A day to celebrate books and reading

World Book Day is celebrated in the UK and Ireland on the first Thurday in March, which would make it today, 7th March 2013. Internationally, it is celebrated on 23rd April as World Book and Copyright Day, declared by the UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright.

I was introduced to the wonderful idea of having a day set aside for books when we were in the UK all of 9 years ago. (That long ago, hmm? Feels like yesterday sometimes, when I remember all the lovely times A and I had there together.)

A went to a montesssori there, and one day, we received an envelope addressed to us in her school bag. It contained a book token for one pound, and a list of age appropriate books that we could choose from to buy through the school. We could choose one book from the list to buy with our book token. Not only that, we could choose more books from the list at a discount, as the school had a tie-up with the local indie bookstore. We would then receive our treasure package on World Book Day.

I was charmed by the whole thing. Every school child in the country would be extended this privilege. That, in the UK, would mean almost every child above school going age, unless one is living under a rock. Schooling for children there is subsidized after 3 years of age; even free in certain schools. World Book Day, then, served as a wonderful means to introduced a child to the pleasures of actually owning a book. This is different in many ways from actually being introduced to books - possible for any child as County Council run libraries are free and usually well stocked. And there were libraries everywhere. At least until a few years back when many faced closure due to lack of state funding. Lack of funding for these libraries due to budget cuts coupled with negative attitudes like Terry Deary's would further deplete this wonderful resource if things do not change. Sad.

Which brings me to India. Our country. We are far far away from a utopia where we have such an extensive network of free libraries, let alone book tokens for an affordable amount. There are some people doing some good in this field, though. Pratham Books, with their Read India Movement, aim to put a book in every child's hand. This is what they say in their mission statement:

"At Pratham Books, we believe that every child has the right to enjoy good books.  And we believe they should have stories set in surroundings familiar to them and in a language close to their culture. We believe that to make books accessible to every child, the price points have to be very low. Pratham Books is a brand of story books as Indian as the children who read them. As a not-for-profit publisher, our dream is to see a country where every child wants to read, is able to read, and has something good to read.
With a range of stories created to excite children with different likes and tastes, the books are illustrated by some of the most enthusiastic and talented illustrators. Our aim is to have something good for every child, in every part of the country, and in the process spread the joy of reading far and wide."

This vision has had them creating books like these, wonderful books for throwaway prices. For example, this exquisite book, my favourite from the Pratham stable, has loads of stuff to see, read about, talk about, and so many possibilities for activities. At Rs 35 for an English edition and Rs 25 for an Indian language one, it is a steal. Pratham books also are available in most Indian languages, and there are books that feature the everyday life of ordinary people. They are also more rooted in reality than those of other publishers whose book are for a similar demographic. As a result, any and every child can identify with these stories, and can be encouraged to pick up these books. The low cost, local language, and quality reading values make these books ideal for 'putting a book in each child's hands'.

Let me tell you of an experience - I volunteer at a school for special children. Among other things, I also read stories aloud. (On an aside, yesterday, 6th March 2013, was World Read Aloud Day. Another way to spread the joy of books to those who can read, as well as those who cannot.) Many of these children have difficulty in imagining much beyond reality, and fantasy, mythology, fairy tales, etc., are a big no-no. I often find myself pulling out a Pratham books publication to read to them, which they enjoy thoroughly as they can easily visualize things that commonly happen at home, in schools, or in any other 'real' setting. I find myself struggling to hold their attention with the books of many other publishers, unless that book matches these criteria. This makes these books so much more inclusive.

There are many other players who are doing good work in this kind of an initiative. It would make for a separate post altogether, which is a positive thing - the fact that these activities can provide more fodder means that there are good people out there. I would like to dwell on a recent such initiative before I sign off.

Bookalore, in Bangalore, is founded by a group of writers working with children's books. They describe themselves as Bangalore's Big Little Book Club.

"Bookalore is an independent group of children's writers, illustrators, editors, librarians, teachers and filmmakers. Its monthly fun-based events for children and young adults will be held across Bangalore at libraries, schools, bookshops, art galleries, museums, theatres and other public spaces."

They share wonderful book and reading related links on their Facebook page, and these links would make me a fan even if I wasn't in Bangalore. Their sessions are free and open to anyone, though they do require you to register the child's name with a parent's email for a session.

As the area of publishing for children in India opens up more, grows, and matures, hopefully, so will the outreach of books and reading to all our children. For every child needs to have their own books to love. Or at least a library at which books can be accessed.  

A library affair

This post by Pratham Books had me ruminating over libraries I had encountered in my life and the role they have played. The first ever library I remember is the one at my school. We had two libraries.One for the junior school ( for upto the 4th grade) and another for the senior school (5th to 10th grade). The junior library was very spacious with open shelves all around and colourful chairs and tables in clusters. I joined the school in the 3rd grade, but I do remember that my library card had the maximum permissible issue-outs.

The senior library was more, you know, serious looking. There were wooden cabinets with glass doors all around, filled with the most wonderful books categorised by topic and sub-categorised alphabetically by author. We had one open shelf where the latest books aquired by the library were displayed. We had a library class twice a week, when we were steered toward the books we should be reading and periodicals like the Readers' Digest and National Geographic which would broaden our minds. I read all of those, and much more. Here, again, my library card had to be re-made twice in the year. In the 70s and 80s we did not have the cards that could be swiped. We had the old fashioned ones which had columns and rows where a date-stamper would stamp the due-date, which was also stamped on the corresponding leaflet in the book issued out. The card would be kept in a card-folder in the library. Needless to say, the card was never taken home by me except during the vacations.

Mrs K, the librarian, was a favourite teacher. We had a tradition in school. On Teachers' Day, students from the 10th grade would be assigned roles of teachers. We would dress as the teachers and actually take one class as that teacher. No prizes for guessing whose role I had been assigned!

We had a book festival every year in February in school. It was always a massive affair. It would be advertised in the local newspapers, and went on for a whole week, just after the school closed for the vacations. Prizes in school were given in the form of gift vouchers that could be used at this book festival. There were all kinds of books for all kinds of minds. We chose our books and submitted them to Mrs K, and they would be given to us on re-opening day with our names and the prize details inscribed inside under the school logo. Real keepsakes.

As though the books I took home from school were not enough, I had joined a library outside too. Nowadays it is a common thing to do. But 30 years ago, not many people did that, not here in India. Correspondingly, there were no public libraries suitable for children. This library that I frequented was actually a used-book shop, which would take back the book after it was read, and deduct 50paisa (a large amount in those days) as reading fee. Soon, the bookshop owner knew us very well, and stopped charging the entire price of the book, but would just charge a monthly fee from us.

The libraries we had in college do not count here, as all they had were the study books, and could not be used for reading pleasure. I also stayed at a hostel for a lot of this time, so could not use the bookshop-library. It was at this relatively book-starved period of my life that I began to put aside some of my pocket money toward buying books. The continuation of a home library begun in my school days with the books received as prizes.

It was around the time I graduated that I became a member of the British Library. At that time, we needed a student ID or a work ID to become a member. I remember being awe-struck by the library in Mumbai. The opulence and the hushed premises were very unlike anything I had known in my middle-class life till then. Unless one counted the atmosphere in my school library during a class in session, each head bent over a book.

I have been a member at the British Library for many years now, off-and-on, whenever I was in a place that had one of their branches. In between we were in the US for a few years and in the UK for a few months. Public libraries here are wonderful. Free for residents of the town/village, with accessibility over all libraries around the county. These libraries demolished my impression of libraries as sombre places, where reigns a pin-drop silence. They do come under the heading of 'quiet places', but are also fun places where there are story-telling sessions, activities, both for children and grown-ups, and a parent with one or more children reading aloud and giggling over a book, lost to the rest. This was a new avatar of the library for me. One I fell in love with.

Back home in India, I was delighted to find that the British Library branch where I went for membership had undergone a metamorphosis of sorts, and was no longer the kind where one would expect members in a black-tie-dress-code. It had loosened up, if that is the right term to use, and although not quite the place full of delights I had encountered on my travels, was a pleasant enough place. One that A and I enjoyed going to.

Last month, however, we decided to shift loyalties and became members at Hippocampus, a library in Koramangala which has come closest to my dream library.

Library experience has come a long way from the days in which I frequented the bookshop where we paid 50paisa as reading fee for every book and I had to shift aside piles of books I didn't find interesting to find that one book I wanted to read. Now we are spoilt for choice. We have the online library, where one can browse in virtual shelves, where you place an order online and the books are delivered to your doorstep. A boon for the time-starved working bibliophile. Then we have libraries which combine the experience of browsing at real shelves with the facility of ordering online, as also buying select books available in the 'own your copy' section.

In the meantime, our home library is slowly growing. As the husband also reads a lot, we both had our individual collections which were put together when we married. The library kept growing slowly, and now most of the additions are books for A. We have more books than anything else at home, and on an average day lying all over the place. I have become the person you come to for a book recommendation, or even for a book itself among my friends and neighbours. On my part, there's nothing I love to see as much as another person/child being converted over to the readers' side.

According to the post by Pratham books,  ''putting libraries in malls is one of many efforts by public libraries to become more convenient." Maybe it is the call of the times, when going to a mall is considered one of those things that come high on the 'to do' list of an average person. Putting a library in their path may be one of the ways we can grow readership.