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© Copyright 2013 - 2025
Varsha Seshan

Koobandhee

September 3, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, Koobandhee, online reading programme, reading, review

Petu Pumpkin: Tooth Troubles

January 1, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Petu Pumpkin: Tooth Troubles

The Art of Laughter

December 10, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, creative writing with children, creative writing workshop, guest session, online workshops for children

Bookasura

November 3, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, Bookasura, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, reading, reading workshop

Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter

September 2, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, online reading programme, Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter, reading

Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter

July 24, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, books for ages nine and ten, Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter, reading, review

Petu Pumpkin: Cheater Peter

March 1, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, hOle books, online reading programme, Petu Pumpkin: Cheater Peter, reading, review

Ramanujan

December 16, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, Great Minds At Work, historical fiction, Middle Grade, Ramanujan, reading, review

I Want a Pet

October 19, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, Chapter Book, Hook Books, I Want a Pet, reading, Reshu Singh, review

Petu Pumpkin – Tiffin Thief

June 30, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Arundhati Venkatesh, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, hOle books, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Petu Pumpkin: Tiffin Thief, reading, review

Three hOle Books

January 29, 2020 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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. […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Arthi Sonthalia, Arundhati Venkatesh, Big Bully and M-Me, hOle books, Petu Pumpkin: Tooth Troubles, reading, review, Shruthi Rao, Susie Will Not Speak