the kind of person who made a room more interesting when he stepped in and left people feeling a little deflated when he stepped away. He was funny, lively and charismatic – so much so that Rowan lived in his glow. She was […]
- [Sisters at New Dawn - The Story Behind the Story](https://varshaseshan.com/sisters-at-new-dawn-the-story-behind-the-story/): Everybody knows that writing a book takes time. Sometimes (is it especially so with me?), it takes quite a long time. I wrote Sisters at New Dawn six years ago. 2014. Of course, this meant that in the last edit, I had to make lots of changes in it to keep up with the times. For instance, I had to change the idea of young people on Facebook to young people on Instagram; you’ll discover the context if you read the book. That changed in these six years. I sent my manuscript out to the first publisher on my list on the 14th […]
- [International Mother Language Day](https://varshaseshan.com/international-mother-language-day/): All kinds of thoughts come to my mind as I think of the term mother language. I love the fact that so many languages exist. I love the celebration of language as both art and skill. Yet, working as I do with children and adults in diverse environments, I can’t help seeing other implications.On the one hand, celebrating the mother language is a way to understand privilege and language politics. On the other hand, I see children struggling to answer the question of why they don’t speak their mother tongue. Sometimes it’s because their mother tongue and father tongue are […]
- [Fish in a Tree](https://varshaseshan.com/fish-in-a-tree/): Just like with Counting in 7s, I ended up reading Fish in a Tree because of the Neev Literature Festival Reading Challenge. I loved listening to Lynda Mullaly Hunt speak. She left me with so much to think about, both as a writer and as a reader. I’d read nothing she’d written, so I made a note of that and looked out for her books. The first one to come my way was the New York Times bestseller, Fish in a Tree. And I loved it. Ally Nickerson is the proverbial fish in the tree. She can’t read, and it’s […]
- [The Editor's Perspective](https://varshaseshan.com/the-editors-perspective/): The last guest session at this edition of my creative writing programme was with Daphne Lee, consulting editor at Scholastic Asia. It was everything I expected it to be – informative, detailed, and full of laughter. She answered questions, told us about the publishing process, and shared a manuscript with us, detailing how the editing process works. It was fascinating to see how the book took shape! Here are a few of the questions I asked and the responses we received. Varsha:How do you decide whether to publish a book? Daphne: It’s hard to say. Voice is key. Things like grammar […]
- [Reflections: Day Three at AFCC 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-three-at-afcc-2022/): Day three at AFCC 2022 was the whole reason I was there. Book launch day! Of course, that was the highlight of my day, so even though that did not technically come first, I’m going to begin with it. Book Launch by Scholastic Asia My book, Red Eyes, has been a long time in the making. I’ll write about the story behind the story (like I did for Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells, The Clockwala’s Clues and Sisters at New Dawn) soon, but launching it at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content was such a delight! Equally delightful was listening to […]
- [Counting by 7s](https://varshaseshan.com/counting-by-7s/): As part of the Neev Literature Festival’s reading challenge, I’ve been attending as many author interactions as I can. I love them! One session I attended last month was with Holly Goldberg Sloan, who spoke about her book The Elephant in the Room. I haven’t read that one, but I have read To Night Owl From Dogfish, one of my favourite books of all time. (During the session, I also asked her about how the experience of co-authoring an epistolary book was. The response was lovely, but that’s a story for another time!) I read up a bit about Sloan […]
- [Reflections: Day Two at AFCC 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-two-at-afcc-2022/): Day two at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content was on 27 May, but I caught up with all the sessions I wanted to just yesterday. I felt like I had a time-turner because I attended three simultaneous sessions, thanks to a virtual AFCC 2022! Here’s an overview of how the day was for me. Environmental Advocacy in Children’s Books This was one of the sessions I attended synchronously, and the experience of doing that is quite different from catching up with an event later. The environmental is a subject close to my heart, and I read a lot of […]
- [The Art of Zines](https://varshaseshan.com/the-art-of-zines/): We just had another rewarding guest session! Niloufer Wadia, an illustrator and Urban Sketcher, covered so much ground in one short hour with my creative writing programme – you can guess what I mean from the picture above! From showing us different kinds of zines to telling us about storyboarding, she led us through the process of illustrating our works, choosing what to draw and helping us understand how to draw it. The zines Niloufer showed us to begin with were lovely. Even though we’re going to be creating an e-zine at my writing programme, exploring form and shape was […]
- [Reflections: Day One at AFCC 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/reflections-day-one-at-afcc-2022/): It’s been four years since I attended the Asian Festival of Children’s Content. 2016 – my collection of short stories (now published as Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells) was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award, so I attended for the first time.2017 – I submitted a paper titled Writing About Us, which was selected as part of a panel, so off I went for the second time.2018 – my middle grade book (now published as Red Eyes) was the first runner-up for the Scholastic Asian Book Award, and yes, I attended the AFCC again. I didn’t go in 2019 and […]
- [My Grandmother's Masterpiece](https://varshaseshan.com/my-grandmothers-masterpiece/): So often, we think of our grandparents simply as grandparents. We are the centre of the universe after all, aren’t we? But Nini discovers that there is more to her grandmother than just being a grandmother. A stray conversation leads her to ask her mother to buy a box of paints for her grandmother, her Minima. And then, a journey of discovery begins – for Nini, her grandmother and the entire family. My Grandmother’s Masterpiece is a lovely story that celebrates the relationship between grandparent and grandchild, but it’s more than that. It’s the story of Nini’s Minima who is […]
- [The Mystery of the Suspicious Spices](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mystery-of-the-suspicious-spices/): Greetings from Somewhere is a popular series of chapter books, and when I chose The Mystery of the Suspicious Spices for my book club, I hadn’t yet read it yet. The book I wanted was not available, and I just went with the idea that this one was popular and available. I knew I would, of course, read it well before my reading programme began. And then, as I read it, I wondered if I wanted my book club to read it. It’s set in India and, simply put, doesn’t work. The picture of a sari looks nothing like a sari.There’s a […]
- ['Mics It Up! - A Comic-Making Workshop](https://varshaseshan.com/mics-it-up-a-comic-making-workshop/): I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again. There’s nothing like inviting guests to my writing programmes. The energy, the fun, the enthusiasm … Can you believe that every participant (except me) managed to create a comic strip during the session? Greystroke, an author, illustrator, filmmaker and entrepreneur, took us through the creation of a four-panel comic strip. I learned so much!  Among other things, we discussed the importance of pauses, something I mull over whenever I’m writing. Where would you pause in the telling of a joke? How do we create the perfect build-up before delivering […]
- [The Chowpatty Cooking Club](https://varshaseshan.com/the-chowpatty-cooking-club/): Who didn’t want to be a freedom fighter while studying about the independence movement? I know I dreamt of being a heroine – just like Sakina in The Chowpatty Cooking Club. I would do something meaningful and brave. I would do whatever it took! But like Sakina, the question was what? Bursting with humour, innocence and a burning, childlike desire to prove yourself, The Chowpatty Cooking Club by Lubaina Bandukwala is a lovely read. It is the tale of three young children who are determined to be heroes. It’s tough being a heroine when you have a strict grandfather, but […]
- [Dungeon Tales II](https://varshaseshan.com/dungeon-tales-ii/): Munni finds an old book in her Mamaji’s shop. What does it say? ungeon ales? What could that possibly be? There’s only one way to find out – Munni must learn how to read, and properly. There’s a tiny problem – girls are forbidden to read in her village. But can that little detail stop a protagonist like Munni? Stories within a story within a story – Munni reads a book about the Badmash Badshah, who has prisoners in his dungeon come tell him stories. And these stories comprise not ungeon ales, but the Badmash Badshah’s Dungeon Tales. I loved […]
- [The Nameless God](https://varshaseshan.com/the-nameless-god/): Often, when I read a book written for children, I wonder if I would have liked it as a child. I was quite conservative in my reading tastes right through school. I wasn’t very willing to experiment, and I was drawn to just a few books. Yet, I think I would have enjoyed The Nameless God simply because it is so relatable. The characters are so much like I was as a child! Do you know anyone who has always been perfectly rational, completely unwilling to believe in superstition? I don’t. As a child, I didn’t believe in good luck […]
- [Kukdukoo 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/kukdukoo-2022/): There’s nothing quite like the energy of a lit fest. Children running around, reading, getting excited about books … what more does a writer want? My first session of the day was all about my middle-grade book, Sisters at New Dawn. Do you see the sheets of paper in the children’s hands? They’re lists of subjects children at New Dawn choose from. I asked the children to imagine they received these lists. What would they choose? I loved listening to all their responses, and all their additions to my subject lists! But what made my session extra special is the girl […]
- [Ghosts Don't Eat](https://varshaseshan.com/ghosts-dont-eat/): Ghosts Don’t Eat is the third of Anushka Ravishankar’s books that we’re reading at my online reading programme, and it promises to be just as much fun! We read Moin and the Monster at my book club for slightly older readers and the first of the Zain and Ana books, At Least a Fish, at an earlier edition of my book club for ages seven and eight. Ghosts Don’t Eat is a hilarious book. I love children with good, earnest intentions, never mind what happens next. For instance, Ana wants to investigate the ghost in her neighbour Nikhil’s house, so of course she needs Zain […]
- [Nimmi's Dreadtastic Detective Days](https://varshaseshan.com/nimmis-dreadtastic-detective-days-2/): It’s been a year since I read Nimmi’s Dreadtastic Detective Days, and I’ve been mulling over whether to read it at my reading programme. It’s a little longer than the books we usually read, but there’s so much we can do with the book that I’ve been tempted to choose it. Finally, I decided I would just go ahead and see how it goes, since reading levels differ so widely anyway! Here’s what we’ll do with it. Portmanteau Words Dreadful + Fantastic = DreadtasticHorrible + Despondent = HorrondentGuffawing + Chortling = Guffortling I love word games at my book club! As […]
- [The Reading Race](https://varshaseshan.com/the-reading-race/): Books about books are always fun to read at my reading programmes. At an earlier edition, we read a book with a few elements that didn’t appeal to me. For instance, I don’t like the idea of reading quickly, or a competition based on how many books you can read. I also don’t like the idea of particular books being read by girls and other books being read by boys. And The Reading Race heads in the right direction on both counts! At the Read-a-thon in Freddy’s school, the student who reads for the most minutes will win free books and […]
- [A Big Splash](https://varshaseshan.com/a-big-splash-2/): I read the entire PARI series a few months ago, and I’ve been mulling over them ever since. I’m not usually a big fan of nonfiction, and I haven’t yet worked with it at my online reading programme, but A Big Splash stayed with me. And then, there were stray conversations that made me think of the book over and over again. A child at my writing programme told me how much she liked it. Earlier this month, we worked with Flyaway Boy by Jane de Suza, and during one of our activities, a label many of the children gave themselves was ‘sports-lover’. […]
- [Malhar in the Middle](https://varshaseshan.com/malhar-in-the-middle/): I LOVE Shruthi Rao’s books. We read Manya Learns to Roar at my first reading programme, and even before that, I read and loved Susie Will Not Speak. If anything, I liked Malhar in the Middle even more. Malhar loves playing the tabla. But why does tradition demand that he should sit on the side? Why is he is the ‘accompanying artiste’? Isn’t the tabla player equally important at a concert?  A big theme like tradition is handled with the lightest touch possible, and it’s beautifully done. I love that Malhar manages to solve his own problem without needless drama or emotional conflict. He knows what […]
- [Mostly Ghostly Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/mostly-ghostly-stories/): If you want to start a conversation with her, send her an email here and she promises to reply I paused and sighed. That’s how Subhadra Sen Gupta’s bio note ends, and even though I never knew or even met her, that line right there warms me up. And even if she cannot reply now, her words stay alive through all the wonderful books she’s written. Mostly Ghostly Stories is a fun, pacy collection of six stories. The stories span across time – from one set in Vijayanagar during Krishna Deva Raya’s rule to another set in the age of […]
- [The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise](https://varshaseshan.com/the-remarkable-journey-of-coyote-sunrise/): How does one even begin to talk about a book like The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise? Coyote – why is she called Coyote? Why does the cover image show her sitting on top of a school bus? Coyote’s mother and sisters die in a road accident and for her father, the only way to overcome grief is never to look back. So, he begins to call himself Rodeo, and never lets Coyote call him Dad. Nothing, nothing should remind them of the past. And returning to a place full of memories? That’s a no-go. But when Coyote learns that […]
- [Names and Words](https://varshaseshan.com/names-and-words/): Peanut vs the Piano We’re reading Peanut vs the Piano at two of my book clubs. Peanut, Papad and Pickle. What funny names those are! “I hope their parents named them after their favourite food!” I said. “Not things that were lying around. What if your parents had named you after their favourite foods? What would your names have been?” “Fish!” said Zayn. “My name would have been Fish.”“Like the dog in At Least a Fish!” someone said.So, Zayn amended, “Fish fries!” Aarav thought about it. “I think I would be called Kalidal Pizza.”We couldn’t help laughing. And then, he […]
- [Unfair](https://varshaseshan.com/unfair/): Three years ago, when I read No. 9 on the Shade Card, I came across the concept of a shade card for the first time. As a child, conversations about skin colour bounced off me. People spoke of how one person was lighter or darker than another; they talked of having tanned too much after a trip to Goa; I knew people who wore socks no matter how hot it was just so that their feet wouldn’t tan. None of these conversations pierced the bubble I lived in, much like Lina, one of the two protagonists of the story. Unlike […]
- [Rain Must Fall](https://varshaseshan.com/rain-must-fall/): Rain Must Fall by Nandita Basu is such a beautiful read! I devoured it in one sitting, and I loved it. Anya, Rumi’s best friend, asks whom Rumi would like to go on a date with. Rumi makes the mistake of being honest and saying ‘you’. After all, you can be truthful with your best friend, can’t you? And it isn’t really as if Rumi has a romantic interest in Anya; it was just a game. Wasn’t it? Maybe not. Because gossip and cruel jokes begin on the school group. Soon, Rumi discovers that neither parents nor schoolmates can accept […]
- [January Reads](https://varshaseshan.com/january-reads/): In December, I visited a books by weight sale, and I couldn’t resist picking up seven books that were in near-mint condition! I couldn’t finish one, but I read the other six, some of which I quite enjoyed, and others that I loved. Here they are, listed in an unusual way for me – from the one I enjoyed least to the one I enjoyed most.  3.5/5 Fan Fiction, Feminist, Ages 10+ I enjoy reading spin-offs of classics. Off the top of my head, the ones that come to mind are Wide Sargasso Sea, Wishing for Tomorrow and Lilliput, though I’m sure […]
- [Green Reads - Part 2](https://varshaseshan.com/green-reads-part-2/): The Golden Eagle. With its gorgeous pictures and gripping storyline, it drew us in. “I think I’m going to like this even more than The Butterfly Lion,” said one child. Just by chance, all three books we read during this edition of my book club featured animals. Manolita has seals; the title The Butterfly Lion says it all – butterflies and lions; The Golden Eagle has a profusion of birds. Many of the children have never seen storks, ospreys, harriers, green pigeons and thrushes, and the book brought these alive to us. It was time for a follow-up activity, one […]
- [Green Reads - Part 1](https://varshaseshan.com/green-reads-part-1/): On social media, I’ve been seeing posts about book club facilitators introducing green reads to children. “What a lovely idea,” I found myself thinking. I’ve always loved stories about the environment. I read post after post, and then I stopped. Wait a minute! I’m reading green reads with my book clubbers too – A Very Naughty Dragon with two bunches of seven and eight-year-olds, and The Golden Eagle with the slightly older ones! So, I reached out to Archana, who runs AA’s Book Nerds, asking if she’d like me to jump on the bandwagon. I had no idea how structured […]
- [Careers in Writing - Fergusson College](https://varshaseshan.com/careers-in-writing-fergusson-college/): A career in writing – what does that mean? As part of UGC’s STRIDE (Scheme for for Trans-Disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy), the English department of Fergusson College invited me to talk about making a career in creative writing. What I loved was that I didn’t speak just to students of the English department; it really was trans-disciplinary! What would a talk on a career in creative writing involve? For me, first, it would involve demystifying the publishing process. Secondly, to use a word that the organiser used, it would need to deglamorize the life of a writer. If […]
- [Pench - December 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/pench-december-2021/): Should we even consider travelling? Maybe we should just cancel and stay home. We haven’t gone anywhere for so long! Surely, a jungle is safe! Where else will we actually be able to stay socially distant? What if we have to do an RT-PCR before taking our flight back. Will we have to spend a night in Nagpur? Let’s not cross a state border. That way, being doubly vaccinated should be enough for us to catch a flight. Wondering, debating, planning … we finally did go to Pench Tiger Reserve in December 2021, and I’m so glad we did. Safari […]
- [Adventure on Wheels](https://varshaseshan.com/adventure-on-wheels/): Adventure on Wheels is such a rollicking read! The book opens with two thieves stealing a van that belongs to an orphanage. The theft itself is simple enough, but when they discover three children hiding in the van, they’re up against more than they’d bargained for. At once heart-warming and hilarious, Adventure on Wheels is a fun book that I can’t wait to share with my book club! Unlikely Heroes When we think about the main character in a story, what kind of character do we usually have in mind? Subbu and Golu are thieves! Can they be the heroes of the […]
- [Beginning 2022 On a High](https://varshaseshan.com/beginning-2022-on-a-high/): And there, having looked back at the year that went by, I can’t have asked for a better way to begin 2022. In December 2021, I travelled after nearly two years. The forest had been calling me for months, but I knew I had to bide my time. We went back to Pench, the place where we brought in the year 2019, and there, we brought in the year 2022. And on the morning of the 1st of January, this beauty greeted us. It was one of those dream sightings, where we, rather than the guide or the driver spotted the […]
- [My Year in Writing: 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-writing-2021/): The year 2020 was such a boost to me as a writer! With a poem published by OUP, a picture book, a chapter book, a middle-grade book and a collection of short stories, how could 2021 even hope to compete? Even so, with two publications, an award shortlist, a book going into reprint and tons of reviews, 2021 was quite lovely too! How Big Is a Whale Shark? I wrote my first nonfiction picture book! It wasn’t easy, but I enjoyed the process tremendously. Best of all, though, are the stunning illustrations. Mandar Mhaskar made How Big Is a Whale Shark? what […]
- [My Father's Dragon](https://varshaseshan.com/my-fathers-dragon/): I rarely choose to read classics at my book club, and My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett is, without doubt, a classic. I’m waiting for those wide-eyed comments about it having been published in NINETEEN FORTY-EIGHT! But this is one of those classics that I’m convinced will be good fun to read with my book club. It’s quirky, imaginative, and full of unexpected twists and turns from the very first page. A talking cat, tigers that love chewing gum, a rhinoceros that wants a white horn … each chapter is full of marvels! Best of all is that the story is […]
- [My Year in Workshops: 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-workshops-2021/): The year 2021 was such an affirming year for me in terms of work! Since 2014, I’ve been freelancing. I’ve done workshops for children with the British Council, teacher training for Ratna Sagar, and I’ve been invited by schools and organisations to do workshops here and there. After nearly a year of the pandemic, these dried up. It isn’t as if I didn’t do workshops for other organisations; I did. But as I look back, only one paid workshop comes to mind – a session on my book, The Best Idea of All, for an online lit fest, Vishwarang. Everything else […]
- [About Average](https://varshaseshan.com/about-average/): I read Frindle some time ago and loved it. I considered using it for my online reading programme, but it’s so well known that I figured that many children would have read it, or at least heard of it, already. How about something by the same author, but less known? And that’s how I stumbled upon About Average by Andrew Clements. Jordan is about average in every way, or so it seems to her. She isn’t short or tall. She isn’t pretty or ugly. Her grades are average too. Soon, she will graduate from elementary school, but she still hasn’t discovered what she is […]
- [My Favourite Young Adult Books from 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-young-adult-books-from-2021/): I didn’t read very many young adult books in 2021, and several that I did read proved to be disappointing. With some, I know I was probably being unfair because I have high expectations of authors I’ve read and loved. I left a number of books unfinished; when there are so many books out there waiting to be read, why plough through books I have to push myself to read? Five YA books stood out to me, though, and I can’t help seeing both how similar they are and how very different. Postbox Kashmir This is probably the first time […]
- [The School is Alive!](https://varshaseshan.com/the-school-is-alive/): This is the first time I will be reading a spooky book with my book club for ages seven and eight! One of the British Council reading challenge themes was Creepy House, so I’ve worked extensively with slightly scary stories for all age-groups, but because it was never one of my go-to genres as a child, I took a while to bring myself around to the idea of introducing a scary book to the children I meet. Yet, The School is Alive is the perfect mixture of thrilling and comforting. When Sam Graves becomes the hall monitor at Eerie Elementary, he has […]
- [My Favourite Middle-Grade Books from 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-middle-grade-books-from-2021/): I didn’t read as many middle-grade books as usual in 2021, something I hope to remedy in 2022. Of those that I read, however, these six stood out. The first two are early middle-grade books, while the other four are for more advanced readers. Roughly, I would set the age-group for all six as 9-12. As with my favourite chapter books, I’ve included only those that I read for the first time last year, not well-loved rereads! The Golden Eagle The Golden Eagle by Deepak Dalal is a gorgeous book, with stunning illustrations by Krishna Bala Shenoi and a thrilling story […]
- [Paati Goes Viral](https://varshaseshan.com/paati-goes-viral/): Paati Goes Viral by Prabhu Vishwanathan is such a sweet book! At my reading programme, I like to begin with a short book because it gives us the time to get to know one another and warm up. Also, when the book is short, we have more time for activities! Dhruv’s grandparents are excited about travelling, but the best laid plans often go awry. When Thatha dies in his sleep, Paati no longer has the will to keep doing everything that makes her happy. Her family coaxes her into travelling alone, and everything goes well until Paati loses her camera. A […]
- [My Favourite Chapter Books from 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-chapter-books-from-2021/): Thanks to my book clubs, I read so many chapter books and early middle grade books in 2021! Of the 30-40 I read, here are nine books that stood out to me. I’ve shared most of them with my enthusiastic young book clubbers, and the review link will take you to activities that you can do with the book. As there are so many books, I decided not to include those I reread last year, sticking only to those I read for the first time in 2021. Muggie Maggie This one is such a delight that I’ve held on to […]
- [Peanut vs the Piano](https://varshaseshan.com/peanut-vs-the-piano/): Peanut is such a lovely character! Peanut thought she enjoyed playing the piano. But with piano exams around the corner, piano practice is just one more thing added to an endless list of things she has to do when she would rather play outdoors. Soon, she begins to think of the piano as a big, brown monster. Even worse is that she simply cannot understand what her piano teacher means when he tells her to play with feeling. How is she supposed to play with feeling when the only thing she’s feeling is hungry? Humour and excitement come together in […]
- [My Favourite Picture Books from 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-picture-books-from-2021/): Each January, when I look through my blog posts and my shelf on Goodreads, I realise how much I’ve read! As always, many of these books weren’t published in 2021; I just read them in 2021. Through the course of the year, I read a range of picture books from wordless ones (which I love) to long, beautiful stories that are more suited to older readers. I’ve tried to arrange them on the basis of reading level, but with 18 books on the list, I kept shuffling the order because children and their reading levels are so different! My Street […]
- [Art, Music and Movement with Veda Aggarwal](https://varshaseshan.com/art-music-and-movement-with-veda-aggarwal/): Yes. Each time I invite a guest to speak to my creative writing programme, I realise that the session is as much for me as it is for the children. As a writer, I am often caught in a capitalist circle, writing with a clear goal in sight. What is the purpose of a piece? What do I want my audience to feel? Yet, sometimes, writing is just writing. The arts are interconnected and once in a while, we need to be reminded of that. When we were children and teens, Veda and I spent hours talking about art, music […]
- [White Socks Only](https://varshaseshan.com/white-socks-only/): White Socks Only is a stunning piece of literature and art, a charming book about a curious child eager to find out whether something she’s heard is true. I revisited this book purely for the purpose of teaching it, and there’s just so much to explore! Of course, the obvious choices would be to visit the themes of racism and segregation. But as a creative writing trainer, there’s much more. The book opens with the young narrator wanting a story, and not just any story, her favourite story. And she knows just how to get her grandma to tell that […]
- [Magic Flutes](https://varshaseshan.com/magic-flutes/): I love giving books away. I don’t hold with the idea that if you have too many books, you need a new shelf. But on the other hand, I do think that there are books for keeps, comfort reads want to go back to and sob over. Eva Ibbotson’s Magic Flutes is one of those. I read it in 2018 and loved it (even though it didn’t make it to my top ten list), but rereading always brings a different kind of joy. Often, it’s only when I reread that I look at the book as a writer. What draws […]
- [November Reads](https://varshaseshan.com/november-reads/): Generally speaking, I read so little literature in translation! Just by chance, however, this month, I’ve read three books in translation. One was adapted from several Russian editions, one translated from German, and one translated from Swedish. Each is for a different age-group, and each one was enjoyable in its own special way. Here are a few quick reviews. Little Girls Are Wiser Than Men I’ve never owned a collectible book before, and this one is such a treat. Illustrated with linocut art by Lebanese printmaker Hassan Zahreddine, printed on handmade paper, using a vintage 1965 Heidelberg letterpress, translated from Russian […]
- [A Very Naughty Dragon](https://varshaseshan.com/a-very-naughty-dragon/): I love Paro Anand’s books, and when I learned that she had collaborated with a nine-year-old girl to write a book, I was intrigued. As a teacher and creative writing trainer, I’ve read many stories that children have written. Some are excellent, others not so much. A Very Naughty Dragon? I had to read it to find out. I did, and I loved it. It starts slowly, with a lot of repetition that I associate with books for much younger children, but as I read on, I enjoyed it more and more. I love the place where it sits in terms […]
- [Staging a Script with Lav Kanoi](https://varshaseshan.com/staging-a-script-with-lav-kanoi/): What an enriching scriptwriting session we had with Lav Kanoi on Saturday! Ah, there’s nothing like a guest session to bring a fresh spurt of energy to our creative writing programme. “What is a story?” That’s the question Lav began with.I like the question. What is a story, really? As we talked about it, we came to the realisation that a story can be anything. Can’t it? But that leads to the question, is there anything that a story cannot be? The discussion that followed led to the idea of form, which brought us to the idea that various forms […]
- [The Butterfly Lion](https://varshaseshan.com/the-butterfly-lion/): I love Michael Morpurgo. And The Butterfly Lion? I’ve had it on my shelf for ever so long, hoping to share it with more readers someday. That day is nearly here! The Butterfly Lion is a classic. In Michael Morpurgo’s signature style, he tells a heartfelt, almost mystical story in the simplest and most magical of ways. It’s the story of love and kindness, friendship and loyalty. Bertie is heartbroken when his beloved white lion is sent away to the circus. He knows there is no choice, but that does not make it better. He promises the lion that he will […]
- [Mira the Detective](https://varshaseshan.com/mira-the-detective/): Another reading programme, another hOle book! Mira the Detective by Pavithra Sankaran is perfect for my book club in so many ways. We love detective stories, and what better than a book featuring a child detective? When an antique watch is stolen, Mira has very few clues, but they have got to be enough! She must get to the bottom of the mystery. The theft of the antique watch is just the first of three mysteries that Mira the detective solves. What makes the stories even more fun is that we, as readers, are equipped with the same clues as Mira […]
- [Manolita](https://varshaseshan.com/manolita/): In many ways, Manolita is a simple, old-fashioned tale. For a generation that’s immersed in mythology – from the retelling of Indian myths to all the popular books that have their foundation in Greek mythology – I think a story about a selkie set in the modern world is perfect! Jaya makes friends easily, so it comes as no surprise that she befriends a stranger in Oregon. Of course, her new friend Manolita has to be perfectly human … right? Even if she doesn’t quite understand the phrase ‘exchanging numbers’, and she likes to eat her fish raw …? The entire series […]
- [Postbox Kashmir](https://varshaseshan.com/postbox-kashmir/): From the moment I came across Postbox Kashmir by Divya Arya, I knew I wanted to read it. The title, the cover and the subtitle – ‘Two Lives in Letters’ – everything appealed to me. I knew little about the book, and the little I did know was gleaned from random social media posts. Soon after I started reading it, I knew that it was a book for keeps. We’re inundated with information. Sometimes, with a mild sense of panic, I realise that details of events I’ve quickly researched have become hazy again. For instance, I knew about the exodus […]
- [All About Research with Dr Shayani Bhattacharya](https://varshaseshan.com/all-about-research-with-dr-shayani-bhattacharya/): What an enjoyable writing workshop we had yesterday with Dr Shayani Bhattacharya! Every guest session is fun, and I keep realising that when a teacher plans a session, it is meticulous, detailed, excellent! We discussed what we research, how we research and why we research, but then we went on to something that’s important to all of us as writers – how we share research findings. Sure, you’re fascinated by time travel and wormholes. You read everything you can about them. How can you get your readers to be interested in the same things? When Shayani stressed the idea of […]
- [Reva and Prisha](https://varshaseshan.com/reva-and-prisha/): A chapter book featuring a family that has two mothers? Yes, please! The moment I saw that Funky Rainbow had Reva and Prisha by Shals Mahajan in stock, I emailed them. I ended up buying six other books too, but that’s another story. I loved this book! Like Timmi in Tangles, Reva and Prisha is a collection of little tales featuring the same characters. I loved the simplicity and madness of the stories. The story about eating drumstick particularly struck a chord with me because my little cousin (20 years ago) insisted that her drumstick had bones! The logical way […]
- [WeirDo](https://varshaseshan.com/weirdo/): What’s the best kind of surprise? An unexpected book in the mail! Last week, I ordered books from KoolSkool and Funky Rainbow. The following day, I received a message saying that my shipment from Scholastic India was on its way. I was puzzled, but I let it go. I don’t know how things work.Except that I do.I know that Funky Rainbow sends books by speed post. And a few minutes later, I got a message saying my shipment from KoolSkool was on its way. So what was Scholastic sending me? A brand-new book for review! Joy! WeirDo is a hilarious […]
- [The Boy Who Grew Dragons](https://varshaseshan.com/the-boy-who-grew-dragons/): Dragon fruit. Who hasn’t heard the name and considered the possibilities? I remember when I first came across dragon fruit at Shivaji Market. Ooh! Dragon fruit! And the way I see it, that tiny spark lit a fire in author Andy Shepherd. She took the idea to its logical conclusion – a fantasy story about dragons hatching out of fruits on a tree! The Boy Who Grew Dragons is a charming read. Tomas grows his first dragon by chance. Soon, however, he realises that there’s more to growing dragons than the thrill of having a fantastic pet. Firefighting becomes second […]
- [Four Workshop Anecdotes](https://varshaseshan.com/four-workshop-anecdotes/): So many tiny things happen during workshops! Here’s a quick roundup of things that make me smile. Whispering During one of my sessions, a child raised his hand. I quickly summed up what I wanted to say so that I would not lose my chain of thought, and then asked him to speak.‘Actually, I want to talk to A,’ he said.Amused, I nodded to him to go ahead.What he wanted to say to A was utterly and completely unrelated to what we were doing. And that’s what made me realise – at online classes, whispering has to happen with the […]
- [Uncle Oscar's Chairs From A to Z](https://varshaseshan.com/uncle-oscars-chairs-from-a-to-z/): It’s sometimes amazing how a book comes into your world at just the right time. A dear friend whom I don’t talk to often enough sent me Uncle Oscar’s Chairs: From A to Z out of the blue. I had not heard of it, but a book is always an exciting gift, right? Plus, she picked up the book at Storyteller, one of the lovely independent bookstores that supply books for my book clubs. And the book was perfect in so many ways. For one, it’s unusual. It’s a book about chairs. Real chairs. A is for Ant designed by […]
- [Neha and the Nose](https://varshaseshan.com/neha-and-the-nose/): Why did I not read this book earlier? It’s such a fun book, so witty and well written! I love it! Neha and the Nose are teen detectives. And they’re not just your regular detectives – they’re so good that even the principal calls on them when there’s investigation required. Of course, “the Nose” is something that Neha just calls her friend Johan in her head, but one that’s as apt as it gets because it’s the Nose that’s really her partner. Johan, who possesses the Nose, is just another boy, annoyingly good at everything he does. More annoyingly, he’s […]
- [Muggie Maggie](https://varshaseshan.com/muggie-maggie/): I promised to write about the books that I don’t end up using at my reading programmes because they aren’t easily available – and Muggie Maggie is at the top of the list. I’ve read barely anything by Beverly Cleary. She was somehow one of those famous authors whom I never encountered as a child. It was when she died that I made a conscious effort to look for her books, pick them up, and read them. And when I read chapter books, of course, it is always with the ulterior motive of introducing them to my book clubs. I […]
- [Granny Ting Ting](https://varshaseshan.com/granny-ting-ting/): Let’s be honest. I picked this book up because of the name. Granny Ting Ting. I didn’t know anything about the book. I read the title and looked at the cover image–and bought the book. Every two months, I buy a set of chapter books. I love that I do this for work! I need to choose appropriate books for my reading programmes, so I need to read a range of books, right? To be honest, most books I read do become part of my book club. A handful don’t – usually because they aren’t easily available (more about that […]
- [One Day Elsewhere](https://varshaseshan.com/one-day-elsewhere/): One Day Elsewhere is such a lovely series! Looking at events in history from a child’s point of view is always special. Yes, we know people were arrested during the Dandi March. But what of the children of those arrested? How did they make sense of things happening around them? Each book in this series is a story woven around a significant event in history, and each story has a child at the centre, making the event more accessible to young readers. My Father’s Courage  4/5 A beautifully nuanced story about community, solidarity and bravery, My Father’s Courage looks at the Dandi […]
- [Rattu & Poorie's Adventures in History: 1857](https://varshaseshan.com/rattu-poories-adventures-in-history-1857/): A book about a pair of sisters, where the protagonist is the younger sister … of course I was intrigued! Additionally, historical fiction has attracted me for a while, and I have come across very little in the genre for seven and eight-year-olds. Rattu & Poorie’s Adventures in History: 1857, shortlisted for the Neev Book Award for Emerging Readers 2020, is quite engaging, providing glimpses of three major events that comprised an uprising that all of us study in school – the revolt of 1857. The links between Rattu’s life in modern India and historical events are interestingly created. Rattu wishes […]
- [Reading, Reading, and Reading Some More](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-reading-and-reading-some-more/): Yesterday, we came to the end of yet another batch of my reading programme for ages nine and ten. I wrote about our ‘raise hand‘ anecdote, and thinking about that made me realise – again – that the main reason I conduct reading programmes is that I enjoy them so much! Yes, I spread the love of reading and all that, but more, I love what goes into each programme. I love choosing my books, planning my activities, and then, seeing how, despite all the planning, children take the workshop in whatever direction they like! This time, we read Karma Meets […]
- [Rise of the Earth Dragon (Dragon Masters #1)](https://varshaseshan.com/rise-of-the-earth-dragon-dragon-masters-1/): I love introducing children to book series. It’s heartwarming to see children come back to a subsequent edition of my reading programme bursting with excitement because they’re reading the next book of a series to which I introduced them! It’s happened with the hOle books, Amelia Bedelia, the A to Z Mysteries, Moin and the Monster … More often than I can count! And the Dragon Masters is a fun, exciting series too! Rise of the Earth Dragon is the first of the series, the book where Drake discovers that he is a Dragon Master. But-but-but dragons don’t exist! They do? […]
- [No Nonsense Nandhini](https://varshaseshan.com/no-nonsense-nandhini/): What do you do when circumstances force you to let go of your dream? You create another dream. And another. And another. Hold on to your sense of humour and don’t give up.At least, that’s Nandhini’s way. No Nonsense Nandhini, shortlisted for the Neev Book Award for Junior Readers 2021, is a book about resilience, about never glossing over the fact that life is hard, and about having the power and flexibility to change routes when life throws obstacles in your path. Nandhini is a powerhouse of energy and determination, plus she is full of fun and mischief. As a […]
- [Cricket for the Crocodile](https://varshaseshan.com/cricket-for-the-crocodile/): I launched my online reading programme for ages seven and eight in December last year, which means that this is the sixth edition of the programme. Each time, I’ve focused on Indian books – books written by Indians, published in India or set in India – usually all three. On the whole, I’ve tried to avoid the big names in children’s literature, mainly because one of the goals of the book club is to introduce children to books they might not otherwise read. Yet I have included well-known names – Roald Dahl and Dick King-Smith twice each, for instance! And so, […]
- [A Big Splash](https://varshaseshan.com/a-big-splash/): Dhivya loves swimming.But when her brother nearly drowns, she isn’t allowed to swim in the lake anymore. Dhivya enjoys playing cricket with her friends.But they don’t seem to want to play with her anymore. Now what? A Big Splash is a sensitively told story about a thirteen-year-old who blossoms not just into a champion swimmer, but into a sensitive human being. I love flawed protagonists, and Dhivya is exactly that – driven and passionate, but rather careless when it comes to letting her temper fly. Like all the other books in the PARI series, A Big Splash begins in a […]
- [No Ticket, Will Travel](https://varshaseshan.com/no-ticket-will-travel/): For ever so long, I didn’t even know what the general compartment of a train was. When I saw people lining on station platforms, I assumed that they couldn’t plan their travel in advance and so, they didn’t get tickets. I knew all about not getting tickets because each year, we would stand in line at the ticket counter for hours, months in advance, to buy our tickets for the summer. Sometimes, even after our long wait, we would have to change our travel dates because no tickets were available. Years later, getting into the general compartment was an eye-opener. […]
- [House of Uncommons](https://varshaseshan.com/house-of-uncommons/): We all know about the House of Commons. What could the House of Uncommons be? I didn’t want to read up about the book to find out, so I picked it up and dived right in. The book started slowly, and I frowned as I read about Krishnan travelling with his Chikkappa to Snehagao. I didn’t know where the story was going. Until we get the first indicator of the uncommon. The protagonist Krishnan sees Raman, his soon-to-be roommate, and realises that Raman is like him. What does that mean? We, as readers, don’t know yet, but we find out […]
- [Book Spotting!](https://varshaseshan.com/book-spotting/): When my first book, The Story-Catcher, was published, we started playing a game. We would go to every bookstore in every city we visited and try to find a copy of the book. It was impossible. And yet, it was exciting. I even got a spreadsheet from my publishers, listing the stores in which my book would be available, and we went to those stores in the city, hunting. I never found my book. Not even when it was on display like this: This was at Crossword, Mulund. Look at the number of copies on the shelf. You guessed right. I […]
- [Raise Hand](https://varshaseshan.com/raise-hand/): Children will be mischievous. They will always, always try to find ways to fool their teachers. The most common excuse during virtual sessions? “I lost connection.” Much as children like to believe otherwise, teachers can tell when children aren’t attentive. They stare at the screen and their eyes glaze over. At my book club, I know they aren’t reading along. For one, they shouldn’t be looking at the screen at all. If they’re gazing at the screen, they’re doing something else. Of course. But when I ask them a question linked to what we’re reading, pat comes the response, “Sorry, […]
- [Book Club Discussions](https://varshaseshan.com/book-club-discussions/): We just finished reading Sandy to the Rescue, the first of five books we’ll be reading at this edition of my book club. One of the joys of reading the hOle books at the reading programme is that the length is perfect. We have enough time to read and do activities during each session, which, for me, is what a book club is about. In Sandy to the Rescue, six-year-old Aftab hides first under the dining table and then in the bath tub. This made me ask the children, “Where would you hide? If you had to smuggle a friend […]
- [Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame](https://varshaseshan.com/strong-as-fire-fierce-as-flame/): Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar left its mark on me. But Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame was something else altogether. I devoured the book. Each chapter made me read just one more chapter, as compelling as the previous one. Meera is an unlikely protagonist, one who seems a far cry from the typical feisty girl one expects at the centre of a story. The book begins with Meera up in a tree, trying to listen in while her father teaches village boys. She is not allowed there. In fact, she was once rapped on her knuckles for being where she […]
- [Pinkoo Shergill - Pastry Chef](https://varshaseshan.com/pinkoo-shergill-pastry-chef/): Two days ago, at my reading programme, we discussed portmanteau words – words created by combining existing words. The children came up with words like roli (a rose and a lily) and brellow (brown and yellow). I must introduce them to Pinkoo Shergill next, with his delightful portmanteau words! Fabtastic! Wowmazing! Spectaculous! Just like those three words there, the book Pinkoo Shergill – Pastry Chef sparkles with energy and life. I love it when there is a sense of urgency in a book. When characters run around, hide, keep secrets and rush, readers experience the same thrill – of something […]
- [Smash It, Butterfingers!](https://varshaseshan.com/smash-it-butterfingers/): I love it when you can begin a series with absolutely any book! I have been eyeing the Butterfingers series for a long time, but I somehow never got around to any of them. And so, when I was asked if I would read and review the seventh one, Smash It, Butterfingers!, I agreed right away. What an enjoyable story it was! The book opens with Amar Kishen, aka Butterfingers, meeting P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal – in a dream. With everyone’s eyes on the Tokyo Olympics, it was the perfect time for me to read about a sports-mad boy, […]
- [The Great Big Lion](https://varshaseshan.com/the-great-big-lion/): I work with young writers all the time. Sure, not with children as young as Chryseis Knight when she wrote The Great Big Lion, but seven and eight-year-olds often send me stories and poems to read. Sometimes, especially with slightly older children – about the age of 11 or 12 – I am amazed at the scope of their ideas and world building. When it comes to younger ones, I love how uninhibited they are. At my writers’ club, for instance, I am constantly struck by the fact that children aren’t daunted by the idea of writing a poem or a […]
- [Dreamers](https://varshaseshan.com/dreamers/): Dreamers. What a beautiful title for a series of illustrated stories about children who dared to dream and then dared to live their dream. The first two books in the series are about light and song, and I found that quite lovely too. Richly illustrated with stark, contrasting colours, The Boy Who Played with Light and The Girl Who Loved to Sing are a visual treat. Shadows lurk everywhere, even as the young Satyajit Ray hunts for the light. He tries to draw them out; he runs from them; he watches them from corners. Until he discovers the magic of light and […]
- [My June Reading Programmes - An Overview](https://varshaseshan.com/my-june-reading-programmes-an-overview/): “Ooh! I see something suspicious!” one child cried out, holding up her copy of The Monster Hunters. “Look! A monster at the window! Page 2!”  “On page 33 of Bookasura, Bakasura is so big. How did he become so small on page 39?” “I don’t think Mr Hoppy should have lied to Mrs Silver about Alfie. How can you make friends based on lies?” This from a seven-year-old reading Esio Trot. “This is so funny; I want to read the next book about Zain & Ana,” says one child.“I didn’t like the book,” says another. “They say dogs are a nuisance and […]
- [Karma Meets a Zombie](https://varshaseshan.com/karma-meets-a-zombie/): Karma Meets a Zombie is probably the most ambitious book I’ve chosen for my reading programme for ages nine and ten. I read Karma Fights a Monster some time ago and I loved it. I even wrote about it in an essay on monsters and stereotypes because I was struck by how unusual the monster is. Karma Meets a Zombie is a different kind of unusual. For instance, is the monster necessarily the antagonist? What makes someone a monster? And what does a monster hunter do, really? There are several reasons I call it an ambitious read for my book club. For one, […]
- [The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev](https://varshaseshan.com/the-absolutely-true-adventures-of-daydreamer-dev/): Daydreaming! Sigh. You can be what you want to be. You can do what you want to do. And Dev is the ace daydreamer.  In The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev, the boy embarks on three adventures. He climbs Mount Everest, travels along the Amazon and then across the Sahara. Each adventure is real to him, and so, of course, he has no time to pay attention to mundane things like school and marks. In fact, even when he is being told off by his father, he’s off on another flight of fancy. Dev’s stories are full of possibility, and […]
- [Another Reading Programme Comes to an End!](https://varshaseshan.com/another-reading-programme-comes-to-an-end/): “Moin and the Monster was my favourite book because there’s a sequel!” said one child, holding up Moin and the Monster Songster. “Mine was The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop,” said another. “It was mysterious and magical!” “I liked Fantastic Mr Fox. But my all-time favourite is The Witches.” And in the midst of all that, one child held up Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells, her eyes shining as she told me she got it, was reading it and loved it so far. How could I not have enjoyed this reading programme? Six children, three books, 12 online interactions. It was perfect in so many ways! […]
- [A Pinch of Magic](https://varshaseshan.com/a-pinch-of-magic/): Asha Nehemiah’s Trouble with Magic was the very first book we read at my very first reading programme. And I loved it. So, when I learned that after all these years, there was a sequel … Writing a sequel to a lovely book is challenging, even more challenging than writing a new book–because there are expectations. But A Pinch of Magic lives up to them. Let’s begin with the blurb. It made me frown. How was it possible to write a whole book about a spoon? And then, as I read the book, I smiled and chuckled. Because yes, that’s […]
- [Nida Finds a Way](https://varshaseshan.com/nida-finds-a-way/): I stare at my laptop screen, wondering how to write about Nida Finds a Way. It’s such an important book. A book that makes me oh-so-curious about how a child would respond. What would children say that this story is about? Would they giggle and keep reading on and on to see how Nida balances her love for her anxious father and her need to climb trees, ride cycles and live? Children read what they want to read in stories, and I am always amazed by that. So, would children read Nida Finds a Way as a story about Shaheen […]
- [The ART of Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/the-art-of-stories/): And just like that, the third and last guest session at this edition of my online creative writing programme is over! This one was an illustration workshop, conducted by children’s book illustrator and author Tanvi Bhat.  As always, the participants had so many questions! Here are a handful. How do we create our own style of illustration? I loved how Tanvi explained that finding your own style is not as important as the content. Isn’t that the same with writing too? I also found interesting the idea that an illustration does not have to be perfect; it has to carry […]
- [Remembering, Mourning, Celebrating](https://varshaseshan.com/remembering-mourning-celebrating/): I’ve taken a while to write about Raghavan uncle. There’s so much to say, so much to process. People call and ask me how Mythili Mami is, how everyone is. And each time I talk to someone, I remember another anecdote, another special moment with Uncle. Because there were just so many of them in the 27 years that I’ve been part of the Academy. A few years ago, during his birthday celebrations, some people spoke about how much he has supported the Academy of Indian Dances. For me, to say that he supported it is to put him outside […]
- [Five Picture Books I Recently Loved](https://varshaseshan.com/five-picture-books-i-recently-loved/): Once more, I’ve been so busy with so many things that I haven’t had the time to read much or write. Each day, I spend such a large chunk of time planning what to do during my reading and writing sessions that I end up unwinding by doing something that rests my eyes, instead of taxing them some more! But picture books are an exception, aren’t they? One Ted Falls Out of Bed One Ted Falls Out of Bed by Julia Donaldson and Anna Currey is a book about numbers written in a way that only Julia Donaldson can carry off. […]
- [What I've Been Reading on StoryWeaver](https://varshaseshan.com/what-ive-been-reading-on-storyweaver/): Every so often, I write about books I’ve read on StoryWeaver that have left an impression on me in one way or another. Free books are precious! And over 30,000 free books? Priceless! Here are a few I read and loved recently. In the past, most of the books I’ve read have been Level 1 and Level 2 books, but somehow, in the last few months, I’ve been drawn to slightly longer books. Though I’ve divided them into broad themes, each story is more than just the theme I’ve chosen for it. Friendship Friendship takes various forms, and, in some […]
- [The Tigers in the Tower](https://varshaseshan.com/the-tigers-in-the-tower/): I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve written about Julia Golding’s books – the Cat Royal series, the Peril trilogy, the Dragonfly trilogy, the Darcie Lock series … And now, The Tigers in the Tower. I would not say it is my favourite work by Julia Golding – not even close – but I did enjoy it! Sahira, the protagonist of the story, is a little spitfire. She might be an orphan, but she’s not going to be a meek little lamb, giving everything up to the greedy Mr Pence. Other adults try to be peacemakers, paying Mr […]
- [Mirror, Mirror](https://varshaseshan.com/mirror-mirror/): Fat shaming. It’s so rooted in society and family that it often goes unnoticed. Sometimes, it wears the garb of concern – oh, you’ve put on so much weight; is everything okay? At other times, it’s downright cruel. Ananya, the protagonist of Mirror, Mirror, faces the second kind. The words she hears echo through her head, making her recoil with disgust when she looks at herself in the mirror. Miss Piggy. Fat cow. How did she never notice how fat and ugly she was? How could she have thought it was okay? Mirror Mirror was pacy from start to end. […]
- [Pirates, Legends, and Historical Fiction](https://varshaseshan.com/pirates-legends-and-historical-fiction/): Yesterday’s guest session was full of stories! While we are familiar with Long John Silver and Davy Jones’s locker, how many of us are equally familiar with Kanhoji Angre and the pirates of the Malabar? We began with a discussion of myths, legends, and historical fiction, and this, I think, is an important idea that is well worth repeating. A myth is not history or historical fiction. It is a story created by human beings in an attempt to make sense of the world. Even if a myth helps us understand something about the time when it was created, it […]
- [The Playwriting Module - Reflections and Resources](https://varshaseshan.com/the-playwriting-module-reflections-and-resources/): And just like that, the playwriting module of my creative writing programme is also over! We read two plays, played with props, explored dialogue, imagined the stage, examined the differences between writing scripts for stage and for screen … And I’m exhilarated. As always, the generosity of the community of teachers and writers online is astounding. Some resources work for me; some don’t, but each one I come across is useful. So, it’s my turn. Here are a few activities I used successfully in class this time. Writing Natural Dialogue Writing dialogue that reads naturally is challenging. Even though I […]
- [Queen of Fire](https://varshaseshan.com/queen-of-fire/): When I started reading Queen of Fire, I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy it. I expected to read something new and captivating, even though I knew that the protagonist was the rani of Jhansi. But all the opening scenes were familiar to me. We’ve studied the history of the independence movement in India in such excruciating detail that there is no way I can forget about the revolt of 1857, the story of Mangal Pandey, the Doctrine of Lapse, or the tale of the cartridges greased with the fat of cows and pigs. This made Queen of Fire […]
- [On Reading a Series, Reading Snobbery and Binge Reading](https://varshaseshan.com/on-reading-a-series-reading-snobbery-and-binge-reading/): I often come across parents who complain that their children read only Geronimo Stilton, or only Wimpy Kid. Or only Dork Diaries, or … what else? If social media had existed when I was a child, parents would probably have been fretting about children reading only Enid Blyton–except for the fact that snobbery around the act of reading is a real thing. It is considered far more acceptable to read Enid Blyton (never mind the gender stereotypes and racism–we turned out okay, right?) than to read Geronimo Stilton. Here’s why I think that’s so. Enid Blyton was British. On the […]
- [Creative Writing Workshops - Reflections and Resources](https://varshaseshan.com/creative-writing-workshops-reflections-and-resources/): I spend hours scouring the internet for creative writing resources. I love those hours, even though sometimes I find myself panicking. There are so many wonderful ideas out there! What can I use? I want to use them all! At those times, I need to step away from my laptop and remind myself that I cannot do everything in twelve weeks.  The weeks always fly by once I start a writing programme. I’m more than halfway through. Here are a handful of activities I used successfully this time! Rhyming Opposites This seems like an overly simplistic activity, but it works with people […]
- [Esio Trot](https://varshaseshan.com/esio-trot/): Who doesn’t love Esio Trot? Teg reggib, esio trot, teg reggib! There was a time when I knew the book so well that I could say the whole chant that Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver to deliver to little Alfie. Have you come across the tweet about how children’s books should not be given star ratings but ‘again’ ratings based on how many times a child asks to read the book? By that reckoning, Esio Trot is very high up on my list! It’s one of those perfect transition books – neither a short story nor a chapter book. Neither a picture […]
- [Looking Back at Another Reading Programme](https://varshaseshan.com/looking-back-at-another-reading-programme/): I love sharing stories with children, and this time’s batch of seven and eight-year-olds was even more fun than most. With each workshop I conduct, I treasure the stories we create together. The little anecdotes, the bubbles of laughter, the wide-eyed astonishment – these make workshops special! I wrote about a class where we spoke about monitors and Maya in a Mess; that was just the first of four books we read together, and each one brought joy. One of the activities we did with the book was to try to keep something safe for six weeks. Maya loses the cupboard […]
- [Fantastic Mr Fox](https://varshaseshan.com/fantastic-mr-fox/): Fantastic Mr Fox is a classic. And the combination of Roald Dahl and Sir Quentin Blake is magic. I’ve never yet chosen a Roald Dahl for my reading programme because I reckoned that most children would already have been exposed to his books, and a book club is about discovering books you haven’t read before. Yet, as I mulled over what to include this time, I asked myself, again, what the purpose of a reading programme is. Often, I use the tagline ‘Celebrate the joy of reading’. If it’s about the joy of reading, how can I not include books […]
- [Workshops Launching in May and June 2021](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops-launching-in-june-2021/): I’ve received an overwhelming number of queries this time around, and I’m not surprised. Summer holidays! Registrations are now open for two reading programmes beginning on the 1st of June. Do note that with lockdowns in several places, book deliveries are experiencing delays. I will try to get the books to you in time for the programme, but the sooner you register, the easier it will be for me.  Online Reading Programme (Ages 7 to 8) We’re on the fourth edition of this programme, and the four books we will read this time are The Monster Hunters by Parinita Shetty, Bookasura by Arundhati […]
- [Maya Saves the Day](https://varshaseshan.com/maya-saves-the-day/): Earlier this month, we read Maya in a Mess at my reading programme, and one child volunteered, “I’ve read the book that comes before Maya in a Mess.”“Did you like it?” I asked.She nodded. “I read it four times.”Now, if that isn’t endorsement, I don’t know what is! I enjoyed Maya Saves the Day thoroughly too! What I loved most about it is that it is told entirely from the point of view of a child who is a bundle of contradictions. On the one hand, she has all kinds of fears. She’s scared of crows, whooshing mango trees and […]
- [An Alien in the Jam Factory](https://varshaseshan.com/an-alien-in-the-jam-factory/): There’s something about book titles that can just grab your attention right away. An Alien in the Jam Factory is one of those. I often pick up books when I travel and when I was in Goa last month, I visited Literati for the first time. I browsed for quite a while before this book caught my attention, and I loved the premise. Scooter McLay is a genius. Thanks to his incredible inventions, McLay’s jam is a phenomenal success. Whether it’s wasp-repellent jam or the not-yet-very-successful Edible Jam Bubbles, each of Scooter’s inventions sparkles. He has loving parents, he thoroughly […]
- [Stories: Comic-Page Style](https://varshaseshan.com/stories-comic-page-style/): What a rewarding session we had with Nandita Basu! At workshops like this one, I think I learn as much as the young writers who sign up. Step by step, Nandita led us through the creation of one page of narrative that brings together text and illustration in the style of a graphic novel. We launched straight into the workshop with an interesting prompt that made all of us think. We’ve all wronged someone at some point in our lives; there’s been a time when we were needlessly nasty to someone who didn’t deserve it. This formed the basis of […]
- [What Feelings Do When No One's Looking](https://varshaseshan.com/what-feelings-do-when-no-ones-looking/): What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking is such a gorgeous, whimsical book! Do our feelings live inside us, or do they go on journeys of their own? Or do they do both? Each page of this endearing picture book is beautifully written and beautifully illustrated. As I read about curiosity, joy, gratitude, anxiety, shame and more, I wondered about so many other feelings. And I found nearly each one addressed. Kindness calms storms, doesn’t it? What else would it do for you? In me, I hope it reaches out and shares. It knows when to be silent, and when […]
- [Heartstopper](https://varshaseshan.com/heartstopper/): I rarely write about books that are so popular, but I loved the Heartstopper series and I can’t wait to see what happens next! Unlike most other books I’ve read, I came to the series through Netflix. I watched both seasons and was so drawn to the characters that I had to read the books. And the books were just as gorgeous. Yes, just as gorgeous, not more so–and again, this differs from my usual opinion on book to screen adaptations! Heartstopper traces the heart-warming relationship between Nick and Charlie, two high school students. Charlie is openly gay, but Nick […]
- [Crackers](https://varshaseshan.com/crackers/): Some writers stun me with the range of stories they write. Elizabeth Laird, for instance. Look at just the stories I’ve read by her: And now, Crackers, which is completely different from anything else I’ve read by her. The strangest part for me as I read it was how similar it is to something I’ve written–about a group of children making a magazine together! A fun story about two rival groups, I was drawn into the urgent sense of indignation the characters feel as they try to outdo one another. Quite early on, I found myself frowning at the gender […]
- [The Losers Club](https://varshaseshan.com/the-losers-club/): We’ve loved books by Andrew Clements at my book club. Of course, Frindle is a favourite, but About Average was fun too. The Losers Club, which I read about a month ago, came as a recommendation from a parent, and it was quite a lovely choice. A book about books–what’s not to love about it? All Alec wants to do is to get lost in his book. When he learns that he needs to be part of a club to be allowed to sit and read after school, he forms one, determined not to attract a crowd. He wants to […]
- [Hour of the Bees](https://varshaseshan.com/hour-of-the-bees/): The six months of the year when my writing programmes are on are almost impossibly busy. Add book launches, travel and literature fests to a busy season, and I’ve had barely any time to read! But in the midst of it all, I snatched snippets of time to read the gorgeous Hour of the Bees that I was hard put not to sob over at the airport. Carolina (who prefers to be called Carol) has to spend all summer on a ranch in New Mexico, while her friends have sleepovers and get ready for a new year at school. Through […]
- [Green Stuff and Nonsense](https://varshaseshan.com/green-stuff-and-nonsense/): What a fun session we had on green writing with Bijal Vachharajani! In a single hour, we spoke of a million creatures from elephants to frogs, ferrets to spiders, lion-tailed macaques to slugs that aren’t slugs. Bijal’s workshop was a guest session at my writing programme. We’ve just reached the end of our poetry module, so it was the perfect time to invite a guest to do a workshop for us, and I thought of Bijal because the Art is Everywhere series – which Bijal has co-authored – is one of my favourite sets of rhyming verse. I loved how […]
- [Mahalaxmi Will Go to Mysore](https://varshaseshan.com/mahalaxmi-will-go-to-mysore/): I’ve been reading so many books that deal with RTE in one way or another! As a teacher trainer, I find that RTE is a conversation topic that some schools want to sweep under the carpet. Others test waters to find out where I stand. Still others are belligerent and self-righteous, even as they talk about how many challenges they face just because they follow the law. But stories are important. Stories pave the way for conversation. Mahalaxmi Will Go to Mysore is one of those stories–a story that raises questions. The Right to Education requires schools to admit some […]
- [Schooled](https://varshaseshan.com/schooled/): I stumbled upon Schooled by Gordon Korman by chance and read it in one sitting. What a lovely, fun book, full of unexpected twists and turns! Capricorn Andersen (Cap for short) has spent all his life at Garland Farm, homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Rain. When Rain falls off a tree, Cap is launched into the world outside, utterly ill-equipped to deal with school, money, and life in general. An oddball with practically no survival instincts and no skills to cope with the world outside Garland, Cap is such a delightful, surprising character–alternating between freakazoid (as one character calls him) […]
- [The Big Bad Fight](https://varshaseshan.com/the-big-bad-fight/): I just finished reading The Big Bad Fight written by Yamini Vijayan and illustrated by Kruttika Susarla, and what a lovely book it is! We all know what it is like to be an angry child. The injustice of a game like Snakes and Ladders! The unfairness of a sore loser! We get upset, angry and annoyed, and it is all these emotions that rile us up. Anna and Kichu are fast friends, but when they have a big, bad fight, they don’t quite know how to make up. For quite a while, they don’t. But eventually, they must find […]
- [Kittu's Very Mad Day](https://varshaseshan.com/kittus-very-mad-day-2/): I remember meeting Harshikaa Udasi, author of Kittu’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Mad Day at a lit fest several years ago. I had read her book already, but unfortunately, I had a Kindle edition, so I couldn’t go up to her and get my copy signed. I told her that, and then, casually, a few days later, she texted me and asked me for my address. I sent it to her, and in a few days, I had a parcel at my door–my very own signed copy of the book! It’s time to introduce this zany book to my […]
- [Unfair](https://varshaseshan.com/unfair-2/): I read Unfair quite some time ago, and what I loved most about it is how pacy it is. One chapter just rolls into the next, making it the perfect read for my book club.  From discussing themes to exploring narrative voices and structure, there’s so much I can do with a book like Unfair! Discrimination What does discrimination mean? At my writing programme last year, we worked on writing persuasive speeches, and I was stunned by the kinds of things children write. Two children – one boy and one girl – chose to write about gender equality, and both speeches were powerful […]
- [Earwig and the Witch](https://varshaseshan.com/earwig-and-the-witch/): When I learned that Earwig and the Witch is a movie too, I debated a long time over whether to read it with my book club or not. Finally, I decided that whether the children I meet have watched the movie or not, we can read and enjoy the book together. In fact, those who’ve watched the movie will be able to compare book and movie, which is always an interesting exercise! Vocabulary Brainstorm Before we start reading Earwig and the Witch, we’ll do a quick written activity on word association. What words come to mind when you think of the word ‘orphanage’? […]
- [Kolam Kanna](https://varshaseshan.com/kolam-kanna-2/): October 2023 sees us reading another brand-new book, hot off the press! I read Kolam Kanna just about a month ago, and I loved it. What’s not to love about a kolam-drawing child with friends who stand up for him? Here’s what we’ll do as we read this book. Kolam Have you read Susheela’s Kolams? If we can, we will read the story together. But whether we can or not, we will try to make a kolam in class. I remember being fascinated by kolams because of the geometry and patterns. I was never good at drawing, but I loved the idea of […]
- [Gathering Blue](https://varshaseshan.com/gathering-blue/): Gathering Blue opens with an unknown character in an unknown world. Sure, it is a dystopian world, but I found myself wondering, isn’t this the second book in The Giver quartet? I even went back to check that I hadn’t started reading the wrong book by mistake. I hadn’t. Yet, there were no overlapping characters that I could find. Soon enough, however, one similarity between the two books stood out: the utter isolation of the community in which Kira, the protagonist of Gathering Blue, lives. Like Jonas, Kira has no knowledge of the world outside. She has heard of beasts […]
- [The Giver](https://varshaseshan.com/the-giver/): Teaching creative writing is always eye-opening. Over time, we’ve worked with mythopoeia, dystopia, fantasy, adventure, and mystery, requiring us to come up with all kinds of mentor texts and examples. During the April to June 2023 edition of the programme, somehow, we kept coming back to The Giver by Lois Lowry, a book I had not read. I finally remedied that! The Giver is a powerful dystopian story, one that fills the reader with yearning. Jonas lives in the perfect community. Every morning, each family unit discusses dreams. Every night, family units discuss feelings. There is no loss, there’s no […]
- [The Wild Robot](https://varshaseshan.com/the-wild-robot/): Reading The Wild Robot with one of my book clubbers was quite the experience. ‘Do you think a robot can experience emotions?’ I asked.‘Yes,’ came the confident reply, which took me by surprise.‘Why would you say that?’‘Because it’s artificial intelligence, which learns. If it can learn other things, why can’t it learn to experience emotion?’ And with this conversation, we started reading The Wild Robot, the story of Roz the robot, who hatches out of a crate that is washed up on the shore of a wild island. A group of curious otters turns her on with a click, and […]
- [Dum Dum to the Rescue & Yet More Adventures of Little Shambu](https://varshaseshan.com/dum-dum-to-the-rescue-yet-more-adventures-of-little-shambu/): I just finished reading book 3 of the Little Shambu series, and it’s just as enjoyable as the others! We meet all the familiar characters–Little Shambu and family, the dog Dum Dum, Little Shambu’s neighbour Shanti, the class bully JJ–as well as several new characters with names that made me chuckle. The drama teacher, for instance, is called Miss Mithi Sharbat, but more fun are the biology teacher Professor Y. Russ and the P.E. teacher, Stan D’tease! Just like the other collections of stories, Dum Dum to the Rescue & Yet More Adventures of Little Shambu comprises believable tales of […]
- [Five Fictional Friendships I Loved Writing](https://varshaseshan.com/five-fictional-friendships-i-loved-writing/): Three years ago, to celebrate Friendship Day, I wrote about five times fictional friendships won my heart. For Friendship Day 2023, here’s a post about five fictional friendships I enjoyed writing. And because I can’t choose which one to write about first, I’ve put them down in the reverse order of publication. Dhara’s Revolution “I wish for you a best friend as special as Carol. Equally, I wish that each of you can be like Carol for someone in your life” That’s from the acknowledgments page of Dhara’s Revolution, a book that’s hot off the press and will be released at […]
- [Kolam Kanna](https://varshaseshan.com/kolam-kanna/): I’ve read two books by Vibha Batra in less than a month, and I’ve loved them both! So many things about Kolam Kanna were utterly delightful that this review deserves to be in bullet points, highlighting everything I loved about it. The name Bharathi! The moment I learned that Bharathi is a boy’s name in the story, I could not help thinking of a little boy I met in Perani (near Puducherry) ten years ago. He won’t be so little anymore, but I remember his bright eyes and his curiosity. His name? Tamilbarathi.( I liked him so much that he […]
- [In the Bear’s Den & More Adventures of Little Shambu](https://varshaseshan.com/in-the-bears-den-more-adventures-of-little-shambu/): Life is never humdrum with Little Shambu around, and I loved this next set of adventures too!  I remember reading about how the non-violence policy of Shikari Shambu ensured that he never fired a single shot. In fact, he is more a forest ranger than a hunter, and these stories about Little Shambu set the stage for a Shikari Shambu who loves animals. From saving the life of a harmless snake to meeting an officer who rescues bears, these tales featuring Little Shambu are a lovely way to introduce environment activism in young children. At the same time, the stories […]
- [Postcard from the Lushai Brigade](https://varshaseshan.com/postcard-from-the-lushai-brigade/): What a beautiful addition to the Songs of Freedom series! Reminiscent of Private Peaceful although for a younger audience, Postcard from the Lushai Brigade is the story of a pair of brothers. And just like Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful, it is told from the point of view of a younger brother who idolises the elder, and the elder seems worthy of his adulation. Young Bawiha’s brother Kima is everything that is perfect–generous, caring and brave. He seems larger than life, someone whom everyone loves. Yet, Kima always has time for his younger brother, and together, the boys watch stars, play […]
- [Strangus Derangus and Other Adventures of Little Shambu](https://varshaseshan.com/strangus-derangus-and-other-adventures-of-little-shambu/): Much of my childhood was spent surrounded by Enid Blytons and Roald Dahls, Dick King-Smiths and Allen Frewin Joneses. But Tinkle stayed a favourite. I never got drawn to Chandamama or even Amar Chitra Katha mythology the way I was drawn to Tinkle. My grandfather subscribed to the magazine, and every so often, he would find a sheet of white card paper and bind several issues together to make a nice fat Tinkle volume, which we treasured. The problem with returning to beloved childhood tales, however, is that so often, they’re nowhere near as lovely as you remember them to […]
- [Gobi Goes Viral](https://varshaseshan.com/gobi-goes-viral/): Gopi compares everybody around him to a vegetable. His world comprises a capsicum, a carrot, a tomato, a sweet potato … The problem, of course, is that the moment he talks about it, he becomes Gobi, or worse, Fool Gobi. Trying to tell the bullies in class that it isn’t Fool, but Phool doesn’t help.  Being bullied, however, is not the only problem Gopi faces at Primrose Academy. Even though he has got admission thanks to the RTE act, the hidden charges—for school books and the like—are crippling. If he does not pay his dues by the end of the […]
- [Moin and the Monster](https://varshaseshan.com/moin-and-the-monster-2/): I’m rereading Moin and the Monster with my book club! I read it in June 2021, and all those who read it with me are now too old to be part of Read, Write, Explore, so it’s time to introduce it to a fresh batch of children. At my last creative writing programme, one of the children wrote a story about a pink 2D zombie the size of a pineapple coming to life. I immediately thought of Moin and the monster! How could I not? And I knew I had to read the book again. Rhyme Everyone loves rhyme. For me, […]
- [Because of Winn-Dixie](https://varshaseshan.com/because-of-winn-dixie/): Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie has been on my list of books to read for a l-o-n-g time. Yet, I didn’t get around to reading it until I thought of introducing it to my book club. And I’m so glad I did! It’s a gorgeous book. It’s the kind of book that makes your heart ache and swell with its sweetness and its gentleness. India Opal’s mother left her father and her, and it’s because of Winn-Dixie, a dog she adopts at the spur of the moment, that she begins to come to terms with her loss. Not just that; all thanks […]
- [A Flamingo in My Garden](https://varshaseshan.com/a-flamingo-in-my-garden/): We’ve read Talon the Falcon, The Golden Eagle and The Paradise Flycatcher. How can we not read A Flamingo in My Garden? The entire Feather Tales series is stunningly illustrated in full colour, and that is most certainly part of the charm. Like The Golden Eagle, A Flamingo in My Garden is a story within a story. Mitalee is delighted to see a flamingo in Rose Garden, and she watches as her favourite squirrel–whom she calls Snowdrop–and the birds chatter together. In that little circle of birds, the skybird Longtail tells the story of how Sunglow the flamingo found his way to Rose Garden. It’s a […]
- [The Paper Plane Flew](https://varshaseshan.com/the-paper-plane-flew/): Don’t you love stories that come full circle? As an adult reader, I was waiting to see how the paper plane that flew would come all the way back to Mithi because it had to, didn’t it? Even so, the last line of the story delighted me. Yes, I expected the last line to be The paper plane flew. Yet, the way the paper plane flew was utterly unexpected. As a child, I loved songs like ‘There’s a hole in my bucket’ and stories about bad coins that come back to wicked people who deliberately tried to palm coins off. […]
- [Trunk Call for Ajju](https://varshaseshan.com/trunk-call-for-ajju/): There’s something special about animal stories for children. I’ve never had a pet and I’ve never worked with animals, yet I remember devouring books like the Animal Ark series. There were dozens of others too – Saddle Club, every Dick King-Smith book I could lay my hands on, stories about dolphins, whales, dogs … Something about animals touches the heart of every child, and that’s what made me love Trunk Call for Ajju. Have you ever met a child who would not want to do something to help a distressed elephant in Zimbabwe? Even if said child has no idea […]
- [Zen](https://varshaseshan.com/zen/): What a book. I’m not sure I know how to begin reviewing a book as mighty as Shabnam Minwalla’s Zen. It is such a compelling read that even though it’s over 600 pages long, I chose to carry it with me when I travelled, instead of carrying my Kindle the way I usually do. How could I wait two whole weeks without finding out where the book would take me? Zen is the story of two Zainabs. Zainab Essaji’s story is set in 1935, and it seems like her destiny is to marry the man her family chooses for her. […]
- [Art Workshop with Kripa](https://varshaseshan.com/art-workshop-with-kripa/): Each time a new writing programme begins, I feel it whizzes by. Twelve weeks are nearly over, and here we are, after our last guest session of the programme, an art workshop with art educator and children’s illustrator, Kripa. It was such a treat! I’ve been looking at Kripa’s art for a while, and I love it. Her tea journal, her little dough babies, her city sketches … each picture she shares on social media is stunning. Art and writing go together, no matter how much I may say that I cannot draw at all, and that is why I […]
- [Bookaroo Srinagar 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/bookaroo-srinagar-2023/): What can one say about a literature fest without being repetitive? Lit fests are special. They fill you up with energy and enthusiasm. They remind you of the joy of reading, writing, and stories. And lit fests in beautiful spaces? They’re inspiring. Srinagar is lovely, and equally, Delhi Public School, which hosted Bookaroo, was charming. Look where I conducted both my sessions! Over the last few years, I’ve been invited to several lit fests. Last year alone, I did events at lit fests in Vadodara, Gurugram, Jaipur and Pune, in addition to smaller ones at various schools in the country. […]
- [Read, Write, Race](https://varshaseshan.com/read-write-race/): Over two years ago, we read Hungry to Read by Arti Sonthalia at my book club. The children thoroughly enjoyed the story, and the book discussion was completely different from what I expected. I thought we would talk about stereotypes and about how judging reading speed isn’t ideal … but none of that happened. Instead, the children talked of how much they loved the book. For me, Read, Write, Race was a much more enjoyable read, but I can’t help wondering how this one will go with the book club! Very recently, I realised that even older children are not familiar […]
- [The Prophecy of Rasphora](https://varshaseshan.com/the-prophecy-of-rasphora/): It is always a little daunting to introduce a book of my own to my book club. But I’ve done so many events based on The Prophecy of Rasphora, and so many of them have gone so well, that I feel (hope) this will be fun too! Tara, Afreen and Vandana discover a land behind a waterfall, the land of Rasphora. Vandana, ever practical, knows that they must get out of Rasphora as soon as they can. Life is not easy for them, and they cannot afford to miss a day’s work, even though they are just children. But when she […]
- [Fortunately, the Milk ...](https://varshaseshan.com/fortunately-the-milk/): Some time ago, we read Help, My Aai Wants to Eat Me! at my book club. As planned, one of the things we did as we read the book was to make a list of pros and cons, like the protagonist Avi. Look at some of what we discussed. Out of all these ideas the last one stayed with me. When it comes to reading (and most other things), choice is key. If I want children to love books and reading, they must have the freedom to choose! Curating books is all very well, but every so often, it’s important to […]
- [Journey to Jo'burg](https://varshaseshan.com/journey-to-joburg/): I picked up my copy of Journey to Jo’burg when I visited The Dogears Bookshop a couple of months ago. As I read it, I wondered whether I could introduce it to my book club. It is simply and beautifully written, but it touches upon difficult themes that I don’t know a lot about. I remember reading When Morning Comes, a YA book by Arushi Raina set in South Africa, but I’ve read little else set in the country. Plus, talking about apartheid, inequality and injustice at an online book club isn’t always easy because we can’t quite judge the children’s moods. For […]
- [Munni Monster](https://varshaseshan.com/munni-monster-2/): I read Munni Monster a few months ago and loved it. It’s a beautiful book, written with empathy and ending with hope. I knew I had to introduce it to my book club, and I can’t wait to do so. Munni Monster is a book about a difficult subject, but for me, dwelling on only the subject matter of the book as we read is a bit of an overkill. The children will, I know, understand the messages the book conveys without any interference on my part. Of course, we will talk about cerebral palsy, but that cannot be the only thing […]
- [Chitti's Travelling Book Box](https://varshaseshan.com/chittis-travelling-book-box-2/): The most rewarding books to read at my book club are books about books. I remember reading The Reading Race, Book Uncle and Me, Bookasura and Koobandhee; it’s likely that there were others too. Even as I read Chitti’s Travelling Book Box when it came out in February, I knew I would read it with my book club sooner or later. Here’s what we will do as we read! Reading is Boring! If your friends think reading is boring, what will you do? What do you think can make reading fun? We’ll begin by talking about this and sharing ideas, but if we can, […]
- [Non-Boring Nonfiction](https://varshaseshan.com/non-boring-nonfiction/): It is always so rewarding when a guest speaker repeats something you’ve been saying at your writing programmes for a long time! Thank you, Vaishali, for this session on non-boring nonfiction, and for reiterating so many things that keep needing to be said! In November last year, I watched Vaishali Shroff conduct two sessions at Bookaroo Vadodara. One was based on Sita’s Chitwan; the other on Batata, Pao and All Things Portuguese. Right away, I was sure she would be the perfect person to do a nonfiction workshop with the children at my writing programmes. Unfortunately, working something out right […]
- [Terminal 3](https://varshaseshan.com/terminal-3/): When I learned that Debasmita Dasgupta had another graphic novel out, I knew I had to read it. Nadya, which I read several months ago, was a stunning read that effortlessly brought together pithy text and bold illustrations. Visually, Terminal 3 was just as compelling. The colour palettes were gorgeous, and I love that the author-illustrator takes us through her choices at the end of the book. I feasted my eyes on page after page. However, Terminal 3 is far more text-heavy than Nadya. While the shifting timelines worked for me, I wanted to know Noor and Yusuf better. I […]
- [Chandalika 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/chandalika-2023/): The four roles I played – dahiwala (curd seller), farmer, king’s messenger, and mother’s disciple What does one say after a performance? Performing is like a drug. We’re high on it for days after, and we can’t wait to do it again. And elaborate dance dramas? They’re special. Many of us have been part of dance dramas before. We’ve done the Ramayana twice and Kasturi Tilakam (which takes us through Krishna’s life) multiple times. But Chandalika was different. The first reason was the music. Accustomed as we are to Carnatic music, choreography was a struggle. The thaal is different; the […]
- [Poetry in Collaboration with Sampurna Chattarji](https://varshaseshan.com/poetry-in-collaboration-with-sampurna-chattarji/): My first guest session of the season – Poetry in Collaboration – was such a success! With sixteen enthusiastic participants and one lively, energetic facilitator, the hour flew by before we knew it. Haiku, renga, nonets, free verse–we explored it all. Often, we believe that writing must be a solo activity. We have creative thoughts and ideas, and we want to have full control over them. However, collaboration can lead to unexpected, sometimes beautiful, consequences. Sampurna is a serial collaborator, as she describes herself, and the stories she shared about her collaborative writing experiences were lovely. Step by step, she […]
- [The District Cup](https://varshaseshan.com/the-district-cup/): I don’t know much about football. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of matches I’ve watched. And yet, I loved The District Cup, a book that’s all about football fever. Pacy, powerful, and peopled with diverse characters, the book urges you to read on, page after page, chapter after chapter. Football coach Siraj is at his wits’ end. Rampant age-cheating is ruining the game, and the worst part is that no one seems willing to do anything about it. Corruption, nepotism and sycophancy seem to be the only way to move forward in the world […]
- [Four Hook Books](https://varshaseshan.com/four-hook-books/): At a workshop recently, I showed participants a few hOle books and Hook Books. I had Malhar in the Middle (one of my favourites), The Clockwala’s Clues (because how could I not?), Cyrus the Whyrus (a delightful new Hook Book) and Passepartout, Is That You? (because I love how readers are active participants in the hunt for Passepartout). And not one of the teachers in the room had heard of either series. This made me realise (again) how much we need to leave reviews and talk about books we read! Wet Paint  4/5 Wet Paint, written by Asha Nehemiah and illustrated by Chetan Sharma, is a […]
- [The Adventures of Tootsie Lama](https://varshaseshan.com/the-adventures-of-tootsie-lama/): We read The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop a couple of years ago at my reading programme for ages nine and ten, and we loved it. That’s why I picked up The Adventures of Tootsie Lama. It has the same kind of craziness, which makes it perfect for my book club. Tootsie Lama is reminiscent of Pippi Longstocking in her independent, almost amoral, way of functioning. She wants thukpa, and she will steal it if she must. Her friend Tenzing is the perfect ally, more than willing to be part of her madcap schemes, even if it means getting into trouble with his […]
- [Dungeon Tales](https://varshaseshan.com/dungeon-tales/): We read Dungeon Tales II in September last year and loved it. In fact, it was everyone’s favourite read from the August-September selection, even though it competed with Paati Vs UNCLE and Frindle. So how can we not read Dungeon Tales, or, as the children at my book club call it, ungeon ales? A brilliantly crafted collection of stories, this book takes us through the creation of the tome we encounter in the second book. The Badmash Badshah is all set to make heads roll, until one young prisoner comes up with a plan – of regaling the emperor with stories. One by one, the prisoners are brought […]
- [Ottoline and the Yellow Cat](https://varshaseshan.com/ottoline-and-the-yellow-cat/): I love Chris Riddell! I read Ottoline Goes to School sometime last year, but I couldn’t introduce it to my book club because it wasn’t available in India. Less than a month ago, I learned that Ottoline and the Yellow Cat is available, so of course we must read it! I love serious humour. I know that’s an oxymoron, but for me, it’s the kind of book that’s earnest and written in such a way that something utterly ridiculous reads like it is perfectly normal. And that’s what makes the Ottoline series delightful. Lovely pictures and a perfectly lovely story come together in this […]
- [The Lizard of Oz and Other Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/the-lizard-of-oz-and-other-stories/): As a child, I adored animal stories. Dick King-Smith was a favourite, and I scoured the British Library for his books. Another favourite was the Animal Ark series – completely different in the sense that the animals aren’t anthropomorphic, but fun, all the same. That’s one of the reasons we’re reading The Lizard of Oz at my book club. Although I haven’t worked with short stories with my book club for ages seven and eight before, they work excellently with the older ones, so I’m excited to read this set next month. Humour, adventure and sparkling surprises come together in this collection […]
- [Pinkoo Shergill: Pastry Chef](https://varshaseshan.com/pinkoo-shergill-pastry-chef-2/): When the publishers sent me a review copy of Pinkoo Shergill: Pastry Chef, I devoured it. Even as I read it, I knew I wanted to introduce it to my book club soon. The only question I had was as to whether to introduce it to ages seven and eight, or nine and ten. Ultimately, I chose the latter for several reasons. For one, there’s so much we can do with the book in terms of creative writing! For another, it’s rather longer than the books I usually read at my book club for seven and eight-year-olds, so I felt I […]
- [Petu Pumpkin: Cheater Peter](https://varshaseshan.com/petu-pumpkin-cheater-peter/): Petu Pumpkin is a cheat! Or at least, so Jatin is convinced. And if Petu Pumpkin continues to cheat and lie, what will become of him? One day, he fakes a stomach ache. He used to be a tiffin thief. Tomorrow, he’ll be a pickpocket. And then soon, he’ll be a murderer! His friends have a duty. They must get him to confess, no matter what it takes. That’s the only way they can save him from a life of crime. Humorous and fun, Petu Pumpkin: Cheater Peter has that element of silliness that I know my book club will enjoy. Here’s […]
- [Munni Monster](https://varshaseshan.com/munni-monster/): Mishti’s life is good. She has a best friend (never mind if said best friend is a little annoying), parents who love her, and a grandmother whom she adores. Everything’s perfect–until Munni, her grandmother’s cousin, comes to stay–no, live–with them. And suddenly, things are not idyllic anymore. Munni is a weirdo. She is old, but behaves like a baby. She dares to come into Munni’s private cave under the dining table. And Mishti has to sleep like a sausage between her parents even though she is “of age”, to use a phrase she’s just learnt. And that is the crux […]
- [Chitti's Travelling Book Box](https://varshaseshan.com/chittis-travelling-book-box/): I love books about books, so I knew I would enjoy Chitti’s Travelling Book Box. When Chitti comes back from her Madras Mama-Mami’s place with a surprise gift, her friends can’t wait to find out what she’s brought. Unfortunately for them, it’s a box of books. Who gets excited about books? Chitti can’t believe how biased her friends are. They aren’t even willing to give the books a shot! And when push comes to shove, she has to choose between her friends and her books. And she does. Set in a small village in Tamil Nadu, Chitti’s story has much […]
- [Gupshup Goes to Prison](https://varshaseshan.com/gupshup-goes-to-prison/): Why do some books sit on my shelves for months before I get around to reading them? I bought my copy of Gupshup Goes to Prison in August last year. In September, I met author Arefa Tehsin at the Neev Literature Festival and got my copy signed. I finally read it today! And what a fun book it is. Featuring a boy, a cat, an amateur detective, and a pair of twins, it sparkles because of the characters. I love the twins Che and Guevara best of all! They’re experts at getting the best deal in any given situation, and […]
- [Writing Poetry](https://varshaseshan.com/writing-poetry/): I’ve been conducting writing workshops for a long time, and if there’s one thing I love working with, it’s poetry. Nearly every writing programme I conduct begins with a poetry module. Why? Because it’s accessible. It’s far easier to write a poem in a week than it is to write a story in a week. And so, each time, I try to work with different kinds of poetry. We’ve done list poems and narrative verse, limericks, rhymes, poems with strong verbs, and much, much more. Everything serves as a poetry prompt for me, and I think it can work for […]
- [Who's Afraid of a Giant Wheel?](https://varshaseshan.com/whos-afraid-of-a-giant-wheel/): I remember reading and enjoying Simply Nanju some five years ago. Who’s Afraid of a Giant Wheel?, also by Zainab Sulaiman, is even better. It’s the kind of story that made me wonder what draws me into a book. Is there adventure? No. Mystery? Also no. But did I enjoy the book?Very much. In fact, I read it in one sitting. Who’s Afraid of a Giant Wheel? is the story of a fourth-standard girl, Noorie, who’s confident and chatty in school. So confident that she’s sure she will be vice-captain. There’s no competition, after all! But at home, it’s a […]
- [Nisha Small: The Knot of Gold](https://varshaseshan.com/nisha-small-the-knot-of-gold/): Nisha Small (née Kutty) is the best detective in Madurai. And it’s time for her to compete with mustachioed detectives to catch the thaali thief. A missing thaali! That’s the knot of gold. But what does the word thaali mean to you? Different things depending on where you’re from. Or perhaps it means nothing at all, which made me wonder about the universality of the story. Despite my questions about what unilingual people would make of the book, I couldn’t help chuckling at the inter-language wordplay. I’ve lost track of the number of times people have asked me why south […]
- [Passepartout, Is That You?](https://varshaseshan.com/passepartout-is-that-you/): I attended part of Menaka Raman’s session on Passepartout, Is That You? at Bookaroo Vadodara, and I was curious. I knew Passepartout was a tortoise, but that was all. What would the story be about? I finally read this delightful Hook Book just now, and I loved it! When repetition in picture books is well done, I love it. A few favourites come to mind instantly – All Mine and It’s a Laddoo Party are at the forefront. In this book, we have Passepartout, is that you? And of course, each time the protagonist asks the question, it is not […]
- [The Egghead Detective Agency](https://varshaseshan.com/the-egghead-detective-agency/): What child has never dreamed of being a detective? The Egghead Detective Agency is perfect for my book club in so many ways. For one, there are clues to solve within each story. For another, the characters are young children, accompanied by a friendly ghost, making the book fun to read. I enjoyed the cases too – raining cupcakes, a missing chicken, a pink pool and more! Here’s what we’ll do as we read the book together. Solve It Yourself! Can we all become detectives? We’ll begin by trying to solve the clues in the stories, but we’ll move on to […]
- [Talon the Falcon](https://varshaseshan.com/talon-the-falcon/): We love the Feather Tales series at my book club! I didn’t choose to read Talon the Falcon earlier because it is much shorter than The Golden Eagle and The Paradise Flycatcher, but when children fall in love with a series, how can we not read the whole lot together? Set in the familiar Rose Garden, Talon the Falcon opens with a beloved character, Shikar, who wonders where all the birds have disappeared. He soon finds the reason – the presence of a falcon in the neighbouring garden! Of course, the birds, terrified, have flown away. But everything isn’t as it seems, and Shikar soon […]
- [My Year in Writing: 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-writing-2022/): What can I say about a year when I FINALLY managed to take my books to audiences? At lit fests in Gurugram, Vadodara, Jaipur and Pune, I shared my books, interacted with children, and did school visits once more. Almost all through 2022, I was on a high! And yet, the true highlight of the year as a writer was the publication of a book I started writing in 2015, after I visited the beautiful forests of Nagzira. Red Eyes Red Eyes is an environmental thriller, and it is one of the very few books I’ve written that was never rejected. […]
- [My Year in Workshops: 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-workshops-2022/): The year 2022 was all about flexibility. Conducting online sessions from cafés and hotel rooms.Finishing an online session before boarding a bus to do an in-person session in another city. Adjusting schedules.Cancelling some editions of my book club because children were – finally – travelling.Competing with swimming and cricket coaching and all the other things that weren’t factors I needed to consider at all in 2020-21.  And it’s been quite a journey. We did so much; I met so many people; I travelled extensively for work. I can’t help wondering what 2023 is going to be like! Book Clubs Book […]
- [My Favourite Late Middle-Grade and Young Adult Books from 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-late-middle-grade-and-young-adult-books-from-2022/): I just looked back at the post where I listed my favourite young adult books from 2021. When I wrote that, I resolved to read more YA in 2022. And that didn’t happen. In fact, I read fewer. Just one of the three books on this list is a YA book; the other two would be classified better as late middle-grade. The reason I include them here rather than on my MG list is that I know I would have enjoyed them more as a young adult than as a middle-grader! Clap When You Land I love it when I […]
- [My Favourite Middle-Grade Books from 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-middle-grade-books-from-2022/): I read and loved so many middle-grade books in 2022! While some of these are early middle-grade books (I’ve read four of them with my book club for ages nine and ten), others are for ages ten and above. When I review a book, I usually indicate what age-group I think it is suited to, but do remember that reading levels vary widely!  Secret Friends Secret Friends is heartbreaking, and that’s the only reason I haven’t introduced it to my book club. I meet children just twice a week, and online at that, so it’s tough to see how affected a […]
- [My Favourite Chapter Books from 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-chapter-books-from-2022/): Each year, I read dozens of chapter books for my book clubs. Despite that–or perhaps because of that–there were just three that I fell in love with in 2022. That is not to say I didn’t like the books I read; I did. I enjoyed most of them thoroughly. Yet, as I looked back at all the books I read, three stand out. They’re books I would read and reread even without a book club around the corner. Malhar in the Middle Malhar in the Middle is a treat! For one, it’s utterly relatable. For another, it’s sweet without being cute. […]
- [My Favourite Picture Books and Early Chapter Books from 2022](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-picture-books-and-early-chapter-books-from-2022/): I love this exercise – of looking back at all the books I read and loved in the year that went by. This year, I found it even more difficult to distinguish between various age-groups. Longer picture books are like early chapter books; late middle-grade books are like early young adult books. And so, this year, I begin with two disclaimers. The first is my annual disclaimer: not all these books were published in 2022. Several were published earlier; I just read them in 2022. And the second: reading levels differ widely, so children read different books at different ages. […]
- [Ramanujan](https://varshaseshan.com/ramanujan/): What did I like most about Ramanujan?The chapter numbers! Each one is a mathematical problem that uses the chapter number and mathematical operators in such a way that the solution to the problem is, again, the chapter number. That sounds much more complicated than it is, but take a look: Do you see what I mean? Isn’t it fun? I love maths. And clever mathematical ideas? I’m always in awe. When I solve a mathematical or logical problem, there’s a sense of glee that is unlike anything else, and so, Ramanujan is exactly my kind of book. A cross between […]
- [The Manic Panic](https://varshaseshan.com/the-manic-panic/): I love Richa Jha’s books. I don’t know how many I’ve read, but each one has been special – Love Like That, Boo! When My Sister Died, Machher Jhol … I didn’t know Richa would be at Neev Literature Festival, or I would have carried my copy of Giggi and Daddy for her to sign for me, but as it turned out, it was a good thing I didn’t carry the book. I ended up picking up The Manic Panic! The Manic Panic is an adorable book. When I was a child, I remember learning the song “Be kind to […]
- [A Chera Adventure](https://varshaseshan.com/a-chera-adventure/): I’ve been intrigued by the Girls of India series for a while, but I hadn’t read any of the books in the series until Penguin sent me A Chera Adventure to review. I enjoy historical fiction. And middle-grade historical fiction set in south India? I can’t think of a single example of a book that fits the category, so I was more than a little excited to read this one. With a spunky protagonist at the centre, A Chera Adventure explores the diversity of medieval Kerala. Sharadha, who comes from a family of healers, knows little beyond her matriarchal family […]
- [Building Dramatic Characters](https://varshaseshan.com/building-dramatic-characters/): What fun we had at ‘Building Dramatic Characters’ – a guest session conducted by Neha Singh for my creative writing programme! To quote Neha, anything can be a character. Maybe even a chair talking to the moon! The strength of a character simply depends on how much you have invested in the character to make it full-fledged and believable. Step by step, she led us through the process of creating dramatic characters of our own, and before we were even halfway through, here are the characters we met: Bland – a lonely blade of grass Orange – a carrot with […]
- [Flipped - Mystery Stories and Sci-Fi Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/flipped-mystery-stories-and-sci-fi-stories/): With Flipped – Mystery Stories and Sci-Fi Stories, we have another first at my book club – an anthology! Full disclosure – I have a story in Flipped too, but we won’t be reading that one. I love the idea of the Flipped books. You read a few stories, then decide you want another kind of story, so you just flip the book over and discover another genre. Short stories work well at my book club too, so there’s a lot we can do as we read this anthology. Sci-Fi Stories A couple of years ago, I invited a friend and NASA […]
- [Crenshaw](https://varshaseshan.com/crenshaw-2/): I read Crenshaw over two years ago. In fact, it was one of my top reads of 2020, and it’s a story that has stayed with me since then, a story I think about often because of its portrayal of friendship, loneliness and vulnerability. Crenshaw is the story of a boy, Jackson, and a giant cat. What role can a giant cat have in the life of a boy who loves facts? How can Jackson reconcile his need for truth with the … fact … that he has an imaginary friend? I’m waiting to share this beautiful story with my book club! […]
- [Gulgul in Jungalu](https://varshaseshan.com/gulgul-in-jungalu/): It’s time to introduce another series to my book club – the Gulgul series! I wonder if the book is targeted at slightly younger readers than my book clubbers, but the number of things we can do with Gulgul in Jungalu prompted me to select it. Gulgul is mischievous, resourceful and friendly, the perfect protagonist of an adventure story. She must befriend not just elephant-like creatures, but also flippots, bluglugs and longfellows in order to help her mother Megha build a zingjuck that will shoot them into space where they will have phone coverage to call a spacecab! Full of wacky words and […]
- [Demystifying Publishing](https://varshaseshan.com/demystifying-publishing/): One of the best things about my creative writing programmes is how much I learn on the way. For one, before each class, I research for hours. One hour of class time typically requires at least four hours of research.And for another, I invite guests to talk about a variety of subjects from science fiction to cyber crime, historical fiction to comics. Our latest guest was Andaleeb Wajid, a hybrid author who has published 37 novels in the last twelve years! Since so many parents and children have questions about Kindle Direct Publishing and whether they should publish their children’s […]
- [Roshan's Road to Music](https://varshaseshan.com/roshans-road-to-music/): Recently, while reading A Cello on the Wall with my book club, we did a quiz on musical instruments. The piano, the cello (of course), the guitar, and the tabla were easy to identify. The violin was easy for some, confusing for others. But the sarod, sitar, veena and mridangam were difficult for nearly all the children. And this made me realise how rarely we see these instruments in picture books. Yes, many children know that Saraswati plays the veena, but in so many depictions, it looks like she’s playing the sitar. I played the sitar myself, and I still […]
- [I Want a Pet](https://varshaseshan.com/i-want-a-pet/): I’ve never met a child who has never in their life wanted a pet. Have you? But what if … the pet isn’t a cat or a dog or even a rabbit, but a buffalo? I absolutely loved Arundhati Venkatesh‘s brand-new Hook Book, I Want a Pet. Without any drama or explanation, we are sucked right into the tale. Jasbir wants a pet, he wants a pet, he wants a pet! And on cue, a talking buffalo storms into Jasbir’s house, making his wish come true … sort of. I chuckled and wondered at the hilarious story as I read […]
- [Secret Friends](https://varshaseshan.com/secret-friends/): I love Elizabeth Laird. And Secret Friends was another beautiful read, a heartbreaking story about wanting to fit in, but never quite managing it. Lucy is the first to tease Rafaella, and this is something she regrets right through her life. Rafaella has enormous ears, and Lucy, unthinkingly, coins the name ‘Earwig’, a name that sticks. When the coolest kids in school adopt the name, part of Lucy knows she should stop them. Why doesn’t she? Why doesn’t she stand up for Rafaella, who, she realises, is as fun and full of ideas as she is? Those are questions that […]
- [The Train to Tanjore](https://varshaseshan.com/the-train-to-tanjore/): It’s 1942 in Tanjore, and Thambi wants to know more about the Quit India movement. Encouraged by his father, he visits the library regularly to scour the newspapers. But there’s precious little in the papers about anything except the war raging in Europe. Thambi wants to know about Gandhiji and the other freedom fighters! Not Hitler and the Japanese! Yet, he knows that the war is frightening too. In fact, his new friend Sumit has moved to Tanjore from faraway Bengal because of the threat of a Japanese attack. Is Sumit right? Are the Japanese all set to attack Thanjavur […]
- [Learning to Be](https://varshaseshan.com/learning-to-be/): Learning to Be is an interesting series of nonfiction board books, each of which tells the story of an inspiring woman who made a difference. Stories about women are important because so many have been written out of history. Presenting their stories in the form of board books is a unique concept and a striking one. We don’t usually find words like ‘commitment’ and ‘perseverance’ in a board book! Yet, when these books with their vivid illustrations are read aloud to young children, I’m sure they will be impactful.  I wonder, however, if these stories would have been easier to understand in […]
- [Misfit Madhu](https://varshaseshan.com/misfit-madhu/): I wish I’d known that author Divya Anand would be at the Neev Literature Festival; I would have taken my copy of Misfit Madhu along for her to sign! Misfit Madhu is a lovely book – an easy, engaging read that kept me hooked. Madhu is usually invisible. If anyone notices her, it’s only to give her a moniker like Misfit Madhu, or No Name, or something else equally annoying. But when she makes an app called School Santhe, she suddenly finds herself in the limelight because her app goes viral. She’s earned herself a new name – Maker Madhu! […]
- [Nadya](https://varshaseshan.com/nadya/): Nadya’s family is perfect, or so it seems. It’s full of laughter and fun, and she knows that no matter where she is, her father will find her. But one day, things don’t seem so perfect anymore. Eventually, Nadya’s father tells her that he’s going away. He promises he’ll be back soon, but that’s a lie. With minimal text and powerful, bold illustration, Nadya tells the story of family, and relationships that need to change and grow. Emotions run high, and pictures, rather than text, propel the story, bringing a sense of urgency into the story and highlighting the conflict […]
- [The Boy Who Loved Birds](https://varshaseshan.com/the-boy-who-loved-birds/): There’s something special about Lavanya Karthik’s Dreamers series. With so little, each book does so much! The Boy Who Loved Birds is about Salim Ali as a boy. What questions did he have? What led him to become a world-famous ornithologist? Like all the other books in the series, the illustrations in The Boy Who Loved Birds are gorgeous. Accompanied by simple text, the book invites us to keep turning the pages, following little Saloo as he searches for answers. Are there different kinds of sparrows? Can Saloo brave the Natural History Museum and find out? A lovely, slim book, […]
- [A Conspiracy in Calcutta](https://varshaseshan.com/a-conspiracy-in-calcutta/): A Conspiracy in Calcutta is the third book I’ve read from the Songs of Freedom series, and it’s my favourite so far! For one, Calcutta is a city that is close to my heart. I spent just a couple of years there, but they were important, full years. More than the setting, though (unlike with That Year at Manikoil), I loved the story. The protagonist Bithi is a child after my own heart. When I studied about the struggle for independence, I often dreamt of having lived in the 1940s, marching with Gandhi, doing something meaningful, and making it to […]
- [Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells](https://varshaseshan.com/dragonflies-jigsaws-and-seashells/): For the first time ever, we’re going to read one of my books at my book club! I am in equal parts nervous and excited. Yes, Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award. Yes, it’s been published both by Scholastic Asia  and Scholastic India. Yes, it was shortlisted for the Singapore Book Award. That doesn’t make me any less nervous! I chose this book of mine because reading Dungeon Tales II convinced me that short stories are perfect for Read, Write, Explore. We will read excerpts from three stories in class and do activities based on the stories, concluding […]
- [Yikes! Bikes!](https://varshaseshan.com/yikes-bikes/): We had so much fun with The Reading Race a few months ago that I was sure I wanted to do another book from the Ready, Freddy! series sooner or later. Yikes! Bikes! is perfect. The animal shelter in Freddy’s town has organised a fundraiser, one that involves a Bike-a-thon. Max Sellars goads Freddy into making a bet with him, and the young protagonist rashly bets that he can ride more laps than the class bully. The problem? Freddy can’t ride without training wheels yet and he has just two weeks to figure it out! Lighthearted and humorous, Yikes! Bikes!, like The Reading Race, allows us to do […]
- [I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018](https://varshaseshan.com/i-survived-the-california-wildfires-2018/): During my first two writing programmes in 2020-21, one participant (who wrote this poem) recommended the I Survived series. She spoke about it time and again, and somehow, I never ended up picking up a copy. In June this year, when I travelled to Nagpur for a set of workshops, I ran out of books to read, so I visited Crossword. There, I came across the I Survived series and decided it was high time I read at least one of the books. It’s perfect for my reading programme, Read, Write, Explore! The I Survived series tells the stories of young people caught in disasters […]
- [A Cello on the Wall](https://varshaseshan.com/a-cello-on-the-wall/): War is a difficult subject to introduce to children, and I’m often unsure of whether it should be introduced at all. Yet, most children are exposed to so much media and are aware of so much that is happening around them that I think stories of hope are important. Yes, history is full of war. But in the darkest of times, love and kindness do triumph. A Cello on the Wall is part of the One Day Elsewhere series I read nearly a year ago. The series explores important events in history through the eyes of a child, and A Cello on the Wall is […]
- [The Shy Supergirl](https://varshaseshan.com/the-shy-supergirl/): When I launched my book club in December 2020, I began with a hOle book, Trouble with Magic by Asha Nehemiah, and somehow, that became a tradition. During each edition of my book club, the first book we read is a hOle book. This time, it’s Shabnam Minwalla’s The Shy Supergirl. The Shy Supergirl is such a lovely, lovely book! It captured my heart from the very first paragraph. Nina Merchant is a supergirl. She isn’t strange; she’s special. What’s her superpower? That she can look at a person and tell what kind of person they actually are – nice or nasty, evil […]
- [Two Hook Books](https://varshaseshan.com/two-hook-books/): Somewhere between picture books and chapter books are the Hook Books, and books for this age-group are so important! One step up from the ‘Read It Yourself’ series, they are slightly more complex than picture books, but still have full-colour illustrations right through. I remember reading hundreds–well, dozens–of Noddy books at an age when I could have read books like this. I loved Noddy because of the familiarity of a series. Characters I know, settings I love – these appealed to me, like they appeal to most children. The Hook Books aren’t a series in quite the same way. Like […]
- [Ritu Weds Chandni](https://varshaseshan.com/ritu-weds-chandni/): I’ve been wanting to read Ritu Weds Chandni ever since I saw posts by Yali Books two years ago. It seemed like such an important book – a picture book about two women getting married! When I started reading it, however, I did so without reading the blurb. The book opens with little Ayesha getting ready to dance at her cousin’s baraat. She seems so happy; her family seems so happy. I wondered … Would this be a simplistic story glossing over homophobia? Would Ayesha just be a bystander enjoying a wedding? But I was not disappointed. I loved the […]
- [The Best At It](https://varshaseshan.com/the-best-at-it/): Rahul Kapoor wants to be the best at it. The best at what? Honestly, anything. Football, acting … anything except Maths. He doesn’t want to fit into the stereotype of the nerdy American Indian. In fact, he wants as little to do with his Indianness as possible. For instance, he doesn’t want to be part of the International Bazaar that his mother’s friends, the Auntie Squad, are organising. And he’d like to be a little less brown. Oh, and he finds his father’s Bollywood music more than a little embarrassing. The Best At It was a gentle, lovely book. Yes, […]
- [Born Behind Bars](https://varshaseshan.com/born-behind-bars/): Just like Fish in a Tree and Counting by 7s, I got around to reading Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman thanks to the NLF Reading Challenge. There’s just so much lovely literature out there just waiting to be read! I was a little sceptical about reading Born Behind Bars, though. I’m not a fan of very dark, upsetting middle-grade literature. For instance, even though I found One for the Murphys gripping, it was too much for me. It’s emotional, well-told, powerful – but there’s just too much darkness there. I like heart-wrenching stories, but not that heart-wrenching. And the […]
- [That Year at Manikoil](https://varshaseshan.com/that-year-at-manikoil/): I couldn’t have read That Year at Manikoil on a better day if I’d planned it. I don’t even remember how long ago I bought my copy, but it was today, Independence Day, that I sat down with it. And it was only when I was close to finishing it that I realised what an apt day it was to have read a book from the Songs of Freedom series. That Year at Manikoil is a rich, beautifully told story. Like The Chowpatty Cooking Club, it traces the story of young girls in the 1940s. World War II continues to […]
- [Daulatabad Fort and Ellora Caves](https://varshaseshan.com/daulatabad-fort-and-ellora-caves/): The view from the top of Daulatabad I first visited Daulatabad about 25 years ago. From all those years ago, I remember two things distinctly: the frighteningly dark passages that can lead you straight to a moat full of hungry crocodiles if you take the wrong turn, and the smell of bats. The latter stays the same, except that it’s mingled with the stench of sweat. What has changed, though, is the passages. A few electric lights have been installed, but what really changes the feel of the place is the fact that everyone has a mobile phone with a flashlight! […]
- [Love That Dog](https://varshaseshan.com/love-that-dog/): Last month, I had the opportunity to pitch a middle-grade verse novel to an editor, and as these things sometimes happen, the pitch turned into a conversation. We spoke about One and The Weight of Water (I prefer the first; the editor I was talking to prefers the second). I had not yet read Clap When You Land, or I would have mentioned it. And then she asked me if I had read Love That Dog. I hadn’t, but I thought I’d see if I could find it. I did–and I loved it! The book begins in a surprising way. […]
- [Clap When You Land](https://varshaseshan.com/clap-when-you-land/): A YA verse novel told from two points of view? Yes, please. And one with a secret at its core? Always. Clap When You Land was a stunning read, one that made my heart ache even as I rejoiced with all the women in the story who emerged triumphant, and stronger than ever. Yahaira, who lives in New York City, knows her father’s secret. But she thinks she needs to keep it from her mother.And Camino, who lives in the Dominican Republic, knows nothing. She does not know that her father does not live in the United States only for […]
- [Ivy + Bean](https://varshaseshan.com/ivy-bean/): Every so often, at my book club, I choose a popular, internationally loved book. We’ve read The Rise of the Earth Dragon, The Absent Author, The Sheep-Pig … and now, we’ll read Ivy + Bean. The enemies to friends trope is always fun. Ivy and Bean never meant to like each other. In fact, Bean is quite sure she has enough friends. She doesn’t need another one, especially not someone who seems as nice as Ivy. She knows only too well that nice = boring. But when Bean decides to play a trick on her sister, she realises that Ivy is not as nice as she […]
- [The Great River Magic](https://varshaseshan.com/the-great-river-magic/): The Great River Magic by Nandini Nayar is one of those books with a message, not usually an obvious choice for me to read at my book club. Yet, as I read this book, I was charmed by the premise. I love stories about families, family traditions, and the ways in which people follow or break them. The Great River Magic touches upon all this! Sangeeta – whom her grandmother insists on calling Gita – is the firstborn child. In the village of Rajpur, this means that she must take over the family business. What if she doesn’t want to? That’s just one […]
- [Petu Pumpkin - Tiffin Thief](https://varshaseshan.com/petu-pumpkin-tiffin-thief/): We’ve read Bookasura and Koobandhee; we’re all set for yet another book by Arundhati Venkatesh – Petu Pumpkin: Tiffin Thief. Petu Pumpkin. Isn’t it a fun name? And doesn’t it seem apt that he would be a tiffin thief? The question is: what can his friends do about the fact that Pushkin aka Petu Pumpkin eats everyone’s food? They must come up with a plan.And of course, the plan must be secret. And a secret plan requires a secret society. And a secret society must have a name, a leader, a secret meeting place and a password. Petu Pumpkin: Tiffin Thief is a fun […]
- [Dreamers - Lavanya Karthik](https://varshaseshan.com/dreamers-lavanya-karthik/): I finally read the next two books in Lavanya Karthik’s series, Dreamers. I read the first two nearly a year ago! Once more, the visuals are gorgeous. And the stories? Simple and delightful. Janaki wants to be like the birds her father loves so much. They lurk in his eyes and make his eyes shine. But her father tells her she isn’t a bird; she’s like a tiny mangrove seed. Janaki is most offended – she doesn’t want to be a seed! But when she learns what it means to be a seed, we see her lighting up. We experience with her […]
- [The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle](https://varshaseshan.com/the-truth-as-told-by-mason-buttle/): Diaphoresis and dyslexia. Mason Buttle has both, and both trouble him. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of his troubles. His best friend Benny Kilmartin is dead. His parents are dead. And his uncle has sold off parts of their apple orchard to make ends meet. The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle is a beautiful story about innocence and friendship. Mason is a lovely character, a kind and gentle boy in a huge body. As he navigates a school where he is bullied, he finds a friend in Calvin Chumsky. With a new friend, it seems like […]
- [The One and Only Ruby](https://varshaseshan.com/the-one-and-only-ruby/): Is there any child who doesn’t love elephants? Magnificent African elephants with their enormous tusks, the gentler-looking Asian elephants with their smaller ears—I loved them all. So, of course I wanted to read The One and Only Ruby, the story of the little elephant in the gorilla Ivan’s life. And just like when I read The One and Only Bob, I was blown away by how beautifully Katherine Applegate tells the story. Ruby is getting ready for her Tuskday. Or rather, she ought to be getting ready for it, but she is actually running away from it. When she sees […]
- [The One and Only Bob](https://varshaseshan.com/the-one-and-only-bob/): Katherine Applegate’s books are a treasure. Recently, I reread The One and Only Bob, a lovely book featuring an unforgettable character. About a month ago, I reviewed Odder, and I wrote about how authentic the voice is. And with The One and Only Bob, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. It is a story about cruelty, loneliness, courage and love, and yet, what makes the book sparkle is Bob’s voice. If you’ve read any of the other books in the series, you know exactly what Bob is like, a street-smart, wisecracking dog who refuses to take anything seriously. […]
- [Rick](https://varshaseshan.com/rick/): I’ve been reading about Melissa and Rick on so many book lists that I’ve had Alex Gino’s books on my (endless) TBR forever. I finally read Rick, and I realise why it pops up so often. It’s such an important middle-grade book, one that I would have loved to read when I was twelve or thirteen. Everyone around Rick seems to be talking about crushes. His parents, being broad-minded, make it a point to ask whether there’s a girl or a boy whom he likes. But Rick has never felt the way his classmates say they feel. He doesn’t know […]
- [PodLab with Menaka Raman](https://varshaseshan.com/podlab-with-menaka-raman/): At the Neev Literature Festival 2023, I watched Menaka Raman conduct a session on character development, and I knew I wanted to invite her to my writing programme. She did a session for us today, and what an engaging session it was! Her lively teaching style made the workshop a treat.  This workshop was my twenty-sixth guest session, and my very first one on podcasting. Menaka took us through the basics—from what a podcast is to what equipment we need to record a podcast. In some ways, a podcast is like Netflix for audio – it has episodes that are […]
- [When You Trap a Tiger](https://varshaseshan.com/when-you-trap-a-tiger/): What an unexpected book! Often, I don’t know much about books before I read them. Some books keep showing up on my social media. Others are recommended to me multiple times by children I teach. Usually, it takes me a while to get around to reading them, and based on who recommends a book to me, I sometimes have preconceived notions about what a book will be about. For instance, despite its name, I expected When You Trap a Tiger to be realistic fiction, with no fantasy or fable thrown in. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong! Lily and […]
- [The Poet X](https://varshaseshan.com/the-poet-x/): I’ve been meaning to read Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X ever since I read Clap When You Land and discovered that she had another, more famous verse novel. I borrowed this one from Kahaani Box (may libraries prosper forever!), and I loved it. A powerful, moving story told from a young Hispanic girl’s point of view, The Poet X is about rebellion, love, and making your voice heard. Xiomara, the protagonist of the story, keeps her poetry to herself. Only her twin Xavier, whom she calls Twin, has listened to her work. But that is until she meets Aman, who, […]
- [Amil and the After](https://varshaseshan.com/amil-and-the-after/): Five years ago, I read The Night Diary. It’s a story that brings alive the bewilderment of children forced to move out of their homes during the Partition. But just like the “happily ever after” at the end of fairytales glosses over the beginning of a new, complicated phase of life, safely reaching a new home after the Partition cannot be the end of a story. And with Amil and the After, we see that it isn’t. The struggles and questions Nisha and Amil face don’t end with the end of their journey across an arbitrary border. Now, through Amil’s […]
- [In the Bear's Den](https://varshaseshan.com/in-the-bears-den/): Little Shambu is such fun! I read In the Bear’s Den and Other Adventures of Little Shambu some time ago, and at my book club, we read the first book in the Little Shambu series earlier this year. Short stories are fun! I’m looking forward to reading more of this young animal lover’s adventures with my book club! Dialogue Role play for dialogue reading is something that I repeat frequently at my book club. Paying attention to paragraph structure and punctuation, and understanding how we know who says what is an important step towards creating stories as the children grow older! Drawing […]
- [Paati vs UNCLE](https://varshaseshan.com/paati-vs-uncle/): We’re rereading Paati vs UNCLE by Meera Ganapathi at my book club! It is a delightful combination of funny and serious, action-driven and character-driven, making it a perfect book club read. Inju is all set for a quiet, boring holiday with his Paati. That’s just the way he likes it. Unfortunately, from the moment he gets to Parijat Retirement Colony where his grandmother lives, he realises that it’s going to be an exciting, adventurous holiday, not a quiet, boring one. It isn’t what he wanted, but when his Paati is upset and angry, what can he do except take charge? Making […]
- [The Magic Finger](https://varshaseshan.com/the-magic-finger/): I typically shy away from very well-known books at my book club because I feel that children will come across these books through schools and bookshops anyway. But I’ve always loved Roald Dahl’s work, and what is a book club for if not to spark the joy of reading? We’ve read Fantastic Mr Fox and Esio Trot. Next month, we’ll read The Magic Finger! Anger While all of us might wish we had a magic finger to zap someone who makes us angry, that isn’t practical, is it? What do you do when you’re angry? What makes you angry?  Superpowers Discussing superpowers is a […]
- [Leonora Bolt: Secret Inventor](https://varshaseshan.com/leonora-bolt-secret-inventor/): I borrowed Leonora Bolt: The Great Gadget Games from a library recently, and my first thought was that the series would be perfect for my book club! A science-loving protagonist with imaginative, innovative ideas, a secret inventor, an unusual set of friends … it’s full of possibilities! And that’s why we’re going to be reading the first book from the series, Leonora Bolt: Secret Inventor at my book club next month.  Friendship Leonora Bolt’s friends include an otter, a cook, a sea captain and a boy who washes up on the island. This will be our prompt to write about an unusual friendship […]
- [Bookasura](https://varshaseshan.com/bookasura/): Some books demand to be read at reading programmes. Lucky Girl, with its exploration of poetry. Chitti’s Travelling Book Box with its message of spreading the love for reading. Book Uncle and Me, with the need to save a lending library. And Bookasura, with its book-eating asura. And that’s why we’re rereading this one at my book club! Bala loves books. He devours them. Not literally, of course. The problem, however, is his baby sister Meera, who actually likes to eat books. When Bala meets Bookasura, a book-eating demon, he sees a strong resemblance between Meera and the asura. What can he […]
- [Birds on the Brain](https://varshaseshan.com/birds-on-the-brain/): Uma Krishnaswami’s Birds on the Brain is such a lovely book! I’ve read Book Uncle and Me with my book club, and I just revisited the post I wrote about it. Three years ago, I wrote about having discovered verse novels “quite recently” and now I have two verse novels of my own! In Birds on the Brain, we meet lots of familiar characters, and although I love verse novels, I enjoyed this book more than the first. The characters, particularly the protagonist Reeni, are wonderfully relatable. Reeni, for instance, is a balance of self-centred and selfless. She has birds on her brain and it […]
- [The Great Escape](https://varshaseshan.com/the-great-escape/): Each time Menaka Raman posted about The Great Escape events, she urged participants to bring a spoon.And then, when she autographed my copy, she wrote Spoontacular Varsha.How could I not be intrigued? What’s the big deal about a spoon anyway? You have to read The Great Escape to find out, and that’s why it’s the first book we’ll be reading at my book club in December.  Sachit wants to escape from school. And the best thing about finding a friend is that you can lay devious plans together, and do your best not to get caught as you execute those plans. A fun, mad read, […]
- [Where Does It Hurt?](https://varshaseshan.com/where-does-it-hurt/): Where does it hurt? It’s such a simple question. If I read it aloud, I find my voice getting softer, kinder, more patient. And that’s what this Hook Book by Samina Mishra and Allen Shaw is about – softness, kindness and patience. Sometimes, pain is easy to explain, like when you eat something that makes your tummy hurt.Sometimes, it’s in more than one place, like if you hit your mouth on the handlebar of a cycle. Yes, your mouth hurts, but more, you want to be comforted. And sometimes, pain is much more complicated, like when your head hurts with […]
- [The Wishkeeper's Apprentice](https://varshaseshan.com/the-wishkeepers-apprentice/): What a charming book! Hopeful, whimsical and ever so sweet, The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice is a book I loved as an adult and would have enjoyed as a child. Rupus Beewinkle is an overworked wishkeeper. He needs an apprentice because there are so many wish snags, and he simply isn’t able to keep up. Unfortunately, the council refuses his request, and Rupus Beewinkle needs to take things into his own hands. Enter Felix, who is increasingly upset because his sister Rebecca is now too busy to spend time with him. If only Rebecca would love him the way she used to […]
- [Illustrating Picture Books with Ashok Rajagopalan](https://varshaseshan.com/illustrating-picture-books-with-ashok-rajagopalan/): What an enriching session we had on illustrating picture books with Ashok Rajagopalan! “I didn’t know this, but I make an angry face when I’m drawing an angry face!” Ashok said. “If I want to draw a sad face, I make a sad face myself.” I remember seeing something about Disney doing the same thing. Is it something all artists do? Today’s focus was creating emotions in picture books. Among the most interesting things for me was the fact that the reader’s emotion can be quite different from what the character is feeling. Sometimes, a character is angry, or confused, […]
- [You Go First](https://varshaseshan.com/you-go-first/): I’ve been wanting to read Erin Entrada Kelly’s books for a while. As a writer of middle-grade, hers is a name that keeps popping up. I finally read You Go First, and what an unusual, charming book it is! You Go First tells two stories, stories that barely meet. One is the story of Charlotte Lockard, who wishes she had a friend who would call her Lottie, or Charlie, or anything that made her feel closer, made her an intimate friend. But Charlotte she is, and Charlotte she remains, except online, where her name is Lottie Lock. And it’s online […]
- [Odder](https://varshaseshan.com/odder/): I love Katherine Applegate, and I’ve been meaning to read Odder ever since it came out. Finally, I borrowed it from Kahaani Box and devoured it. It’s such a lovely book! Odder is the story of a sea otter, an irrepressible character, who swirls and dances and leaps out of the pages. She is larger than life, curious, trusting and altogether a delight. And that’s what brings me to what I love most about Katherine Applegate’s books – voice. Read The One and Only Ivan, and you hear the voice of the gorilla. Read Crenshaw and you can see both […]
- [Leonora Bolt: The Great Gadget Games](https://varshaseshan.com/leonora-bolt-the-great-gadget-games/): I love it when I come across books that I can read with my book club! I’ve been reading about Leonora Bolt for a while, but The Great Gadget Games is the first one I’ve read in the series. Clearly, earlier in the series, Leonora Bolt was in the clutches of her evil uncle Luther. She’s escaped and is now determined to save her parents too. The best way to do so is to take part in the great gadget games her uncle has organised. She is a super-inventor after all! From wild inventions to wacky ideas, Leonora Bolt: The […]
- [The Last Windwitch](https://varshaseshan.com/the-last-windwitch/): It’s been a while since I read fantasy! I often find it hard to get into fantasy because of the detailed world-building that it demands. I think that’s one of the reasons writing Uncontrollable in verse worked so well for me. In the same way that I don’t get sucked into a fantastical world easily, I can’t write complex worlds without it feeling like some kind of info dump! But of course, well written fantasy draws you in slowly. The Girl Who Drank the Moon was like that for me, as was The Last Windwitch. Even though much of it […]
- [Pax, Journey Home](https://varshaseshan.com/pax-journey-home/): I haven’t read Pax, but I picked up Pax, Journey Home from Kahaani Box. It’s a lovely book, but I have a warning – don’t read the blurb! I don’t often read the blurb before I read a book, and so often when I do, I regret it! A huge chunk of what is mentioned in the blurb happens in the last twenty pages of the book, and I would have loved to discover it through the book rather than before I started reading! Pax, Journey Home is the story of a boy and a fox, both of whom have […]
- [Gooney Bird Greene](https://varshaseshan.com/gooney-bird-greene/): Gooney Bird Greene was the second book I read from Kahaani Box, and it’s a fun story by an author whose work I admire. Lois Lowry has written such a range of books! I’ve read Number the Stars (one of my favourite reads from 2020), The Giver and Gathering Blue that I remember, and I have no idea if I’ve read others! Even though I’m not a fan of precocious protagonists, I usually find something to admire about stories featuring them. In Gooney Bird Greene, I loved the wordplay. Gooney Bird insists that she tells only true stories, yet her […]
- [Dear Sister](https://varshaseshan.com/dear-sister/): I’ve missed libraries so much ever since the British Library shut down! On a recent visit to Bangalore, I visited Kahaani Box, and I made a decision to join on the spur of the moment. There’s nothing like receiving a parcel of books I’m very unlikely to have read otherwise! Neha from Kahaani Box recommended Dear Sister to me, so it was the first book I picked up. For one, I take librarian recommendations very seriously. For another, she and I both have a sister, and that was one of the reasons for the recommendation. And it was such a […]
- [The Best Idea of All](https://varshaseshan.com/the-best-idea-of-all/): I’m always nervous about reading my books with my book club! I wonder if and when I’ll get over that. We’ve read Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells, The Prophecy of Rasphora, Dhara’s Revolution and Flipped, and now, we’ll read The Best Idea of All. A story about festivals and the climate crisis, The Best Idea of All explores how children can and do find ways to make a difference. As I discovered through the many author events I did with The Best Idea of All, there’s so much I can do with the book! And especially as my book club runs online, we can bring […]
- [Dungeon Tales II](https://varshaseshan.com/dungeon-tales-ii-2/): We’re going to reread Dungeon Tales II by Venita Coelho at my book club! And thanks to the Neev Literature Festival, I have an autographed copy! Short stories work well with my book clubs, especially as we read just excerpts in class. Both volumes of Dungeon Tales were wonderfully received by the children, so I’m excited to read three more stories from this volume! Roman Numerals I loved Roman numerals as a child, and I always waited for the chance to use them. Letters that are actually numbers? Fascinating! We’ll look at numbers, why the introduction of zero was important, and see how […]
- [The Talking T-Rex](https://varshaseshan.com/the-talking-t-rex/): We’ve read two books from the A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy; we’re all set to read another! Before picking up The Talking T-Rex, I wondered whether it would be a scary book–that’s what the cover leads us to believe. But it’s not! We know from the very beginning that the T-rex is a machine; in fact, we first see it before it is assembled. The mystery revolves around the T-rex, yes, but it’s about who stole money from the T-rex’s belly. It isn’t about a T-rex going rogue! And the simplicity of the story makes it a perfect book club […]
- [Just Harriet](https://varshaseshan.com/just-harriet/): Harriet isn’t your typical protagonist. She lies, she’s selfish, and she’s often sulky and bad-tempered. Even as I read Just Harriet, I mulled over whether to introduce it to my book club. We’ve read and loved two books by Elana K. Arnold – A Boy Called Bat and Bat and the End of Everything – but this one’s quite different. The protagonist is younger; she’s just finished third grade. More, she behaves a lot younger; she’s not the sophisticated child we often see around us. But doesn’t that make her more real? The answer, to my mind, was yes. And that’s why we’re reading Just […]
- [Spellbound](https://varshaseshan.com/spellbound-2/): We’re rereading Spellbound by Nalini Sorensen at my book club next month! There are some books that simply must be read at a book club. They’re full of possibility, bursting with ideas and imagination.  When author Nalini Sorensen visited my online creative writing programme a few months ago, Spellbound was hot off the press, and the reviews I read promised that it would be be one of those books, a delight to work with. And I wasn’t wrong. It is everything I expected it to be – a book that wants to be read and discussed. In Nalini Sorensen’s story, all poor Prince Freddy […]
- [Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter](https://varshaseshan.com/petu-pumpkin-freedom-fighter-2/): We need more books this length! Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter is perfect for my book club for so many reasons! For one, it’s a book about agency and creating change, while also being a humorous read featuring familiar characters. For another, since it’s just about a hundred pages long, we have enough time to read as well as do activities based on the book.  Interviews Petu Pumpkin and his friends gather quite a crowd as they protest outside their school gates. This is a good prompt for us to explore how interviews worked. What questions would we ask an interviewee? Just […]
- [Susie Will Not Speak](https://varshaseshan.com/susie-will-not-speak/): Susie Will Not Speak by Shruthi Rao was one of the first hOle books I read, and it remains one of my favourites. Jahan and Susie leap out of the pages – sparkling characters that make the story what it is. Susie has a lisp. How can she say even her own name without proclaiming her lisp to the world? There’s just one solution. Susie will not speak. Ever. What can her best friend Jahan do? NOT Speaking What if you refuse to speak? How else can you communicate?  We can use the chat box, charades, artwork, and even make […]
- [Other Words for Home](https://varshaseshan.com/other-words-for-home/): Search for ‘verse novels for middle-grade readers’, and Other Words for Home is bound to come up. It’s a Newbery Honor Book and a New York Times bestseller. However, just like I said when I reviewed Red, White and Whole, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read yet another immigration story. And perhaps that was why it fell short for me. I’ve read too many of these – Inside Out and Back Again, In the Beautiful Country and Red, White and Whole come to mind immediately. While Other Words for Home is a sweet story, I was not drawn […]
- [Mirror to Mirror](https://varshaseshan.com/mirror-to-mirror/): Stories about sisters are incredibly special. And sisters who would do anything to win each other’s heart? You have me with the premise itself. I read Mirror to Mirror only because I attended an author talk that Rajani LaRocca gave for the Neev Literature Festival Reading Challenge. Listening to her read from the book and then talk about her book, I knew that this was a book I was likely to enjoy. I didn’t just enjoy it; I loved it. Maya and Chaya are identical twins. But when Maya tries to hide her anxiety from Chaya and even refuses to […]
- [Mascot](https://varshaseshan.com/mascot/): Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell is the third and last book I read because it’s on the required reading list for an online workshop on revising your verse novel that I will be attending later this year thanks to my Highlights Foundation scholarship. A nuanced story in verse exploring multiple perspectives, Mascot reminds us that activism must be intersectional for it to be meaningful. Ms Williams, an eighth grade teacher, invites her class to debate whether the mascot of the school should stay. Callie is convinced that there’s no room for debate. It’s absurd that people think it’s okay to appropriate to […]
- [A Melody in Mysore](https://varshaseshan.com/a-melody-in-mysore/): With Independence Day just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to read A Melody in Mysore by Shruthi Rao, a new addition to the Songs of Freedom series. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed most of the books in the series, some more than others. Set in different parts of the country in the first half of the twentieth century, each book is a snapshot of what it might have been like to be a child during the independence struggle. Growing up in Mysore, Leela is relatively cocooned from the British rule. Under the Maharaja, many feel safe. The British struggle isn’t […]
- [Spin](https://varshaseshan.com/spin/): What if the gods didn’t bless Arachne after all? What if, like all mortals, she had to toil, ignored by the gods until she, through her own hard work, achieved a kind of immortality, the only kind that is granted to us? Spin by Rebecca Caprara is the second book I read because it’s on the required reading list for an online workshop on revising your verse novel that I will be attending later this year. I would never have enrolled for this workshop if I had not received the Highlights Foundation scholarship, and I might then never have read this stunning […]
- [Restart](https://varshaseshan.com/restart/): What if you got the chance to start your life all over again? Would you make any changes? Restart by Gordon Korman is a powerful story about getting a second chance. The story opens with Chase Ambrose in hospital. He’s fallen off his roof and forgotten everything about who he used to be. And when he returns to school, he doesn’t know what to make of the way everyone reacts to him. Slowly, he discovers he was the worst kind of bully. Even as he remembers who he used to be, he needs to decide who he wants to be. […]
- [Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter](https://varshaseshan.com/petu-pumpkin-freedom-fighter/): What would you do if your playground was going to be converted into a shopping mall? Would you be okay with your games period being cancelled indefinitely? Petu and his friends certainly aren’t going to take it lying down! Petu Pumpkin Freedom Fighter deals with heavy themes in the lightest possible way — with not just humour, but hilarity. In this book for slightly older readers than the hOle books, Petu and the rest of his Awesome Fivesome have bigger trouble at hand. It’s no longer about a tiffin thief or about his friends suspecting that Petu Pumpkin is a […]
- [Mini's Books](https://varshaseshan.com/minis-books/): Books about books are always a joy to read at my book club! We’re reading In the Woof of Time at my reading programme for ages nine and ten and Mini’s Books at the one for ages seven and eight. Anyone who grew up on Enid Blyton wanted to eat scones, crumpets and treacle. I was one of them, and so, this book is all the more believable. Mini wants to eat the food the Big Little Monsters in the books she reads eat. And through her summer holidays, she slowly learns more and more about these monsters–and discovers all the surprising consequences […]
- [In the Woof of Time](https://varshaseshan.com/in-the-woof-of-time/): A book club mystery – of course I had to explore the possibility of introducing it to my book club! Samar and his friends find themselves in the middle of a spate of thefts – a dog, milk bottles, and even jewellery. They love reading mystery stories, so this they must investigate the mystery that surrounds them! Will they do it in the woof of time? Clues and Puzzles As we read In the Woof of Time, we’ll engage in a little code-making and code-breaking of our own. Detective stories and cryptograms go together! Alibis and Red Herrings A lot of […]
- [The Perfect Present](https://varshaseshan.com/the-perfect-present/): We’ve read two books from the Ready, Freddy series at my book club, and I’m happy to read another! While I cannot say I love the books, I see how well they suit a book club. They are easy to read, full of illustrations, and great conversation starters.  The Perfect Present is a Christmas story. Freddy is making a list of everything he wants for Christmas. His list is endless, but predictably, the story leads us towards an understanding of the spirit of Christmas. Book Activities The Ready, Freddy series is full of readymade activities – finding the hidden fin in each picture, a word […]
- [The Worst Witch to the Rescue](https://varshaseshan.com/the-worst-witch-to-the-rescue/): I used to read The Worst Witch as a child! I had no idea whether I would still enjoy reading about the hapless Mildred Hubble, though. I picked up The Worst Witch to the Rescue without having decided whether to introduce it to my book club–and I loved it all over again! It’s funny, sweet and full of action; I’m sure my book clubbers will enjoy the book too. Quizzes and Vocabulary Games Most children love fantasy. I look forward to doing a few magical games with them – a word search puzzle on words related to magic, a quiz about famous […]
- [Sita's Chitwan](https://varshaseshan.com/sitas-chitwan/): Last year, I invited Vaishali Shroff to conduct a workshop for my writing programme on nonfiction. It was aptly called ‘Non-Boring Nonfiction‘. I rarely read nonfiction, and I don’t think I’ve ever read nonfiction with my book club. I find it easier to introduce nonfiction elements through books like A Cello on the Wall and A Giant Leap. Once more, that is what I will be doing with Sita’s Chitwan. Half the book is a story, the story of eight-year-old Sita, who lives on the outskirts of Chitwan National Park. The other half of the book lets us explore Chitwan National Park, introducing us […]
- [Flyaway Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/flyaway-boy-2/): We’re going to read Flyaway Boy again at my book club! We’ve read and enjoyed When the World Went Dark by Jane de Suza twice, and I look forward to reading this one with another batch too. It’s perfect to discuss so many things – form, narrative voice, imagination, possibility … The list of ideas below just about scratches the surface of everything we can do with the book! Boxes Flyaway Boy opens with a bit about boxes. What neat little boxes do we fit into? Are there any labels we give ourselves, or any labels people give us? Especially as many of […]
- [Peanut Has a Plan](https://varshaseshan.com/peanut-has-a-plan/): We read Peanut Vs the Piano over two years ago at my book club, and it was such fun! I wrote a blog post about one of the activities we did as we read the book, and I look forward to repeating the activity with a fresh batch of book clubbers as we read Peanut Has a Plan.  This hOle book is a lovely little chapter book about determination and kindness. With an enterprising character at the centre of the story, what starts off as a desire to earn money becomes much more than that. Peanut, together with her twin brothers Papad […]
- [Living with Adi](https://varshaseshan.com/living-with-adi/): As one of the judges of the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2023, I was delighted to see Living with Adi on Duckbill’s list! Even when I was reading the draft, I enjoyed the story and the pace, as well as the way it tackles difficult themes. A sensitively told story about a neurodivergent boy, Living with Adi is a vivid portrayal of complex family life. Employing a range of narrative voices, Zarin Virji tells an engaging story. The book is peopled with well-rounded characters, and Adi’s grandmother Shirin’s voice was my favourite! I love her no-nonsense attitude and her humour, […]
- [The ABCs of Blogging](https://varshaseshan.com/the-abcs-of-blogging/): What an informative session we had with Anupama Dalmia! Anupama began by discussing what blogging is. From there, we went on to so much more – blog formats (including vlogs and micro-blogs), finding your niche, and starting your own free blog. She then introduced the children to SEO and the backend, showing them how easy it is to start the process of blogging. Importantly, she answered the question of why blogging could be a good idea – to build a discipline around writing. Once we start blogging, there is often a sense of accountability, the idea that writing and posting […]
- [Puppy Trouble](https://varshaseshan.com/puppy-trouble/): Amit wants a puppy. He wants a puppy. He wants a puppy. He wants a puppy. But his parents refuse. For me, that was the hook. And thanks to my book clubs and the number of conversations we’ve had about wanting pets but not being allowed to get them, I know that this is practically universal. Puppy Trouble goes further, though, because a puppy does come into Amit’s life. Unfortunately for him, however, everything isn’t as exciting as he imagined it would be. A fun book that made me laugh at all the right moments, Puppy Trouble is another Hook […]
- [Red, White and Whole](https://varshaseshan.com/red-white-and-whole/): Red, White and Whole has been on my wishlist for ever so long. I kept dithering. Would I enjoy the book? Would I not? I honestly wasn’t sure I wanted to read yet another immigration story. Yes, a sense of identity is important. Yes, many of us struggle with it; I know I do too. But the whole idea of being caught between two worlds is one I’ve read about a little too much. Even so, I kept coming across people talking about this book, so I picked it up. I was prepared not to love it, even more so […]
- [Character Design with Priyankar Gupta](https://varshaseshan.com/character-design-with-priyankar-gupta/): Practice. What a difference practice makes! Right through yesterday’s guest session on character design, I marvelled at how swiftly Priyankar Gupta created his characters. Talking all the time, explaining what he was doing, he was able to draw not one, but six full forms in fifteen minutes! Characters, both human and non-human, are led by three parts of the body – the chest, the nose and the pelvis.An inquisitive person tends to hunch. The whole body structure is led by the nose. A confident person is led by the chest. This is why people in the army, or even dancers, tend to […]
- [Starfish](https://varshaseshan.com/starfish/): On nearly any list of “must-read” verse novels for middle-graders, I come across Starfish. I finally read it, and I completely understand why it’s on so many lists. There are so many things — some small, some big — that make this book special. Twelve-year-old Ellie has Fat Girl Rules to protect herself. She must never draw attention to the way her body jiggles. She should try to be invisible, never make waves. She even holds a pillow in front of herself without even realising it to hide her body as best she can. She knows, however, that her problem […]
- [Ottoline at Sea](https://varshaseshan.com/ottoline-at-sea/): As far as possible, I try to source books from independent bookstores for my book clubs. And so, when Eureka Books informed me that Ottoline Goes to School was out of stock with the publisher, I decided to read Ottoline at Sea with the June edition of my book club instead! It feels like a win-win for me because I’m reading one Ottoline book with my May batch and another with my June batch! Ottoline at Sea is another delightful book featuring the intrepid Ottoline and her friend Mr Munroe. Just like the others in the series, it is a perfect mixture of serious and hilarious […]
- [Where the Heart Should Be](https://varshaseshan.com/where-the-heart-should-be/): I love historical fiction, and I love novels in verse. And I love Sarah Crossan’s books. When all three come together, the chances of my not liking the book are very low! I’ve read two books (that I remember) about the potato famine in Ireland – Esty’s Gold and Twist of Gold. They were both powerful stories, just like Where the Heart Should Be. When people are torn apart, when families die, when the divide between the rich and the poor continues to grow, what is morality? What must we do when the law is on the side of the […]
- [In the Beautiful Country](https://varshaseshan.com/in-the-beautiful-country/): Verse novels are beautiful. I love how sparse and hard-hitting they are, and I’ve been reading them all the more because I’ve been writing verse too. Uncontrollable came out last year, and Fishbowl will be out later this year. But I read In the Beautiful Country by Jane Kuo because it’s on the required reading list for a workshop that I’m excited to attend later this year. I’m honoured to have received a Highlights Foundation scholarship for an online workshop of my choice, and I’ve chosen one on revising my verse novel. In the Beautiful Country is the first book […]
- [Reading and Writing Activities](https://varshaseshan.com/reading-and-writing-activities/): I find so many resources on the internet that every so often, I try to return the favour by sharing a little in terms of resources and activities that have worked for me in class. Often, prepping for a lesson can be quite overwhelming, especially if you’re like me and like to have something planned for every minute of your lesson, plus a few extra activities just in case! In no particular order, here are a few things that have worked for me at my book clubs and writing workshops in the last few months. Free Verse I love teaching […]
- [Lucky, It's Summer!](https://varshaseshan.com/lucky-its-summer/): A story told from the point of view of a Cocker Spaniel–what’s not to love about it? As a book club read, Lucky, It’s Summer! is perfect in so many ways. The lightheartedness of the story, the repetition, the in-built activities–everything about this book by Nalini Sorensen and Shamika Chaves promises to be fun! Besides, for many children who are part of my book club, it will be the summer holidays as we read the book, so what better time to enjoy it together? Speech Bubbles I often work with role-play at my book clubs and while some children instinctively understand how […]
- [The Golden Eagle](https://varshaseshan.com/the-golden-eagle/): Krishna Bala Shenoi’s artwork is stunning. From the black-headed stork to the green pigeon, the pelican to the doves – the illustrations leap off the pages making The Golden Eagle a visual treat. But of course, I choose books based on the story, not just the pictures, and The Golden Eagle is a pacy, exciting read. The white-headed squirrel Shikar has questions. Who were his parents? How did he make friends with the birds? Why did Kabul the bulbul become a mother-figure to him, and why are Lovey and Dovey like his aunt and uncle? The two doves, Lovey and Dovey, set out to […]
- [Ottoline Goes to School](https://varshaseshan.com/ottoline-goes-to-school/): We read Ottoline and the Yellow Cat at my book club last year, and it was such fun. I enjoy silliness of this kind so much that the book was on my list of favourite chapter books from 2023. And Ottoline Goes to School, which I read in 2022, was one of my favourites from that year. I’m waiting to read it with my book club! Picture Postcards We’ve made picture postcards at my book club before and it is so much fun! I remember doing it when we read The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev. I sent my book clubbers postcards […]
- [No Talking](https://varshaseshan.com/no-talking/): No Talking is such a fun book! I’m often wary of ‘Boys vs. Girls’ stories because I don’t like books that reinforce stereotypes. No Talking does the opposite; in fact, rather too explicitly so, for me. Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I loved how a contest between the boys and the girls in a class slowly morphs into a team game, where the students overcome their differences and come together. What emerges is a school story that is utterly believable and good fun!  Three Words at a Time I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve played the one-word […]
- [A Giant Leap](https://varshaseshan.com/a-giant-leap/): I read and reviewed A Giant Leap three years ago. Since then, I’ve been thinking about introducing it to my book club, but it’s shorter than the books I usually select, making me wonder whether it would be too simple a read. Yet, so much draws me to the book, from the childlike perspective to the exploration of a landmark event, that I decided we would read together. Here’s what we’ll do with it! Gravity I know that gravity as a concept is one that children study much later, but a lot of them have visited upside-down “museums”. What do […]
- [The Mystery of the Silk Umbrella](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mystery-of-the-silk-umbrella/): The Mystery of the Silk Umbrella is the sixth book by Asha Nehemiah that we’ll be reading at my book club! And it promises to be just as much fun as the others. Like any good mystery story, The Mystery of the Silk Umbrella keeps you reading. Who is the mysterious intruder at the beginning of the book? What could Shantha athai, who really has no valuables to speak of, be hiding that is so precious? Who wants what she has, and how does the silk umbrella fit into all this? With so many chapters ending in cliff-hangers, the book compels […]
- [Ostrich Girl](https://varshaseshan.com/ostrich-girl-2/): I love introducing children to brand-new books, hot off the press! I read Ostrich Girl written by Lesley D Biswas and illustrated by Anupama Ajinkya Apte, and I loved the possibilities of exploring this book with my book club! Here’s what we’ll do as we read. Sounds The Secret Songsters imitate bird calls to fool tourists into believing that there are lots of birds on Henry Island. That’s the perfect opportunity for us to explore bird calls! I will ask the children to imitate any birds they know, and then I’ll play a few bird calls for them to identify. Bird […]
- [How to Rhyme Without Reason](https://varshaseshan.com/how-to-rhyme-without-reason/): How I love guest sessions! Yesterday’s workshop on nonsense verse with Anushka Ravishankar was a treat. It’s delightful how serious nonsense verse is! Full of contradictions, full of rules (of what nonsense verse is not), and full of surprises, we learned so much and wrote nonsense poems of our own too.  Essentially, nonsense writing is a serious kind of writing which makes no sense. Does this seem contradictory? That’s where the humour of nonsense lies. While gibberish is not nonsense, we learned how we could use made-up words as part of a larger text, like in the poem ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis […]
- [Why I Think Online Workshops Are More Effective than Offline Ones](https://varshaseshan.com/of-workshops-online-and-offline/): A Little History I started conducting reading and writing workshops for children in 2013 at the British Library, Pune. It was fun, and the library space was exciting. Both as standalone events and as part of the library’s larger Reading Challenges, it seemed to me that libraries were ideal for workshops of the kind I liked to conduct. Soon, I contacted other libraries and conducted sessions elsewhere too – at Just Books, Atta Galatta, The Story Station … Sometimes, the response was excellent, overwhelming. At other times, no one showed up. As someone starting out, this was, naturally, demotivating! But […]
- [What Happened to Grandpa](https://varshaseshan.com/what-happened-to-grandpa/): Books spark discussion. As a book club facilitator, I know only too well how a story can lead to conversations about fear, wonder, belonging and so much more. And that is why it’s delightful to see an increasing number of books touch upon themes that help with difficult conversations. Several years ago, I read Where’s Grandma?, a poignant picture book (though aimed at older readers) about a child’s relationship with a grandparent diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. With my book club three years ago, I read Flying with Grandpa, another book that explores a similar relationship. The conversation that followed was lovely! […]
- [How to Win an Election: A Most Unreliable Guide](https://varshaseshan.com/how-to-win-an-election-a-most-unreliable-guide/): It’s voting season, the best time to read How to Win an Election: A Most Unreliable Guide! I would argue, however, that any time is a good time to read the book because it’s hilarious, light, and fun. When Sachin is disqualified from standing for the middle school elections, he does the next best thing. He becomes the campaign manager for his best friend Mini. He comes up with the best ideas. Taco Tuesday! A new snazzy name for Mini–eM! A rap song! Unfortunately, someone is out to sabotage their campaign. A lizard–whose species Sachin recognises–soils a competitor’s nomination papers. […]
- [Under the Bakul Tree](https://varshaseshan.com/under-the-bakul-tree/): Optimistic, even idealistic, Under the Bakul Tree was a heart-warming read. To be honest, I started reading the book prepared not to like it. It seemed like it would be preachy and unrealistic–and it was! I found myself enjoying it nonetheless. I love the way it embraces the possibility of happiness, of hope, and of a bright future. Ashim, whom Mahendra Sir hails as a ‘jewel’ has been steadily deteriorating in terms of his academic performance. The boy who was once a class topper is now at the bottom of the class. Like so many others, he drops out of […]
- [Sky Hawk](https://varshaseshan.com/sky-hawk/): Even as a child, I loved stories about the environment, especially stories where children make difficult decisions to save an animal. So many books I’ve recently read fit the bill too–book club reads like the Bat series, Trunk Call for Ajju, and, in a very different way, At Least a Fish. Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis is about difficult decisions too. It is another beautiful book, one that I’ve been meaning to read for ages. It begins slowly, but draws you in, making the loch in which it is set come alive. When Callum and his friends discover Iona–practically an […]
- [The Girl Who Drank the Moon](https://varshaseshan.com/the-girl-who-drank-the-moon/): Recently, I reread The Girl Who Drank the Moon and then looked through my blog to see what I’d written about it the first time I read it. That’s when I realised I hadn’t written about it at all! It’s such a gorgeous read that I have no idea how I skipped writing about it! As often happens with me, I was drawn to the book by its gorgeous cover. And when I started reading, I was enchanted. Detailed world-building, intricate plotting and a delightful balance of seriousness and humour come together in this middle-grade work of fantasy. Most of […]
- [I Won't Wash My Hair](https://varshaseshan.com/i-wont-wash-my-hair/): What an utterly delightful book! I love books that make my jaw drop on the very last page, and I Won’t Wash My Hair by Aparna Kapur and Ogin Nayam does it perfectly. Like all the other Hook Books I’ve read, this one puts text and pictures together in the best way possible. Did you have an opinion about washing your hair as a child? If you didn’t, it’s possible that your hair was short. My hair came to my waist, and I remember how often my grandmother would tell me to wash it when I got back from school. […]
- [Ostrich Girl](https://varshaseshan.com/ostrich-girl/): How well can you imitate bird calls? I used to (and sometimes still do!) imitate cuckoos, parakeets, bulbuls, and lapwings. But would you mistake me for a bird? Probably not. However, on Henry Island, the Secret Songsters must accurately imitate birds so that tourists don’t complain that the island is now devoid of birdsong. Unfortunately, Ritu can never get it right. The other songsters make fun of her, but worst of all, one day, she gets mistaken for an ostrich! Ritu needs to show the curious tourist an ostrich … or confess that she was the ostrich, reveal the identity […]
- [Strangus Derangus](https://varshaseshan.com/strangus-derangus/): Strangus Derangus & Other Adventures of Little Shambu is another book that I enjoyed hot off the press. It’s a collection of short stories, perfect for my book club because we can read three full stories together in class, leaving the other three for the children to read on their own.  Role Play There’s nothing like role play to help children understand how dialogue and all its complicated rules work! When we read The Reading Race and Yikes! Bikes!, I realised that although children love role play, many of them take a little time to figure out who’s saying what. By the end […]
- [The Curious Case of the Sweet and Spicy Sweetshop](https://varshaseshan.com/the-curious-case-of-the-sweet-and-spicy-sweetshop/): Ghosts, suspense, smart children and the most delicious-sounding foods come together in The Curious Case of the Sweet and Spicy Sweetshop by Nandini Nayar. Vishnudas Mithaiwala owns The Sweet and Spicy Sweetshop, and everything seems to be fine–until two children turn up claiming to be his estranged sister’s child! Whom should Vishnu believe? Whom should we believe? And more, what can we make of the fact that Laddoo begins to see ghosts in the house? I enjoyed reading this book about rivalry and teamwork, secrets and emotion. It’ll be fun reading it with my book club too! The Recipe Book The Recipe Book […]
- [By Royal Appointment](https://varshaseshan.com/by-royal-appointment/): Although I did read several books by Jeffrey Archer when I was in college, I never grew to be a fan the way so many of my friends were. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed By Royal Appointment–rendered even more delightful by Priya Kuriyan’s illustrations. By Royal Appointment There’s nothing like listening to the author read out a part of the book, and Jeffrey Archer has shared a 6-minute excerpt on his website, which we will listen to together. We will then try to design a “By Royal Appointment” seal, the one that we think will be found on every product tested by […]
- [Bat and the End of Everything](https://varshaseshan.com/bat-and-the-end-of-everything/): Exactly a year ago, I posted about A Boy Called Bat, which we read at the April 2023 edition of my book club. We loved the book, and the rest of the series has been on my mind ever since then. In April 2024, we’re finally going to read Bat and the End of Everything, the last book in the BAT series.  A lovely book with a neurodivergent boy at the centre, Bat and the End of Everything is a heart-warming story about family, friendship, and big emotional decisions. Bat knows–and has always known–that the skunk kit he adopted needs to be released into the […]
- [Dhara's Revolution](https://varshaseshan.com/dharas-revolution/): It’s always a joy to read my books with my book clubs! I’ve read The Prophecy of Rasphora and Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells, in addition to my story in Flipped: Mystery Stories and Sci-Fi Stories. I can’t wait to read Dhara’s Revolution, a book that has received much love from readers, in addition to having been shortlisted for the AG BLF Prize for Children’s Fiction! Revolutionary Ideas If you want to create change, what would you do? Some of you may want to have the right to choose what uniform they wear. Others may want more screentime. What do you want? What is […]
- [The Misadventures of a Diamond Thief](https://varshaseshan.com/the-misadventures-of-a-diamond-thief/): When historical fiction and fantasy come together, we’re in for a treat! Rafu is a TTTD–a Time-Travelling, Thieving Djinn. Or at least, that’s what he’s supposed to be. The problem is that he is much more interested in food than gems. When the king of djinns challenges him to steal the Shah-i-Noor, Rafu strikes the perfect deal with his mother. If his mission is a success, it will be his last TTTD assignment and he will be free to open hist restaurant. Unexpected allies and a healthy dose of luck help Rafu battle nefarious villains and get closer to the […]
- [When Jiya Met Urmila](https://varshaseshan.com/when-jiya-met-urmila/): I read Shabnam Minwalla’s When Jiya Met Urmila at least two years ago. I can’t believe I didn’t review it on my blog! I think I was probably waiting to use it at my book club, which didn’t happen for several reasons. I think we’d read too many books by the same writer–Lucky Girl, The Shy Supergirl and Nimmi’s Dreadtastic Detective Days. Whatever the reason, I’m so glad I noticed the book on my shelf again when I was choosing my books for the April edition of my book club! Peek and Seek Just like Miss Nutty (aka Miss Rati), we’ll play Peek and […]
- [Uncontrollable - The Story Behind the Story](https://varshaseshan.com/uncontrollable-the-story-behind-the-story/): I love to read about how a book that I’m reading came into being. What made the writer write this particular book? What are some of those little stories the reader knows nothing about? And that’s why I’ve written a post like this for three of my books: Sisters at New Dawn Dragonflies, Jigsaws and Seashells The Clockwala’s Clues Now, it’s time for Uncontrollable, which has rather unconventional beginnings. Why did I write a fantasy in verse? What was I thinking? The answer is that it didn’t start off in verse at all. I wrote it in prose, probably sometime […]
- [Twitch](https://varshaseshan.com/twitch/): Often, I read books like Twitch with a very clear agenda in mind–to decide whether to read it with my book club. One chapter in, and I was sure I would not. The beginning seemed rather too violent for me to read with a group online, when I cannot necessarily gauge how each child is reacting to it. It’s a terrible scene, which comes alive with a graphic description of how a group of bullies would kill a pigeon. The next chapter seemed equally violent, but by then, I was sucked into the story. And soon, there was no stopping […]
- [The Chhau Champ](https://varshaseshan.com/the-chhau-champ/): Books about dance are close to my heart, especially books that challenge the status quo in some way. I remember reading Kali Wants to Dance and particularly enjoying it because I’m a dancer who often plays male roles because of the dearth of male Bharatanatyam dancers, at least here in Pune. The Chhau Champ deals with the opposite idea. A girl wants to practise a dance form usually restricted to men. I’ve watched chhau just once, and yes, it was performed by a male dancer. This is not unique to chhau; I remember reading about how men do Kathakali, while […]
- [Journey to the River Sea](https://varshaseshan.com/journey-to-the-river-sea/): I read Journey to the River Sea years ago, probably over a decade ago. I loved it so much that it featured on my list of all-time favourite books for a long time. Eventually, I realised that even though I still thought about it as one of my favourites, I didn’t quite remember the story. I remembered all the emotions I felt when I read it, but the story? I just had a hazy idea. It was time to reread it. And I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Maia’s guardian Mr Murray has been hunting for […]
- [When Fairyland Lost Its Magic](https://varshaseshan.com/when-fairyland-lost-its-magic/): We need more illustrated middle-grade books! I read When Fairyland Lots Its Magic on my way to Kolkata for the Junior Kolkata Literary Meet, and there was so much to love about it! The way Bijal Vachharajani plays with fairytales (like Gretel and Hansel), the comments about odd names (Little Red Riding Hood? Who names a child after the clothes she wears?), and the puns about pages and trolls … delightful! At the JKLM, Bijal and I were in conversation, purportedly about storifying important issues such as climate change and democracy through fairy tales and fantasy. Of course, we did talk […]
- [The Henna Start-Up](https://varshaseshan.com/the-henna-start-up/): A determined protagonist, a family that’s willing to change, and characters that evolve through the story–what’s not to like? Abir Maqsood of The Henna Start-Up by Andaleeb Wajid is an imperfect, gritty character, the kind that never fails to make me smile. She is fuelled by her determination to get justice and to stand up for her mother and for herself. Fragile egos, annoying classmates and an overprotective family are obstacles she must overcome for she knows discrimination when she sees it, and she isn’t one to take it lying down. She scorns the pampered, protected lives that her friend […]
- [My Year in Writing: 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-writing-2023/): The year 2023 was remarkably kind to me as an author. It was a year full of lit fests, school visits, and, most importantly, new stories! Uncontrollable What can I say about Uncontrollable, my first verse novel? ‘Addictive.”Unputdownable.”Ambitious and original.’I keep going back and reading all these heart-warming emails I’ve received about it.Yes, it is ambitious. It is a middle-grade fantasy in verse. In November 2023, I was shortlisted for the Neev Literature Festival fellowship. During the interview, I met six children’s literature experts, and they mentioned how they’d hunted for other examples of fantasy written in verse … and had drawn […]
- [My Year in Dance: 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-dance-2023/): I love when I write in detail about a performance shortly after the show! The emotions are fresh, and so many details that we slowly forget are still crystal clear. In April 2023, we performed Chandalika, which was an exceptional experience. Even though I wrote about it in detail, I didn’t mention twisted ankles, work schedules, and all the last-minute re-choreography we were forced to do. Perhaps we will perform it again; perhaps we won’t. But a show on this scale is always a precious memory. Shortly after the show, we also staged a performance for the children of the Academy. […]
- [My Year in Workshops: 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-workshops-2023/): Writing sessions from the car. Book club sessions from a misal shop on the highway. Guest sessions in my dance class hall. 2023 was a year when I seemed to be juggling rather a lot, especially as my writing programmes were bursting at the seams, plus I started an in-person writers’ club at St. Mary’s School, Pune, once more! Book Clubs Book Club Reads 2023 (ages 9 and 10) Juggling schedules was often difficult, but my book club for ages nine and ten saw a lot of new participants from different parts of the world. I had book clubbers from […]
- [My Favourite Late Middle-Grade and Young Adult Books from 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-late-middle-grade-and-young-adult-books-from-2023/): As usual, I begin my list of favourite young adult books wishing I had read more YA last year. Yes, I loved these books, but once more, I hope to read more young adult in 2024! Schooled Schooled is such a delightful read, featuring a quirky, fun character. I read many negative reviews about the book, which spoke of how it perpetuates stereotypes of homeschooled children not knowing how to behave in social settings, but that wasn’t how I read the book at all! I made no generalisations about homeschoolers or, indeed, hippies, as I read–I enjoyed the book for what […]
- [My Favourite Middle-Grade Books from 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-middle-grade-books-from-2023/): It’s only when I began writing this post that I noticed that most (six out of seven) of my favourite middle-grade reads from 2023 have blue covers! How odd! I made a conscious effort to read more middle-grade books this year, also because I want to write more middle grade. It’s an age-group I enjoy interacting with, and I want more MG literature that moves and changes me, urging me to read on. Here are the books that I read and loved in 2023.  An Alien in the Jam Factory I read this wacky book at the end of November […]
- [My Favourite Chapter Books from 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-chapter-books-from-2023/): I read dozens of chapter books each year thanks to my book clubs. Here’s a round-up of my favourites from last year. Interestingly, in 2022, there were only three chapter books I really loved. This year, there are ten! Most of these are book club reads, so they’re books children have enjoyed reading too! Gobi Goes Viral I love Vibha Batra’s sense of humour, and that’s why Gobi Goes Viral is one of the first books we’ll be reading at the February 2024 edition of my book club! A story about friendship, music, and determination, it’s about embracing and understanding difference in […]
- [My Favourite Picture Books and Early Chapter Books from 2023](https://varshaseshan.com/my-favourite-picture-books-and-early-chapter-books-from-2023/): It’s only as I was looking back at all the wonderful books I read in 2023 that I realised that five of my favourite picture books and early chapter books were Hook Books! I love the series, and I’m always excited to read new additions to it. A usual, I begin my list with a disclaimer – not all the books that feature in this list and the ones that follow were published in 2023. I just happened to read them in 2023. One difference this time, however, is that I received many review copies last year, so an overwhelmingly […]
- [The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop](https://varshaseshan.com/the-very-glum-life-of-tootoolu-toop-2/): We’ve read The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop before and I can’t wait to read it again! I know it’s longer than the books I usually choose, plus every batch of children is different, with mixed reading levels. Once more, I find myself asking, will it be too ambitious to read it in three classes with a bunch of children? The answer is still the same – possibly. Yet, there are so many things that draw me to the story that I am willing to take the chance again! It worked once; I know that for sure. Also, considering the […]
- [The Canary Caper](https://varshaseshan.com/the-canary-caper/): It’s been 25 years since The Canary Caper was published, and it’s still such a joy to read! We read the first of the A to Z Mysteries, The Absent Author, in April 2021. When I met the some of the same children again in June, several of them were devouring the rest of the series. I’m now looking forward to introducing the series to a new set of enthusiastic 7- and 8-year-olds! As I read The Canary Caper, I was struck by many little details. On the one hand, I was upset about the animals in the circus. Of course, this is […]
- [An Alien in the Jam Factory](https://varshaseshan.com/an-alien-in-the-jam-factory-2/): An Alien in the Jam Factory is such a fun read! A book that celebrates ideas is the best kind of book to read with children. The very first page is filled with doodles and ideas–like a jam slice, which is like a cheese slice that you can put straight into a sandwich. What else can we do as we read the book? Food Ideas Create your own wacky jam recipe! Scooter, the protagonist of An Alien in the Jam Factory, creates wasp-repelling jam, Brussels sprout jam, cherry bomb jam and more. What can we make? What kind of jam do the […]
- [Trunk Call for Ajju](https://varshaseshan.com/trunk-call-for-ajju-2/): Even when I read and reviewed Trunk Call for Ajju in June 2023, I knew it would be one of my book club reads soon enough. A book about children and animals always holds a special place in my heart, and elephants are extra special. Here’s what we’ll do as we read the book. Money-Making Ideas Children’s business ideas are fascinating! If you had to raise money for a cause you believed in, what would you do? How do you think you could make money? Just like Making Millions and Amelia Bedelia Means Business, Trunk Call for Ajju is the perfect book to explore […]
- [When the World Went Dark](https://varshaseshan.com/when-the-world-went-dark-2/): I read When the World Went Dark one year after our first lockdown.  And I wondered about including it at my book club. Grief is deeply personal. No one feels the way you feel. It almost feels unfair when people do. Even so, we do want to talk about our grief. Additionally, with any book, we take away what we want to take away from it. The lockdown, online classes and the fear of the virus are so real that I want children to read this, a book about their lived reality, one that acknowledges that not all adventures happen outdoors […]
- [A Pinch of Magic](https://varshaseshan.com/a-pinch-of-magic-2/): We’ve read Trouble with Magic at my book club; it’s time to read the sequel! A Pinch of Magic is a fun read, full of surprises. I read and reviewed the book some time ago, and I’m excited to be introducing it to my book clubbers. Here’s what we’ll do with it. Innovative Address One of the first things that made me chuckle as I read A Pinch of Magic was the Maha Guru’s highly accurate address. And this leads us to our first activity. How would you write your address if you did it in a similar fashion? I love linking screen […]
- [The Diary as Story](https://varshaseshan.com/the-diary-as-story/): In just a few weeks, yet another writing programme will come to an end! Yesterday was the third and last guest session of the season–a creative writing workshop with children’s book author Sowmya Rajendran. I love it when guests reinforce something I’ve been talking about for a while. During yesterday’s session, it was ‘write what you know’. Of course, I do give children the opposite advice too–write what you don’t know–but the point, for me, is to bring stories into familiar contexts. When Sowmya told us about how her book Mayil Will Not Be Quiet was born, she stressed that she and […]
- [Sad Animal Facts](https://varshaseshan.com/sad-animal-facts/): Did you know that frogs can close their ears? Or that anything a duckling meets within ten minutes of being born becomes its parent? (That reminds me of The Wild Robot, though the bird in the story is a gosling, not a duckling. Even so.) Those two aren’t sad animal facts, though, are they? In fact, many of the sad animal facts in the book aren’t exactly sad. It’s the endearing way in which Brooke Barker presents them that makes you feel that way. Quirky, informative, and wholly entertaining, I found myself struck by every page, a collection of animal […]
- [Boo-Boo's Adventures](https://varshaseshan.com/boo-boos-adventures/): We’ve read Boo-Boo Investigates and Boo-Boo the Eco-Warrior; we’re now all set to read Boo-Boo’s Adventures! My book clubbers particularly enjoy the Boo-Boo series because the chapters are like little standalone stories, which are fun and engaging. A friendly ghost and a kind human child make a charming pair! Good Deeds GGPa announces an award for the one who does the most good deeds, and this sets the little ghost Boo-Boo off on a series of adventures. It’s a good time to talk about good deeds we can do! For one, I will ask the children what they feel they can do. Then, in […]
- [Blame It on the Untz](https://varshaseshan.com/blame-it-on-the-untz-2/): Blame It on the Untz by Lavanya Karthik is such a fun book! From the crocodile of group work to music making and competition, there’s so much we can do with this book at my book club! Once more, it’s part of a series–POFFS. I don’t yet know whether I will read the others in the series with my book clubbers, but I’m happy to introduce the series to them. They can decide whether they’d like to read the other books in the set! Meanwhile, here’s what we will do as we read. Beatboxing I wonder: do the children at my […]
- [The Timekeepers: Exploring Ancient Egypt](https://varshaseshan.com/the-timekeepers-exploring-ancient-egypt/): Time travel, adventures in history, and a gang of kids set to defeat a villain come together in The Timekeepers: Exploring Ancient Egypt. At the October-November 2025 edition of my book club for ages seven and eight, I’m excited to be introducing yet another fun series of books to children. Ancient Egypt, with its mummies, pyramids, tombs and mythology, continues to fascinate children and adults. What better way to explore this ancient civilisation than through an adventure story that brings fact and fiction together? Time Travel If you could travel through time, how do you think you would do it? Would […]
- [The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star](https://varshaseshan.com/the-worst-witch-and-the-wishing-star/): We read Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch to the Rescue last year; I’m excited to read another book from the series. The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star brings together so many things children love that I’m sure we’ll enjoy it. For one, most of my book clubbers love reading about magic. Added to that, when we have wishes that come true, school rivalry, and all the hilarity that comes with a clumsy protagonist, we have the makings of a thoroughly enjoyable read! Wishes What would you wish on? A star? A birthday cake? An eyelash? I’d love to know. Taking this further, […]
- [Koobandhee](https://varshaseshan.com/koobandhee/): Koobandhee is such a fun book! We’ve read Bookasura twice; now we’re rereading Koobandhee too! Bala is excited about meeting Bookasura again, but when he goes near the well at Navaneeth Uncle’s farm, he discovers another monster there, a monster that’s even scarier than Bookasura! Worst of all, Koobandhee seems like an asura who is out to destroy all Bala’s precious library books, and the librarian Mrs Shashee is not going to be happy … A hilarious book about books, Koobandhee is perfect for my book club! Insults I’ve always loved imaginative insults. Of course, Shakespeare is the first to come to […]
- [Ghosts, Thieves and Aha! Adventures](https://varshaseshan.com/ghosts-thieves-and-aha-adventures-2/): We’ll begin with another Silly Billy book next month! I hope there will be many more of these because it is a delightful series for young readers. With its full colour illustrations and its wacky, agenda-free stories, the series is a treat for early middle grade readers. We’ve read Jumble Sale and Agassi and the Great Cycle Race. Let’s read the third and (for now) last one in the series–Ghosts, Thieves and Aha! Adventures by Asha Nehemiah and Pankaj Saikia. Book Scavenger Hunt A book scavenger hunt is one of the most popular activities at my book club. How can I not do one […]
- [Left-Out Paru](https://varshaseshan.com/left-out-paru-2/): A brand-new hOle book for a brand-new edition of my book club! Left-Out Paru is a book that struck a chord with me because even though I’m not left-handed, I’ve thought about lots of things designed for right-handed people. Scissors. Cameras. Desks. Here’s what we’ll do as we read this book by Bijal Vachharajani and Rajiv Eipe (two left-handed creators) at my book club next month! Being Left-Handed What words and phrases do we know that favour right-handed people? We’ll do a vocabulary quiz to find out! Some words come from languages other than English; it’ll be fun to explore a range […]
- [Blame It on the Untz](https://varshaseshan.com/blame-it-on-the-untz/): I learned one new word when I read Left-Out Paru, and I learned another when I read Blame It on the Untz! Untz. What a delightful word! And just like so many books I’ve read by Lavanya Karthik, Blame It on the Untz is such a fun book! Adi is excellent at the keyboard. And he never tires of telling people that. The problem is that for the Music Gala, he is stuck with a group that is nowhere near as serious as he is about winning a medal! It looks like his arch-nemesis, Risha (alternatively spelt as Hhriisha or […]
- [October, October](https://varshaseshan.com/october-october/): We live in the woods and we are wild. That’s what eleven-year-old October says, over and over, about her father and her. The woman who is her mother is not like them. She isn’t wild. She left them in the forest, choosing to go closer to civilisation and live with human comforts. And October cannot forgive her for it. October, October by Katya Balen is the story of a girl brought up in the wild, far away from the human world. She thrives on stories, eagerly creating one story after another about the little treasures she finds on the forest […]
- [Willodeen](https://varshaseshan.com/willodeen/): Screechers. Hummingbears. Peacock snails.  I’m always amazed when writers seem to effortlessly bring a fantastical world to life, and Katherine Applegate is a master at it. I came across it first in Crenshaw (one of the top 5 chapter books I read in 2020); Willodeen left me awestruck. Willodeen plays out in a world very much like our own. In some ways, it is an older world, which has a Faire, and a steam engine chugging through the woods. It stands for our world, though, and the climate crisis that threatens to crush us all. What is most striking is how the […]
- [The Upside Down River: Hannah's Story](https://varshaseshan.com/the-upside-down-river-hannahs-story/): Sometimes, you read a charming story, almost old-fashioned in its telling, and you don’t quite know why you like it so much. My Father’s Dragon was a book like that; The Upside Down River – Hannah’s Journey was another. When I picked up the book, I didn’t know that it was the sequel to a million-copy bestseller, Tomek’s Journey. Nor did I know that it wasn’t originally written in English; it’s translated from French. And sometimes, I think it’s that elusive detail that you can’t quite put your finger on, some cultural or contextual disconnect, something different from what you’re […]
- [And Yet You Shine](https://varshaseshan.com/and-yet-you-shine/): I’ve read two books by Supriya Kelkar, and I’ve enjoyed them both—Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame more than Ahimsa. In some ways, And Yet You Shine is even more ambitious because it’s a picture book, while also being a work of historical fiction. And Yet You Shine tells the story of the Kohinoor, beginning with its formation of the Kohinoor and subsequent discovery. The story then takes us through the centuries, briefly touching upon all the places the Kohinoor has been. Even through fires and war, the Kohinoor continues to shine, and that is the refrain of the story. […]
- [Lion of the Sky](https://varshaseshan.com/lion-of-the-sky/): I love historical fiction, and I love novels in verse. A middle-grade work of historical fiction in verse? I knew I wanted to read it. And Lion of the Sky by Ritu Hemnani didn’t disappoint. Set in Sindh in August 1947, Lion of the Sky tells the story of Raj and his family, who are confused by all that is happening around them. On the one hand, India is soon to be independent. On the other hand, they hear that a line is going to be drawn through the nation, carving out a separate country for Muslims. Initially, Raj thinks […]
- [Life's Magic Moments](https://varshaseshan.com/lifes-magic-moments/): Some books come your way in the most unexpected of ways. Ruskin Bond’s Life’s Magic Moments was never on my reading list—not for any reason except that there is always so much I want to read that I have to pick and choose what I make time for.  But this beautiful, hardbound book, with its gorgeous pages came to me, and it sat on my shelf for a while unopened. It promised something gentle and lovely. How could it stay unopened for long? And so, I found myself picking it up. Before I knew it, I was smiling, feeling all […]
- [1 2 3 Idlis in a Sambar Sea](https://varshaseshan.com/1-2-3-idlis-in-a-sambar-sea/): A picture book that brings together numbers, food and places all over India? Yes, please! Although I’m usually a stickler and don’t like near rhymes like fry and style or sea and puris, I found myself enjoying 1 2 3 Idlis in a Sambar Sea. Books that appeal to all our senses are always a treat, and this one does it perfectly. The illustrations by Tanya Sharma bring to life the sights, sounds and smells of all the places we visit. And the text by Ashwitha Jayakumar has us eating a jalebi on page 1 (though how is one jalebi […]
- [If Elephants Could Talk](https://varshaseshan.com/if-elephants-could-talk/): Temple elephants. I’ve always hated the fact that they exist. I remember during a dance tour once, when everyone lined up to be blessed by the elephant. I stayed away. And like Meenakshi in If Elephants Could Talk, I didn’t say a thing. I didn’t know how to form my words or what to say. Ever since Meenakshi’s mother died, she hasn’t spoken. People make fun of her, calling her moonga, as well as all kinds of other names. Yet, Meenu can’t find her words. She cannot respond to questions in class, and she cannot answer the bullies. Through it […]
- [Left-Out Paru](https://varshaseshan.com/left-out-paru/): Why is the word left associated with so many negative things? Gauche in French, sinistra in Italian, and of course, phrases in English like being left out, having two left feet … I could go on and on because there are just so many examples—dextrous, adroit, being right are all corollaries of the same thing. And this brings me to Left-Out Paru, written by Bijal Vachharajani and illustrated by Rajiv Eipe.  The protagonist of the story, Paru, is left-handed, and she is bullied for it, most particularly by her bench mate Nina. Other classmates soon join in the bullying, calling […]
- [Gossamer](https://varshaseshan.com/gossamer/): What a gorgeous book! Gossamer by Lois Lowry is delicately woven, pulling at your heart strings as it takes you through a tapestry of dreams, sorrow, love and wonder. Littlest isn’t sure what she is. Is she a dog? But she doesn’t have a tail! Is she human? Her instructor Fastidious never answers her questions. Fastidious finds Littlest too curious, too full of chatter. And that’s why everyone is happy when Thin Elderly begins to mentor Littlest instead, guiding her through her fluttery questions and relentless curiosity. Soon, Littlest discovers who she is–a giver of dreams. Lightly, with a gossamer […]
- [Beverly, Right Here](https://varshaseshan.com/beverly-right-here/): I never came across Kate DiCamillo’s work as a child. I haven’t read so many of her more famous books—not The Tale of Desperaux or Mercy Watson or any of those. I did read Because of Winn-Dixie with my book club, though, and we loved it! And now, I read Beverly, Right Here, another book that aches with tenderness and vulnerability. It takes a while to get into the story because Beverly, at the beginning, isn’t a likeable character. Life has taught her to shield herself from love because things you love go away. Like her dog Buddy. The story […]
- [Bipathu and a Very Big Dream](https://varshaseshan.com/bipathu-and-a-very-big-dream/): Bipathu often has the same dream. A dream where she, her Ikka Saad, and Hrithik Roshan are playing football. But dreams don’t come true, do they? Especially not very big dreams like this one? As we read the story, we find out! Bipathu and a Very Big Dream is about dreams, reality, and everything in between. All kinds of special relationships blossom in the story, and the most precious one of all, to my mind, is the one between Bipathu and her neighbour, whom everyone calls Madama. Madama has strange notions about how the universe comes to help people, and […]
- [Ammini Against the Storm](https://varshaseshan.com/ammini-against-the-storm/): Ammini Against the Storm is a reflection of the world we live in, a world where the urban rich are immune to the raging storms that destroy the lives of the poor.  Ammini’s parents work hard to send her to a private school so that she can rise above her circumstances and be something other than a farmer. Even as we learn about Ammini’s family and their ambitions, we hear the wryness of the narrative voice. This is a system where the farmers, without whom we cannot survive, are on the bottom rung of the ladder, and the only way […]
- [The Trickster](https://varshaseshan.com/the-trickster/): When Katha asked me whether I would be willing to review their upcoming release, The Trickster, I thought about it. I am not usually a fan of retellings. Additionally, I don’t post negative reviews; I review only books I enjoy. I decided I would take the chance, though, and I am glad I did! The Trickster (retold by Meenakshi Bharadwaj from a Native American tale) is a visual treat. Charbak Dipta’s artwork is stunning, and each page makes you linger, looking at all the details. The story itself is a humorous one, with a delightful twist at the end that […]
- [Sundarbans 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/sundarbans-2025/): What have you heard about the Sundarbans? I’ve heard all kinds of things. Most of the tigers are man-eaters.People who step out hope not to see a tiger because if they do, they probably won’t come back.Like any other water safari, you don’t really see animals because you’re in the water, and why would animals come out of the woods to see you? Most of what I knew was like that. A rudimentary search told me nothing about how to get to the Sundarbans. Following my school text book, I even wrote it Sunderbans because I didn’t know that it […]
- [Friends Behind Walls](https://varshaseshan.com/friends-behind-walls/): Inu and Putti are not allowed to play with each other. But what can they possibly do when everyone else in Shanti Park seems to have been born at the age of 30? They have no one to play with except each other! Soon they discover that they actually like each other and want to be friends, so they need an answer to the Most Important Question: why are their families fighting? They go to one person after another, searching for answers (or answers-shanswers, as Putti’s father would say). Mr Om Namaha, Dr Solanki and the Tekdichi Mhatari – who […]
- [Agalya in the Spotlight](https://varshaseshan.com/agalya-in-the-spotlight-2/): I read Agalya in the Spotlight a couple of months ago, and I knew I would introduce it to my book club very soon. It’s a light, easy read, one that I’m sure my book clubbers will enjoy. I’ve read Misfit Madhu with two batches of Read, Write, Explore, and reading a book by an author we’re familiar with is always fun! Fairy Tales Rapunzel is a well-known fairytale, one that children are familiar with also because of the movie Tangled. At my book club, we’ll try to do a group activity in which characters from one familiar world meet characters from another. Where […]
- [The Bald Bandit](https://varshaseshan.com/the-bald-bandit/): Who doesn’t love a good mystery story? I love the A to Z Mysteries because they’re exactly the right level for my book club. The characters are fun, the mysteries are engaging, and the fact that we have a whole series of twenty-six books to read makes The Bald Bandit an easy choice for me. Even though the book is over twenty-five years old, it doesn’t feel dated. I’m sure we’ll have fun with it! Clues Fingerprints, shoe prints, bits of fabric–they’re all clues! Let’s have some fun with them. We’ll draw the outline of our foot and try to make it […]
- [The Hodgeheg](https://varshaseshan.com/the-hodgeheg/): I love Dick King-Smith‘s work. There was a time when I read nothing except his books. I devoured story after story, the way children do when they get hooked on to an author. I remember just one book I didn’t enjoy – Godhanger. But everything else? I loved.  And that’s why we’re rereading The Hodgeheg, one of my favourites! It’s a sweet story about one determined hedgehog who makes it his mission to find out how to cross a road safely. How do humans cross? Can’t a hedgehog do the same? Here’s what we’ll do with this book at my book […]
- [The Adventures of Mooli and the Sticker Trickster](https://varshaseshan.com/the-adventures-of-mooli-and-the-sticker-trickster/): The very first book we read at my very first online reading programme was Trouble with Magic by Asha Nehemiah. We’ve read several of her books over time, and this time, we’re rereading The Adventures of Mooli and the Sticker Trickster. This isn’t the first of the Mooli series, but it works well as a standalone book!  Mooli and Soups are busy ideating. They must come up with an idea that will win a prize at WAYOUTS – World’s As Yet Original Untried Tricks and Stunts. What can they do that will be simply outstanding? Surely, two intrepid young children can come up […]
- [Jumble Sale](https://varshaseshan.com/jumble-sale-2/): Jumble Sale is such a delightful Silly Billy Book that I can’t wait to read it with my book club! Just like Agassi and the Great Cycle Race, which we read recently, it is a hilarious read that promises to cause much laughter as we read it together! Jumble Sale If your school organised a jumble sale, what would you sneak into it? What do you think you could sell with no one noticing? And how audacious do you think you could get? Songs I can’t think of Jumble Sale without thinking of Tinaz Toddywalla singing, “Just you wait, ‘Enry ‘Iggins, just you wait!” […]
- [Vincent Can't Go](https://varshaseshan.com/vincent-cant-go-2/): Another book that’s hot off the press is coming to my book club! Vincent Can’t Go is a charming story about a boy who isn’t allowed to go anywhere because his mother is too afraid. I enjoyed this sweet, simple story, and I’m sure my book clubbers will too! Interactive Game What are you allowed to do? What are you not allowed to do? Let’s play a game!  After that, we will use an interactive whiteboard to explore new ideas of things we would like to do if we were allowed to do them! Friends Friendship is an integral part of Vincent Can’t […]
- [The Space We're In](https://varshaseshan.com/the-space-were-in/): Have you ever read a review that describes a book as being “full of heart”? Katya Balen’s The Space We’re In is exactly that–a book full of heart. It bursts with love and emotion, raw and authentic. And the voice? Perfect. Ten-year-old Frank sometimes resents his brother Max. Max has changed everything with his humming and hand flapping and his meltdowns. (Frank has no idea why they’re called meltdowns, though, because there’s no melting in that rigid, furious body.) His mother has no time to paint, and she looks tired all the time. And yet, when Frank hates Max, he […]
- [Circus Mirandus](https://varshaseshan.com/circus-mirandus/): I remember the first time I came across the idea that you have to believe in magic for it to be real. I remember my skin tingling, and a kind of excited joy making my hair stand on end. That’s the mood Circus Mirandus creates, although I’m no longer a child reading about magic for the first time. Micah’s grandfather is dying, and it’s on his deathbed that Micah learns something impossible: all the stories his grandfather told him about the magical Circus Mirandus are true. Micah’s grandfather Ephraim really did go to a magical circus, and the Man Who […]
- [The White Lotus](https://varshaseshan.com/the-white-lotus/): The White Lotus by Aditi Krishnakumar is a gripping work of historical fiction that, like the best kinds of stories, stays with you and makes you think. Layered and sensitive, it is perfectly paced, immersing you in the life and times of a village in south India in the early 20th century. Fourteen-year-old Arali is looking forward to a life with her husband Sundaram. He is everything she could want in a husband—gentle, caring, and honourable. When he dies the day before her life as Sundaram’s wife is set to begin, she is shattered.  And from the pieces, a new […]
- [An Absence of Squirrels](https://varshaseshan.com/an-absence-of-squirrels/): A couple of years ago, I finally read The Giver, a book that students at my writing programme recommended to me time and again when we were studying dystopia, mythopoeia, fantasy … almost anything, in fact. And that’s the book that kept coming to mind as I read Aparna Kapur’s An Absence of Squirrels. An Absence of Squirrels is a fantastical, dystopian story about a perfect leader who wants only the best for her perfect island. Once, however, she was compared to a squirrel, and ever since then she’s hated those creatures. And that’s why, the tooth-shaped island of Thutta […]
- [Vincent Can't Go](https://varshaseshan.com/vincent-cant-go/): We all know what it’s like not to be allowed to go somewhere we really want to go. Birthday party. Sleepover. Movie. Dinner. In Vincent’s case, though, it’s been months since he’s been allowed anywhere. Ever since his father was sent to America, his mother doesn’t allow him to do tiny things he used to do. He can’t even go buy blue Lays from the kirana shop. Buying blue Lays may not be such a big deal. But his best friend’s birthday party is a big deal. He knows what his mother will say: ‘Vincent Can’t Go’. Now, however, Vincent […]
- [The Second Person Short Story](https://varshaseshan.com/the-second-person-short-story/): We haven’t ever worked on the second-person short story, which is what made this writing workshop particularly interesting for me! I love it when I get to work with something new at a guest session! Michelle D’costa conducted a detailed session, introducing the three narrative perspectives and focussing on the second person narrator. From common misconceptions about the second-person narrator to hands-on writing exercises, Michelle covered a lot of ground in the course of one short hour. We read a mentor text, explored how we can write in second-person, and discussed a few things to keep in mind when we […]
- [I Am Quiet: A Story for the Introvert in All of Us](https://varshaseshan.com/i-am-quiet-a-story-for-the-introvert-in-all-of-us/): How could I not read a book with a title like this? Anyone who knows me knows that I’m happiest in my own company. If I spend time with people, I need to unwind; I need my quiet time. Yet, as a child, I was noisy and talkative, unlike Emile, the protagonist of I Am Quiet.  Adults keep telling Emile not to be shy, but the truth is that he isn’t shy at all. He is just quiet. On the inside he has imaginative, colourful worlds that are vibrant and exciting. They are enough for him. I smiled page after […]
- [Agalya in the Spotlight](https://varshaseshan.com/agalya-in-the-spotlight/): When I learned that Divya Anand had a new book out, I knew I had to read it. I loved Misfit Madhu. I’ve read it with my book club twice, and the children enjoyed it each time! Agalya in the Spotlight is just as breezy a read. I was invested in the characters from the very beginning. How could I not be when in the first chapter itself there’s a character called Varsha who loves dancing? Varsha makes no further appearance in the story, but the other characters more than make up. When class V A is to stage Rapunzel, […]
- [Manvinder's Medu Vada](https://varshaseshan.com/manvinders-medu-vada/): Manvinder’s Medu Vada by Riddhi Maniar Doda and Vinayak Varma had me chuckling at each page! I could completely identify with Manvinder, who refuses to eat something that doesn’t look like it’s supposed to look! As a child, I had a problem with the same food–vadas. How could it be a real vada if it didn’t have a hole? This, despite the fact that vadas (without holes) were made at home for special occasions, and I enjoyed them too! When Manvinder’s family moves to Bengaluru, he eats a medu vada for the first time. It’s delicious. Somehow, gobi parathas no […]
- [Everything Changes And That's Ok](https://varshaseshan.com/everything-changes-and-thats-ok/): How do you read picture books? Do you pause as you turn each page, just to admire the pictures? Or do you race through the story and then come back to the pictures to take them in slowly? For me, it depends on the book, but with Everything Changes And That’s Ok, I found myself trying to do both! A picture book in verse, each page is a visual treat! My favourite page was probably this one, a gorgeous forest scene: For children, change can be frightening, but Everything Changes and That’s Ok reminds us that change is all around […]
- [Unplugged](https://varshaseshan.com/unplugged/): Jett is rich, spoiled, and used to getting his own way. When he takes his mischief-making too far, however, his father packs him off to a place called Oasis where he must live a life completely screen-free. Jett is incredulous. What kind of place is this, where mobile phones are surrendered before you enter? Who are these people who willingly go into boiling hot spring water, as if it is some sort of leisurely activity? Jett can’t wait to get out, and perhaps if he behaves badly enough, he’ll be sent away. As days pass, however, things begin to change. […]
- [Pench 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/pench-2025/): Pench is magical. I’ve been there five times now, and each time, I come back refreshed because the forest is so breathtakingly beautiful. There’s Venuban (Bamboo Forest), a canopy of bamboos, full of secrets. That’s where we saw paradise flycatchers in the past, and Malabar Pied Hornbills this time. There’s Jannat Point, where we saw our first jackal. Totladoh, an erstwhile village, close to which we saw the tiniest crocodile I’ve ever seen.  And of course, there’s all the rest that I love–the garadi forest, the teak trees that are different in different seasons, the Indian ghost tree, the crocodile […]
- [Until the Road Ends](https://varshaseshan.com/until-the-road-ends/): What was it like for animals during the war? How did people have the heart to put them down? Food was scarce and feeding a pet was a “waste” of resources. Until the Road Ends is the story of three animals that survive thanks to a combination of bravery and sheer good luck. It’s the story of an unlikely friendship featuring a strange and diverse range of characters, including a supercilious cat, a street-smart dog, an army-mad pigeon … and even a crocodile! When Peggy saves and adopts Beau, a street dog, the strongest of bonds develops between them. And […]
- [Dum Dum to the Rescue & Yet More Adventures of Little Shambu](https://varshaseshan.com/dum-dum-to-the-rescue-yet-more-adventures-of-little-shambu-2/): Did you read Shikari Shambu? I did, and I loved each silly adventure. That’s why we’re reading yet another Little Shambu book at my book club. We read Strangus Derangus in April 2024, In the Bear’s Den in November 2024, and it’s time to read the last one–Dum Dum to the Rescue. I enjoyed all these stories for their silliness and simplicity, as well as the lovely illustrations. An urban child’s interactions with animals may be few and far between, but there are a range of hilarious stories in store for us in this collection. Role Play Any book that is rich […]
- [The Mystery of the Missing Geometry Boxes](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mystery-of-the-missing-geometry-boxes/): Who doesn’t love a good mystery? When geometry boxes begin to go missing, the AKA Detective Club finally has a new mystery to solve! But things always go missing in schools, don’t they? What’s the big deal? When a pattern begins to emerge, however, the young detectives know that something is fishy. Surely, no one would want more than one geometry box. And is there a reason why only Yuga geometry boxes are being stolen? The Mystery of the Missing Geometry Boxes is a lighthearted mystery, funny and engaging. I look forward to introducing it to my book club! Detective Club […]
- [Saving the Sun Dragon](https://varshaseshan.com/saving-the-sun-dragon/): We read Rise of the Earth Dragon, the first book in the Dragon Masters series, nearly four years ago! It was another of those books that set children off on a reading journey because there’s a whole series to devour. That’s why we’re reading Saving the Sun Dragon next month. It’s the perfect reading level; it’s imaginative, features driven characters, and has a good bit of adventure in it! Colouring Pages I love it when authors share fun activities on their websites! As we read Saving the Sun Dragon, I’ll ask parents to print a few sketches that we will colour together in class! […]
- [Dear Mr. Henshaw](https://varshaseshan.com/dear-mr-henshaw/): I’ve said this dozens of times: I love epistolary novels. I made a video about a few favourites for World Post Day 2021, I love doing letter-writing activities at workshops, and I’ve written an epistolary novel of my own. When we read Dear Mr. Henshaw for the first time at my book club, I knew it would be a book I would introduce time and time again. So come June, we’ll be rereading this delightful book at Read, Write, Explore! Leigh Botts writes to his favourite author, Boyd Henshaw, and in the beginning, he doesn’t get a reply. Later, he […]
- [Lights, Camera, Action!](https://varshaseshan.com/lights-camera-action/): Lights, Camera, Action! was a whirlwind introduction to filmmaking, one which I thoroughly enjoyed. I know next to nothing about filmmaking, making this guest session all the more exciting for me. What an informative, detailed session it was! We began by watching a short film in French, Detour by Michel Gondry. Samina Mishra, our guest for the evening, asked us what we thought of the film and then we revisited a few details from a filmmaker’s eye. What goes into mise en scène, or the frame of a film? What about cinematography? What does one pay attention to? Sound? Editing? What else? After […]
- [Boo-Boo Investigates](https://varshaseshan.com/boo-boo-investigates/): We read Boo-Boo the Eco-Warrior by Tanushree Podder a few months ago, and my book club enjoyed it. For one, it’s easy to read because of the way the text is laid out. For another, the stories in the book are simple and engaging. That’s why we will be reading another book featuring this friendly ghost—Boo-Boo Investigates. Forest Experiences As Boo-Boo lives in the forest, we will listen to some forest sounds and write what comes to mind. What can you see? What do you hear? What do you think you would be able to smell? While we don’t write much […]
- [Agassi and the Great Cycle Race](https://varshaseshan.com/agassi-and-the-great-cycle-race-2/): Agassi and the Great Cycle Race is a brand-new book that I’m eager to introduce to my book club. I read it not very long ago, and it’s such a rollicking read that I’m sure it will be fun! What’s in a name? Agassi hates his name. In fact, he prefers to be called by his other name – Joel. As Agassi and the Great Cycle Race is the first book we will be reading, we will do several name-related activities. If your parents had named you after their favourite sportspeople, what would your name be? If they had combined their names to […]
- [The Monster Hunters](https://varshaseshan.com/the-monster-hunters/): We’re rereading The Monster Hunters by Parinita Shetty at my book club in June 2025! Abhay is convinced that his mother has eyes at the back of her head. She knows everything and sees everything. Yet, she does not seem to believe that there are monsters in every child’s room! Why can’t she see them? It’s time for Abhay and Nitya to get to work. They must find the monsters. In fact, they decide they will go one step further. For a school project where they have to narrate a real-life story, they will hunt down a monster and talk about […]
- [Cartooning with Vineet Nair](https://varshaseshan.com/cartooning-with-vineet-nair/): What makes a cartoon different from a regular drawing? What is easier to draw? What do you think is important when you are drawing a cartoon? We had such an enjoyable workshop on cartooning with Vineet Nair, comic book illustrator and Art Director of Tinkle! The first rule, which I loved, but which the participants struggled with was Don’t mute yourself! Speak! The entire session was interactive, with everyone eager to show what they were drawing. For me, what made the session stand out was the focus on how simple cartooning can be! Identify the major shape and then modify […]
- [Roop and the River Crossing](https://varshaseshan.com/roop-and-the-river-crossing/): What was the Partition? What ripples do we see today, and how do people in power continue to exploit communal politics? These are difficult questions that one often wonders about whether to discuss with children. In some ways, books that talk about our history help, books like Roop and the River Crossing. Roop and the River Crossing written by Samina Mishra and illustrated by Shivam Choudhary uses the metaphor of a kaleidoscope beautifully to look at the Partition from the eyes of a child. In the beginning, the kaleidoscope is fascinating. The ways in which broken bangles create patterns is […]
- [Wrestling Day](https://varshaseshan.com/wrestling-day/): When I went for the White Owl Literature Festival in Nagaland a few months ago, I attended part of an event that the author Theyiesinuo Keditsu conducted on her book, Wrestling Day. She spoke about how traffic piles up on Wrestling Day. People park everywhere, and that’s something that’s perfectly acceptable on that one day because that’s just the way things are. Wrestling is huge; everyone wrestles. Before I could ask, someone else did, ‘Do women wrestle too?’  The answer was ‘yes’; she used to wrestle too! A couple of days later I watched two young boys wrestling in Khonoma. […]
- [A Demon in Dandi](https://varshaseshan.com/a-demon-in-dandi/): We all know about the infamous salt tax and the march to Dandi. What would the people of Dandi have felt at the time? Were people even aware of this huge political upheaval brewing in various parts of the country? A Demon in Dandi by Lavanya Karthik is part of Duckbill’s Songs of Freedom series, and it reimagines a few days in this tumultuous period from the point of view of a Sherlock Holmes fan, Dinu. Dinu is slow to find motivation when it comes to Bapu’s call to action. He can’t spin and he can barely concentrate while he’s […]
- [Kadbanwadi Grasslands](https://varshaseshan.com/kadbanwadi-grasslands/): Ever since grassland safaris were launched several months (years?) ago, we’ve been meaning to go. Although we’ve been on countless safaris in the forest, the grasslands were new to us, and the idea of seeing a whole range of birds, in addition to the possibility of hyenas, foxes and wolves was exciting! Finally, last week, we went to Kumbhargaon, which is where we usually go birdwatching (I blogged about it in 2015 and in 2018), and from there, on to Kadbanwadi. The grass, as you can see, is dry, and the weather was hot. Not ideal for a safari, but […]
- [With the Fire on High](https://varshaseshan.com/with-the-fire-on-high/): With the Fire on High is my third book by Elizabeth Acevedo, and the first in prose. I loved it! Just like The Poet X and Clap When You Land, it meets difficult, controversial situations head-on, with courage and optimism. Emoni Santiago’s life is not easy. Her mother died in childbirth, and her father, whom she calls Julio, is an escapist. He fled to Puerto Rico at the first available opportunity, leaving Emoni to be raised by his mother, Emoni’s ‘Buela. When Emoni finds herself pregnant in her freshman year, she knows she must decide what to do, and live […]
- [Some Places More than Others](https://varshaseshan.com/some-places-more-than-others/): Finding your roots can be such a complicated thing. Amara has never visited New York City, where her father grew up, and there’s nothing she wants more than to go meet her father’s family and get to know them. What’s even more intriguing is that even before she goes, she learns tiny things like the fact that her Grandma Grace died on the day Amara was born. Or the fact that her father hasn’t spoken to his father for twelve years. Could she have had something to do with that? Amara manages to convince her mother to let her embark […]
- [Agassi and the Great Cycle Race](https://varshaseshan.com/agassi-and-the-great-cycle-race/): Agassi and the Great Cycle Race by Khyrunnisa A. and illustrated by Saumya Oberoi is another fun Silly Billy book! The cover image encapsulates the madness of the book perfectly: a parakeet sitting on an inverted saucepan worn by a boy riding a cycle! Agassi hates his name. Just because his parents are tennis fans, they didn’t have to name him Agassi! He refuses to play tennis, and he much prefers to be called by his middle name, Joel. When he decides to take part in a cycle race, however, his quest for a cycle is a mixed blessing. A […]
- [Jumble Sale](https://varshaseshan.com/jumble-sale/): Shabnam Minwalla’s Jumble Sale is another delightful Silly Billy Book, a lighthearted mystery, which begins with a missing bottlebrush. Who could have stolen it? An evil crow? A ghost? Or a thin woman with a beaky nose? Jumble Sale takes us through a hilarious whodunnit featuring mischievous children Dina and Dorab Sethna, hapless parents, and a vengeful teacher, Tinaz Toddywala. Of course, we know who stole the blackboard, the Aadhaar card and the ‘No Parking’ sign. The question is, how will the whole story unravel? With Tinaz Toddywala, I found myself singing, Justchoo wait, Dorab-Dina, Justchoo wait! with a thrill […]
- [The Double Life of Danny Day](https://varshaseshan.com/the-double-life-of-danny-day/): The Double Life of Danny Day by Mike Thayer is such an unusual book! I haven’t read anything quite like it ever before, and I loved it! Danny Day is unique. He lives every day twice. As a very young child, he doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. He remembers conversations that never happened, and he can freakily predict what is going to happen. His parents consult one doctor after another because Danny himself has no idea why the world is so confusing. An unusual therapist, open-minded and observant, finally helps him figure out what is happening and how to […]
- [Nagaland 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/nagaland-2025/): It’s been ages since I wrote a travel post, although I’ve been thinking about writing one for a while. Often, there’s so much else I want to write that travel posts take a backseat. But Nagaland was special for so many reasons that I decided to write about it even though this post comes almost one month late. The White Owl Literature Festival and Book Fair I always dreamed of my writing taking me to places I’ve never visited. Going to Dimapur, Nagaland, for a literature fest was surreal! I did my first ever event on How I Feel, and […]
- [Ghosts, Thieves and Aha! Adventures](https://varshaseshan.com/ghosts-thieves-and-aha-adventures/): I love the idea of a Silly Billy Book! That’s what the series is called, and that’s what drew me to Ghosts, Thieves and Aha! Adventures by Asha Nehemiah in the first place. With its full colour illustrations, the series is a great addition to books that bridge an awkward gap between age-groups and reading levels. It’s perfect for ages eight and above, well suited to children who aren’t yet ready to pick up middle-grade books, but enjoy colourful chapter books. Independent bookstores are close to my heart, and a book set in a bookstore was bound to be fun! […]
- [The Hunt for the Nightingale](https://varshaseshan.com/the-hunt-for-the-nightingale/): Gone to a better place. Passed away. Moved on. Passed on. We have so many euphemisms to help us talk about death. But what if, sometimes, you need to hear the harsh truth, unembellished? Anxious, socially awkward Jasper Wilde puts all his faith in just one person–his sister Rosie. Rosie never breaks promises. She sits with him and helps him listen. She shows him birds and helps him create a book of birds, full of good, true facts, which calm him down whenever he panics. When he learns that she’s gone to a better place, he knows exactly where that […]
- [The Girl Who Played with Numbers - Shakuntala Devi](https://varshaseshan.com/the-girl-who-played-with-numbers-shakuntala-devi/): The Girl Who Played with Numbers by Lavanya Karthik is a lovely addition to her series of biographies for very young readers. A little note tells us that the illustrations in this book about Shakuntala Devi are inspired by the Mysore school of painting. While this isn’t my favourite style, I love the fact that the choice isn’t random. I also enjoyed the story, and the part I loved best was the childlike desire to stop studying and be allowed to play instead. Shakuntala Devi may have been a genius and a prodigy, but she was, after all, a child! […]
- [The Bridge Home](https://varshaseshan.com/the-bridge-home/): Eleven-year-old Viji has had enough. Her mother might believe that her father is repentant and will stop abusing her. But when he hits Viji and Rukku, she makes a decision. However harsh life on the streets may be, it is preferable to being home with a drunken, abusive father. And so, Viji takes her sister Rukku away, determined to find a place where she can be safe. Amongst untrustworthy adults and bullies, she finds friends who are better than family. She finds home. The Bridge Home is a story of grit and love, of finding home outside home. As a […]
- [The Letter with the Golden Stamp](https://varshaseshan.com/the-letter-with-the-golden-stamp/): The Letter with the Golden Stamp by Onjali Q. Raúf is such a heartwarming story! As a lover of letters (psst: my first novel in letters, The Wall Friends Club, is just out!), I was drawn to the idea of a story about a special letter right away. With an enterprising protagonist at the centre, the book is completely unpredictable and utterly charming. The book opens with Audrey sitting in a police station, sure that she has been arrested even though the adults around assure her that she has not. They just want to know her story. And as she […]
- [The Astoundingly True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev](https://varshaseshan.com/the-astoundingly-true-adventures-of-daydreamer-dev/): It’s been nearly four years since we read The Absolutely True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev by Ken Spillman. We had fun reading it, and I hope The Astoundingly True Adventures of Daydreamer Dev will be as much fun with a new group of book clubbers! Dev is a highly imaginative character. The smallest things set him off on the wackiest of daydreams. A question asked during his geography lesson sends him daydreaming to Antarctica. A conversation about volcanoes, and he lands up in Whakaari. Where can our book club escapades take us? Where are you? Physically, Dev may be in an autorickshaw, but […]
- [Nimmi's Bizuper Birthday](https://varshaseshan.com/nimmis-bizuper-birthday/): Some time ago, we read Nimmi’s Dreadtastic Detective Days, and although it is longer than most of the other books I choose for Read, Write, Explore, we enjoyed it. It’s funny and engaging, and there’s so much we can do with the book! Nimmi’s Bizuper Birthday is no different. Like in Lucky Girl, Nimmi finds herself eating (and sharing) all kinds of … interesting … foods. How can she admit that the chocolate-like things she distributes are jowar banana bites? The hapless Nimmi finds herself in one coil after another as she navigates her way through a birthday that is nothing […]
- [The Chocolate Touch](https://varshaseshan.com/the-chocolate-touch/): The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling is an old book, unlike most of the others I select for my book clubs. Its copyright dates back to 1952! And that’s not the only thing that makes it different from the books I usually choose. Another important distinction is that it has a clear moral, something I usually avoid. But the story is such fun! Plus, it’s about chocolate, so it’s already a win, isn’t it? John Midas loves chocolate. He can eat it all the time. Or so he thinks. It is only when everything that touches his lips turns to […]
- [I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944](https://varshaseshan.com/i-survived-the-nazi-invasion-1944/): We’ve read one book from the I Survived series at Read, Write, Explore before—I Survived the California Wildfires, 2019. This one, I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944, was written way before that, and from what I can tell, it’s one of Lauren Tarshis’s most popular books. I thought long and hard before choosing to read this book with 9- and 10-year-olds. The horrific events of the second world war don’t make for easy reading, and like I’ve said before, it’s always more difficult to gauge the mood of my book clubbers online than offline. Yet, it’s an important story, and […]
- [The Adventures of Mooli and the Blue-Legged Alien](https://varshaseshan.com/the-adventures-of-mooli-and-the-blue-legged-alien/): We’ve read the other two Mooli books at my book club (although that was before my current book clubbers were old enough to join), and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed them! The Adventures of Mooli and the Blue-Legged Alien is just as much fun, or perhaps even more fun! A lovely combination of wacky adventures and a mystery, it’s a book that is imaginative and funny, in addition to being just the right length for my book club for ages seven and eight! Aliens How do you think an alien would look? Would it have blue legs? What powers would it have? […]
- [The Paradise Flycatcher](https://varshaseshan.com/the-paradise-flycatcher/): It’s impossible to write about The Paradise Flycatcher without mentioning the gorgeous illustrations. I felt the same way about The Golden Eagle, which we read at my book club some time ago. Krishna Bala Shenoi’s art work, right through the book, is stunning, and if for nothing else, I would have picked The Paradise Flycatcher for one of my reading programmes just for the pictures! (On an aside, I loved his work in Friends Behind Walls too, which I used at another reading programme.) We read it a few years ago; we’re rereading it in April 2025! Mitalee is distraught. Shikar, aka Snowdrop, a white-headed squirrel, […]
- [The Clockwala's Clues](https://varshaseshan.com/the-clockwalas-clues/): We’re going to read my hOle book, The Clockwala’s Clues at my book club in April 2025! I’ve done many author events based on the book, but they’ve all been in-person sessions. Looking forward to my first online session with the book.  Puzzles Jasmine and Sheba love puzzles. Do you? Can you solve a set of puzzles about clocks and time? Tongue Twisters If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch? How fast can you say that? Have fun with Clockwala Uncle’s tongue twisters, trying to say each tongue twister faster and faster every time you try! […]
- [Of Performances and Community](https://varshaseshan.com/of-performances-and-community/): I love solitude. Yet, whenever we perform, we come together in ways the audience can never know, and I’m beyond grateful. This time, it began with a performance that fell through. Our teacher, Guru Mythili Raghavan, was more than a little upset. Immediately, in stepped Ashwini to organise another performance for us. We would, after all, perform in a temple: Marigold Balaji Temple in Kalyani Nagar. We continued to practise the way we always do—together. But then, two weeks ago, I injured my knee, and all our girls reminded me of what makes us *us*. I had tears in eyes […]
- [Echo](https://varshaseshan.com/echo/): Do you ever read the author’s note and acknowledgements? I love reading them! For example, at the end of Echo, author Pam Muñoz Ryan writes: It was [in the German Harmonica and Accordion Museum in Trossingen] in a glass case that I discovered the letters from thankful family members of soldiers whose lives were once saved by Hohner harmonicas, and the mutilated instruments, some with bullets still embedded, that had protected them. Echo – Acknowledgements I had gooseflesh as I read that because I would never have imagined that a harmonica could save a life. It made Echo all the […]
- [Melissa](https://varshaseshan.com/melissa/): I’ve been meaning to read Melissa for a while, and more so since I read Rick some time ago. It’s an important book for young readers, one that I found myself mulling over long after I’d finished. George knows she is not a boy. She looks like one, and everyone sees her as one, but that’s not who she is, and she knows that. How can she come out to her family and friends? How long should she hide? When can she tell those around her that she is Melissa and not George? As the school prepares to perform Charlotte’s […]
- [The Scent of Roses](https://varshaseshan.com/the-scent-of-roses/): From the author of Boy, Bear, a poignant story that has stayed with me, comes The Scent of Roses, a book about fear, grief and loss. This latest hOle book by Adithi Rao is made all the more beautiful by Krishna Bala Shenoi’s brilliant illustrations. When Sajad’s Abu disappears, his Mauji and Badebub try to fill the gaping hole in his life. But it isn’t enough. The terrifying Bram Bram Chok takes over, pushing Sajad to act in strange and unpredictable ways. For instance, he loses his temper and shouts at Jabbar, who is fourteen years old and cannot even […]
- [The Wish Fish](https://varshaseshan.com/the-wish-fish/): Would you believe in a fish that could grant wishes? Namita wants to, but … The Wish Fish by Lesley D. Biswas and Aratrika Choudhury is a charming story set in a small village in the middle of a big mangrove forest. Namita’s father is a fisherman, and Namita loves to help her father pick the fish out of the net. One day, however, he catches a fish that no one has ever seen before. Not even those who have been around for decades! No one, that is, until Namita takes the fish to her friend, who tells her it […]
- [Gawa's Bag of Good Regards](https://varshaseshan.com/gawas-bag-of-good-regards/): Lots of adults I know hated the question What do you want to be when you grow up? I know I loved it as a child. I had so many dreams, and I loved talking about them. Sometimes, I delude myself into believing I always wanted to be a writer, but an old, old diary tells me that I once wanted to be a doctor and an artist! Gawa’s Bag of Good Regards by Anushka Ravishankar and Canato Jimo is the story of a child who doesn’t know what he wants to be. But he does know what he wants […]
- [Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!](https://varshaseshan.com/get-a-grip-vivy-cohen/): What a lovely, lovely book! I don’t know anything about baseball. I’ve seen what the bat looks like, and I’ve heard random terms like ‘home run’ and ‘strike’, but that’s the extent of my knowledge. And yet, I loved Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!, a book that’s all about baseball! Vivy Cohen is fed up with people saying that girls should play softball, not baseball. When she’s practising the knuckleball (and I have no idea what that is!) with her brother Nate, a coach spots her and wants her to pitch for the team, Flying Squirrels. Vivy has no idea […]
- [Leeva at Last](https://varshaseshan.com/leeva-at-last/): If you like Roald Dahl’s Matilda, you’re sure to enjoy Leeva at Last by Sara Pennypacker! Leeva’s parents, in a perfectly Roald Dahl-esque way are impossibly cruel. They have all kinds of rules for Leeva. She can’t go to school; in fact she isn’t even permitted to step out of her yard. When, one day, she breaks through the hedge around her yard and makes her way to the library that lies just beyond, a whole world opens for her. A world that is in equal parts fascinating and terrifying. Leeva is a lovely character with a question she must […]
- [My Year in Writing - 2024](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-writing-2024/): Reflecting on my journey as a writer is probably the post I enjoy writing most. Writing is such a slow business and wins are so few and far between that it’s easy to get bogged down by all the endless waiting, the ghosting, and the rejections. Yet, when I look back at my year, I realise, again, how far I’ve come. Each year, I celebrate my wins. I celebrate the books I’ve written and the ones I’m writing.  In brief, here’s what my year brought me: two middle-grade books (one was already published by Scholastic Asia, but it came to […]
- [My Year in Workshops - 2024](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-workshops-2024/): As someone who loves routine and predictability, it’s amazing how unpredictable my workshops are, each year! Teacher training workshops took me to Indapur, Goa, Satara, Talegaon, Nagpur and Beed, in addition to schools all over Pune. This also meant that I did multiple book club and writing sessions from hotel rooms and cafés, just like last year. I also continued to run my in-person writers’ club at St. Mary’s School, Pune, although I often have to run those sessions online too because I travel for work. With my book clubs, I read 39 books; with my writing courses, I created […]
- [Top 5 Young Adult Books - 2024](https://varshaseshan.com/top-5-young-adult-books-2024/): I finally read a few more young adult books last year, so I don’t have to combine my late middle-grade and young adult books! I loved all these books, three of which are by writers I’ve read before. I highly recommend these books for ages 13+! Spin I am not usually a fan of mythological retellings, but what a gorgeous book Spin by Rebecca Caprara was! It was part of the required reading for a course I did on revising a verse novel and it was my favourite on the list. Full of powerful imagery, this sapphic young adult verse […]
- [Top 10 Middle Grade Books - 2024](https://varshaseshan.com/top-10-middle-grade-books-2024/): I read many, many middle grade books last year, but somehow just one Indian book stands out this time! Here are my top ten, in no particular order. I highly recommend these books to readers ten and above! The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them) Last year, I read many books in verse, primarily because that’s what I’ve been writing. My most recent middle-grade verse read was The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them) by Nadine Aisha Jassat. It’s a richly woven book about family and a support system. I always find verse novels to be pacy reads, […]
- [Top 10 Early Middle Grade Books - 2024](https://varshaseshan.com/top-10-early-middle-grade-books-2024/): Many of the titles on this list of my favourite early middle grade books from 2024 are book club reads. Some, the children enjoyed thoroughly; others, I enjoyed more than the children did!  On the whole, I recommend these books for ages nine and up. In no particular order, here are my top ten early middle grade reads from 2024. No Talking Even though I don’t usually like books that follow a boys vs girls sort of dynamic, I thoroughly enjoyed No Talking by Andrew Clements! For me, his books are particularly useful because there’s just so much I can do […]
- [Top 7 Picture Books and Chapter Books - 2024](https://varshaseshan.com/top-7-picture-books-and-chapter-books-2024/): It’s time for my yearly roundups! I have no idea how many books I read last year (I never count), but I know I read a significant number. I read fewer picture books than usual, but I made up for that by reading dozens of chapter books. I always share these annual posts of mine with a disclaimer—not all these books were published in 2024; I just read them in 2024. A second disclaimer—I received several of these books as review copies from the publishers. This does not influence my opinion of the books; I review only ones that I […]
- [Boo-Boo the Eco-Warrior](https://varshaseshan.com/boo-boo-the-eco-warrior/): I don’t like horror stories, but what about stories featuring a friendly, helpful ghost? Boo-Boo the Eco-Warrior is one of those! Written almost like a series of short stories, this book by Tanushree Podder is a child-friendly read, made all the more engaging by the use of varied font sizes and, of course, pictures. Boo-Boo the ghost, along with her human friend Tanya, embark on a set of adventures including a rescue mission and justice for an old man employed by a cruel shopkeeper. I’m sure my book club will enjoy this one! A Ghostly Friend Wouldn’t it be useful to have […]
- [Misfit Madhu](https://varshaseshan.com/misfit-madhu-2/): We’re rereading Misfit Madhu at my book club! It was a favourite when I read it two years ago, although it’s longer and slightly more complex than the books we usually read. I’m waiting to read it again! Madhu makes an app that goes viral. At first, she can’t quite believe it, but soon, she begins to bask in the attention. Things quickly go wrong, though, and Madhu must decide between what she wants and what’s right. Here’s what we’ll do as we read the book! Apps When we read Cricket for the Crocodile, we did an activity where we made […]
- [Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom](https://varshaseshan.com/zeus-and-the-thunderbolt-of-doom/): Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom opens with the oracle at Delphi predicting the fall of the Titans. The future is misty and the oracle’s glasses are foggy, so she can’t quite tell what will happen. What lies ahead? Dancers? Oh, no. Danger. Danger lies ahead. On that humorous note, we begin the story of Zeus, who has no idea that he isn’t an ordinary ten-year-old boy. Sure, it often feels like the lightning is after him, but then, that isn’t possible, is it? It’s a coincidence. It has to be. Except for the fact that each time lightning strikes […]
- [Trouble-Maker](https://varshaseshan.com/trouble-maker/): Have you read any books by Andrew Clements? I’ve read several, and each one of them has been such a good choice as a book club read! Perhaps it’s because Clements writes about school and even though some elements aren’t exactly relatable, there are so many that are! Plus, with books like Frindle and The Losers Club, there’s so much we can do as we read! Troublemaker “Troublemaker” is a hard tag to break away from. Often, teachers give us labels that we like or dislike. Talkative. Quiet. Mischievous. Intelligent. Lazy. Hardworking. What labels do you feel people associate with you? Do […]
- [Mini's Questions](https://varshaseshan.com/minis-questions/): We read Mini’s Books a while ago, and it was fun! As a couple of book clubbers who read it with me have already signed up for the February 2025 edition, I decided to read another book from the series. The familiarity of characters always makes for a fun reading experience! Children have more questions than adults can answer, and soon enough, adults get fed up of answering their endless questions. But what if questions can help solve a mystery? Would parents sit up and take notice?  Like the rest of the Mini series, Mini’s Questions is a simple, early reader chapter book that […]
- [Kushti Kid](https://varshaseshan.com/kushti-kid-2/): Kushti Kid is another lovely book by Vibha Batra, one that I know my book club will enjoy! For me, the challenge when it comes to introducing books published by Scholastic India is that there’s no ebook available, which often means that I have to restrict my book clubbers to children living in India, or at least children who have access to books in India. Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to reading this with my book clubbers! Sport What is kushti? Looking at the cover image, do you feel the girl stands a chance? Why, or why not? As Kushti Kid is the […]
- [Petu Pumpkin: Tooth Troubles](https://varshaseshan.com/petu-pumpkin-tooth-troubles/): Another edition of my book club, another hOle book! We’ve read nineteen so far, and I’m running out of ones I think my book clubbers will enjoy! I read Petu Pumpkin: Tooth Troubles four years ago. It is fun and light, and we’ll have fun with it, especially as it’s the first book we will read next month. Book Cover What’s happening in the cover image? Before we start reading, we’ll talk about the book cover and try to imagine what the boys are doing. We’ll take this one step further and write about the emotions the children are likely […]
- [The Lucky List](https://varshaseshan.com/the-lucky-list/): Are you the kind of person who finishes a book once you’ve begun? Or are you perfectly happy abandoning a book that doesn’t work for you? I’m usually the second, but I’m so glad I stuck with The Lucky List! Two chapters in, and I was not invested in the story. Teenage girl, isolated from her group of friends because she did something unforgivable to her boyfriend … it didn’t seem like the story would engage me. But it was a light, easy read, so I persevered. And I loved the way the story played out. Emily feels anything but […]
- [The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them)](https://varshaseshan.com/the-stories-grandma-forgot-and-how-i-found-them/): How are such few people reading verse novels? They’re so lovely, so full of emotion and magic! My latest read was The Stories Grandma Forgot (and How I Found Them), a beautiful middle-grade book about love, stories, and friendship. Nyla Elachi is of mixed heritage, and she’s bullied for it. But in some ways, that’s the least of her problems. Her beloved grandmother has Alzheimer’s. Her mother is overworked. And her father is dead … or so she thinks. When her grandmother says she saw Basim, her father, Nyla begins to ask questions. And as she follows one clue after […]
- [The Art of Laughter](https://varshaseshan.com/the-art-of-laughter/): Every time I begin a new batch of my writing programme, it feels like the weeks fly by! This edition is nearly at an end, marked by our third and last guest session of the season. This session was conducted by Arundhati Venkatesh, author of a number of humorous books. My book clubbers have read several – Bookasura (which we’re reading again in December 2024), Koobandhee, Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter, Petu Pumpkin: Tiffin Thief and Petu Pumpkin: Cheater Peter.  Step by step, Arundhati led us through the writing of a humorous story. To begin with, if you want to write humour, you must enjoy reading […]
- [The School for Bad Girls](https://varshaseshan.com/the-school-for-bad-girls/): I was reading The School for Bad Girls and I mentioned how much I was enjoying it to an acquaintance. Immediately, she said, “I thought Anandibai Joshi was the first female doctor from India.” We looked it up, and of course, I found myself going down a rabbit hole. When I finished reading the book, I saw author Madhurima Vidyarthi’s note about the ongoing and “largely pointless” debate about who the first Indian woman to become a doctor was, and I smiled. After presenting a list of undeniable facts, the author goes on to ask, But why should that be […]
- [Kushti Kid](https://varshaseshan.com/kushti-kid/): I’ve read and enjoyed so many of Vibha Batra’s books that when I saw Kushti Kid, I knew I had to read it. And it’s lovely! Several of Vibha’s books challenge stereotypes, particularly gender stereotypes. There’s Pinkoo Shergill, which features a boy who wants to cook. Kolam Kanna is about a boy who enjoys putting kolam. And The Chhau Champ has at its centre a girl who wants to do chhau. Many of her books are favourites of mine and more importantly, favourites at my book club. Kushti Kid, Vibha’s latest book with Scholastic India, is the story of Qainaat, […]
- [At Least a Fish](https://varshaseshan.com/at-least-a-fish/): I love Anushka Ravishankar’s books. Whether it’s Moin and the Monster or Captain Coconut or At Least a Fish, I find myself chuckling as I read, shaking my head at her wacky humour. Ana, the protagonist of At Least a Fish, wants a dog. She really wants a dog. But her parents go and get her fish instead – not one, but three! Ana’s friend Zain would call them Fishyone, Fishytwo and Fishythree, but Ana being Ana calls them Socrates, Aristotle (Totty for short) and Plato. That’s just one of the dozens of crazy things in the story. From a dragon in a […]
- [The Mystery of the Graveyard Gold](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mystery-of-the-graveyard-gold/): We’ve read The Mystery of the Missing Geometry Boxes and The Mystery of the Disappearing Drone, the other two books in the AKA Detective Club series. It’s time to read the first of the series, The Mystery of the Graveyard Gold! It is an engaging mystery story that features three children on a backwards treasure hunt, which, in itself, is a fun premise. We start with the treasure and work out where it came from. Here’s what we’ll do as we read! Mystery Stories At my book club recently, a child told me that she usually loves mystery stories, but she hates those in which […]
- [Poseidon and the Sea of Fury](https://varshaseshan.com/poseidon-and-the-sea-of-fury/): We’ve read Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom twice at my book club; it’s the first of the Heroes in Training series. With older kids reading Heroes of Olympus and other books based on Greek and Roman mythology, I find that the younger ones are excited by the same themes too. This series serves as the perfect introduction! I’m looking forward to reading this story about young Poseidon with my young book clubbers! Here’s what we’ll do as we read. Mythology The scope of mythology is limitless! Storytelling is an important part of my book club, and I will ask each child to tell me […]
- [Mac B Kid Spy: Mac Undercover](https://varshaseshan.com/mac-b-kid-spy-mac-undercover/): The silliness and drama of Mac B. Kid Spy: Mac Undercover make it a promisingly exciting read at my book club! Stories about spies, subterfuge and suspicion make for great book club reads, and I’m sure this one will be no different. Here’s what we’ll do as we read. I Spy Looking closely at the cover is a great way to predict what will happen in the story, and what better way to do it than through a game? We’ll play “I spy” with the details of the cover. I spy something beginning with c! I spy something beginning with s! […]
- [Slam Dunk!](https://varshaseshan.com/slam-dunk/): The Silly Billy series, with its full colour illustrations, works well with two of my book clubs—the one for ages 7 and 8, as well as the one for ages 9 and 10. In August 2026, we’ll read Slam Dunk! by Vibha Batra, many of whose books we’ve read and enjoyed! Here’s what we’ll do as we read. Inclusion Look at the cover of the book. What do you notice? Do you think all the children on the cover could join your school? Why or why not? It’s never too early to start conversations about the differences amongst the words “inclusion”, […]
- [On Air with RJ Rini](https://varshaseshan.com/on-air-with-rj-rini-2/): When I read this simple, heartwarming story a few months ago, I knew I wanted to read it with my book club soon, so here we are! In August 2026, my book club for ages 9 and 10, Read, Write, Explore, will read Sonia Mehta’s On Air with RJ Rini. This is what I hope to do with my book clubbers as we read! On Air with Varsha As On Air with RJ Rini is the first book we will be reading in August 2026, we’ll begin with a radio show of sorts (and this will link well with our […]
- [Sandy to the Rescue](https://varshaseshan.com/sandy-to-the-rescue/): Another edition of my book club, and we’re reading another delightful hOle book! Sandy, aka Sandip when his mother is angry, makes a new friend, Aftab, who needs rescuing from Mrs Gupta, the witch next door. The problem is that he needs to sneak Aftab into his house, feed him and give him a place to stay. And of course, Sandy has got to be braver than Aftab when it comes to an adventure of this sort. After all, Sandy is a whole year older. We’ve read this hOle book before, and I’m looking forward to reading it again–five years […]
- [Song of the River](https://varshaseshan.com/song-of-the-river/): I love Gill Lewis’s books, and when I saw Song of the River at Kahaani Box, I picked it up without a second thought. And even though I haven’t read any of Lewis’s books in a while, I wasn’t disappointed. When Cari’s father dies, her mother wants to start over. She wants to move out of the city and to a village where she can run a picture perfect café, complete with chequered tablecloths. For Cari, though, it feels like they’re deliberately leaving every memory of her father behind. They’re a half family now, and it seems as if her […]
- [I Am Hachi](https://varshaseshan.com/i-am-hachi/): Some picture books make you smile page after page, and I Am Hachi is one of them. Told from the point of view of a dog, it’s an adorable story that explores the unique relationship between animals and their humans. Hachi has a dozen names–Hachiko, Himu, Chimuna, and so many more. And his story is one of innocence, trust and love. His life is like a journey through four seasons. In spring, he is a bundle of curiosity and bubbling with energy. As we move through summer, autumn and winter, we see him aging, but secure in the comfort of […]
- [The Girl Who Became a Buddha](https://varshaseshan.com/the-girl-who-became-a-buddha/): What is it like to be the mother of one who gets enlightenment? How does one watch a young prince walk away from responsibilities towards something impractical and incomprehensible? The Girl Who Became a Buddha is a beautiful story that shifts the spotlight from Siddhartha to Pajapati, his foster mother. Author Maria Denjongpa creates vivid pictures of Pajapati, a feisty, rebellious girl who grows to be a queen and dares to ask questions. She is one who eventually seeks (and finds) enlightenment herself. As I read The Girl Who Became a Buddha, I was drawn into Pajapati’s world. I love […]
- [Hope in the Valley](https://varshaseshan.com/hope-in-the-valley/): The blurb of Hope in the Valley speaks of how the book is a tale of “growing up in Silicon Valley at a time when immigrants are looked at with suspicion”. With news coming in from all over the world–and most recently from Belfast–I can’t help wondering, how much has changed? How is it that a book set almost fifty years ago is still relevant today? Hope in the Valley is a layered story told from the point of view of the youngest of three siblings, Pandita Paul. Pandita doesn’t want things to change. She doesn’t want the house across […]
- ['Carri-On', Ruddy!](https://varshaseshan.com/carri-on-ruddy/): I remember the first time I visited Tadoba. Our guide, Vishwas, told us that being a forest guide is much like being a detective. You have to listen, look for detail, pay attention, and follow the clues. And the ruddy mongoose in the story–a naturalist and a sleuth–does just that. As with Sea ice? Now you don’t!, the depth and breadth of research took my breath away. Page after page, I was awestruck by everything Rohan Chakravarty and his sleuth Naturalist Ruddy draw our attention to. Birds, spiders, ants, lizards–everything catches Ruddy’s eye, and everything becomes a marvellous mystery for […]
- [Becoming Naomi León](https://varshaseshan.com/becoming-naomi-leon/): Some time ago, I read about how searching for belonging creates among the most powerful children’s stories. Time and time again, that rings true. Becoming Naomi León is the story of a young girl and her brother Owen, who are being raised by their Gram. As with Foxlight, Naomi has dreams of how her mother does want her, will want her, will shower her with love, and bring her family. As expected, Naomi’s mother does turn up. But she’s nothing like Naomi imagined. She’s unpredictable, alternately showing love and blazing in anger. Worst of all, her mother wants Naomi, but […]
- [Don't Get Inspired; Get Mad!](https://varshaseshan.com/dont-get-inspired-get-mad/): What a wonderful, empowering session we had with Venita Coelho! In her signature energetic, passionate style, she made us think about what makes us angry and how we can channel that anger. Inspiration is often quite useless because we have to sit around waiting for it. It’s out of our control, and because it’s totally unreliable.  What works instead? Anger.It’s powerful, it’s honest, and it shows us the way. With short exercises and examples of great writers who’ve used their anger to create brilliant, memorable works of literature, we started writing. What I appreciated most was the emphasis on the […]
- [Wild](https://varshaseshan.com/wild/): I read Boy 87 by Ele Fountain several years ago, and it stayed with me. Stark, powerful, frightening–I still remember the mood it left me with. And Wild is no different. Jack is a bundle of rage and resentment. His mother never had time for him. Why should anything change? Why must he suddenly forge a relationship with her when the only person he wants to be with is gone? Bubbling with frustration, he doesn’t care what he does. If it means getting into trouble at school, so be it. Full of raw energy and power, each page of Wild […]
- [The Case of the Vanishing Gods](https://varshaseshan.com/the-case-of-the-vanishing-gods/): I’m not usually a fan of mysteries, and that is what makes it all the more remarkable how well the M4 series by Mallika Ravikumar works for me. I read The Case of the Mysterious Witches some time ago, and it left a powerful impression on me. The Case of the Vanishing Gods was no different. The story begins with a simple robbery–Mrs Shenoy’s jewellery is stolen, and along with it, an antique idol. Malhar, a fan of detective stories, is determined to find the criminal, and soon, he ropes in his sister Meera. However, two urban kids living in […]
- [Foxlight](https://varshaseshan.com/foxlight/): Foxlight is my third book by Katya Balen, and it’s just as wondrous as the others! The beauty of the book begins with the title–Foxlight. I can imagine it perfectly–the mixture of orange and red, neither night nor day, elusive and special. And elusive and special is exactly how the characters in the story, Fen and Rey, see their past. They can’t put their finger on it. They don’t know their story. They must step out and find it, even if it means venturing into the terrifying wildness. Foxlight is a search for identity and belonging. Although Fen and Rey […]
- [Unlocked](https://varshaseshan.com/unlocked/): I’ve read both Flat-Track Bullies and Pops! by Balaji Venkataramanan, but Unlocked is the one I like best! Tanvi Bhat’s illustrations make the reader linger on the pages long after we’ve read the words, delighting in the detail. When Ravi has to go stay with his grandfather, he isn’t best pleased. His grandfather’s house reminds him of a hospital.  But in just a few words over the course of the story, a lovely relationship blossoms between grandfather and grandson. In the gentlest way possible, Ravi’s grandfather prepares the child for the inevitable. Life is like a game of snakes and […]
- [On Air with RJ Rini](https://varshaseshan.com/on-air-with-rj-rini/): As a child, I was quite the chatterbox. I remember my cousin offering me five rupees if I could stay quiet for five minutes. I spent all of those five minutes asking if five minutes were over. Needless to say, I never earned those five rupees. And that’s why a character like Rini is particularly endearing. She isn’t just a chatterbox; she is a chatter-machine. But like so many other children who enjoy the sound of their own voice, she doesn’t quite remember to listen, to pay attention to what those around her might want. On Air with RJ Rini […]
- [Book Covers - Reimagined](https://varshaseshan.com/book-covers-reimagined/): Our second guest session of the season–and my thirty-fifth guest session in all–was such a visual treat! We haven’t ever had a cover design workshop before and I enjoyed this one, particularly as Isha Nagar, who conducted the session, designed two of my book covers (Fishbowl and Uncontrollable), both of which I love! Through the course of an hour, Isha guided us through the process of redesigning covers for our favourite books. We began by writing down the main characters and theme of the story. Then, Isha explained the three essential elements of a book cover – title, the main […]
- [The Adventures of Mooli and the Bully on Wheels](https://varshaseshan.com/the-adventures-of-mooli-and-the-bully-on-wheels/): We’re rereading The Adventures of Mooli and the Bully on Wheels at my book club! The book features characters some of my book clubbers have read about before. We’ve read both The Adventures of Mooli and the Sticker Trickster and The Adventures of Mooli and the Blue-Legged Alien. It’s time to meet Mooli again! Mooli and his friend Soups are fun, enterprising characters, itching to try something new. After all, they want to win a prize on WAYOUTS – World’s As Yet Original Untried Tricks and Stunts. Toothpaste art sounds like a good idea–or not.  Funny, silly and full of […]
- [Tara and the Friendship Theorem](https://varshaseshan.com/tara-and-the-friendship-theorem/): Maths and Logic are fascinating. I remember when I studied Descartes, who tried to prove the existence of God using pure logic. I understand the drive to do that – just like I understand Tara’s need to use a theorem to find friends. Can a foolproof Friendship Theorem exist? Can we actually use a Venn diagram to find friends?  Tara and the Friendship Theorem is a lovely book about big changes and making friends. Like with Ramanujan, I enjoyed the facts at the head of each chapter; they help me get into Tara’s very particular character. Just like Tara (and the […]
- [Ada Lace, On the Case](https://varshaseshan.com/ada-lace-on-the-case/): Most of my book clubbers love mystery stories, and that’s why the A to Z Mysteries are a great favourite. It’s time to introduce another series–Ada Lace, On the Case! Like Maya from Maya and the Robot, Ada Lace is a scientist and inventor. How does she solve the mystery of a dog that has suddenly gone missing?  As we find out, here’s what we’ll do! Picture Description Let’s begin by looking at the cover of Ada Lace, On the Case. What do we learn about the protagonist just from the picture?What, in your opinion, is Ada most interested in? Field Journal The cover […]
- [Maya and the Robot](https://varshaseshan.com/maya-and-the-robot-2/): Maya and the Robot by Eve L. Ewing is a heart-warming story about a girl and a robot. It is the story of being lonely, finding community. and discovering what it is to be human. Particularly in an age when AI has found its way into so much of our lives, it’s a relevant read while also being a timeless one. Here’s what we’ll do as we read it at my book club. Book Discussion What, according to you, makes a human different from a robot? At my book club, we’ll have a mini-debate on the topic: A robot would make an […]
- [Song of the Asunam](https://varshaseshan.com/song-of-the-asunam-2/): Song of the Asunam is a stunning book. Just like when we read Chris Riddell’s Ottoline series, we’re going to spend a lot of time looking at the pictures of this gorgeous graphic novel as we read it together at my book club! Here’s what else we’ll do as we read. Fantastical Creatures Can you create a fantastical creature? And no, I don’t mean a unicorn with wings or a three-headed dog. Can you come up with something unlike anything you’ve ever read about or seen? At my book club, we’ll describe and draw creatures that would belong to the world […]
- [Rocket Champs](https://varshaseshan.com/rocket-champs/): Rocket Champs by Niyatee Sharma is perfect for young readers who enjoy stories about STEM. It follows the timeless enemies-to-friends trope in a fun, believable way. I look forward to introducing this quick read to my book clubbers! Here’s what we’ll do as we read. Things Going Wrong Arjun feels like everything’s going wrong. His mother has banned experiments at home. Worse, he has to team up with the most annoying girl in school for a science project!  At my book club, we’ll use this as the prompt for a couple of exercises. One – how many synonyms do you know […]
- [The Pink Dress](https://varshaseshan.com/the-pink-dress-2/): The Pink Dress is such a delightful book! Just like so many other books I’ve read by Shabnam Minwalla, it is hilarious and fun, while also addressing bigger themes, including class divides and education. Here’s what we’ll do as we read this book at my book club next month! Presents As The Pink Dress is the first book we will be reading next month, it will be a good time to get to know one another. Let’s talk about presents! What is the best gift you have ever received? Who gave it to you? And is there something that you want that your […]
- [A Time to Dance](https://varshaseshan.com/a-time-to-dance/): I went back to a novel in verse after a long time with A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman. It’s a lovely tale of grit and ambition, about finding one’s path and learning what it is to be a dancer. More than once, I had a pebble in my throat as I read Veda’s story of discovery and rejoiced in the way she discovers and defines herself. Veda’s mother doesn’t want her to dance. She would rather her daughter spent time on more useful, lucrative things, like mathematics. But Veda knows what she wants, and her father and grandmother […]
- [Horton Halfpott](https://varshaseshan.com/horton-halfpott/): A hero who refuses to step out of line, even though he is employed by the worst sort of people. A nefarious, wickeder than wicked set of villains. A bumbling, larger-than-life detective. Bring them together, and you get a rollicking, delightful mystery story. From the moment I looked at the cover, I was curious–because Horton Halfpott is just one of three wordy titles. It is Horton Halfpott or The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor or The Loosening of M’lady Luggertuck’s Corset. I had to read the book! Arguably, the loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s corset starts the whole story off. A […]
- [Mondays Are Murder](https://varshaseshan.com/mondays-are-murder/): I used to read a lot of Tanya Landman when I was a member of the British Library. I remember Apache, Hell and High Water and The Goldsmith’s Daughter, but I feel I’ve read more! Recently, at Kahaani Box, I found Mondays Are Murder, and even though I don’t usually pick up murder mysteries, I picked it up because it was by Tanya Landman … and I wasn’t disappointed! Poppy Fields is off camping on a remote Scottish island. But one by one, all the camping instructors start dropping dead. Could it be a ghost? A series of accidents? Or […]
- [The Poetry Playground with Yashasvi Vachhani](https://varshaseshan.com/the-poetry-playground-with-yashasvi-vachhani/): Rhymes are fun, and we explored them to the fullest at Yashasvi Vachhani’s workshop, The Poetry Playground. From shedding our serious skins and getting silly to creating word clouds and writing poetry, we did so much that the chat was buzzing with activity last evening. We worked with simple, silly rhymes, but noticed how something happens even in the simplest and silliest of poems. Sometimes, logic drives the poem; at other times, it’s sounds and shapes. In the course of one hour, we read poetry by Sampurna Chattarji, Laura Elizabeth Richards, Sukumar Ray and Alok Bhalla, and more! We made […]
- [The Pink Dress](https://varshaseshan.com/the-pink-dress/): Earlier this month, I saw posts on social media about The Pink Dress–the story of a girl who wants a pink dress and will not let anything stand in the way. I was uncomfortable about the stereotype of a girl wanting pink. I couldn’t help thinking about how my book clubbers would respond to the book. And yet, I knew that a hOle book by Shabnam Minwalla wouldn’t be as simple as that. Besides, stereotypes exist for a reason, and why must every story deliberately contradict an idea that many would identify with? With all these thoughts in mind, I […]
- [Maya and the Robot](https://varshaseshan.com/maya-and-the-robot/): What a charming middle-grade book! I stumbled upon Maya and the Robot completely by accident. I was looking for something by Maya Angelou, and this one showed up. It looked interesting, so I picked it up–and thoroughly enjoyed it! Maya and the Robot begins slowly. When I started reading it, I wondered if it would be a predictable story about a genius girl who finds a friend in a robot she creates because her best friends are now in another class. It is, and it isn’t. For one, the story becomes far more believable because Maya doesn’t create the robot […]
- [My Name Is Khadija](https://varshaseshan.com/my-name-is-khadija/): Do you like your name? Have you ever thought of changing it? I know lots of people who’ve changed their names–including my grandmother–but I’ve always loved mine. I love the letter ‘V’ and I love what my name means … unlike Khadija in the story. Why couldn’t her parents have chosen a simpler name? Like Priya or Hema, for instance. My Name Is Khadija is a humorous, enjoyable read. Mariyam Fatima’s words make Khadija come alive to us, and Isha Nagar’s illustrations are full of joy. Khadija’s stubbornness, her childlike questions, and her determination to get the best deal are […]
- [The Race for Rugda](https://varshaseshan.com/the-race-for-rugda/): The Race for Rugda by Lesley D. Biswas and Anupama Ajinkya Apte is a heartwarming story for young readers. In some ways, it’s an old-fashioned tale, one that helps us believe goodness and kindness will always be rewarded. Yet, it conveys this message in the sweetest possible way without hitting us on the head with its moral! Savita’s mother has been ill for a while. When she’s finally regaining her appetite and her strength, all she wants is rugda–a mushroom that people in Savita’s village forage for in the woods. Savita is determined to find the mushrooms for her mother, […]
- [Song of the Asunam](https://varshaseshan.com/song-of-the-asunam/): What a gorgeous book! Even though I’ve seen Song of the Asunam dozens of times on my social media feed, I had no idea what to expect because I avoid reading reviews before I read a book that looks exciting to me. And this book by C.G. Salamander and Rajiv Eipe is absolutely stunning! I opened the book and spent several minutes just gazing at the end papers. Six-eyed lions with trunks and tusks. Striped hyenas with manes. Tiny elephants as high as grass. Snakes with legs. Each of the mythical beasts featured there is a work of art. And […]
- [Nami and Jhalak: Stinkypur Guardians](https://varshaseshan.com/nami-and-jhalak-stinkypur-guardians/): The last book we will be reading at the next edition of my book club is Nami and Jhalak: Stinkypur Guardians! It’s just a few months old, and I can’t wait to share it with my book clubbers. Here’s what we’ll do as we read. Bird Quiz Nami and Jhalak get inspired to act when they find a lapwing stuck to a bucket of paint in the canal. Do you know what a lapwing is? What regular birds can you identify? Let’s find out! Write a Poem! When we provide children with the right scaffolding, they write much better! Together, we’ll […]
- [Banian Buddies](https://varshaseshan.com/banian-buddies-2/): Banian Buddies has all the ingredients of a story my book clubbers will love–humour, quirky characters, and a big mission. It also provides the perfect opportunity for all kinds of discussions. Do we think of the environment as more important than people? How much do we trust celebrities who champion products and ideas? Waiting to see what my book clubbers think! Making an Ad I love working with ads because every child has come across them in some form or the other! The children in the story see Sa Ni Dha Pa Sundari’s face plastered all over the city, urging […]
- [Mercy Watson to the Rescue](https://varshaseshan.com/mercy-watson-to-the-rescue/): Three years ago, we read Because of Winn-Dixie at my book club, and we loved it. I’ve been mulling over Mercy Watson since even before that. It’s shorter than most of the other books we read at my book club. Would it be challenging enough? Or too childish? Finally, I decided I would give it a shot next month. Shorter books give us the time to do more activities! Plus, especially as most of my book clubbers have not encountered Kate DiCamillo’s work, what better place to introduce a wonderful writer to them? Pig or Dog? The best thing about using a well […]
- [The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips](https://varshaseshan.com/the-amazing-story-of-adolphus-tips/): I read The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips several years ago. And like most of Michael Morpurgo’s books, it’s a classic. In the cruellest, most inhuman of times, we find stories of courage and love – Morpurgo never fails to remind us of that. Through a series of diary entries, we learn about 11-year-old Lily, who lives in Slapton in 1943. The war seems very far away, even though several “townies” now study in the same school as Lily. Life goes on as usual–until the people of Slapton are told they must evacuate in seven weeks. Lily’s grandfather refuses to move, but […]
- [The Impossible Pet](https://varshaseshan.com/the-impossible-pet-2/): I loved The Impossible Pet by Jane De Suza! It’s a delightful story–the perfect blend of laughter and seriousness. Here’s what we’ll do as we read it at my book club next month. An Impossible Pet Look at the cover. Which of the animals featured there would be an impossible pet? And if one of them came into your life, how would you deal with it? What would you name it, and what do you think would make the pet fun? An Essay Essays are boring–at least, most children think so. But what about an opening paragraph like this? What I like […]
- [Sneaker Paati](https://varshaseshan.com/sneaker-paati-2/): Sneaker Paati is an engaging book that I read a few months ago. Even as I read it, I thought about the fact that it would make for a quick, easy read for middle-grade readers who want something lighthearted and fun. That’s why we’ll be reading it at my book club next month! Here’s what we’ll do as we read. Grandparents Grandparents in stories often knit, crochet, make delicious food, and pamper their grandchildren. Have you read about a grandmother who is different? What about your grandparents? I would love for the children at my book club to talk about grandparents […]
- [Trouble with Magic](https://varshaseshan.com/trouble-with-magic/): The name itself makes my eyes sparkle. Trouble with magic? That sounds promising! And it is. I giggled my way through the book, chuckling at the hapless Aunt Malu and charmed by the enterprising Veena. Aunt Malu should have known better, but … therein lies the tale! Trouble with Magic was the very first book we read at the very first edition of my book club over five years ago! We’re rereading it next month! Inventions What would you invent if you could invent anything in the world? Do you think that invention of yours is scientific or magical? Children […]
- [The Piano](https://varshaseshan.com/the-piano/): I’ve been meaning to read The Piano by Nandita Basu for a long time. I read and loved Rain Must Fall, and although Starry, Starry Night didn’t entirely work for me, I loved the idea and the artwork. The Piano is another lovely graphic novel, a sweeping story that takes us from 1912 to 2012 in just a few pages. I like how sparsely it is told, allowing us to ride through the story, tasting its beauty, and rejoicing in the relationships forged. The Piano is inspired by a real piano that author Nandita Basu was drawn to many years […]
- [Brachio](https://varshaseshan.com/brachio/): What a charming book! Brachio by Venkataraghavan and Ananya Broker Parekh is a visual treat, one that touches the reader with sweetness and whimsy. Brachio is so tall that he doesn’t fit on the cover, as you can see. In fact, he even has his own fold-out page so that you can see how tall he is. But can someone so tall ever fit in? Can he belong anywhere? Brachio is the kind of book that makes you smile long after you’ve finished reading it. It is a picture book that addresses big themes, like purpose, loneliness, friendship and cruelty. […]
- [Dear Author, You Are Wrong](https://varshaseshan.com/dear-author-you-are-wrong/): Varsha Varghese’s Dear Author, You Are Wrong is another book I had the chance to read as a manuscript a few years ago when it was submitted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2023. It won the award—and deservedly so! It is a deceptively simple read, one that addresses a range of social issues with quite a light touch. When eleven-year-old Avisha reads a book that makes her upset and angry, she hunts out the author’s email and writes to her. The author writes back, and this sets Avisha off on an unexpected investigation. As Avisha turns detective, she realises […]
- [The Case of the Mysterious Witches](https://varshaseshan.com/the-case-of-the-mysterious-witches/): What a powerful, important book! I haven’t read the first two M4 mysteries, but I have read–and admired–some of Mallika Ravikumar’s other work. My first was the award-winning The District Cup, which I loved. More recently, I read The Battle for Baramulla, and I commented on how meticulously researched it is. That’s what makes The Case of the Mysterious Witches stand out too. Detailed, eye-opening and hard-hitting, it is a pacy, gripping read that makes the reader stop and think. The Case of the Mysterious Witches begins with the discovery of a woman being chased and beaten by an angry […]
- [ingey angey](https://varshaseshan.com/ingey-angey/): Do you find language learning fun? I’m not sure if I ever did. It was something that happened automatically, or didn’t happen at all, and I’ve written about it before in the context of International Mother Language Day. But what if language learning can be fun, or even “romba fun”, as ingey angey leads us to believe? How delightful that would be! ingey angey is a rhyming book that introduces Tamil words in a thoroughly enjoyable manner. What I would have loved along with the board book was an audio book, especially as words like kannakutty aren’t spelt in a […]
- [Moin and the Monkey Monster](https://varshaseshan.com/moin-and-the-monkey-monster/): Moin is back! But more importantly, the monster is baaaaack! (It even has a song about it.) With its quirky characters (most of whom we’ve met before in Moin and the Monster and Moin the Monster Songster), Moin and the Monkey Monster is a hilarious read. Through its pages, we can hear the monster’s terrible voice and even smell squishy, overripe bananas. What my book clubbers (and I) love about the monster is how wacky and unpredictable it is. There’s frozen laughter when something horrifically funny is about to happen–like when the monster is singing, and the principal chances upon […]
- [Hey Sis! Hey Bro!](https://varshaseshan.com/hey-sis-hey-bro/): It’s been such a long time since I read a collection of short stories! Hey Sis! Hey Bro! by Deepa Agarwal was a fun read, bringing together a range of stories featuring brothers and sisters, or, as the subtitle says, celebrating the sibling bond. From mythology to historical fiction and realistic fiction, I enjoyed the variety of tales brought together by a common theme. Each story in the collection is just the right length, giving us a snippet of a sibling relationship. I like the nuances portrayed, the mixture of love and hate, the pettiness and grandeur of the emotions […]
- [What's the Point of Kiki?](https://varshaseshan.com/whats-the-point-of-kiki/): The name of the book itself makes me chuckle. It makes one think of big philosophical questions like What’s the point of life? or Why are we here? And yet, there’s a simplicity to the question that I love–what’s the point of a pet that does not show you any love, that you cannot cuddle? What’s the Point of Kiki? by Nandita da Cunha and Rishita Loitongbam is a sweet, light-hearted book that still manages to address bigger themes. A crow, Kiki, enters Nisha’s life with an injured leg. The problem is that he never leaves. He monopolises all Ma’s […]
- [ZardoZi](https://varshaseshan.com/zardozi/): ZardoZi by Debasmita Dasgupta is a gentle, deceptively simple book. In just a few words, accompanied by powerful pictures, it tells a rich story–one that, as the subtitle says, is stitched with love. ZardoZi begins with a dream. Zi feels like he has found a treasure, but he doesn’t know what it is. When he talks about his dream, though, it seems as if everyone already has something figured out for him, the interpretation of the dream included. As the story moves on, we see that having things figured out irrespective of what Zi wants seems to be the norm. […]
- [A Patch of Sun, A Patch of Shade](https://varshaseshan.com/a-patch-of-sun-a-patch-of-shade/): A Patch of Sun, A Patch of Shade is an endearing story, one that I read for the first time as a manuscript that was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2023, when I served as chief judge. I was curious to read it again, curious to see how the story had grown and developed through its editing journey. And I was not disappointed. Lalli and Champa come from completely different backgrounds. Yet, they’re drawn to each other because they are both lonely and need a friend. As Lalli spends more time with Champa, Lalli’s parents are nervous. Champa […]
- [Trouble in the Tea Gardens](https://varshaseshan.com/trouble-in-the-tea-gardens/): When I started reading Trouble in the Tea Gardens by Mitali Perkins, I was struck by how similar several elements were to Tiger Boy. An intelligent small-town child capable of winning a scholarship to get a better education, a teacher with the child’s best interests at heart, a power-hungry, avaricious person in authority … I wondered if I was going to enjoy another story that followed the same lines.  But soon enough, I realised that the similarities end there. The mystery in Trouble in the Tea Gardens is gripping, and I love how everything ties up as the story goes […]
- [Prabir's New Flute](https://varshaseshan.com/prabirs-new-flute/): I love Asha Nehemiah’s stories, and I love Rajiv Eipe’s artwork. How could I not read a Hook Book created by the two of them? Prabir’s New Flute is a lovely, gentle story about a gifted boy, whose music is part of every happy event in Munshipara. When his flute breaks, however, Prabir realises that only half the gift is within him. The other half is in the magic of his flute. And so begins his quest for the perfect flute, one that will help him create the best kind of music. What I loved most about this slim little […]
- [The Impossible Pet](https://varshaseshan.com/the-impossible-pet/): The Impossible Pet by Jane De Suza is such a fun book! I laughed out loud more than once as the hapless Tarun tries one thing after another to get a pet of his own–whether his parents like it or not. Just like when I read Puppy Trouble, what drew me first into the story is the universality of its theme. What child doesn’t want a pet? In Tarun’s case, there’s more. He and his best friend Joey are same-same in every way–height, age, class, everything. But when Joey gets a pet and refuses to share, how can Tarun be […]
- [Sea ice? Now you don't!](https://varshaseshan.com/sea-ice-now-you-dont/): I’ve been a fan of Green Humour aka Rohan Chakravarty for so long that I’ve been wanting to read Sea ice? Now you don’t! ever since it was published. It was as delightful as I expected! I found myself reading page after page, alternating between laughter and despair even as I admired the depth and breadth of research that has gone into the creation of each comic. As Rosemary Mosco says in the foreword, what I love about Rohan’s work is the way it connects the natural world with the humans who are part of it. His comics are fearless […]
- [My Year in Writing - 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-writing-2025/): 2025 was a spectacular year as a writer! The highlight was, of course, winning the Crossword Book Award 2025. Everyone knows how slow the publishing industry is, so it was also such a joy to have three books published this year, by three different publishers! The Crossword Book Award ceremony was a grand, celebratory affair, and the fact that Denise Antao and I won the award for the best children’s fiction was a dream come true. Jury members Deepak Dalal, Deepa Agarwal and Anita Roy had the kindest things to say about our book The Wall Friends Club.  ‘Wall Friends Club’ […]
- [My Year in Workshops - 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-workshops-2025/): Teacher training programmes often take me all over the country, but this time, author interactions did that for me! My teacher training was restricted to Pune, Goa and Nagpur, which gave me the time to do a lot of other things (including write!). Online workshops continue to have my heart. I love the fact that I can conduct them from anywhere, whether I’m travelling or at home. This academic year, I discontinued my writers’ club at St. Mary’s School for precisely this reason—in-person sessions don’t allow for the flexibility my other work demands. I did create the next issue of […]
- [My Year in Dance - 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/my-year-in-dance-2025/): In so many ways, 2025 was a year of performances. And yet, it was also a year that forced me to slow down and acknowledge that Bharatanatyam is like any sport that takes its toll on your body. There’s a reason sportspeople retire in their late 30s! As I look back at our performances this year, I wonder what the years ahead have in store for me. Yet, no matter what, I realise how grateful I am to the community we have, our dance family that has been together for so many years. The year of performances began with one […]
- [Top 3 Young Adult Books -2025](https://varshaseshan.com/top-3-young-adult-books-2025/): I can’t remember how many young adult books I read in 2025, but there were just three books that stood out to me. The White Lotus I’ve recommended The White Lotus to more readers than I can count! A powerful work of historical fiction, what makes it stand out is the way in which the feisty protagonist Arali stands out without seeming oddly anachronistic. She develops slowly and believable, with circumstances shaping ehr character. Although I don’t read mystery much, everything about the story drew me in–the sensitive storytelling, the believable characters, and the compelling plot.  Book review With the Fire on […]
- [Top 16 Middle-Grade Books - 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/top-16-middle-grade-books-2025/): SIXTEEN middle-grade books stood out to me last year! When I looked at my list, I did a quick count of how many books I read in all. I lost count at sixty! Of course, that includes picture books and chapter books that make for quicker reads. Here’s my list, beginning with the books I gave five stars and then moving to those with 4.5. Willodeen What can one say about Katherine Applegate’s writing that hasn’t been said before? Willodeen is a stunning book, richly textured and beautifully detailed. It’s a work of fantasy that brilliantly touches upon ideas and […]
- [Top 3 Chapter Books - 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/top-3-chapter-books-2025/): I read dozens of chapter books each year, both because publishers send me review copies and because of my book clubs. Somehow, though, only three books really stood out to me! I’ve introduced all three to my book clubbers (aged nine and ten), and perhaps it’s more significant that they enjoyed these books than that I did! The Great Sneak-Out The Great Sneak-Out is my favourite in the POFFS series. Wacky and warm, it tells the story of a pair of sisters–and a third grade mafia! Full of humour and heart, it’s also a book with the most striking chapter titles […]
- [Top 8 Picture Books - 2025](https://varshaseshan.com/top-8-picture-books-2025/): I’m not much of a picture book reader, but every year, some gems come my way, gems that I love revisiting before I start a new year of reading. Most of these books were sent to me as review copies, but of course, that doesn’t affect my opinion in any way. In fact, if a book doesn’t work for me, I simply don’t review it. In no particular order, here are eight picture books I loved in 2025. What Feelings Like Best What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking was one of my favourite picture books in 2023; What Feelings Like Best is […]
- [Gobi Goes Viral](https://varshaseshan.com/gobi-goes-viral-2/): Gobi Goes Viral by Vibha Batra is funny, heart-warming, and altogether believable. We’ve read and loved Kolam Kanna and Pinkoo Shergill at my book club, and I’m happy to introduce yet another book by the same writer to the children I meet. Here’s what we’ll do as we read this story! Talent Show How can we read a book about a talent show without having a talent show of our own? Over time, I’ve had children recite poetry, play musical instruments, draw and solve a Rubik’s Cube during our book club. It’s always lovely to see a side of children that I […]
- [The Mystery of the Disappearing Drone](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mystery-of-the-disappearing-drone-2/): A few months ago, when I read The Mystery of the Disappearing Drone, I knew I would eventually introduce this AKA Mystery to my book clubbers. Some of them have read The Mystery of the Missing Geometry Boxes with me; I look forward to introducing this one to them! Detective Notebook As we read The Mystery of the Disappearing Drone, we’ll write detective notes. Whom do we suspect and why? What evidence do we have so far? How can we evaluate the evidence and reach a conclusion?  Mystery Game I’ve played this game in the past, and it’s good fun! I will give […]
- [Amelia Bedelia Goes Wild](https://varshaseshan.com/amelia-bedelia-goes-wild/): We read our first Amelia Bedelia (Amelia Bedelia Means Business) at the second edition of my reading programme, and what fun we had with it! Even though there were children who didn’t understand much of the word play, the humour came through, and we enjoyed the book thoroughly. Amelia Bedelia Goes Wild promises to be just as much fun. Amelia is “sick as a dog”, and she can’t go to the zoo with the rest of her class. But it isn’t like Amelia to give up and give in. Oh, no. If she can’t go to the zoo, she must make one […]
- [A Boy Called Bat](https://varshaseshan.com/a-boy-called-bat/): What does it mean to be autistic? What exactly does the word inclusive mean? I think these are conversations we must keep having, and the earlier we have them with children, the more likely it is that they will be sensitive to neurodiversity, and the fact that we can look at things from other points of view. For me, the best way to have these conversations is through books – books like A Boy Called Bat. Bat, aka Bixby Alexander Tam, is an unforgettable character, and his story is both funny and lovely. Bat may be autistic, but the truth is […]
- [Help, My Aai Wants to Eat Me!](https://varshaseshan.com/help-my-aai-wants-to-eat-me/): Yes, Help, My Aai Wants to Eat Me! is as mad and fun as it sounds. I know LOTS of people who express affection by saying they want to eat people up. People like Avi’s Aai who thinks Avi is so adorable that she wants to eat him. The problem is that Avi thinks she’s for real. And when his Aai is ill, he’s sure that he is being fattened up for her, rather like the story of Hansel and Gretel, where the witch fattens children up to eat them … It’s humorously horrifying, but also sweet and charming; we’re definitely going […]
- [Tiger Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/tiger-boy/): Sometimes, it takes a while to get to a book, even though you come across it everywhere. Tiger Boy by Mitali Perkins was like that for me. I knew it was set in the Sunderbans, and that it has sold over a lakh copies. I bought a copy, and yet, it sat unread on my shelf for months. I finally read it, and I’m looking forward to introducing it to my book clubbers! It’s a story about being true to yourself, making difficult decisions, and persevering even when it feels like the world is against you. Another book that reminded me of […]
- [Mahalaxmi Will Go to Mysore](https://varshaseshan.com/mahalaxmi-will-go-to-mysore-2/): In some ways, Mahalaxmi Will Go to Mysore is a difficult read when it comes to my book club. A lot of children grow up in bubbles, unaware of what it means to be poor, oblivious to privilege and prejudice. I don’t know how effective our conversations will be, but I said it even when I reviewed the book–this book is a conversation starter. It needs to find its way into school libraries and from there into children’s hands. Hoping to make a tiny beginning with my book club, although I have no idea where our discussions will lead! Friends Most […]
- [A Drop of Golden Sun](https://varshaseshan.com/a-drop-of-golden-sun/): I remember reading Five Children on the Western Front several years ago, and if I remember right, I enjoyed it. The idea of writing about characters I had encountered in another book was fascinating, and perhaps that was what drew me into the book in the first place. With A Drop of Golden Sun, I was intrigued by the idea of a book inspired by the making of The Sound of Music, a movie I’ve always loved. While the parallels are clear, author Kate Saunders writes instead about a film called The Music Makers, with the Daudet family at its […]
- [Doubles: Peace Pulao/The Forbidden Snacks Society](https://varshaseshan.com/doubles-peace-pulao-the-forbidden-snacks-society/): After Flipped, which you can read both ways, HarperCollins brings you Doubles–two stories written by two authors, based on one theme–food. Quite apart from the joy of the format, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories! Peace Pulao Peace Pulao by Vibha Batra is set in the fictitious city of Pasinabad. It tells an age-old story of rivalry, enmity and secrets–but with a twist at the end. In Vibha’s signature colourful style, Peace Pulao sparkles with similes, most of which are about food. With the two young protagonists, we meet a range of characters who are larger than life, from Inspector […]
- [Merci Suárez Changes Gears](https://varshaseshan.com/merci-suarez-changes-gears/): Merci is the only one in her class who lives with her whole family. Grandparents, parents, brother, cousins, aunt–they all live together. They aren’t poor, perhaps, but they definitely don’t go vacationing in fancy places, unlike her classmate, the popular Edna. Almost against her will, though, Merci wants Edna to like her. She wants to fit in, and in middle school, that seems more difficult than ever because suddenly, everything seems to have changed. Merci Suárez Changes Gears is a gently told story that takes us through one school term. With Merci, we experience the highs and lows of middle […]
- [Thrills and Chills - A Horror Writing Workshop with Shabnam Minwalla](https://varshaseshan.com/thrills-and-chills-a-horror-writing-workshop-with-shabnam-minwalla/): What a thrilling, chilling session we had with Shabnam Minwalla! It was interactive and fun, full of creepy examples and wonderful ideas. Shabnam began by telling us what inspired her book Saira Zariwala Is Afraid–mysterious messages on her daughter’s phone. From there, we explored all kinds of things, from settings, to concepts for horror stories. I loved how many participants shared examples of regular places that become sinister! Playgrounds, people who are a little too sweet, mysterious lights … Even ordinary places like schools and malls have so much potential for horror! One big takeaway for me was the idea […]
- [No Matter the Distance](https://varshaseshan.com/no-matter-the-distance/): No Matter the Distance by Cindy Baldwin left me with such a mix of emotions! I almost didn’t finish the book because the middle was a little draggy. But verse tends to keep me reading, and the burgeoning relationship between a girl and a dolphin was promising, so I persevered … and I really liked how the book turned out. Penny has cystic fibrosis, which forces her to lead a life that is far from normal. Hospital visits and medication are not unusual, and what’s irritating is how many people tell her that she’s lucky. She’s lucky to have got […]
- [The Battle for Baramulla](https://varshaseshan.com/the-battle-for-baramulla/): The Battle for Baramulla, the latest book in the Songs of Freedom series takes us to 1947 Kashmir. The maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir wants his kingdom to remain independent. But when there are attacks from the northwest frontier, is staying independent really an option? The Battle for Baramulla begins slowly. I took a while to get into the story because the protagonist Zooni seems like a bystander, giving us a glimpse of how the world around her functions, but doing little else. One by one, we meet a range of characters, including Chandra, whose name means the same as […]
- [Rosa in a Rush](https://varshaseshan.com/rosa-in-a-rush/): Pai’s purple dahlias are missing! Of course Rosa is in a rush–she must find out who stole them. Was it Dona Sylvia de Braganza, who won second-best garden when Pai won the prize for best garden? Or was it Cousin Mario who recently turned his house into a hotel? Rosa must find out! It’s quite lovely how much this playful Hook Book does. In this tiny book, we have a determined protagonist, a gorgeous setting, and a mystery! The language, even while being simple, is rich with similes and imagery. What more could a picture book ask for? I love […]
- [What Could It Be?](https://varshaseshan.com/what-could-it-be/): Bapu is scared of something in the bathroom! What could it be? A gang of ghosts in a giggling gather? Scary skeletons covered in lather? When Diya discovers it’s none of the things her imagination leads her to believe but just a lizard, she knows that she must save her father. Even if her Bapu says he isn’t actually scared of lizards; he just doesn’t like them. As someone who is much like Diya’s Bapu, What Could It Be? made me chuckle more than once. I like the whimsical rhyme as characters in the story wonder what scary thing could […]
- [A Girl, a Tiger and a Very Strange Story](https://varshaseshan.com/a-girl-a-tiger-and-a-very-strange-story/): A Girl, a Tiger and a Very Strange Story begins slowly. We see Junglee, a wild child. She is faster than all the others, and she can’t sit still—except when the stillness comes over her. As I turned the first few pages, I wondered where the book would take me. Once I got into Junglee’s world, though, there was no stopping me. I was moved to tears more than once as I marvelled at Paro Anand’s magnificent writing and Priya Kuriyan’s exquisite art. The book is a stunning read that beautifully reflects the wonder of the world around us. Told […]
- [Queen of Water](https://varshaseshan.com/queen-of-water/): I’ve been waiting to read Queen of Water, the fourth book in Devika Rangachari’s Queen books! I just finished reading it, and it didn’t disappoint. While I did enjoy Queen of Ice and Queen of Fire more, this one also drew me into a world of political intrigue, mistrust and loyalty, where women must fight their own quiet battles to be seen and heard.  Queen of Water takes us back to the Chola dynasty, introducing to us Kundavai, the one who advised both Rajaraja I and his son Rajendra. We see the world through her eyes as she observes things […]
- [Delightfully True - A Workshop on Writing Creative Nonfiction](https://varshaseshan.com/delightfully-true-a-workshop-on-writing-creative-nonfiction/): What is creative nonfiction? What makes it different from regular nonfiction? Award-winning author Mallika Ravikumar led us through the second guest session of the season, teaching students what makes creative nonfiction engaging. From techniques of writing–like showing instead of telling–to research methodology, Mallika helped students understand how to go about writing credible creative nonfiction. An important aspect of writing about true events is perspective. The same incidents can be viewed from multiple points of view. How do we choose a point of view? And what is our responsibility as writers once we’ve chosen a viewpoint? At the end of the […]
- [Sneaker Paati](https://varshaseshan.com/sneaker-paati/): Kittu is delighted to discover that he has a cool Paati, the kind he can boast about! She does headstands, and is even willing to teach him to do them! Soon enough, Kittu discovers that his Sneaker Paati, aka Shobha Attai, can do more than just headstands. Maybe she’ll be his new confidante and solve the problem of Big Bad Abby, the local bully. Sneaker Paati is an amusing story, one that I particularly appreciated because it breaks the convention of children solving everything themselves. While I do usually like stories that feature children with agency, I’ve noticed that the […]
- [Manya Learns to Roar](https://varshaseshan.com/manya-learns-to-roar-2/): We’re rereading Manya Learns to Roar by Shruthi Rao at my book club! We read it at the very first edition of my reading programme, when I tentatively started out in 2020, wondering if I would be able to sustain an online book club for children. All those who read it with me then are now too old to be part of the book club, so it’s time to reintroduce a book I love! Banyan High School, is going to present a play based on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, and Manya wants the role of Shere Khan. She knows […]
- [The Wall Friends Club](https://varshaseshan.com/the-wall-friends-club/): The Wall Friends Club won the Crossword Book Award 2025! I’m so excited to be introducing this book of mine to young readers! In this book, Anandi, a soon-to-be 10-year-old leaves a letter in a gap in the wall for someone else to find. When Sriya finds the letter, they begin to write to each other regularly. Old-fashioned letter-writing will be fun to explore with my book clubbers! Clubs Have you read books about clubs? What do the clubs do? If you set up a club, what would you call it? Who would be part of it? What would you do […]
- [The Kingdom of Wrenly: Adventures in Flatfrost](https://varshaseshan.com/the-kingdom-of-wrenly-adventures-in-flatfrost/): Fantasy is almost always guaranteed to appeal to my book clubbers! And that’s why we’re reading two works of fantasy this time–The Vampire Boy and Adventures in Flatfrost. The latter is part of a well-loved series too, making it all the more exciting for my book clubbers. Just like when we read a couple of books from The Dragon Masters series, I’m sure that at least some of my book clubbers will end up reading several other books in the set! A Pet Dragon If you had a pet dragon, how do you think you would train it? We’ll work on […]
- [Frindle](https://varshaseshan.com/frindle/): We’re rereading Frindle at my book club! I read it quite a long time ago, and it’s EXACTLY my kind of book.  Nick Allen isn’t really a troublemaker. He just likes to have fun. And where’s the harm in making up a new word? Pen. Quite a boring, mundane word. Why not call it a frindle instead? And that’s the premise of this delightful, fun story that keeps you reading page after page. I love how the book is plotted as well as how the characters develop as the story proceeds. Finally, a book about words is perfect for a book […]
- [The Great Indian Safari](https://varshaseshan.com/the-great-indian-safari/): I’ve read barely any nonfiction with my book club. Historical fiction, yes, but nonfiction? I can remember having read only Sita’s Chitwan. The theme of The Great Indian Safari by Arefa Tehsin is similar–wildlife. It’s a theme close to my heart, and I find myself using every opportunity I can to introduce books about it to children. Engaging in its format and full of possibility in terms of what I can do with it at a book club, The Great Indian Safari is a work of creative nonfiction told from the point of view of Charred the Bard, a jungle crow. I […]
- [The Great Sneak-Out](https://varshaseshan.com/the-great-sneak-out-2/): The Great Sneak-Out is such a fun book that I knew I wanted to introduce it to my book club the moment I read it! Humour, silliness and sweetness come together to make this a perfect read for the early middle-grade reader. Siblings As this is the first book we will be reading at Read, Write, Explore in December, we’ll talk about siblings, both real and fictional! Do you have a sibling? We’ll have a freewheeling conversation, but we’ll also work on similes, comparing siblings to different things in nature, an activity I’ve done before and enjoy. This will connect well to […]
- [The Vampire Boy](https://varshaseshan.com/the-vampire-boy/): The Vampire Boy by Sharanya Deepak is another delightful hOle book – quirky and unique. We’ll be rereading it at my book club in December 2025! The government has decided that all children – including young vampires – must go to school. What is Kristofer to do? He knows he will be shunned, but off he goes, only to meet with curiosity and bullying. In a way that is perfect for this age-group, humour underlines everything that happens to Kristofer. Soon, he makes friends with not just Bo, but also Bran, the class bully. Together, they go to school, they go […]
- [Draw It In Style with Lavanya Karthik](https://varshaseshan.com/draw-it-in-style-with-lavanya-karthik/): We had nearly twenty participants during the first guest session of the season, an illustration workshop with Lavanya Karthik! Focusing particularly on her Dreamers series, Lavanya talked about her creative process, and how she chose various art styles for different books. The idea of the session was to get participants to work towards creating a self-portrait. To do this, she introduced three styles that she researched and used in her books–miniature Mughal art, which she brought into The Boy Who Loved Birds, Bhil art, which features in The Girl Who Loved to Sing, and mosaic art, which you can find in The Boy Who Built a Secret […]
- [Banian Buddies](https://varshaseshan.com/banian-buddies/): Banian Buddies is another lovely book by Vibha Batra! I love how she manages to bring a local flavour to each of her books, from Kolam Kanna to Pinkoo Shergill and now, Banian Buddies. The banyan tree on Banian Avenue is in danger—and it’s all Venky’s fault. He asked his Thatha to write a letter to The Grouchy Times complaining about the noise the rooster Tandoori makes. Tandoori belongs to the fruit vendor’s daughter Kannalmozhi. When the local authorities dash into action, they want the vendors to move away, but they also want to cut down the banyan tree to […]
- [Full Cicada Moon](https://varshaseshan.com/full-cicada-moon/): “Where are you from?” Sometimes, this feels like such an innocuous question. But often, it isn’t. For Mimi Yoshiko Oliver, growing up in 1969 Vermont, it feels like a particularly loaded question because her mother is Japanese and her father is African-American. She is American, but she doesn’t “look” it. Full Cicada Moon is a beautiful novel in verse that takes us through Mimi’s ups and downs as she finds her feet in a new school. Several sections in the story made me stop and sigh—particularly moments when Mimi experienced kindness and sensitivity from her father, a potential friend, or […]
- [Punching the Air](https://varshaseshan.com/punching-the-air/): I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Verse can do what prose cannot. I cannot imagine a book as powerful as Punching the Air being written in prose. It is stark and vivid, detailed and hard-hitting all at the same time. Amal was just sixteen when he was convicted of a crime he did not commit. Even though the protagonist Amal isn’t identical to the author Dr Yusef Salaam, what he goes through is based on the latter’s incarceration. Yusef Salaam came, eventually, to be known as one of the exonerated five. Together with Ibi Zoboi, he crafts […]
- [The Great Sneak-Out](https://varshaseshan.com/the-great-sneak-out/): What an adorable book! The Great Sneak-Out is my favourite POFFS book because it’s such a perfect blend of ridiculous and heartwarming. The charm of the story begins with the dedication. The author Sanjana Kapur once hid her sister (the editor of this book, Aparna Kapur) under a table!? I would love to know more! The story features a sister who does just that. When Ira, who is in the first grade, doesn’t want to go to her classroom, her sister Ana hides her under her desk. The problem is that Ira is much happier in Ana’s class than in […]
- [You Bring the Distant Near](https://varshaseshan.com/you-bring-the-distant-near/): You Bring the Distant Near has been on my TBR for a few years now. Yet, I never got around to reading it because I often don’t enjoy sagas that span generations. The cover says, ‘Five girls. Three generations. One great American love story.’ I wondered if I wanted to read a book spanning generations. Plus, the cover made me wonder if I would be reading yet another American immigration story. I suppose the answer is ‘yes and no’. It is an immigration story, yes, but it is both simpler and more nuanced than many others that I’ve read. You […]
- [What Feelings Like Best](https://varshaseshan.com/what-feelings-like-best/): What a stunning sequel to What Feelings Do When No One Is Looking! What Feelings Like Best takes us on a whimsical journey with our feelings. Who does Curiosity hang out with? Why does Courage think her elder brother is actually the braver one? Where must Gratitude search for beautiful little bits and bobs to hold on to? I didn’t stop smiling as I read What Feelings Like Best. All the feelings Tina Oziewicz writes about came alive to me—Tenderness, Joy and Contentment, of course, but also all the negative ones like Malice and Worthlessness. Through this gorgeous picture book, […]
- [The Mystery of the Disappearing Drone](https://varshaseshan.com/the-mystery-of-the-disappearing-drone/): The AKA Detective Club is back with another mystery to solve! A couple of months ago, we read The Mystery of the Missing Geometry Boxes at my book club for ages 9 and 10, and most of my book clubbers enjoyed it. A series of mysteries is always fun, so we’re sure to read The Mystery of the Disappearing Drone soon too! Aarav, Karthik and Asha have a new mystery to solve—the mystery of a stolen Rolex watch. Things spiral out of control, however, when the watch is stolen not once, but twice. Worse, when it is stolen for the […]
- [Mules that Fall from the Sky](https://varshaseshan.com/mules-that-fall-from-the-sky/): How does one write about a book like Mules that Fall from the Sky? As adults, we often feel the need to shelter children from anything disturbing or difficult. I wonder, though, whether it’s because we don’t want to think about these things, rather than for any other reason. Mules that Fall from the Sky is a collection of stories about animals during the war. Of course, having read Michael Morpurgo and others as a child, some of these ideas weren’t new to me. Yet, Mules that Fall from the Sky forces you to take off any remnants of rose-tinted […]
- [The Halloween Adventure and Other Stories](https://varshaseshan.com/the-halloween-adventure-and-other-stories/): The World of Butterfingers works so well in the comic format! I’ve read just one book from the popular series by Khyrunnisa A before–Smash It, Butterfingers!–and it was an enjoyable read. This one, illustrated by Abhijeet Kini, is fun and engaging, reminding me of the Tinkle comics I read as a child. The Halloween Adventure and Other Stories is a collection of three stories featuring Amar Kishen, aka Butterfingers. Butterfingers is clumsy, enterprising, and a whole lot of fun. In each of the three stories in the book, Butterfingers finds himself in a sticky situation, but manages not just to […]

## Pages

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- [Writing Programme FAQs](https://varshaseshan.com/writing-programme-faqs/): Who should join the creative writing programme? Children who love writing! During the course of 12 weeks, participants write and submit several assignments. While there is interactive group-work, activities and games, the participants must be aware that the focus is creative writing. They need to be prepared to write at length without thinking of it as a burden. Who should NOT join the writing programme? Children who struggle with English would not be a good fit for the programme. The focus of the programme is not language teaching or grammar correction. Rather, it is for children who love books and enjoy […]
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- [Workshop FAQs](https://varshaseshan.com/workshop-faqs/): What is the difference between the two programmes? The book club is for ages seven and eight.  Read, Write, Explore is for ages nine and ten. Both are online reading programmes, but the length of the book, expected reading level, and kinds of activities are different based on the age-group. Who should join a programme? Children who love reading, or children who want to develop a love for reading are welcome to join.  Reading levels vary widely, so I would suggest that you take a quick look at the books before you sign up. Who should NOT join a programme? Children […]
- [Terms, Conditions and Refund Policy](https://varshaseshan.com/terms_refund_policy/): Overview These terms apply to all online programmes offered by Varsha Seshan, including Online Creative Writing Programmes and Online Book Clubs. By completing payment and registering for a programme, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to these terms. Nature of Programmes All programmes offered are online, live sessions conducted via video conferencing. They are not physical products and do not involve any shipping or delivery of goods. Programmes include: Online Creative Writing Programme 12-week programme for ages 9–11 and ages 12–14  Twelve online interactions of one hour each  Access to a private, password-protected forum for sharing work […]
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- [Learning Resources](https://varshaseshan.com/learning-resources/): As a facilitator of book clubs and writing programmes, I know that learning resources are precious! I love discovering printable resources online, and I create worksheets for nearly every book I write. For some, I’ve also made short videos that could help you if you’re using my books in class too! I’ve arranged the resources in reverse order of age.  These worksheets are freely reproducible. Fishbowl Recommended age-group: 11-14 Buy Fishbowl Explore Fishbowl Lesson Plan: Deep Dive into Poetry Fishbowl is a middle-grade novel in verse, which touches upon themes of mental health, friendship and family. A verse novel is […]
- [Online Workshops for Adults](https://varshaseshan.com/online-workshops-for-adults/): I’ve been conducting teacher training workshops since 2015! In August 2025, for the first time, I conducted an independent online workshop on teaching creative writing. I was overwhelmed by the response! There’s been no looking back, and I hope to conduct a workshop for educators every couple of months. Join my mailing list if you would like to receive email notifications about my programmes. Alternatively, follow me on social media – Facebook and Instagram – for regular updates. Loading… FAQs Who are these workshops for? Educators of all kinds, but primarily those who work in the space of reading and […]
- [Animals and Their Homes](https://varshaseshan.com/animals-and-their-homes/): Animal Home Matching Game 🐾 Animal Home Matching Game 🏠 How to Play: 1. Drag animals to the “Animals” column 2. Drag their homes to the “Homes” column 3. Click “Check Answers” to see how you did! 🐾 Animals 🏠 Homes 🎯 Drag the cards above to match animals with their homes! ✓ Check Answers 🔄 Reset Game 📊 Results 🎉 Perfect! You matched all the animals with their homes! 🎉
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- [Books for Ages 10 and Above](https://varshaseshan.com/books-for-ages-10-and-above/): Fishbowl (~ages 11-14) Explore Fishbowl Published by Duckbill Dead. My parents are dead.It’s . . . my fault?Voices, noises, whispers.I build a fragile, safe world against it all.For now, I’m safe.But will I ever . . . be me? Fishbowl is my second middle-grade verse novel, one that explores grief and healing as it seeks to make sense of 12-year-old Mahee’s fragmented world. Buy Fishbowl Read an excerpt Red Eyes Published by Scholastic Asia and Scholastic India Eleven-year-old Veer Prann runs away from his posh boarding school, where he was bullied, to Suryanagar, where his father is a forest officer. At […]
- [Books for Ages 7 to 10](https://varshaseshan.com/books-for-ages-7-to-10/): The Wall Friends Club (~ages 8-11) Buy The Wall Friends Club Book Club Activities Published by HarperCollinsIllustrated by Denise Antao Sriya and Anandi have never met but they’re fast becoming the best of friends! You see, Sriya and Anandi are wall friends. Sending letters to each other, tucked into the crevice of a wall, the two write poetry, discuss birthdays and solve mysteries. But is there room for a third person in the Wall Friends Club? Told completely via the letters they send each other, this book is a heartwarming story about friendship, understanding, and embracing differences. WINNER! Crossword Book […]
- [Books for Ages 5 and Under](https://varshaseshan.com/books-for-ages-5-and-under/): How Big is a Whale Shark? Watch a reading Published by Pratham BooksIllustrated by Mandar Mhaskar A whale shark is a big fish. How big is it? Is it bigger than a blue whale? Or smaller than a dolphin? Set in the marine world, this book introduces the concept of comparison. This is a Level 3 picture book, free to read on Pratham Books’ StoryWeaver platform. It is available in ten languages (and counting)! Read How Big Is a Whale Shark? How I Feel Published by Pratham BooksIllustrated by Gitanjali Iyer How do you feel when Nani comes to visit? […]
- [Author Interactions and School Visits](https://varshaseshan.com/school-visits/): I conduct reading and writing workshops in schools all over the country, bringing together the books I write and activities of various kinds. With The Clockwala’s Clues, we solve puzzles and learn tongue twisters. With Dhara’s Revolution, students learn about voting and work towards creating an election campaign. With Fishbowl and Uncontrollable, I help students write poetry of their own.  In this way, students engage in an exploration of literature that also pushes them to get creative, working on poetry, portal fantasy, persuasive speeches and more. Download brochure Get in touch! FAQs What grade do you work with? Creative writing workshops […]
- [Online Book Clubs](https://varshaseshan.com/faqs-online-reading-programmes/): Explore Right through the year, I conduct online book clubs ages 7 and 8, ages 9 and 10, and ages 11 and 12. While the format differs from one age group to the next, the idea is to work with books and activities based on them, including creative writing, critical thinking, and drama. Registrations are now open for the August 2026 edition of my book club for ages 7 and 8 and Deep Read for ages 11 and 12. Read, Write, Explore is sold out. However, if you would like to read just one book with us, I have one slot […]
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- [Young Animals](https://varshaseshan.com/young-animals/)
- [From Instagram](https://varshaseshan.com/links/): Varsha Seshan Upcoming Programmes Deep Read – August batch (ages 11 and 12) Book Club – August batch (ages 7 and 8) Explore all More My Books Blog
- [About Me](https://varshaseshan.com/about/): I am a children’s book writer based in Pune, India. Overseas, I am represented by Philippa Perry from Show Me the Rabbit. I have been writing for a long time, and as of December 2025, I have five middle-grade books, six chapter books, four picture books, and two collections of short stories to my name, in addition to stories and poems in collections both online and in print.  My first major publication was in July 2010. An editor from Puffin wrote to me asking me if I was willing to write a sports story for an upcoming anthology, and I […]
- [Match up!](https://varshaseshan.com/match-up/)
- [Collective Nouns](https://varshaseshan.com/collective-nouns/)
- [Online Creative Writing Programmes](https://varshaseshan.com/faqs-online-creative-writing-programme/): Twice a year, I offer a 10-week online creative writing programme, during which we work on different kinds of writing, from speeches and memes to stories and plays. This is an intensive programme that I offer to two age-groups: ages 9-11, and ages 12-14. We have ten online interactions of one hour each, but more, the participants have access to a private, password-protected forum where they share their work and receive feedback. During these ten weeks, I also invite experts to conduct writing and illustration workshops so that the participants can explore a range of writing formats. At the end […]
- [Forum](https://varshaseshan.com/forums/)
- [Idioms](https://varshaseshan.com/idioms/)
- [Reviews](https://varshaseshan.com/reviews/): Think Big! “Some books just make you smile – I absolutely love the audacity and grit of little Geet, who wants to conquer the world, one competition at a time. A beautiful read about dreaming, trying, failing and rising again, but always working hard to make your dreams a success! Love this Varsha Seshan and love the illustrations by Mihir Joglekar” – Namrata Sadhwani (Amazon) “Think Big! is a gentle, uplifting story about children who dare to dream, even when self-doubt creeps in. Through a simple school setting, the book shows how a small idea sparks hesitation, fear, and finally […]
- [Published Work](https://varshaseshan.com/published-work/): Middle Grade Books (~ages 9+) (~ages 11-14) Explore Fishbowl Fishbowl Published by Duckbill Dead. My parents are dead.It’s . . . my fault?Voices, noises, whispers.I build a fragile, safe world against it all.For now, I’m safe.But will I ever . . . be me? Fishbowl is my second middle-grade verse novel, one that explores grief and healing as it seeks to make sense of 12-year-old Mahee’s fragmented world. Buy Fishbowl Read an excerpt Red Eyes Published by Scholastic Asia and Scholastic India Eleven-year-old Veer Prann runs away from his posh boarding school, where he was bullied, to Suryanagar, where his father […]
- [Workshops](https://varshaseshan.com/workshops/)
- [Blog](https://varshaseshan.com/blog/)
- [Contact](https://varshaseshan.com/contact/): Do you have questions? Do you want to find out about a school visit or workshop? Or would you just like to say ‘hello’? I love receiving mail, so when in doubt, just go ahead and write to me!
- [Recognition](https://varshaseshan.com/recognition/): Awards, Shortlists and Honours WINNER – Crossword Book Award 2025 Highlights Foundation Scholarship Awardee 2024 Shortlisted for the AG-BLF Book Prize for Children’s Fiction 2023 Parag Honour Book 2022 Shortlisted for the Neev Book Award 2021 Finalist for the Singapore Book Award (Best Middle Grade/Young Adult Title) 2019 First runner-up for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2018 Winner of the Juggernaut Travel Writing Contest 2018 Shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2016 Press Coverage
- [Home](https://varshaseshan.com/): WINNER – Crossword Book Award 2025 Hello and welcome to my website! Whether you’re here because you know me or thanks to a random search online, I hope you find what you’re looking for. I am a Pune-based children’s book writer, and my published work includes two collections of short stories, five middle-grade novels, six chapter books, four picture books, and more.  I also run online book clubs and creative writing programmes for children and teenagers. As a rule, new editions of my book club for ages seven and eight, and Read, Write, Explore for ages nine and ten begin every alternate month. […]

## Products

- [Deep Read (ages 11 and 12) - Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!](https://varshaseshan.com/product/deep-read-ages-11-and-12-get-a-grip-vivy-cohen/): 'Deep Read' is an online book club for ages 11 and 12. It is a deep dive into book critiquing, as we explore themes and layering, and venture into creative writing.  Ages: 11 and 12   Dates: 3, 5, 10 and 12 August 2026 (Mondays and Wednesdays)  Time: 5:15 to 6 pm (online on Zoom)    Fee: ₹2,500 (the book will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 27 July 2026)    Book in focus: Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit  Unsure of the reading level?  Try a sample here: All of Me
- [Book Club (ages 7 and 8) - August-September 2026](https://varshaseshan.com/product/book-club-ages-7-and-8-august-september-2026/): Right through the year, I conduct an online book club for ages 7 and 8.    Each edition comprises twelve 45-minute online interactions. In class, we read excerpts from a set of four curated books. Based on these books, we do activities of all kinds, including creative writing, critical thinking, drama and drawing.  Ages: 7 and 8  Dates: 4 August to 10 September 2026  Fee: ₹5,000 (the books will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 27 July)  Buddy Fee: ₹4,500 (per head for two or more participants)  To avail the buddy offer, please use the coupon code N9U747UM  Your registration will be confirmed once your buddy signs up.  Online Interactions: Tuesdays and Thursdays; 4:30-5:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Unsure of the reading level?      Read a few sample pages here:      	Sandy to the Rescue   	Slam Dunk!   	Poseidon and the Sea of Fury      
- [Book Club (ages 7 and 8) - Sandy to the Rescue](https://varshaseshan.com/product/book-club-ages-7-and-8-sandy-to-the-rescue/): Right through the year, I conduct an online book club for ages 7 and 8. I don't offer trial classes, but if you would like to read just one book with us, you could sign up for part of the August-September edition.  Ages: 7 and 8  Dates: 4, 6 and 11 August 2026  Time: 4:30 to 5:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Fee: ₹1,800 (includes 3 online classes, as well as a copy of the book, which will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 27 July)    Unsure of the reading level?  Read a few sample pages here: Sandy to the Rescue
- [Read, Write, Explore (ages 9 and 10) - On Air with RJ Rini](https://varshaseshan.com/product/read-write-explore-ages-9-and-10-on-air-with-rj-rini/): Read, Write, Explore is an ongoing reading programme for ages 9 and 10 that combines the concept of a book club with an introduction to creative writing. I don't offer trial classes, but if you would like to read just one book with us, you could sign up for part of the August-September edition.  Ages: 9 and 10  Dates: 4, 6, 11 and 13 August 2026  Time: 5:30 to 6:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Fee: ₹2,500 (includes 4 online classes, as well as a copy of the book, which will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 27 July)    Unsure of the reading level?  Read a few sample pages here: On Air with RJ Rini  
- [Book Club (ages 7 and 8) - Slam Dunk!](https://varshaseshan.com/product/book-club-ages-7-and-8-slam-dunk/): Right through the year, I conduct an online book club for ages 7 and 8. I don't offer trial classes, but if you would like to read just one book with us, you could sign up for part of the August-September edition.  Ages: 7 and 8  Dates: 13, 18 and 20 August 2026  Time: 4:30 to 5:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Fee: ₹1,800 (includes 3 online classes, as well as a copy of the book, which will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 5 August)    Unsure of the reading level?  Read a few sample pages here: Slam Dunk!  
- [Read, Write, Explore (ages 9 and 10) - Mac B. Kid Spy: Mac Undercover](https://varshaseshan.com/product/read-write-explore-ages-9-and-10-mac-b-kid-spy-mac-undercover/): Read, Write, Explore is an ongoing reading programme for ages 9 and 10 that combines the concept of a book club with an introduction to creative writing. I don't offer trial classes, but if you would like to read just one book with us, you could sign up for part of the August-September edition.  Ages: 9 and 10  Dates: 18, 20, 25 and 27 August 2026  Time: 5:30 to 6:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Fee: ₹2,500 (includes 4 online classes, as well as a copy of the book, which will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 10 August)    Unsure of the reading level?  Read a few sample pages here: Mac B. Kid Spy: Mac Undercover   
- [Book Club (ages 7 and 8) - Poseidon and the Sea of Fury](https://varshaseshan.com/product/book-club-ages-7-and-8-poseidon-and-the-sea-of-fury/): Right through the year, I conduct an online book club for ages 7 and 8. I don't offer trial classes, but if you would like to read just one book with us, you could sign up for part of the August-September edition.  Ages: 7 and 8  Dates: 25 August, 27 August and 1 September 2026  Time: 4:30 to 5:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Fee: ₹1,800 (includes 3 online classes, as well as a copy of the book, which will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 17 August)    Unsure of the reading level?    Read a few sample pages here: Poseidon and the Sea of Fury    
- [Read, Write, Explore (ages 9 and 10) - The Mystery of the Graveyard Gold](https://varshaseshan.com/product/read-write-explore-ages-9-and-10-the-mystery-of-the-graveyard-gold/): Read, Write, Explore is an ongoing reading programme for ages 9 and 10 that combines the concept of a book club with an introduction to creative writing. I don't offer trial classes, but if you would like to read just one book with us, you could sign up for part of the August-September edition.  Ages: 9 and 10  Dates: 1, 3, 8 and 10 September 2026  Time: 5:30 to 6:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Fee: ₹2,500 (includes 4 online classes, as well as a copy of the book, which will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 24 August)    Unsure of the reading level?  Read a few sample pages of one of the other books we will be reading: On Air with RJ Rini  
- [Book Club (ages 7 and 8) - At Least a Fish](https://varshaseshan.com/product/book-club-ages-7-and-8-at-least-a-fish/): Right through the year, I conduct an online book club for ages 7 and 8. I don't offer trial classes, but if you would like to read just one book with us, you could sign up for part of the August-September edition.  Ages: 7 and 8  Dates: 3, 8 and 10 September 2026  Time: 4:30 to 5:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Fee: ₹1,800 (includes 3 online classes, as well as a copy of the book, which will be delivered anywhere in India if you register before 26 August)  Unsure of the reading level?      Read a few sample pages of one of the other books: Poseidon and the Sea of Fury     
- [Read, Write, Explore (ages 9 and 10) - August-September 2026](https://varshaseshan.com/product/read-write-explore-ages-9-and-10-august-september-2026/): Read, Write, Explore is an ongoing reading programme that combines the concept of a book club with an introduction to creative writing. It is an online reading and creative writing programme. During the twelve online interactions (45 minutes per session) of each edition, we read excerpts from three books and do activities of various kinds. One class every two weeks focuses on creative writing.  Ages: 9 and 10  Dates: 4 August to 10 September 2026  Fee: ₹5,500  Early Bird Fee: ₹5,000 (valid until 15 July; the books will be delivered anywhere in India)  Online Interactions: Tuesdays and Thursdays; 5:30-6:15 pm (online on Zoom)    Unsure of the reading level?      Read a few sample pages here:      	On Air with RJ Rini   	Mac B. Kid Spy: Mac Undercover       

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