"History books for children on the
shelves"- Asian Age, October 3rd, 2005
Bangalore. Oct. 1: The Crossword book store was abuzz with activity
on Saturday. Children, mostly in the age group of 6 to 12 from different
schools, had gathered at the launch of the book ‘Once upon an India’.
The event was unique considering it revolved around Indian history.
The children of Bangalore School of Speech and Drama staged a play
on of the books released, ‘Marching to Freedom’ and then were put
to test on their knowledge about Mahatma Gandhi in a quiz, which
had questions on his life. All this interspersed with the launch
of the four-book series titled ‘Once upon an India’, by Rohini Nilekani,
chairperson of the Pratham Books Trust.
All the stories in the books feature children who lived in those
times as their main protagonists with a mix of historical fact and
pure fiction to create simple tales that capture the spirit of the
times.
Pratham Books, a non-profit publishing house has joined hands with
Crossword book store to try and get the children interested in Indian
history. And to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Dandi March
and on the eve of Gandhi’s 136th birthday, it has brought out this
four-book series. Marching to Freedom, Raza meets the King, Sailing
Home, A Royal Procession are the four books which form ‘Once upon
an India’, authored by Subhadra Sen Gupta, a writer of historical
fiction for children and illustrated by Tapas Guha, who has worked
in the field of children’s literature.
"History is an important part of who we are today and Pratham
Books felt it necessary to create a series of books that would open
up children’s worlds to events that have influenced the country.
We hope that through this series and many more we will be able to
restore a reading culture among children," Ms Rohini Nilekani
said.
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