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Varsha Seshan

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 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 […]

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 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 […]

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 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. […]

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

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 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 […]

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

The ABCs of Blogging

June 18, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: Anupama Dalmia, blogging workshop, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children

Character Design with Priyankar Gupta

May 19, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: art workshop, character design, guest session, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, Priyankar Gupta

Ottoline at Sea

May 11, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chris Riddell, online workshops for children, Ottoline at Sea, reading, review

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 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 […]

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

Ottoline Goes to School

May 5, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Chris Riddell, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Ottoline Goes to School, reading

No Talking

May 4, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: Andrew Clements, book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, No Talking, online book club, online workshops for children, reading, review

The Mystery of the Silk Umbrella

May 2, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: Asha Nehemiah, book club, books for ages nine and ten, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, The Mystery of the Silk Umbrella

Ostrich Girl

May 1, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Lesley D Biswas, online book club, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Ostrich Girl, reading

How to Rhyme Without Reason

April 21, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: Anushka Ravishankar, creative writing with children, guest session, nonsense verse, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children

Why I Think Online Workshops Are More Effective than Offline Ones

April 12, 2024 by Varsha Seshan 4 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, creative writing with children, online workshops for children, reading, reading programme, reading workshop

Strangus Derangus

March 7, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, Reena I Puri, Strangus Derangus and Other Adventures of Little Shambu

By Royal Appointment

March 5, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, By Royal Appointment, Jeffrey Archer, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

Bat and the End of Everything

March 4, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: Bat and the End of Everything, book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Elana K Arnold, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

When Jiya Met Urmila

March 1, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, review, Shabnam Minwalla, When Jiya Met Urmila

My Year in Workshops: 2023

January 13, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: book club, creative writing, creative writing with children, online creative writing programme, online reading programme, online workshops for children, Writers' Club

Gobi Goes Viral

January 8, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Gobi Goes Viral, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, Vibha Batra

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