I love Anushka Ravishankar's books. Whether it's Moin and the Monster or Captain Coconut or At Least a Fish, I find myself chuckling as I read, shaking my head at her wacky humour.Ana, the protagonist of At Least a Fish, wants a dog. She really wants a dog. But her parents go and get her fish instead - not one, but three! Ana's friend Zain would call them Fishyone, Fishytwo and Fishythree, but Ana being Ana calls them Socrates, Aristotle (Totty for short) and Plato.That's just one of the dozens of crazy things in the story. From a dragon in a filthy pool to a dog who thinks he's a fish, At Least a Fish brims over with humour and madness. I can't wait to read it at my reading programme! Differences At Least a Fish is such a wonderful book to talk about differences - both obvious ones and not-so-obvious ones. There's one hilarious page in the … [Read more...]
The Mystery of the Graveyard Gold
We've read The Mystery of the Missing Geometry Boxes and The Mystery of the Disappearing Drone, the other two books in the AKA Detective Club series. It's time to read the first of the series, The Mystery of the Graveyard Gold! It is an engaging mystery story that features three children on a backwards treasure hunt, which, in itself, is a fun premise. We start with the treasure and work out where it came from. Here's what we'll do as we read! Mystery Stories At my book club recently, a child told me that she usually loves mystery stories, but she hates those in which the detective reaches the wrong conclusion. While I devoured Enid Blyton's mystery stories, this was not a genre that I got drawn to as I grew older. I'd love to know from my book clubbers - what mystery stories have you read and loved? What do you find satisfying about a … [Read more...]
Poseidon and the Sea of Fury
We've read Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom twice at my book club; it's the first of the Heroes in Training series. With older kids reading Heroes of Olympus and other books based on Greek and Roman mythology, I find that the younger ones are excited by the same themes too. This series serves as the perfect introduction! I'm looking forward to reading this story about young Poseidon with my young book clubbers! Here's what we'll do as we read. Mythology The scope of mythology is limitless! Storytelling is an important part of my book club, and I will ask each child to tell me a myth that they know, focusing on keeping it clear and brief! What if ...? An unusual "what-if" question makes for an unusual story! Poseidon and the Sea of Fury features a young Poseidon who is terrified of water, and here, we have a fun, imaginative idea. … [Read more...]
Mac B Kid Spy: Mac Undercover
The silliness and drama of Mac B. Kid Spy: Mac Undercover make it a promisingly exciting read at my book club! Stories about spies, subterfuge and suspicion make for great book club reads, and I'm sure this one will be no different. Here's what we'll do as we read. I Spy Looking closely at the cover is a great way to predict what will happen in the story, and what better way to do it than through a game? We’ll play “I spy” with the details of the cover. I spy something beginning with c! I spy something beginning with s! What details do we then spot? Observation At the end of our first class, I will give every child an assignment. Draw the outlines of at least three feet of three different people on sheets of paper. If they can do five feet, even better! If they mix the papers up, can they tell which outline belongs to whom? What … [Read more...]
Slam Dunk!
The Silly Billy series, with its full colour illustrations, works well with two of my book clubs—the one for ages 7 and 8, as well as the one for ages 9 and 10. In August 2026, we’ll read Slam Dunk! by Vibha Batra, many of whose books we’ve read and enjoyed! Here’s what we’ll do as we read. Inclusion Look at the cover of the book. What do you notice? Do you think all the children on the cover could join your school? Why or why not?It’s never too early to start conversations about the differences amongst the words “inclusion”, “accommodation” and “charity”. As we discuss inclusion, I would love for the children to draw a picture of how they could make their schools a little more inclusive. Building a Team What are the characteristics of a strong team? Since Slam Dunk is about basketball, we’ll first discuss a few basic rules. How … [Read more...]
On Air with RJ Rini
When I read this simple, heartwarming story a few months ago, I knew I wanted to read it with my book club soon, so here we are! In August 2026, my book club for ages 9 and 10, Read, Write, Explore, will read Sonia Mehta’s On Air with RJ Rini. This is what I hope to do with my book clubbers as we read! On Air with Varsha As On Air with RJ Rini is the first book we will be reading in August 2026, we’ll begin with a radio show of sorts (and this will link well with our next activity too)! I will ask each of my book clubbers to hold something that could be their pretend-mic (just like Rini on the book cover!) and I’ll ask each one a question, which they have to respond to quickly and clearly—as if they’re being interviewed on radio! Radio Show Let’s host a radio show! What are some things you should keep in mind when you are hosting … [Read more...]
Sandy to the Rescue
Another edition of my book club, and we're reading another delightful hOle book!Sandy, aka Sandip when his mother is angry, makes a new friend, Aftab, who needs rescuing from Mrs Gupta, the witch next door. The problem is that he needs to sneak Aftab into his house, feed him and give him a place to stay. And of course, Sandy has got to be braver than Aftab when it comes to an adventure of this sort. After all, Sandy is a whole year older.We've read this hOle book before, and I'm looking forward to reading it again--five years later! Here are some bookish activities we're going to do. Making Up Words 'It's greeny blue, not bluey green. It's, um, grue!''You need spectacles,' Aftab scoffed. 'It's not grue, it's breen!'What words can you make up by combining two words? What do these new words mean? Hiding Places Aftab hides under the … [Read more...]
Don’t Get Inspired; Get Mad!
What a wonderful, empowering session we had with Venita Coelho! In her signature energetic, passionate style, she made us think about what makes us angry and how we can channel that anger. Inspiration is often quite useless because we have to sit around waiting for it. It's out of our control, and because it's totally unreliable. What works instead? Anger.It's powerful, it's honest, and it shows us the way. With short exercises and examples of great writers who've used their anger to create brilliant, memorable works of literature, we started writing. What I appreciated most was the emphasis on the fact that we don't all have to write stories. How will we convey what we want to say while also being entertaining? Do we make reels? Rap songs? Cartoons? Comics? They're all forms of storytelling! We spoke of Dickens and Orwell, Saadat Hasan Manto and Arundhati Roy. But the … [Read more...]
Book Covers – Reimagined
Our second guest session of the season--and my thirty-fifth guest session in all--was such a visual treat! We haven't ever had a cover design workshop before and I enjoyed this one, particularly as Isha Nagar, who conducted the session, designed two of my book covers (Fishbowl and Uncontrollable), both of which I love! Through the course of an hour, Isha guided us through the process of redesigning covers for our favourite books. We began by writing down the main characters and theme of the story. Then, Isha explained the three essential elements of a book cover - title, the main illustration, and author name. She showed us multiple examples, demonstrating various design approaches from her own work as well as famous titles by other illustrators. She spoke about Fishbowl, The Ghost of Malabar, Banian Buddies, and several more. It was wonderful to see the range of covers she shared … [Read more...]
The Adventures of Mooli and the Bully on Wheels
We're rereading The Adventures of Mooli and the Bully on Wheels at my book club! The book features characters some of my book clubbers have read about before. We've read both The Adventures of Mooli and the Sticker Trickster and The Adventures of Mooli and the Blue-Legged Alien. It's time to meet Mooli again!Mooli and his friend Soups are fun, enterprising characters, itching to try something new. After all, they want to win a prize on WAYOUTS - World’s As Yet Original Untried Tricks and Stunts. Toothpaste art sounds like a good idea--or not. Funny, silly and full of wacky ideas, Mooli is a character with whom book clubs are fun! Art Explorations Mooli tries to create art using a tube of toothpaste. We're not going to waste toothpaste, but we are going to have fun with art! Can the children draw with their eyes closed? Or with their … [Read more...]
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