My colleagues and I never tire of talking about children and books. What do children like to read? Why do they like to read? How do children learn to use words? And, why do we continue to teach some things like ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water’, when Jack, Jill and pail are such alien words in Indian English…. and really, which kid would ever trudge UP a hill to fetch water?
Last week, BBC was in trouble because viewers of CBeebies were offended when ‘…all the king’s men made Humpty Dumpty happy again’.Yours truly had a good laugh, and promptly dashed off an article in lighter vein to Deccan Herald. If you have the time and the inclination please do check out ‘Rhyme and reason’.
And if you like verse, check out the late author Kamala Bakaya’s wonderful work in ‘Raja nang dhadanga hai’.