#472 - Dhara’s Revolution

by Varsha Seshan and illustrated by Tanvi Bhat

“Dhara’s Revolution” by Varsha Seshan and illustrated by Tanvi Bhat. Published by Penguin. A delightful story of feisty little Dhara who starts a revolutionary practice in her school and learns quite a bit of things herself.

The book starts off on the first day of a new school year. Dhara is now in class 4 of Sarvaloka Public School. She is excited as her favourite teacher Chandra Ma’am is going to be their class teacher this year. Chandra Ma’am welcomes them with a new theme. She asks them to challenge themselves and come up with a revolutionary idea to make changes around them so that they made a difference. Every Monday she would want them to discuss about any such ideas that they would get.

Dhara is on the lookout for a revolutionary idea when she chances upon something out of the blue. The school management had decided to demolish the existing structure of the assembly hall which had been in disuse and construct a new state of the art infrastructure hall. Notices had been distributed to the children in school with an appeal to their parents for donations to support this. Dhara did not find this agreeable and felt that the students had no need of a new assembly hall. They could do something else instead. How could the management address the students as future citizens and take decisions on behalf of them without considering their opinions? They had the right to voice out their choices in matters such as these. She convinces the entire school to have an election for student representatives from grade 4 and vote for the first time. To her surprise, she finds that her best friend Carol is also standing for the elections as she has a different proposal of a library as compared to Dhara wanting a farm for the students. Can Dhara’s idea come to fruition? Can she manage to find supporters for her proposal and thereby get votes? Will she and Carol continue to be friends now that they are election rivals? Can Dhara figure out what is it that is really important for her in the middle of all the chaos? Read this engrossing story to find out if the friendship between the two girls can survive the test of elections.

Contemporary themes in a school based setting are so relatable for children. Friendship, competition, rivalry, enthusiasm, passion, confusion, nervousness, stage fright, kindness, courage, focusing on priorities, team work, determination and many more topics have been nicely woven into the story. My nine year old was hooked to the book and cheered for team Carol as he loved their idea of a library. He was over the moon as a character with the same name as him features in this book. This has happened for the first time ever and he feels he is popular now ;) (I discreetly heard him talking about this and showing the book excitedly to some children who had come over to our home). What was even more appealing for him was that the boy was part of team Carol.

Competition is necessary and has to be taken seriously taken albeit in a healthy manner is the message given out by the story. We loved this message and wish that it reaches out far and wide. The fact that we can achieve much more when we work along with one another instead of working against each other is portrayed brilliantly through the example of Dhara and Carol. Lending a listening ear to others in a team even if there are differences of opinions does matter. The accompanying illustrations made the characters and the setting come alive. The story also gives an idea of how elections are conducted to the children. Teachers like Chandra Ma’am are a treasure to behold. They bring out the best in their students and make such a marked difference in their lives. The story celebrates not just revolutionary ideas but the beauty of true friendship as well as the role of a good teacher making it a “MUST READ”.

Recommended Age

The book is apt for children aged 7 and above.

Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India, for review. Thank you to Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!