News Room

"Let’s bring the book back"- Deccan Herald, April 2nd, 2005

‘The Quirquincho and the Fox’,is an old Argentinean folktale where wit and presence of mind triumphs in the end. Hundreds of children across the City today will be reading this charming folktale to mark the International Children’s Book Day.

Pratham Books, a non-profit trust set by the Akshara Foundation, in association with Hippocampus Reading Foundation, is organizing a children’s story reading session from the book by theatre person Arundathi Nag at Landmark, The Forum Mall, today from 4.30p.m.

The same book will also be read across two centers of Hippocampus in Koramangala and Basavanagudi; public libraries and local community libraries set up by Akshara Foundation. (For details on other venues and time call: 25801462/63.)

Rohini Nilekani, chairperson of Akshara Foundation, spoke to Metrolife on the urgent need to highlight the importance of reading.

Need to democratize the idea of reading…….

Let’s bring back the book. We started Odhona Banni (come let’s read) two years ago in government and corporation schools to enable children to read fluently. We observed that children above seven years were still unable to read simple words and were grappling with comprehension. The catalyst for the creation of Pratham Books was this movement, which was part of the ‘Read India Movement’ – a national initiative that seeks to promote reading. Today, about two lakh children in India have benefited through our Reading Programme.

Need for quality childrens’ books…….

While we were setting up libraries for government school children, we realized that there was dire shortage of high quality, low cost children’s books. We set up Pratham Books Trust to fill this gap in January last year.

Books that inspire children ……

Aspirational books are a big draw with children. According to some of their feedback, they were highly amused with an evil character and liked some sort of mischief in the story.

Pratham Books ……

Over the past one year, we have published 50 children’s titles in four languages, including Kannada, English, Hindi and Marathi. No book costs more than Rs.25.