The Magic of a Children’s Book on an Author

At Pratham Books, our mission is “A Book in Every Child’s Hand”. We believe in the magic of stories and their power to open up a new world for children. Who doesn’t love a story?

The PaperTigers blog brings a real life story of the effect of a children’s book on an author:

Born in 1965, author Liu Hong’s childhood took place during the Cultural Revolution. As a teenager, after the death of Mao, she began to study English. The first book she read in English was Snow White, which she thought was beautiful, with its colored pictures printed on heavy paper; it was, she said, voluptuous and it turned her into a passionate reader of English literature.

English became her other world, her secret language. She kept a diary in English because her family couldn’t read it, and this became the currency of her thoughts and feelings.

Liu Hong is now a best-selling author of four novels, all of which she wrote in English.

Who can predict what the effect of a beautiful, well-written children’s book can be?

Who knows, when we donate to organizations– like Room to Read or Books for Laos– that make children’s books in English available overseas, what best-selling author of the future will be caught by the experience of reading in English and will go on to enrich other readers in years to come?

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