This is the story that will unite India

Susheelarsquos Kolams a book by Sridala Swamy with illustrations by Priya Kuriyan emerged out of a workshop that Bengalurubased Pratham Books held in Delhi last year to announce their beginnerrsquos series books The book talks about a little girl Susheela who makes Kolams floor painting similar to Rangoli in the sky and will be read aloud to citybred children as well as children living in remote places around India The book cover of Susheelarsquos Kolams that will be read acrossIndia on International Literacy Day Published by nonprofit publishing house Pratham Books the book will be read at 100 storytelling sessions on September 8 to be held throughout the country This event is part of their upcoming International Literacy Day programme In Maharashtra 20 sessions will be held in Mumbai while Pune will host five sessions Small is big Says Purvi Shah brand manager Pratham Books ldquoWe are a team of just 30 people and hence for this event we are depending on the lsquoChampionsrsquo or volunteers from every state who are keen to host the session Thus the book Susheelarsquos Kolams which is available in several languages including English Kannada Hindi Marathi and Tamil will be read out in orphanages hospitals schools libraries and other places u00a0Every volunteer will be provided with a free kit consisting of the book a banner about the event and a set of activities to work upon after completion of the storytelling sessionrdquo The project aims to reach all corners of india including the NorthEast While Pratham Books organises various events every year to mark International Literacy Day this will be the first time that they will be hosting a countrywide event ldquoWe hope to reach out to smaller towns especially in the NorthEast It has been tough to even courier the book to such places as they are located in remote areas So our volunteers dropped them personally or even emailed it across The fact that all it took was to print a book it is priced at Rs 25 only and wordofmouth publicity shows that one doesnrsquot need a huge budget to make a differencerdquo she adds Reach out to India While there were no particular criteria to select the Champions aside from a passion for storytelling they make for a varied bunch and include engineers senior citizens research students and even trained storytellers At the end of the session the volunteers are expected to write on the event blog about their experiences ldquoThere will be virtual sessions as well thanks to Google Hangout which will relay live readaloud sessions to several libraries via YouTube We are also planning to host sessions for the differently abled in Chennairdquo informs Shah According to Suzanne Singh managing trustee Pratham Books the basic philosophy of their organisation is to provide good quality books to children who donrsquot have access to them ldquoWe are a small team so we just plant the seed and try to catalyse the community to pool in in order to help conduct activities and take the agenda forward Itrsquos all about harnessing the power of the communityrdquo she says adding that their event is a sort of social mission ldquoReading books is unfortunately restricted to the upper socioeconomic strata in many cities Sadly many students in government schools have no access to books apart from their textbooks Through storytelling we can engage and open up their mind to the world out there and ignite a love for reading across socioeconomic stratardquo she adds Twice the fun After this event Pratham Books is set to launch a series of bilingual books which will use English as a common language shares Mala Kumar editor Pratham Books ldquoIt will help students compare and learn So while it will help English medium students learn regional languages vernacular medium students will also be able to learn English In urban areas itrsquos sad that many children have lost touch with their mother tongue These books will help them understand the beauty of their mother tongue and perhaps help them communicate with their grandparentsrdquo sheexplains While they have published six such books there are 12 more in the pipeline for this year ldquoThe stories are fairly simple and deal with topics that will appeal to children be it about losing a ball and searching for it or the adventures of a puppy Since the books have texts from two languages on the same page that describe the same theme the effort is to ensure the flavour of the tale and the fun element is not lost in translation we also focus on using simple words in every language They are priced between Rs 15 to Rs 30rdquo adds Kumar To create the books they had freelance translators working with the writer and the illustrator Some of the bilingual titles include King Cobra My Colourful Kite Tall Taller Tallest Bani and Everything Looks New While their books are available in five languages at present they hope to be made available in 11 languages soon Log on to prathambooksorg OR blogprathambooksorg