Indian Stories in Indian Books!
Reading is an essential part of mine and N's life.
It has been so for me since I was given my 1st novel at the age of 12..And it was 1 habit I 'needed' N to inculcate ..
She got her 1st novel when she was 5 😊 And needless to say she is an avid reader..
Of course most of it consists of fiction.. nevertheless I am happy.
This is how her recently-organized book corner looks like :-)
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| N's Books! |
A few weeks back National Book Trust of India organized a van sale in her school yard. I was skeptical (as usual).. but since teachers were going to be involved in the picking process I gave her 200 bucks. To my surprise, she not only spent all but 10/- but also got beautiful books in English as well as Hindi. No, I am not talking about the glittery, fancy..beautiful books available from western publishers. These books displayed Indian names, characters as well as stories. The ones in regional languages were big font and beautiful self-explanatory graphics too...making it easy and fun for N since she is still struggling with reading in any other language than English.
It gave me hope that publishing in India is coming up with nicer books so children pick them too on the book shelves and not just the ones that come in fancy and shiny covers and pages. Upon further research I found a publisher Pratham Books that is working on getting such beautiful books for kids at different levels. And what's the best part - They are available in 21 Indian Languages! Man - it was like a jackpot! I was struggling to find meaningful and nice books for N to read in Hindi and Marathi.. (Yes apart from the subject knowledge, I really want her to be able to enjoy other literature)
So Pratham Books has this lovely collection of stories that feel very Indian.. with simple characters and simple stories. N simply loved reading the ones in English n Hindi.. The Marathi 1 is still trying to reach to the top of reading list... I haven't lost hope though. :-)
The 1 thing that is great about this is the cost per book. It is inexpensive so anybody can 'think' of buying these books for their children..
Another great feature that Pratham Books has been offering is the StoryWeaver website. This allows your child to open a short story on the gadget browser and read. Selection of level and language gives the child and parent the chance to look around for the best story at that time... Yes - reading a book is far better than reading on a tablet or laptop, but I love the option of having this when I choose to use it!
Few books that came in my 1st order
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| 1st Order from Pratham Books... |
This is not an Ad post at all. Its a review that I sincerely wanted to write for them. Hope they keep coming up with wonderful tales and stories.
You can catch both the websites in the given links above..Find them on FB by following
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