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Our Journey with Arvind Gupta

February 6, 2018, 8:06 pm
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Last month, we heard the excellent news about Arvind Gupta receiving the Padma Shri award in Literature and Education (affordable education). At Pratham Books, we have followed his work for years and recently had the fortune of working with him. Editor Sandhya Taksale writes about working with Arvind Gupta and our journey with him.

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Image Source : Nandagopalrl , CC BY-SA 3.0

It is a treat when you are listening to Arvind Gupta. With a spark in his eyes, he will tell you about new stories for kids from all across the world. Treasure of stories and anecdotes around them never ends. He always talks with great passion, enthusiasm and childlike spontaneity.

After retiring from IUCAA in December 2014, most of his time is spent in digitizing and translating books. The speed with which he translates stories in Hindi and uploads them is just unbelievable. In the year 2017, along with many friends and educators, Arvind ji got 200 children's books translated in Hindi.  Many of these books are biographies of famous scientists.

Every time we met or had a call, I would request him to write a story for Pratham Books. And one day, he sent an interesting story saying, “I am sending you the story from the life of the Buddha which Pratham Books could consider printing.” The content team loved this story and we started developing this book. We wanted the visual depiction of Buddha to be different from the ones we generally see. Debasmita Dasgupta captured the spiritwe were looking for and with those beautiful illustrations the story turned into a book - ‘What happened to the shawl’. Arvind ji was very happy with the illustrations and the way the book got developed.


This ancient story from the life of Buddha carries a deep lesson about the conservation. Actually, ‘Reuse, Reecycle and Reduce’ is the mantra which is very near to Arvind ji’s heart. Gandhian in outlook, Arvind ji draws inspiration from a number of people, including Gautam Buddha.


Always clad in a Khadi kurta and pajama, he believes in simplicity and leads a simple life. For a person of his stature, he is also very unassuming. Once he wrote a mail to me about Russian children’s books and said -“I have put all the English, Hindi Russian books for children I had on my website. However, I have access to very few Russian Children's Books in Marathi. If you will allow, I will borrow 40-50 Russian Children's Books from you for just one week. I will come and collect them and return them exactly a week later. I ASSURE YOU THAT I WILL RETURN THE BOOKS TOTALLY UNHARMED.” (Capital letters from his original mail)

Look at the polite language of this message and the real ‘Karyakarta’ spirit. Many people with his stature, social status, age and experience (a Kanpur IITian, a BIG name for popularizing science among children, author of 28 books and whose TED Talk is among the 10 best TED talks compiled by Sir Ken Robinson and Sugata Mitra's 5 favorite education talks. ) may not have written like this. Needless to say that I wrote back to him saying,- ‘I myself will carry those books to you.’ Such is his passion to share the books he loves.

After the Buddha story got published, he sent us another lovely script - The Big, Big Matchbox.It is a story about a child, his friends and their BIG task with a tiny matchbox. Children love this story.


As an author, Arvind ji totally believes in editors’ prerogative and fully trusts their judgment. He accepts the changes in the text without being extra possessive about it. When we were working on this second story, we requested if he could modify the end of the story to make it more interesting. He not only sent the revised version immediately but also sent a note saying - “Don’t send it back to me, please make the appropriate changes you feel.¨

A firm believer in Creative Commons and the power of open source material, he wholeheartedly
appreciates our digital platform Storyweaver. He shares so many books from StoryWeaver on his website. 

He is constantly thinking of stories, science experiments, learning- teaching for children and spreading the joy by sharing. Whatever he likes, he can’t stop sharing. He wants to make that treasure available to everyone. He deeply believes, upholds and advocates copyright free content and Creative Commons licenses. If you want to know bout the tremendous work he is doing, just visit his website : arvindguptatoys.com. You will find scientific toys, experiments, videos, articles and thousands of books. Everyday 15,000 books are freely downloaded from his website. 

Arvind ji has won several awards (24 to be precise!!) for his lifelong lifelong efforts to popularize science. And now the Padma Shri is conferred on him. Very well deserved honor! Really!!

Congratulations again Arvind ji. We are looking forward to many more interesting stories from you. And they will keep enriching the minds of young readers.

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Additional reading : 
What Happened to the Shawl - Arvind Gupta and Debasmita Dasgupta
The Big, Big Matchbox - Arvind Gupta and Meenal Singh
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The Second Season of #PhoneStories is Here!

February 7, 2018, 9:52 am
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The first season of our #PhoneStories took you right into the forest. The second season which launched on 26th January, 2018 takes you into the world of Miss Laya.

When someone says ‘PT teacher’, who do you think of? Someone big, strong and perhaps a bit strict? Well, what if you had a games teacher who wore funky tracksuits and sneakers and came to school on a fantastic motorbike? Well, we know a games teacher just like that and we want you to meet her!

The first of a brand new set of #PhoneStories from Pratham Books, Miss Laya and her Fantastic Motorbike embark on a new adventure every Friday. Kind, strong, and full of fun, Miss Laya loves to help people. The books have been written by Mala Kumar and illlustrated by Abhishek Chaudhury.

Watch the first two episodes below and look out for the next two episodes on StoryWeaver. 



You can also watch the stories in Hindi and Marathi on the StoryWeaver Youtube channel.

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Also, during the month of February, our Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno campaign is on and you can hear about Miss Laya's adventures (along with other books) 

3 easy steps to listen to a story for FREE
Step 1: Give a missed call to 080-33094244 
Step 2: We'll call you back and you can listen to stories in English and Hindi
Step 3: To listen to more stories, simply give a missed call again.



Deepak Chandra, a Donate-a-Book campaigner, wrote to us about how he used the 'Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno' facility in his classroom.
I read about "Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno" from one of Pratham Books' newsletters and right away, I knew that I should tell my kids about this opportunity. I went to the class equipped with speakers and gave a missed call and then there it was "Aaloo-Maaloo-Kaaloo" coming out of the speaker. Kids were so excited and yet sat really quiet so that they could hear the story. I gave this task as a homework and about 50% of the kids actually gave a missed call to hear stories. 
 I really appreciate Pratham Books' effort to reach as many kids as possible, "Missed Call Do, Kahaani suno" is going to be a great way to do just that. All of the kids in our rural school have access to phones and now, they have access to beautifully woven and engaging stories.
So, go ahead and listen/watch/read these stories and don't forget to share them as well! 
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Event : What is Neema Eating Today?

February 7, 2018, 8:44 pm
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Meet Neema who LOVES to eat. Slippery lychees, squishy jamuns, sour tamarinds, shiny spinach – she loves it all!

And ....

....What is Neema Eating Today?

Join us this Saturday for the book launch of 'What is Neema Eating Today?'. An interactive storytelling session with author Bijal Vachharajani and illustrator Priya Kuriyan,  followed by activities for 4- to 6-year-olds.

Date : February 10, 2018
Time : 11.30 AM
Venue : Hippocampus Children's Experience Centre, #525, 16th Main, 3rd Block, Koramangala, Bangalore.
Contact : 080-2563 0206
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STEM Fun in Classrooms

February 8, 2018, 9:05 pm
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Khyati Datt from our Outreach Team shares a snapshot of how our STEM books have been faring in classrooms across India.

Maths and Science are not the most favourite subjects of many children. Children find them daunting and difficult to cope with, because of the manner that they are presented to them in. However, when concepts are presented in a fun and engaging manner, children find it easier to grasp and retain them. 

STEM focussed texts give knowledge to children the way it is used in the real world, with concepts and subjects interwoven seamlessly. As a result, students engage and apply concepts in a deeper, more thorough way, leading to a greater understanding of the concepts. 

Thanks to a grant from Oracle, Pratham Books has developed a special set of picture books exploring STEM topics. The books cover a range of topics like Science topics imploring why poories puff and fireflies glow, Maths topics including estimation of distances, division, multiplication and logical reasoning and Tech-first concepts like Artificial Intelligence. The book set also includes books exploring multiple Environment related topics and a few on Emotional Quotient too.

The grant had also made possible the distribution of 100 libraries. For this, Pratham Books invited applications from NGOs, Government and affordable private schools to apply to receive free Library-in-a-Classroom sets with the STEM books created. We received an overwhelming response from 120+ organizations and schools across 22 Indian states collectively seeking 980 libraries.

A STEM library in one of the PRATIGYA centres
Fun with STEM!

The books are being used by both children and teachers. The children are doing fun classroom activities like skits, role playing and participating in group discussions on topics in the books. The teachers are using the books for read alouds and are also preparing activities, assessments and quizzes. A teacher working with a school in Laila, in Dakshin Karnataka remarked:
“Children enjoy the books and often request for permission to take them home, in order to show it to their parents.”
Source: GUPS Laila, a school SELCO Foundation works with

The STEM books are loved by children because the concepts mentioned in them are relatable. Children love Why Does A Poori Puff Up? as it addresses a question most of us have thought as children. Or a story like Dum Dum-a-Dum Biryani! brings forth not only the memory of accomplishing something with our siblings but also the real-time application of the Maths we were taught. Other books that were well received by children include Reeti and Mithu, Happy Maths , How do Aeroplanes Fly?, Jadav and
the Tree-Place and How Old Is Muttaji?.

Nandhini, a student from one of the classrooms that Isha Education works with, says “I love the book DIVE! because it’s about sea animals and has very colourful pictures”.

The STEM books being read in GUPS, Warknalli, one of the schools that SELCO
Foundation works with
A teacher from Adarsh High School in Bengal, summarizes the impact of STEM books on her children perfectly, “Children love to discuss various topics of books and they ask their teachers about the unknown phenomenons like gravitational pull, electromagnetic radiations, atomic structure etc. These topics are out of the scope of their syllabus but they find them interesting. These books are helping them to understand many complex things and satisfying their curiosity.”

The books have widened the lens through which children look at the world and interact with it. They practice mathematical concepts like division and multiplication using Dum Dum-a-Dum Biryani! and common vegetables, read Jadav and the Tree-Place to understand the importance of forests, and go on an adventure deep under the sea with DIVE!

The power of storytelling creates a great platform for fostering an interest in STEM learning, alongside creating a reading culture where reading is not restricted in the confines of the classrooms and the textbooks.
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Setting Up Libraries in Rural Maharashtra

February 12, 2018, 11:18 am
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One of the best feeling we experience at Pratham Books is to see a kid enjoying a book. To see libraries getting built across the country. Partner organizations as well as individuals across the country put their faith into our books and share them with kids who have less or no access to books. Thinksharp Foundation is one such organization which has made our books available in several schools and centres across rural Maharashtra. During the launch of our crowdfunding platform, Donate-a-Book, Thinksharp Foundation started a campaign to raise funds for libraries and were able to crowdfund for 750 books. Thinksharp Foundation is back with a new campaign for the new year...
With new books we are going to start new libraries at four new StudyMall before new academic year starts. This will give access to read books to more than 1500 kids in 5 government run schools in 5 different villages of Maharashtra.
Santosh Phad shares pictures of how the books from the previous donation were used. Learn more about the work they do and #DonateABook today!

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Thinksharp Foundation is a non-for- profit organisation started in 2011. At Thinksharp Foundation, we believe that every child has a right for better education and that he/she should have opportunity to access what they deserve.

The Project StudyMall - Read, Learn, Play project provides better educational infrastructure in rural schools and villages (For example : Libraries, digital learning, educational games, workshops, etc).  

The project has benefited more than 4000 children in 12 different village through 12 StudyMalls.






Our kids are always happy and excited to read new story books, specially Pratham books because of content, font, pictures and creative titles. I remember one student from our Surngali village center shared what he read from a book “Char Undrinichi Gost” and that we should always listen to another person every time.

We successfully ran one campaign earlier and it was 100% funded  We are a very happy partner on this platform. Best part of this platform is
  • Transparency; many of donors want to donate books instead of giving money to NGO directly.
  • Easy to handle for donors as well as campaigners
  • End of the campaign you give chance to select books based on language/ titles
  • Donation alerts
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Help Thinksharp Foundation set up libraries in rural Maharashtra by making a small donation on Donate-a-Book
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20 Days, 2500 Books : International Book Giving Day

February 13, 2018, 8:39 pm
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14th February is Valentine's Day. But did you know that it is also International Book Giving Day? 
Image Source : International Book Giving Day
International Book Giving Day’s focus is on encouraging people worldwide 
to give a book to a child on February 14th.

Last year, our community donated generously to our International Book Giving Day campaign and we raised 1500 books. Join us again this year by helping us raise funds for ...

...2500 books in 20 days!

Help us make some book love potion by: 

1. Choosing a campaign on Donate-a-Book
2. Adding a dash of your book love* to the mix 
*(Rs.250 = 6 books, Rs.500 =12 books, Rs.1000 = 25 books. Rs.5000 = 1 library kit)
3. Books are sent to libraries/schools across India.
4. Children open your book love parcel and dive into a magical world of stories.


A look at all the current campaigns on Donate-a-Book :
This February, let us celebrate the 'love' of reading!



*If you are trying to make a donation from outside India, please email donateabook(at)prathambooks(dot)org with details of the campaign you want to donate to.
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Why I Teach My Foreign-born Indian Children Malayalam?

February 21, 2018, 7:20 am
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On the occassion of International Mother Language Day, Shweta Ganesh Kumar sent us a lovely post on teaching her kids Malayalam. International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is a worldwide annual observance held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promote multilingualism.

“Namaste And Shukriya!”
The Hungarian delivery man shouted out to me with a smile, as he ambled downstairs after handing over my dinner of lachccha parathas and Madras Chicken curry.

As I shut the door against the freezing negative temperatures of Budapest winters, the food from my favorite Indian restaurant in the city seemed to warm me up through its thin packaging.

My six year old who was watching asked me, “Amma, what did that man say?”

“Oh, he was saying ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank You ‘in Hindi and Urdu,” I said.

“Ah, I thought he was saying, Namsakaaram wrong,’ she said, as she ambled off to find her brother.

My children were born in the Philippines and even though they possess Indian passports and therefore citizenships, they are third culture kids, in every sense of the term. We have lived in San Salvador, Manila and now, Budapest and they have spent only a few months of their lives back home in Kerala, where I’m from. Like most of the expatriate children they are surrounded by, their lingua Franca, is English. This was in no way by design.

I’ve always had a soft corner for Malayalam, my mother tongue. A fondness that later developed into full fledged love and I wrote about it here on the occasion on International Mother Language Day, last year. So, making sure that my children spoke in my mother tongue, the language of their mother and their father, was truly important to me. When my daughter was born in 2011, the only language I used to talk to her in was Malayalam. Having moved to El Salvador when she was just 5 months old meant the only other language she heard around her was Spanish, which we were not very fluent in. And so by the time she turned two, she was equipped with a rather solid vocabulary of Malayalam words and rhymes and she could even sing the first few verses of the Malayalam songs of my childhood.

Whenever we went home for the holidays and overbearing relatives pounded me with their usual patronizing “Kuttiku Malayalam ariyummo? Does the child know Malayalam?” I would hold my head high and respond with a bright smile.

“Yes, yes she does.”

By 2014, we were back in Manila and it was time for her to start school, we had somehow slipped into speaking English around 80% of the time. It was what was most convenient and my husband’s family with an army background too spoke to each other in English as did he, most of the time. We had no Malayali friends and we figured English would help her in school and there was no harm. As time passed, I realized that English had become the only language she used, with her Malayalam conversations limited to me or at the times I reminded my parents to talk to her in Malayalam when they called.

By the time my son was born in 2015, my daughter had all but forgotten the Malayalam rhymes and lullabies that I had sung to her in her toddlerhood. She watched with mild amusement and curiosity as I dusted those age-old songs out from the crevices of my memory where I had shoved them in, as she grew too old for them. She tried to sing along with me and smiled as I told her that these songs belonged to her too. My son, however in typical second child fashion threw a deaf ear to my croonings and decided that whatever his elder sibling did must be his gospel. His first words were indeed Amma and Dada and his favourite animal for the longest time was “Aana” or the elephant, but the rest of his speech was in English. And though both my children understand Malayalam completely, even to the point of picking up song lyrics, their preferred language of speech is English.

As an expat mom, I’ve received a lot of compliments on this. When we moved to Budapest, last year most people were amazed at how well they could communicate with my children thanks to their fluency in English.

“Good choice, to teach them English”, they said.

While they do have a point, I always felt uncomfortable at the compliment. For one, I never consciously taught them English, they picked it up on the go, by merely listening, the way I picked up Malayalam. And I felt guilty that I had not been able to pass on my mother tongue to them, in the same way.

But why is it so important that they learn Malayalam, you might ask? It is not a global language. It is not even the national language of India. As Indian languages go, won’t it make more sense for them to learn Hindi?

Yes, all valid points. But there is this irrational part of my heart that wants them to fall in love with Malayalam the way I did. I want them to have more than functional literacy. I want them to be able to read it and write it and get the ins and outs and the nuances of my gracefully curvy mother tongue.


How else will they appreciate Vaikom Muhammad Basheer’s Paathumayude Aadu in all its natural glory?

How will they explode in uproarious laughter at Dasan and Vijayan’s quips? 

How will they get the natural sarcasm and wit that most Malayalis are known for? The kind that can never ever be translated? 

And that is why, I keep trying to make sure that they pick up Malayalam, as well. I ply badly made Malayalam cartoons at them. I read them the wonderful “Unni Kuttande Lokam” and other Malayalam children’s books. I tell them that Malayalam is our secret code language and that everyone knows English, but only us Malayalis know Malayalam, making it special. And I keep at it.  

Illustration : Tanvi Choudhury
For irrational, emotional reasons.  For that’s what most mothers are as far as their children are concerned, irrational and emotional, yet wanting to them to get the best of what the world has to offer. And to me, our mother tongue Malayalam will be their key to a world filled with literary riches and wit beyond compare and one of the greatest legacies that I can bequeath them with. And maybe someday, when I’m far gone and they are grown up, it will be the lilt of this very mother language that will evoke in them the memories of my irrational, emotional love for them, a love that will always live on.

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(Shweta Ganesh Kumar is a Writer and Parenting columnist. She is the bestselling author of ‘Coming Up On The Show’ and ‘Between The Headlines’, two novels on the Indian Broadcast News Industry. Her last worldwide release ‘A Newlywed’s Adventures in Married Land,’ a modern take on Alice In Wonderland got rave reviews from critics and readers alike and has been consistently ranked high in Amazon India’s 100 bestsellers in Indian writing list. Her travel columns have been featured in Travel and Flavours, Venture, The New Indian Express, One Philippines and Geo. Her non-fiction pieces have appeared in multiple Indian editions of the Chicken Soup series. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in more than twenty anthologies and online literary magazines in more than four continents.  

She is also the Founder-Editor of The Times Of Amma, an online community dedicated to inspiring mothers one day at a time, featuring real life stories on honest parenting and interviews with inspirational mothers and grandmothers. Shweta currently lives in Hungary with her two children and husband. You can read more about her life and work at www.shwetaganeshkumar.com)
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Behind the Scenes : 'What's Neema Eating Today'

February 22, 2018, 9:46 am
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Most of you have already heard of Neema by now. Neema who? Neema - the little girl who is busy chewing and chomping her way through the year. The Goodbooks team chat with author Bijal Vachharajani about the inspiration behind this book. Bijal also shares how the book can be used to talk about different things - seasons, colours, textures, food, seasonal eating and more.



Get a copy of the book.
Read the book in multiple languages.
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Event : Three Stories to Take You to New Worlds

February 22, 2018, 10:56 pm
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National Science Day is just around the corner and we are starting our celebrations this week.


Join us for an interactive storytelling session with storyteller Bhavana Vyas Vipparthi as she narrates Gul in Space, Panipuri Inside a Spaceship and Ammachi’s Amazing Machines. The session scheduled is ideal for 5- to 10-year-olds.

Date : 24th February, 2018
Time : 11 am - 12 pm
Venue : Nehru Planetarium High Grounds, Sri T. Chowdaiah Road, Opp. Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain, Bengaluru
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Neema's Travel Diary

February 28, 2018, 7:43 pm
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Just a second. Let me finish this carrot here. CHOMP! CHOMP! MMM!


Hello, I am Neema. I have been travelling for the last few weeks to meet many children. In fact, I have been so busy that I barely got time to try the purplicious grapes that are in season right now. But luckily, I managed to get my hands on some of them. YUM!

I have some wonderful friends who invited Bijal Vachharajani the writer and Priya Kuriyan the illustrator of my biography, What’s Neema Eating Today?to talk about my seasonal eating habits. They didn’t invite Vinayak Varma who art directed the project, but it’s okay, he’s finishing a book on some rain and sun or some jackals, I hear.

We went to Tata Lit Live in Mumbai last year. We met lots of children and made food monsters for me to gobble up! I ate splendidly that day. BURP!



We had lots of fun with Think Arts at the Junior Kalam Literary Meet in Kolkata – where we shared my story and drew lots and lots of food.



Then off we went to Hippocampus Children’s Experience Centre in Bangalore, where both Bijal and Priya once again told my story and then all the children learnt how to draw me! It was so much fun. They made me laugh, scowl, cry (less fun), and laugh out loud in their drawings.


There were some nice people from Goodbooks who interviewed Bijal and Priya, but strangely didn’t ask me any questions! Hello, I was right there. So rude, I tell you, these creators, forgetting their muse.


Next up, we headed to Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival – Mumbai. We first went to Trilogy by the Eternal Library Bookstore and read my story and made lots of food monsters and Neemas.


Then at the Bookaroo Doodle Wall, Bijal and the participants came up with some strange names for food monsters – why would I want to eat a spikonster, even if it’s made out of pineapples? – and Priya drew some spectacular food monsters. Okay, I changed my mind and I totally would gobble up a spikonster. Then all the children draw tons of food monsters with carrots, tomatoes, strawberries, and even broccoli.



Barely had we recovered from that, we packed our bags again for Bangalore this time to Lightroom Bookstore in Bangalore. We are going to be making paper food baskets this time, so join us?

Click on the poster for a larger view
In all of that, here are all seasonal food I managed to eat on my travels:
  • Grapes
  • Carrots
  • Ponkh
  • Undhiyu
  • Palm jaggery
  • Peas kachori
Don’t forget to let me know what are you eating today?

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What's Neema Eating Today : Read the book/ Buy the book
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Celebrating Science with Wonder Why Week

March 2, 2018, 9:09 pm
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All year round, we create joyful stories for kids. But Wonder Why Week had us focusing all our energy on Science and Mathematics, and putting together a week that celebrates science, discovery, and the spirit of wonder!

In case you missed all the action, here is a quick recap :

We launched three new books on StoryWeaver this week:

Lazy Mama (by Vidya Pradhan and Rohit Kelkar) : When lazy Raghu Mama claims he can go on wild adventures without leaving his chair, Amish and Soni are amazed. How does he do it? Can Amish and Soni go on these adventures too?

Off to See Spiders!(by Vena Kapoor and Pia Meenakshi) : Kaveri and Shivi go looking for spiders, along with their friend Shama.

Anna's Extraordinary Experiments with Weather (by Nandita Jayaraj and Priya Kuriyan) : Anna Mani was an Indian scientist who loved to read about the world around her. Peek into her eighth birthday party and follow her through her extraordinary scientific adventures.


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We also had two fun storytelling sessions in Bengaluru ...

On 24th February, Bhavana Vyas Vipparthi took us to new worlds as she narrated the stories of Gul in Space, Panipuri Inside a Spaceship and Ammachi’s Amazing Machines.


We also celebrated National Science Day at the Government Girls School, Srirampuram. Students from the neighbouring government school were also present. Translator Kollegal Sharma entertained students by introducing them to our forthcoming STEM book 'How Heavy is Air?' by Yasawini Sampathkumar and Shohei Emura. The Pratham Books team also got the children on their feet with the help of our new math book 'Where is Nandini?', written by Anitha Murthy, guest edited by Sudeshna Shome, illustrated by Ritwick Roy.


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Tune in and listen to 'How A New Generation of STEM Books Are Putting The Fun Back In Fundamentals' on The Intersection podcast 
For many children, especially in India, the thought of picking up a science or maths book inspires terror. There's no fun in a system that promotes rote learning over curiosity and understanding. Fortunately, things are changing. Books that explain STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) concepts in an interesting and engaging way are finding space on children's bookshelves and in school libraries and inspiring kids to embrace the subjects instead of running away from them.
On this episode of The Intersection, Padma speaks to the folks at Pratham Books--an organization that publishes titles on things from friction, bio-luminescence and evolution to subtraction, spiders and blue whales--about the importance of introducing children to these concepts at an early age and making science and maths more fun for them. 





Also, catch up on our special STEM book-related posts :
The News Minute also covered our journey of creating STEM books in this article :
Bengaluru based Pratham Books has been actively involved in piquing children’s interest in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – subjects.

“Over the last three years, we have created over 400 STEM books to address the lack of such books available in India for young readers. We have received long-term support from Oracle to develop these STEM books,” says Suzanne. 
The topics of the books range from introducing children to fascinating marine creatures to demystifying math concepts, making physics more relatable to exploring incredible topics such as animals in space, virtual reality, and women in science.
Read the entire article here. 

Illustrators Rohit Kelkar and Pia Meenakshi gave us a glimpse into their illustration process through their Instagram takeovers. Head to the StoryWeaver Instagram account and take a peek.

We also ran a few contests across our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. In case you see this in time, we still have two contests you can participate in. Head here and here for more information.

And with that, our Wonder Why Week comes to an end. But watch out for new stories and loads of fun stuff over the year. Till then, happy reading!
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Library Educator’s Course

March 7, 2018, 5:16 am
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(Click on the photo for a larger view)


Via libraryeducators.in

The Library Educator’s Course is a Professional Development Certificate course developed by Parag Initiative and being offered in Hindi for the fourth time in 2018. The course is open to all educators and intended for teachers, school librarians, development sector professionals, literacy and language educators and in fact for every one working with children and books with the desire to spread the joy and culture of reading. Library education for children has multiple possibilities and dimensions, currently unexplored. The Library Educator’s Course offers a unique opportunity to strengthen understanding and academic thinking linked to practice in a well-designed, highly charged environment with some of the best library practitioners in the field.

The course offers professional development with an 
  • Intellectually stimulating curriculum enabling vision and perspective building for the library professional 
  • Exposure and experience with rich selection of children’s books 
  • Extensive hands-on experience in contact mode with practical and theoretical discussions 
  • Opportunity for working educators to engage in a dual mode course whilst continuing their work
  • Opportunity to design and undertake field project pertaining to libraries
You can find more details about the course here.
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#GirlsMustPlay : Back to the Playground

March 8, 2018, 1:59 am
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The conversation started with these lines :
There’s a phenomenon that disturbs me: we in India do not seem to let girls play. 
Once girl children pass toddlerhood, the space for them in public places seems to vanish. They can play to some extent in school compounds (in girls’ schools as far as I have observed, and not so much in co-ed schools) and within the confines of 'acceptable' sports. But how often does one see girls playing in empty lots, or, during bandhs and holidays, on the streets?
When we received an invitation to participate in the conversation around #GirlsMustPlay, we immediately knew we wanted to join this conversation. 

And how do we join the conversation? Through the way we know best - Books! Assistant Editor, Sherein Bansal, puts together a list of books for the #GirlsMustPlay campaign.


Girls are missing out. Many societal restraints make them minimize themselves, stay home and not express their physicality. From play grounds to sport tournaments, from swings to cricket fields, we need them front row and centre. It’s up to us to continue to create safe public spaces for girls, to actively encourage them to be free, and to show our boys that girls have every right to play in the same places that they do.

Many parents and educators read books to children. Since the retentive power of stories is quick and immense, reading those books to kids that reflect gender equality is a great idea.

Here are some of Pratham Books titles that you can read with your children that showcase female protagonists that confidently explore the outside world in some way or the other.


A girl runs after a ball on every page of the book, and takes us along this funny and colourful chase.

Dipa was the first Indian female gymnast to compete in the Olympic Games!

Kalpana is determined to learn how to ride her cycle. No matter how many times she falls.

Fatima goes on an adventure with her unlikely friend Gopa the dormouse into a world of trees!


It’s the Football Cup! But Divya has a cold. How will she play?

Shama takes Kaveri and Shivi to see spiders. Lots and lots of spiders.

In this spotting book, Mia is playing hide and seek. She hides wherever she goes. Can you find her?

From grandmothers to girls, everyone in this book is excited about playing and coaching hockey. It’s time for the girls to play a match against the boys.


Children are shown playing in the street in this adorable wordless book.

Manu has chicken pox, but longs to go back to her hopscotch!

Three children set out to play on the street. Suddenly, the street becomes a zoo of animals!

A girl visits her grandmother, decides to climb a tree, and hide where nobody can find her.


It’s a beautiful journey of a solo traveller who sleeps under the stars.

Ku-oooh! Ku-ooooh! A koel calls. Stella and Parvez chase the sound in search of the koel.

Granny can’t stop. She must juggle anywhere she goes, and with what whatever lies at her arm’s reach.

Neema loves to eat. Let’s get our fill of delicious fruits and vegetables as the seasons come and go.


Miss Laya is a spunky games teacher. The girls in her class follow suit. It’s time for fun and games!

A simple tale of a girl drawing a train on the street and having fun!

A girl loves drawing kolams. She draws them on the ground, on the walls... and even on the kites. Something extraordinary happens next.

Four friends race their toy cars. Who wins?

Other publishers on StoryWeaver like Book Dash have stories about specially abled athletes like Zanele Situ, about Nita, a young girl in a playground, and about a girl who plays with her red ball. African StoryBook Initiative have stories about games played with friends, or a girl who wants to go out and play in the rain.

All these books have girls reclaiming public spaces and having plain old fun. It’s important to feed boys and girls a healthy diet of female representation in the physical world. Let’s take a cue from these joyful characters. Girls, it’s time to indulge in some healthy childhood exuberance and take back your streets!
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#GirlsMustPlay : Reclaiming Spaces

March 8, 2018, 9:08 am
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A girl’s relationship to public spaces evolves as she grows older. It skips ahead with delight and, hopscotches its way to friends. And just as she’s about to retain that confidence she learnt during these games, she’s told to step back and go back. This relationship with her favourite streets and parks might sour over time, might become one of detachment, fear or hesitation, it might be accepted as a strange and cumbersome part of life, or it might turn into one of rebellion and constant reclamation. Whether it’s the majority of population of Indian girls that resides in rural areas or the ones in urban, it’s almost impossible for girls to have a free, healthy or even neutral relationship with public areas. Eventually, many girls stop playing in such spaces at an early age. This lack of games leads to a lack of sports in their lives.

Bijal Vachharajani, Senior Editor at Pratham Books, recounts an incident, “Many years ago, as a journalist, I remember interviewing Ashok who worked with Magic Bus in Mumbai to get children back to school using football. And one of the challenges he talked about was getting girls to play the sport. And since then I think it's stuck in my head about how divisive things can be in innocuous ways. Free play and sports participation is so crucial - it equips children with life skills, builds confidence, and imagination. In our books, girls play, they run, the climb trees, just like in real life.”


Playing games and occupying public places helps boost self image, gives girls tools to tackle tough situations, makes them better at communication, and teaches them leadership – everything they must learn. Games give young girls visibility, form and shape. But many families would prefer them to remain hidden away from the scorn of others or from the lurking fear of street sexual harassment. Games, a normal part of life for boys, are gradually seen as a surplus activity for girls that can be harmlessly done away with. There are even stigmas attached to girls’ bodies and playing games is seen as a way to break their hymen, thus making them unfit for marriage. Also, since public spaces are not designed for girls, and safe spaces meant for girls are out of reach, logistics comes into play here which can be financially draining for some families. Gender clearly plays a crucial role here.

Here’s Kusum Kumari from a village in Jharkand presenting her Tedx Talk about how football changed her life:


Mala Kumar, Senior Editor at Pratham Books, meets many girl characters in the books she edits. In ‘How Heavy is Air?’, Lakshmi is the central character. “Lakshmi is not just a smart young girl, she is a confident student. She asks questions. She experiments. And she is not scared to announce that her teacher is wrong. ‘Air has no weight, Miss,’ she declares. It’s characters like Lakshmi who give young boys and girls a healthy sense of gender. In ‘Who's on Divya's Map?’, a young girl goes around her locality, meeting people, and drawing a map. By doing so, she owns public spaces and encourages others to do the same.” Mala further talks about ‘Miss Laya and her Fantastic Motorbike’, a series of four books that she wrote recently, “In many schools, 'teacher' is a feminine noun, and many children giggle when you call a male instructor a teacher. Miss Laya teaches games, rides a motorbike, teaches games, is kind, encourages children to travel with her, and imbibes in them a sense of community pride.”

Many NGOs have been working to combat this issue by providing safe places for girls to play freely like Girl Skate India, Yuwa, Just For Kicks, Isha Yoga Foundation, The Art of Sport, etc are just a few Indian initiatives and NGOs that are breaking the gender stereotypes by creating safe, nourishing environments for girls to play a sport and express their bodies freely. It’s important for parents, teachers, girls and boys to see the presence of girls in parks and on the streets. They should read about girls like Kamali who followed her six year old heart and learnt to skateboard. Also, the books they read to their children and students must have female protagonists who play and explore, and are not confined to cooking and serving.


Shinibali Mitra Saigal, Consultant Editor at Pratham Books, talks about her upcoming books that revolve around female leads, “Almost all the books I have worked on have spunky, strong and fearless girls doing something exciting and fun. I don't think it was a staunchly conscious decision but an organic one where it seemed almost obvious to have a girl as the protagonist. We have a story in the pipeline about seed bankers, all women,  of course. There is a story written by women's movement pioneer Kamla Bhasin about a girl who loves cars and knows everything about them. There is also a story about a visually challenged girl who aspires to form a cricket team and wins a match. She does it all. Girls are more fun (for me) but that is not to say that I wouldn't like boys in my books. At the end of it, both walk together.”

Clearly, the solution is not to keep girls hidden, but to make their external environment safe. For girls, part of having the confidence to occupy public spaces to play also means being able to respond like Mia when an empowering sentence like “You play like a girl” is turned into an insult.

“My coach said I ran like a girl, 
I said if he could run a little faster he could too”
― Mia Hamm




(This post was written by Sherein Bansal. Sherein is an Assistant Editor at Pratham Books. Sherein lights up when she stumbles upon good music. She becomes grumpy in the absence of travel. She loves food and can talk about it till others have finished their meals and left the room.)
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Enter the Retell, Remix and Rejoice Contest 2018!

March 20, 2018, 4:32 am
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Welcome to the 2018 edition of Retell, Remix and Rejoice, Pratham Books’ annual storytelling contest. Every year, on World Storytelling Day, we invite our community to join us and celebrate stories by hosting the Retell, Remix and Rejoice contest.

Like last year, we’re sharing themes with our community of writers and asking you to weave stories around them. The themes have been handpicked by Pratham Books’ editors with inputs from our Outreach team.

The biggest need in classrooms remains Level 1 and Level 2 books for our youngest readers, with stories that reflect their lives and the world around them. Or, introduce them to how people live, play, sing and dream in other places!

Here are this year’s themes:
  • My family - Parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Families of all types!
  • My home - Where I live and the things I do everyday.
  • My food - yummy food, yucky food and how children react to them!
  • Animals around us - Wild and domestic,insects and birds - children love books about animals.
  • Back to basics: Books about shapes, numbers and colours 
Stories can be in English, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil.

The winners take it all!
Three finalists will win a hamper of Pratham Books’ latest titles plus a one-on-one editorial feedback session with one of our editors. One grand finalist could win the chance to have their book re-illustrated!

About our Reading Levels
At Pratham Books we link levels to the child’s reading development, since we know 10-year-olds who are most comfortable with a Level 1 story, as well as 6-year-olds who can read Level 3 stories effortlessly. This happens across languages, too, as kids have different fluencies in different languages.

This year we’re asking you to be as creative as you can and convey as much as you can - using as few words as possible. Use our reading level guidelines as you create them.

Level 1 Books
  • Easy words, word repetition
  • Short sentences, less than 5 on a page
  • Text and pictures should support each other
  • Big fonts
  • Rhyme and rhythm
  • Word range: 0 to 250

Here's a page from 'Miss Laya's Fantastic Motorbike is Hungry' by Mala Kumar and Abhishek Choudhury, a Level 1 book.

Level 2 Books
  • Simple concepts (especially in non-fictions
  • Stories with linear, engaging plots 
  • Word range: 250 to 600

'The Magic Block' by Lavina Mahbubani and Rohit Karandadi is a Level 2 book.

Guidelines for Submission

Contest runs from March 20th 2018 to April 15th, 2018.

Copyright and other guidelines

  • All stories submitted must be your original work. 
  • Stories must be in English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil or Marathi.
  • Participants must be over the age of 17 to participate
By submitting your work to Retell, Remix and Rejoice 2017, you are agreeing to a CC-BY license being applied to it (This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation). To know more about CC-BY, click here.


For queries, write to us at storyweaver@prathambooks.org

How to enter
You can submit your story for Retell, Remix and Rejoice 2018
  • using illustrations from our image bank 
  • by uploading your own illustrations
  • or as text only

However you choose to create your entry it MUST be via the Retell, Remix and Rejoice contest page, by clicking on the button below:

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Podcast: The Pratham Books Journey

March 21, 2018, 3:50 am
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Illustration by : Lavanya Naidu
Want to hear about the Pratham Books journey right from 2004 till now? Take a little time out to listen to this podcast by Givology. Givology is a P2P online giving marketplace, directly connecting donors to students and grassroots projects around the world.
In this episode, we talk with Suzanne Singh, Chairperson of Pratham Books. Pratham Books is a non-profit children’s book publisher with the mission to see ‘a book in every child's hand’. StoryWeaver, an initiative of Pratham Books, is a digital platform of openly licensed storybooks in mother tongue languages.

You can also listen to it on Soundcloud or iTunes.
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Event: Water Stories

March 22, 2018, 5:00 am
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(Click on the image for a larger view)
Folks in Bengaluru : We have something brewing this weekend! Celebrate World Water Day with us.

Pratham Books and Storipur present 'Water Stories'. Join us for an interactive storytelling session with Mala Kumar (Pratham Books) and Priya Muthukumar (Storipur) followed by a water quiz by Maya Kilpadi (Eartha)

Date : 25th March, 2018
Time : 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Venue : Atta Galatta, 134, KHB Colony, 5th Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru 95.

Free entry. Ideal for 3 year olds and above.

See you there!


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On the Path of Discovery

March 23, 2018, 9:30 am
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Our editors Chetana and Bhargavi recap a fun set of events we held to celebrate Wonder Why Week :


Panipuri Inside a Spaceship anyone?

Hands soar up in the air like rockets launching. We're at Bengaluru's Nehru Planetarium, it's the Saturday ahead of the National Science Day, which calls for a morning of storytelling, quizzing and sending rockets up into the air.

Bhavna Vyas, a storyteller and illustrator with Pratham Books' titles (among others) to her name, has the children's attention. She has told them three stories -- Ammachi's Amazing Machines (an all-time favourite with the coolest granny you've ever met), Gul in Space (a sweet tale about a girl who wants to celebrate her birthday with the sun and the stars) and Panipuri Inside a Spaceship (a forthcoming title about two children who want to know what astronauts eat while on a mission).

They're having fun, but how much trivia they know about everything out there is staggering. Bhavna asks one particularly enthusiastic girl what she's going to be when she grows up: an astronaut, a scientist? The girl surprises us all with "no, a writer!" -- a breed most of us identify with.






Time for the prizes? Not yet, Bhavna has another surprise up her sleeve. She has brought paper rockets, colours and straws. Soon all the children are blowing into straws and launching the rockets they've just coloured. Wheee!

Meanwhile, every correct answer during the quiz has won the children a Pratham Books' title; we're happy that we've nearly run out of books. We're all taking something away -- the children have the books and we the realisation that there is so much out there we still know nothing about.



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ಕಥಾಕೂಟ: ಗಾಳಿ ಅಳೆದು, ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ ಲೆಕ್ಕ ಮಾಡೋಣವಾ?
(Let’s weigh Air, Count Footsteps)

ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ದಿನದ ಪ್ರಯುಕ್ತ ಪ್ರಥಮ್ ಬುಕ್ಸ್ ನ “ಗಾಳಿ ಏಕಿಷ್ಟು ಭಾರ”, “ನಂದಿನಿಎಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಾಳೆ” ಎಂಬ ಕಥೆಗಳನ್ನು ಓಕಳಿಪುರದ ಸರಕಾರಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬಾಲಕಿಯರ ಹಿರಿಯ ಪ್ರಾಥಮಿಕ ಶಾಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತಪಡಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಗಾಳಿಗೆ ಭಾರ ಇದೆಯಾ? ಇದ್ದರೆ ಎಷ್ಟು? ತೂಕ ಮಾಡೋಕೆ ಆಗುತ್ತಾ? ಪ್ರಯೋಗ ಮಾಡಿ ನೋಡೋಣವಾ? ಈ ಕೌತುಕದ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಕಣ್ಣರಳಿಸಿ ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು.

ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ, ಗಣಿತ ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನು ಕ್ಲಾಸಲ್ಲಿ ಕೇಳಿ, ಬರೆದು ಮುಗಿಸಿದರೆ ಒಂದೆರಡು ಅಂಕ ಹೆಚ್ಚು, ಕಡಿಮೆ ಬರಬಹುದು ಅಷ್ಟೆ. ಆದರೆ, ಮೂಲ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಗಳನ್ನು ತಮ್ಮದೇ ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅರ್ಥ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು, ಬಳಸಲು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ವಾಸ್ತವದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಯೋಗಶೀಲರಾಗಬೇಕು, ಹೆಚ್ಚೆಚ್ಚು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಗಳನ್ನು ಕೇಳುವಂತಾಗಬೇಕು. ಈ ಆಲೋಚನೆಯನ್ನು ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳ ರೂಪಕ್ಕೆ ತರುವ ಕಥೆಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಕಥಾ ಕೂಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ನೀಡಲಾಯಿತು.

ಈ ಕಥೆಗಳನ್ನು ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷಿನಿಂದ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಅನುವಾದಿಸಿರುವ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಸಂವಹನಕಾರ, ಸಂಪ ನ್ಮೂಲ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ ಕೊಳ್ಳೇಗಾಲ ಶರ್ಮ ಮಕ್ಕಳೊಂದಿಗೆ ಮಗುವೇ ಆಗಿ ಬೆರೆತು ಕಥೆ ಹೇಳಿದರು. ದಿನ ನಿತ್ಯದ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ವಿಷಯಗಳನ್ನೇ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು, ಸರಳ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಾ ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಕುತೂಹಲ ತಣಿಸಿದರು.

ಬಣ್ಣ-ಬಣ್ಣದ ಬಲೂನುಗಳನ್ನು ಊದುತ್ತಾ, ಎಳನೀರು ಕುಡಿಯುವ ಪ್ಲಾಸ್ಟಿಕ್ ಕೊಳವೆಗಳನ್ನು ಆಯತಾಕಾರದಲ್ಲಿ ಜೋಡಿಸುತ್ತಾ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಸಂತಸಪಟ್ಟರು.

ಸರಕಾರಿ ಬಾಲಕರ ಪ್ರಾಥಮಿಕ ಶಾಲೆ, ಆರ್.ಜಿ.ಅಯ್ಯಂಗಾರ್ ಅನುದಾನಿತ ಶಾಲೆಯ 120ಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಮಕ್ಕಳು, ಶಿಕ್ಷಕಿ ಪುಷ್ಪಾ, ಅನುವಾದಕ ಮಾಧವ್ ಐತಾಳ್, ಪ್ರಥಮ್ ಬುಕ್ಸ್ ನ ಹಿರಿಯ ಸಂಪಾದಕಿ ಮಾಲಾ ಕುಮಾರ್, ಕನ್ನಡ ವಿಭಾಗದ ಹೇಮಾ ಡಿ.ಖುರ್ಸಾಪುರ, ಭಾರ್ಗವಿ, ಸಮನ್ವಯಕಾರ ಕಾಶಿ ಇದ್ದರು.


“ಗಾಳಿ ಏಕಿಷ್ಟು ಭಾರ” ಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗಾಳಿಯ ಸಾಂದ್ರತೆಯನ್ನು ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮೀ ಮತ್ತು ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರು ಕಂಡು ಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದು ಹೇಗೆ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿಯಿರಿ. ತರಕಾರಿಗಳ ಭಾರಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಬಲೂನಿನ ಭಾರ ಹೆಚ್ಚೇ, ಆದರೂ ಹಗುರ ಹೇಗೆ? ಭಾರವಿದ್ದರೂ ತಕಡಿಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಬಲೂನುಗಳನ್ನಿಟ್ಟರೆ ತೂಕದ ಸೂಚಿ ಆಚೀಚೆ ಅಲುಗಾಡುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಏಕೆ? ಎಂಬಂತಹ ಸರಳ, ಕೌತುಕದ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು ಮೂಡುತ್ತವೆ.

ಇನ್ನು, ವರ್ಗೀಕರಣದ ಕಲ್ಪನೆಯನ್ನೇ ಮೂಲ ವಸ್ತುವಾಗಿಸಿ ಬರೆದಿರುವ “ನಂದಿನಿ ಎಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಾಳೆ” ಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ ಗುರುತುಗಳ ಗಾತ್ರವನ್ನು ಗುರುತಿಸುತ್ತಾ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಕಲಿಯಬಹುದು.
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Sparking curiosity through STEM books

April 5, 2018, 4:24 am
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"The soap bubble will be pink," said a little girl at the District Girls Home as author of Why are bubbles round?  Sukanya Sinha, prepared to blow a bubble with pink dye added to the soap solution.





 






At Zilla Parishad School in Pune, a group of boys said, "We can make this jar invisible now!" They had just listened to author Varsha Joshi talk about her forthcoming book The Invisibility Cloak.


















"Shh.....Simmi is listening!" I said to a group of noisy kids at the Girls Home, holding up the book by Aparna Kapur. Actually, we were very quite happy that the children were so full of questions, and not sitting quietly. You see, we were on a mission to spark curiosity. And how better to do that than to have children coming out with questions about everything under the sun! Through March, we went to several schools across cities with our authors, illustrators and storytellers to introduce our new STEM books.
 
Earlier, at the Government Boys Home, I spoke about my forthcoming book, Sir M Visvesvaraya - The Builder of Dams, Bridges and a Nation. We were delighted to hear later that the story inspired the boys and helped spark a discussion on goal setting during their therapy session. 



"They had so many questions!" said Sudha Thilak, Tamil editor, who went with storyteller Sathyanarayan, to Chudar Education Centre. She also went to other centres with the help of Pratham and Teach for India fellows in Chennai.


Author of The Drawing Game and Where is Nandini?, Anitha Murthy, shared her stories with little ones at Shishu Mandira, Bengaluru.








In Guwahati, Yasaswini Sampathkumar author of forthcoming book How heavy is air? had answers for this question: "Why is Bimla's cake so spongy?"

Srinivasan Krishnaswamy,  assistant professor at IIT Guwahati narrated the same story in Assamese, getting the students quite interested in the chemistry behind cake-making.














Vidyun Sabhaney who illustrated '3..2..1..Blast-off! used art to explain astronomy to the students of Children organization in Delhi.


















Our Kannada Editor Hema Khurshapur travelled to Shiggaon in Haveri ditrict and met governnment school teachers who were thrilled to see the STEM books. They happily read out from some books to the students. Later, the girls learnt about got immersed in the books including,  Telephones: From Bell to Cell. 

Dr. Shivani Kanodia used storytelling, songs and activities to introduce the books  Bin Aahat Sunne Pippu (Pispsqueak Hears Echoes) and Divya Ne Banaya Naksha (Divya Draws a Map) at
The Community Library Project, Delhi.
















At Chaitanya English Medium School, students had a cool time with Niloufer Wadia, illustrator of the book Let's Make Some Lime Juice and Saee Keskar, who translated it into Marathi.



The exciting world of tomorrow is closely linked to the sometimes tough world of having to learn abstract concepts of maths and science today. Could colourful, fun books help children to be ready to learn these concepts? We strongly believe so, and so we've been creating cheerful books on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

This year's list of 25 STEM books was made possible through a Cisco grant. The set includes picture books on sound, astronomy, driverless cars, kitchen science, and many more themes.  We are grateful to our authors, illustrators, translators for taking our books to children in different parts of the country. 

More sessions to spark curiosity will follow, and we will keep you posted.

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Library Love in Lucknow!

April 6, 2018, 9:02 am
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Look what popped into our inbox the other day! Our STEM libraries getting a whole lot of love in Lucknow. Last year, several organizations across India applied to receive our STEM library kit grant. Sarthak Foundation was one of these organizations. Sarthak's vision is to add significance to the lives of the underprivileged children by providing quality education. The Sarthak team sent us these pictures of the latest library installed in their Ismailganj Study Centre, Lucknow. This centre caters to the rag picker community they work with.







What is a STEM Classroom Library Kit?

The kit is a wall-mounted modular library unit that can be put up in any classroom or library. It consists of 100+ books, primarily in STEM subjects. The books cover a diverse range of topics in Maths, Science, Technology, Environment, and Emotional intelligence. Some of our colourful books are: How Far is Far (estimation of distances), I Spy (subtraction), Bonda and Devi (robots), Ammachi’s Amazing Machines (simple machines and their use), Autumn, Monsoon, Spring, Summer and Winter (seasons of India), Up World, Down World (biodiversity of canopy forests), A Cloud of Trash (Cleanliness), A Helping Hand (inclusivity and accepting differences), Reethi and Mithu, Angry Akku (handling emotions).

This library grant has been supported by Oracle.
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