Today is an extremely special day for all of us at Pratham Books. Thousand of copies of our books got printed today and are in circulation in the Delhi, Gurgaon and NCR region. This story can be read out to children who cannot read, are learning to read or given to children who cannot afford books.
We are thrilled that Hindustan Times invited us to be part of their ‘You Read, They Learn’ intiative. This initiative was launched last year through which Hindustan Times channels a portion of the cover price to fund NGOs working to educate under-served children.
Three of our books have been printed in different editions of the paper (different regions will get different stories in their version of the paper).
This is the first time sooooooo many copies of our books have been printed and circulated on a single day. In our mission to get ‘a book in every child’s hand’, we are constantly thinking of ways to collaborate with other organizations and make this happen. In this context, the Hindustan Times ‘You Read, They Learn’ initiative fits well with our mission. The storybooks have been provided free of cost as Pratham Books has an open and inclusive policy on content.
For the price of a newspaper, you get the opportunity to participate in a campaign to improve literacy. All copies of Hindustan Times and select copies of Mint and HT Mini will carry these joyful books. You can also download the books and print it : http://www.hindustantimes.com/specials/coverage/You-Read-They-Learn/e-books.aspx.
Step 1 : Pull out the cover page |
Step 2 : Take a look at the back and fold and cut according to the instructions given |
Step 3 : Voila! Your newspaper is now a book that you can share |
So don’t forget to get your copy!
Happy reading and happy sharing!
Ways in which to use the cut-out book:
- Get school children to collect the cut-out books from Hindustan Times readers who have finished reading the newspaper and share them with children who cannot afford to buy books.
- Get children who can read to read out the story to children who cannot read.
- Inspire youngsters on vacation to take the book and read it at a place where out-of-school kids gather to play.
- Ask children to ‘extend’ the story and help them write it.
- Talk about this initiative to spread the joy of reading so that more people join you to make India a reading nation.
- Buy multiple copies of the paper if you want to gift more books to kids.
Share your story :
- Share your “reading” story, pictures with us at info@prathambooks.org oryrtl@hindustantimes.com.
- If you are on Twitter, share share your stories with us through the hashtag #wereadtogether (our twitter id is @prathambooks)
- Share your pictures on the Pratham Books Facebook account
All stories that we receive will feature on the Pratham Books blog. You can read about the Pratham Books Reading Champions initiative and our Champions’ experiences of reading out to children here.
UPDATE : You can find all the pictures related to this campaign on our Facebook page.