TITLE: Dhara’s Revolution

AUTHOR: Varsha Seshan

PAGE EXTENT: 112

PUBLISHER: Puffin Books (Penguin India)

GENRE: Middle Grade

MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐️⭐️

SOURCE: Received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Sarvaloka Public School calls children ‘future citizens’ but makes every decision without ever talking to the students. Nine-year-old Dhara is determined to change that. She sparks a revolution, and gets the whole school to vote for the very first time. However, caught in the storm of elections, Dhara loses sight of what is really important to her.

Can she find her way back to what truly matters before everything spirals out of control?

When Sarvaloka Public School publishes a notice about the construction of a new auditorium, nine-year-old Dhara is bummed. A school that calls its students “future citizens” is supposed to ask them if that’s something they want in the first place, right? So, nine-year-old Dhara, in her quest to do “something revolutionary”, teams up with her best friend Carol to help organise an election at school to vote for a students’ representative! Will a fourth grader succeed in becoming a representative for the student body? Will it turn out to be revolutionary, or will she lose sight of what she set out to do in the first place? Read the book to find out, otherwise I might spill the beans hehe!

In today’s extremely competitive world, everyone is trying to stay a step ahead of others and being the best of the lot. This book highlights the importance and benefits of healthy competition, while pointing out the fact that competition can serve as a breeding ground for toxicity, very much like two sides of the same coin.

Dhara and Carol running for the representative post makes Dhara lose sight of her long friendship with Carol and her need to win the election takes over, leading to a few hurdles in their friendship, which not only shows Dhara the error of her ways, but also shows young readers how competition among friends is always supposed to be healthy and how healthy competition is all about helping each other grow!

Let’s not forget the highlight of the story: the election! Elections are quite a difficult topic for the young ones to wrap their around, but fret not! If you have a young reader at home and you want to explain to them how elections work(campaigning, posters, voting day, etc.), this is the perfect book for you! It can’t get simpler than this! Tanvi Bhat’s adorable illustrations will make the reading experience only better!

A huge shout-out to Chandra ma’am and Dhara’s parents for being extremely supportive and caring, which shows how the presence of well-meaning adults will shape a child’s life!

And yes, this one has a happy ending, of course! Any book that makes me tear up gets an extra star from me and boy, did I want to jump right into the pages and give Dhara, Carol and Chandra ma’am a group hug! Undoubtedly a 5-star read!

Are you a fan of Middle Grade books? Which ones are your favourite? 🤩