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Varsha Seshan

The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop

January 7, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

We’ve read The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop before and I can’t wait to read it again! I know it’s longer than the books I usually choose, plus every batch of children is different, with mixed reading levels. Once more, I find myself asking, will it be too ambitious to read it in three classes […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, reading workshop, Stuti Agarwal, The Very Glum Life of Tootoolu Toop

The Canary Caper

January 6, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

It’s been 25 years since The Canary Caper was published, and it’s still such a joy to read! We read the first of the A to Z Mysteries, The Absent Author, in April 2021. When I met the some of the same children again in June, several of them were devouring the rest of the series. I’m now […]

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 Canary Caper

An Alien in the Jam Factory

January 5, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

An Alien in the Jam Factory is such a fun read! A book that celebrates ideas is the best kind of book to read with children. The very first page is filled with doodles and ideas–like a jam slice, which is like a cheese slice that you can put straight into a sandwich. What else can […]

Filed Under: Books, Workshops Tagged With: An Alien in the Jam Factory, book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Chrissie Sains, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

Trunk Call for Ajju

January 4, 2024 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Even when I read and reviewed Trunk Call for Ajju in June 2023, I knew it would be one of my book club reads soon enough. A book about children and animals always holds a special place in my heart, and elephants are extra special. Here’s what we’ll do as we read the book. Money-Making Ideas […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Anjana Nagabhushana, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, Trunk Call for Ajju

The Diary as Story

December 6, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

In just a few weeks, yet another writing programme will come to an end! Yesterday was the third and last guest session of the season–a creative writing workshop with children’s book author Sowmya Rajendran. I love it when guests reinforce something I’ve been talking about for a while. During yesterday’s session, it was ‘write what […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, creative writing with children, epistolary, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, Sowmya Rajendran

Stories: Comic-Page Style

November 19, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

What a rewarding session we had with Nandita Basu! At workshops like this one, I think I learn as much as the young writers who sign up. Step by step, Nandita led us through the creation of one page of narrative that brings together text and illustration in the style of a graphic novel. We […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing with children, graphic novel, Nandita Basu, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children

Green Stuff and Nonsense

October 27, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

What a fun session we had on green writing with Bijal Vachharajani! In a single hour, we spoke of a million creatures from elephants to frogs, ferrets to spiders, lion-tailed macaques to slugs that aren’t slugs. Bijal’s workshop was a guest session at my writing programme. We’ve just reached the end of our poetry module, […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: Bijal Vachharajani, creative writing with children, guest session, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children

Kittu’s Very Mad Day

September 7, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I remember meeting Harshikaa Udasi, author of Kittu’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Mad Day at a lit fest several years ago. I had read her book already, but unfortunately, I had a Kindle edition, so I couldn’t go up to her and get my copy signed. I told her that, and then, casually, a […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Harshikaa Udasi, Kittus Very Mad Day, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

Earwig and the Witch

September 4, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

When I learned that Earwig and the Witch is a movie too, I debated a long time over whether to read it with my book club or not. Finally, I decided that whether the children I meet have watched the movie or not, we can read and enjoy the book together. In fact, those who’ve watched the […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Diana Wynne Jones, Earwig and the Witch, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

Kolam Kanna

September 2, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

October 2023 sees us reading another brand-new book, hot off the press! I read Kolam Kanna just about a month ago, and I loved it. What’s not to love about a kolam-drawing child with friends who stand up for him? Here’s what we’ll do as we read this book. Kolam Have you read Susheela’s Kolams? If we can, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Kolam Kanna, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, review, Vibha Batra

Because of Winn-Dixie

July 4, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie has been on my list of books to read for a l-o-n-g time. Yet, I didn’t get around to reading it until I thought of introducing it to my book club. And I’m so glad I did! It’s a gorgeous book. It’s the kind of book that makes your heart ache and […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Because of Winn-Dixie, book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Kate DiCamillo, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading

Art Workshop with Kripa

June 16, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Each time a new writing programme begins, I feel it whizzes by. Twelve weeks are nearly over, and here we are, after our last guest session of the programme, an art workshop with art educator and children’s illustrator, Kripa. It was such a treat! I’ve been looking at Kripa’s art for a while, and I […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: art workshop, guest session, Kripa, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children

The Prophecy of Rasphora

May 13, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

It is always a little daunting to introduce a book of my own to my book club. But I’ve done so many events based on The Prophecy of Rasphora, and so many of them have gone so well, that I feel (hope) this will be fun too! Tara, Afreen and Vandana discover a land behind a […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, The Prophecy of Rasphora, varsha seshan

Non-Boring Nonfiction

May 7, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

It is always so rewarding when a guest speaker repeats something you’ve been saying at your writing programmes for a long time! Thank you, Vaishali, for this session on non-boring nonfiction, and for reiterating so many things that keep needing to be said! In November last year, I watched Vaishali Shroff conduct two sessions at […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: guest session, nonfiction workshop, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, Vaishali Shroff

Poetry in Collaboration with Sampurna Chattarji

April 21, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

My first guest session of the season – Poetry in Collaboration – was such a success! With sixteen enthusiastic participants and one lively, energetic facilitator, the hour flew by before we knew it. Haiku, renga, nonets, free verse–we explored it all. Often, we believe that writing must be a solo activity. We have creative thoughts […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: guest session, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children, Poetry Workshop, Sampurna Chattarji

Writing Poetry

February 2, 2023 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I’ve been conducting writing workshops for a long time, and if there’s one thing I love working with, it’s poetry. Nearly every writing programme I conduct begins with a poetry module. Why? Because it’s accessible. It’s far easier to write a poem in a week than it is to write a story in a week. […]

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

Building Dramatic Characters

November 12, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

What fun we had at ‘Building Dramatic Characters’ – a guest session conducted by Neha Singh for my creative writing programme! To quote Neha, anything can be a character. Maybe even a chair talking to the moon! The strength of a character simply depends on how much you have invested in the character to make […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: drama workshop, guest session, Neha Singh, online creative writing programme, online workshops for children

Help, My Aai Wants to Eat Me!

July 6, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Yes, Help, My Aai Wants to Eat Me! is as mad and fun as it sounds. I know LOTS of people who express affection by saying they want to eat people up. People like Avi’s Aai who thinks Avi is so adorable that she wants to eat him. The problem is that Avi thinks she’s for real. […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Bijal Vachharajani, book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Help My Aai Wants to Eat Me, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, review

The Great River Magic

July 2, 2022 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

The Great River Magic by Nandini Nayar is one of those books with a message, not usually an obvious choice for me to read at my book club. Yet, as I read this book, I was charmed by the premise. I love stories about families, family traditions, and the ways in which people follow or break […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: book club, bookish activities, books for ages seven and eight, Nandini Nayar, online reading programme, online workshops for children, reading, review, The Great River Magic

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

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