The first event that we conducted during the main Bookaroo festival was ‘Lenny and Tweek – Wanted: A Friend’. The event was conducted by Mariam Karim-Ahlawat who had also conducted an event at Tamana Special School during ‘Bookaroo in the City’.
The sun finally came out on Saturday and everyone’s fears of rain or cold weather were dispelled. The Kahani Tree seemed to be a very popular spot and one of our sessions was held under this wonderful tree. The book ‘Lenny and Tweek’ is a story about friendship and looking for a friend. In the story, Lenny is a big creature while Tweek is a small one. By naming animals of different sizes (mouse, bear, bee, bug, etc), Mariam asked the children to guess which creatures were similar to Lenny or Tweek. After this short session, she went on to use the props of Lenny and Tweek for her storytelling. With the kids sitting around her in a circle, Miriam had captured their attention and the curious children were captivated by the storytelling.
After the story ended, the kids were asked to fill out cards and write about their best friend. We giggled as we heard some kids demand that they get more cards because they had many best friends. The best answers won copies of the book. But the cutest moment of this session was when the kids went on to use the props and share their own friendship stories.
View images from all the Bookaroo events here.
