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Varsha Seshan

The Great Escape

November 1, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chapter Books, hOle books, Menaka Raman, online reading programme, The Great Escape

The Best Idea of All

September 7, 2024 by Varsha Seshan 2 Comments

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, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, The Best Idea of All

Dungeon Tales II

September 6, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Dungeon Tales II, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, review, Venita Coelho

The Talking T-Rex

September 5, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: A to Z Mysteries, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, Ron Roy, The Talking T-Rex

Just Harriet

September 4, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, books for ages seven and eight, Elana K Arnold, Just Harriet, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

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 […]

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

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 […]

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

Susie Will Not Speak

September 1, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, hOle books, online book club, online reading programme, reading, review, Shruthi Rao, Susie Will Not Speak

Read, Write, Explore (Ages 9 and 10) – October-November 2024

August 31, 2024 by Varsha Seshan

REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF READ, WRITE, EXPLORE. The next batch begins in December 2024.
‘Read, Write, Explore’ is an ongoing reading and creative writing programme for ages nine and ten. In October and November 2024, we will be reading ‘Petu Pumpkin: Freedom Fighter’ (Arundhati Venkatesh), ‘Just Harriet’ (Elana K. Arnold) and ‘Dungeon Tales II’ (Venita Coelho).
During the twelve online interactions, we read excerpts from three books and do activities of all kinds. Additionally, one class every two weeks focuses on creative writing. Do note that this means that even though we read excerpts in class, most of the reading happens independently! 
Classes are held online on Zoom, and there are only nine seats per batch!

Tagged With: book club for children, online book club, online reading programme

Mini’s Books

July 7, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages five and six, books for ages seven and eight, Mini's Books, Nandini Nayar, online book club, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

In the Woof of Time

July 6, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, In the Woof of Time, Monika Bhatkhande, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

The Perfect Present

July 5, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Abby Klein, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, The Perfect Present

The Worst Witch to the Rescue

July 4, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Jill Murphy, online book club, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, The Worst Witch to the Rescue

Sita’s Chitwan

July 3, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, online book club, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, Sita's Chitwan, Vaishali Shroff

Flyaway Boy

July 2, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Flyaway Boy, Jane de Suza, online reading programme, reading, review

Peanut Has a Plan

July 1, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Peanut Has a Plan, reading, Yashodhara Lal

Read, Write, Explore (Ages 9 and 10) – August-September 2024

June 30, 2024 by Varsha Seshan

THIS BATCH IS SOLD OUT. I will start taking registrations for the next batch in September 2024.
‘Read, Write, Explore’ is an ongoing reading and creative writing programme for ages nine and ten. In August and September 2024, we will be reading Flyaway Boy (Jane De Suza), The Worst Witch to the Rescue (Jill Murphy) and In the Woof of Time (Monika Bhatkhande).
During the twelve online interactions, we read excerpts from three books and do activities of all kinds. Additionally, one class every two weeks focuses on creative writing. Do note that this means that even though we read excerpts in class, most of the reading happens independently! 
Classes are held online on Zoom, and there are only nine seats per batch!

Tagged With: book club for children, online book club, online reading programme

Book Club (Ages 7 and 8) – August-September 2024

June 30, 2024 by Varsha Seshan

REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EDITION OF MY BOOK CLUB.
In August and September 2024, we will be reading Peanut Has a Plan (Yashodhara Lal), Sita’s Chitwan (Vaishali Shroff), The Perfect Present (Abby Klein), and Mini’s Books (Nandini Nayar).
During every edition of my book club, we have 12 online interactions (45 minutes each), during which we read excerpts from four books. Based on what we read, we build links with other activities, including listening, performing, writing and critical thinking. Do note that classes are held on Zoom and that there are only nine seats per batch!

Tagged With: book club for children, online book club, online reading programme

Lucky, It’s Summer!

May 7, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Lucky It's Summer, Nalini Sorensen, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

The Golden Eagle

May 6, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Deepak Dalal, Feather Tales, online reading programme, reading, review, The Golden Eagle

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