News Room

"History with a fun twist "- The Hindu, November 25, 2005

History, for children, is often a set of events and dates they are forced to learn by rote. No wonder they are put off by the subject. It is as an effort to rekindle children's interest in our history that Pratham Books has launched its ‘Once Upon an India’ series of books.

The four stories in the collection (written by Subhadra Sen Gupta and illustrated by Tapas Guha) introduce children to important historical epochs through the eyes of children. Woven around imaginary narratives, the books speak of the life in the Maurya, Pallava, Mughal and pre-independence periods, with the big historical personalities making a sort of a guest appearance.

So, you have Akbar fussing over his clothes and Ashoka speaking to potter's children at a Vihara and Gandhiji convincing a young boy to stay back and look after the goat when he is on the Dandi March.

The emphasis is on reconstructing a period — the food habits, clothing and so on — and not so much on the big landmarks of history one is likely to find in history books.

Each book ends with a brief fact file (called "fun facts of history"), which help children place the stories in specific historical contexts.

They come with a bit of "girl power" slant, with small details such as Ashoka having women bodyguards and Mughal princesses being well-educated figuring in the fact file.

In such well thought-out books, one is surprised, though, to spot a slip such as Babur "invading India" in 1526, which amounts to arrogating the idea of nationhood to a time when such a notion (a post-colonial notion) did not exist.

The books are affordable at Rs. 100 for a pack of four (available in English, Hindi and Kannada) and is part of an initiative called Read India Movement to reach affordable books to children from all sections of society.

One hopes there are more books in the series in the offing and some of them will be about events and personalities that are on the margins of history and seldom find mention in history textbooks.