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© Copyright 2013 - 2025
Varsha Seshan

The Great Sneak-Out

September 25, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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! […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages nine and ten, Chapter Book, early middle grade, POFFS, reading, review, Sanjana Kapur, Sunaina Coelho, The Great Sneak-Out

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

Left-Out Paru

July 20, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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. […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Bijal Vachharajani, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, hOle book, Left-Out Paru, Rajiv Eipe, reading, review

Friends Behind Walls

July 7, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, Friends Behind Walls, Harshikaa Udasi, online reading programme, reading, reading workshop, review

The Adventures of Mooli and the Sticker Trickster

July 3, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Asha Nehemiah, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, online reading programme, online workshops for children, The Adventures of Mooli and the Sticker Trickster

Vincent Can’t Go

June 5, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, Habib Ali, hOle book, reading, review, Vincent Can't Go

The Monster Hunters

May 1, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, hOle books, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Parinita Shetty, reading, reading workshop, The Monster Hunters

Roop and the River Crossing

April 8, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, Picture Book, reading, review, Samina Mishra

Agassi and the Great Cycle Race

March 19, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Agassi and the Great Cycle Race, books for ages nine and ten, Chapter Book, Khyrunnisa A, reading, review, Silly Billy Book

Jumble Sale

March 15, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages nine and ten, Chapter Book, Jumble Sale, reading, review, Shabnam Minwalla, Silly Billy Book

The Scent of Roses

January 24, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Adithi Rao, books for ages nine and ten, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, hOle book, Krishna Bala Shenoi, reading, review, The Scent of Roses

Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom

January 5, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, Joan Holub, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, review, Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom

Gooney Bird Greene

September 12, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages nine and ten, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, early middle grade, Gooney Bird Greene, Lois Lowry, reading, review

Spellbound

September 3, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, Nalini Sorensen, online reading programme, reading, review, Spellbound

I Won’t Wash My Hair

April 4, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Aparna Kapur, books for ages five and six, Chapter Book, Hook Books, I Won't Wash My Hair, Ogin Nayam, Picture Book, reading, review

The Chhau Champ

February 5, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, hOle books, reading, review, The Chhau Champ, Vibha Batra

My Year in Writing: 2023

January 15, 2024 by Varsha Seshan 2 Comments

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. […]

Filed Under: Books, Writing Tagged With: Chapter Book, Dance Nani Dance, Dharas Revolution, fantasy, Making a Clone, Middle Grade, Nail Tree, novel in verse, picture books, short story, Uncontrollable

A Pinch of Magic

January 2, 2024 by Varsha Seshan 2 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: A Pinch of Magic, Asha Nehemiah, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, hOle books, online reading programme

Crackers

November 3, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Book, Crackers, Elizabeth Laird, reading, review

The Big Bad Fight

September 18, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages five and six, Chapter Book, Hook Books, Kruttika Susarla, reading, review, The Big Bad Fight, Yamini Vijayan

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