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Varsha Seshan

In the Beautiful Country

May 9, 2024 by Varsha Seshan 2 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: books for tweens, In the Beautiful Country, Jane Kuo, Middle Grade, novel in verse, reading, review

How to Win an Election: A Most Unreliable Guide

April 10, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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. […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for tweens, How to Win an Election, Menaka Raman, Middle Grade, reading, review

Sky Hawk

April 7, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages nine and ten, Gill Lewis, Middle Grade, reading, review, Sky Hawk

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

April 6, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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! […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for tweens, fantasy, Kelly Barnhill, Middle Grade, reading, review, The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Uncontrollable – The Story Behind the Story

February 16, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Writing Tagged With: fantasy, Middle Grade, novel in verse, Uncontrollable

Twitch

February 12, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: books for ages nine and ten, books for tweens, M G Leonard, Middle Grade, reading, review, Twitch

Journey to the River Sea

February 4, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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. […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: books for tweens, Eva Ibbotson, Journey to the River Sea, Middle Grade, reading, review, Young Adult

When Fairyland Lost Its Magic

February 3, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Bijal Vachharajani, Middle Grade, reading, review, When Fairyland Lost Its Magic

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

My Favourite Late Middle-Grade and Young Adult Books from 2023

January 12, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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, […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: books for tweens, Gordon Korman, Heartstopper, Middle Grade, reading, review, Schooled, The District Cup, Young Adult, Zen

My Favourite Middle-Grade Books from 2023

January 11, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: An Alien in the Jam Factory, Because of Winn-Dixie, books for ages nine and ten, books for tweens, Dungeon Tales, Hour of the Bees, Kolam Kanna, Middle Grade, Munni Monster, reading, review, The Giver

The Losers Club

November 2, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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? […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Andrew Clements, books for ages nine and ten, Middle Grade, reading, review, The Losers Club

Schooled

September 19, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Gordon Korman, Middle Grade, reading, review, Schooled

Gathering Blue

August 24, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: dystopia, Gathering Blue, Lois Lowry, Middle Grade, reading, review, The Giver

The Giver

August 17, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: classic, dystopia, Lois Lowry, Middle Grade, reading, review, The Giver

The Wild Robot

August 12, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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?’ […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Middle Grade, Peter Brown, reading, review, science fiction, The Wild Robot

Postcard from the Lushai Brigade

July 28, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Hannah Lalhlanpuii, historical fiction, Middle Grade, Postcard from the Lushai Brigade, reading, review, Songs of Freedom

Who’s Afraid of a Giant Wheel?

January 28, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Middle Grade, reading, review, Who's Afraid of a Giant Wheel, Zainab Sulaiman

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

A Chera Adventure

December 7, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: A Chera Adventure, historical fiction, Middle Grade, Preetha Leela Chockalingam, reading, review

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