Have you ever fallen into the pages of a book and fallen off your chair laughing? Have you ever smelled the earth as you see the picture of rain falling on parched mud? Pratham Books brings you such magic in your world with books! Pratham Books is proud to present “Bookaroo in the City” across several schools in Delhi.
Premola Ghose’s session was the first session I was attending after arriving in Delhi. As I found my way to the Kendriya Vidyalay in INA Colony, I couldn’t help but think about all the wonderful sessions that were conducted through last year’s Bookaroo in the City. This year we were reaching out to more schools and children. Bookaroo in the City was growing!
Since I reached a little earlier than the author, I had the chance of watching the school prepare for the event. Everyone was excited about this event. This was the first time that Bookaroo in the City was coming to their school. The teachers scrambled around, making last minute arrangements. The session was held in the library. As the children streamed into the library, Premola and her friend Poonam Sahni entered the room.
Premola chose to read from her book ‘Tales of Historic Delhi‘. As she read from the book, children were taken on a tour of Delhi. As the retinue of animals in the book travelled across Delhi, describing the sights, the children imagined the places they had only heard of. Premola also showcased the images from her book through a PPT, giving the children a glimpse into the world she was talking about. Though the children had visited the most famous sights, many of them did not know the history behind these sights. Premola invited some of the children to share their experiences and talk about the monuments they had visited. Poonam Sahni, the co-publisher of the book, also joined in to take the children on a tour of historic Delhi.
Premola and Poonam crafted a quiz based on the illustrations from the book. The library was buzzing with voices as the kids tried to guess the names of the historic monuments.
As we sipped on hot tea and munched on pakoras after the session, I couldn’t be happier to be back for Bookaroo in the City.
P.S – I also found out how Siri Fort got its name. Gruesome story! Look it up or read ‘Tales of Historic Delhi‘ to find out.