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© Copyright 2013 - 2025
Varsha Seshan

The White Lotus

June 15, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

The White Lotus by Aditi Krishnakumar is a gripping work of historical fiction that, like the best kinds of stories, stays with you and makes you think. Layered and sensitive, […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Aditi Krishnakumar, books for tweens, historical fiction, murder mystery, reading, review, The White Lotus, Young Adult

An Absence of Squirrels

June 9, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

A couple of years ago, I finally read The Giver, a book that students at my writing programme recommended to me time and again when we were studying dystopia, mythopoeia, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages nine and ten, books for tweens, reading, review

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 […]

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

I Am Quiet: A Story for the Introvert in All of Us

May 27, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

How could I not read a book with a title like this? Anyone who knows me knows that I’m happiest in my own company. If I spend time with people, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Andie Powers, Betsy Petersen, books for ages five and six, I Am Quiet: A Story for the Introvert in All of Us, Picture Book, reading, review

Agalya in the Spotlight

May 26, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

When I learned that Divya Anand had a new book out, I knew I had to read it. I loved Misfit Madhu. I’ve read it with my book club twice, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Agalya in the Spotlight, books for ages nine and ten, Divya Anand, early middle grade, reading, review

Manvinder’s Medu Vada

May 23, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Manvinder’s Medu Vada by Riddhi Maniar Doda and Vinayak Varma had me chuckling at each page! I could completely identify with Manvinder, who refuses to eat something that doesn’t look […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages five and six, Hook Book, Manvinder's Medu Vada, Picture Book, reading, review, Riddhi Maniar Doda, Vinayak Varma

Everything Changes And That’s Ok

May 22, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

How do you read picture books? Do you pause as you turn each page, just to admire the pictures? Or do you race through the story and then come back […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages five and six, books for ages seven and eight, Erin Huybrechts, Everything Changes and That's Ok, Picture Book, reading, review

Unplugged

May 21, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Jett is rich, spoiled, and used to getting his own way. When he takes his mischief-making too far, however, his father packs him off to a place called Oasis where […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for tweens, Gordon Korman, Middle Grade, reading, review, Unplugged

Until the Road Ends

May 12, 2025 by Varsha Seshan 2 Comments

What was it like for animals during the war? How did people have the heart to put them down? Food was scarce and feeding a pet was a “waste” of […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: historical fiction, Middle Grade, Phil Earle, reading, review, Until the Road Ends

Dear Mr. Henshaw

May 5, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I’ve said this dozens of times: I love epistolary novels. I made a video about a few favourites for World Post Day 2021, I love doing letter-writing activities at workshops, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children, Workshops Tagged With: Beverly Cleary, book club, bookish activities, books for ages nine and ten, Dear Mr Henshaw, epistolary, Middle Grade Book, online reading programme, reading, review

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 […]

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

Wrestling Day

April 7, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

When I went for the White Owl Literature Festival in Nagaland a few months ago, I attended part of an event that the author Theyiesinuo Keditsu conducted on her book, […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for ages five and six, Hook Books, Picture Book, reading, review, T Keditsu, Wrestling Day

A Demon in Dandi

March 31, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

We all know about the infamous salt tax and the march to Dandi. What would the people of Dandi have felt at the time? Were people even aware of this […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: A Demon in Dandi, books for tweens, historical fiction, Lavanya Karthik, Middle Grade, reading, review, Songs of Freedom

With the Fire on High

March 27, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

With the Fire on High is my third book by Elizabeth Acevedo, and the first in prose. I loved it! Just like The Poet X and Clap When You Land, […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: Elizabeth Acevedo, reading, review, With the Fire on High, Young Adult

Some Places More than Others

March 26, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Finding your roots can be such a complicated thing. Amara has never visited New York City, where her father grew up, and there’s nothing she wants more than to go […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for tweens, Middle Grade, reading, Renée Watson, review, Some Places More than Others

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: […]

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 […]

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

The Double Life of Danny Day

March 14, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

The Double Life of Danny Day by Mike Thayer is such an unusual book! I haven’t read anything quite like it ever before, and I loved it! Danny Day is […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: books for tweens, Middle Grade, reading, review, The Double Life of Danny Day

Ghosts, Thieves and Aha! Adventures

March 12, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I love the idea of a Silly Billy Book! That’s what the series is called, and that’s what drew me to Ghosts, Thieves and Aha! Adventures by Asha Nehemiah in […]

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Asha Nehemiah, books for ages nine and ten, Ghosts Thieves and Aha Adventures, reading, review, Silly Billy Book

The Hunt for the Nightingale

March 11, 2025 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Gone to a better place. Passed away. Moved on. Passed on. We have so many euphemisms to help us talk about death. But what if, sometimes, you need to hear […]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: books for ages nine and ten, Middle Grade, reading, review, Sarah Ann Juckes, The Hunt for the Nightingale

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