On World Book Day, we are excited to launch Classics on StoryWeaver, a collection of beautifully re-illustrated storybooks for children to read and enjoy!

What are classics? 

A. Montgomery Johnston in his article ‘The Classics of Children's Literature’ describes classics as those books that have a high literary quality, great child appeal and have themes that are of universal interest. Most classics have stood the test of time and have therefore been read by several generations. 

Donna Norton in her book ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’, talks about the importance and the need of exposing children to good children's literature. She says it nurtures growth and development of personality and social skills, helps develop emotional intelligence, provides an opportunity to learn about various cultures and transmits important literature and themes from one generation to the next. In his 1970 Nobel Lecture in Literature, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said that literature can convey the life experience of one whole nation to another and thus becomes the living memory of the nation. 

Classics on StoryWeaver

Keeping all this in mind, we at StoryWeaver were looking for ways to bring some of these classics back to children who have perhaps not been introduced to them. Since all of the content on StoryWeaver is under the open Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, we looked for classics that were either out of copyright or in this open space. 

We were thrilled to find Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/), which was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. This is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks, which are digitized and diligently proofread by thousands of volunteers for enjoyment and education.  

While the stories on the Project Gutenberg platform were incredible, most of them had very few and very dated illustrations. Since StoryWeaver mostly hosts picture books for children, we decided to re-illustrate a few of these beautiful classics so that a new and younger generation would be able to read and enjoy them. 

We are also re-illustrating some children’s classics from the giants of Indian literature like Rabindranath Tagore, Munshi Premchand and Sukumar Ray and publishing them in their original language. But more about that later! 

Today, on World Book Day, we are proud to launch our Classics on StoryWeaver series with the following titles The Man in the Moon, Pussy Cat Mew, How the Whale Got his Throat, and The Rooster that Crowed Too Soon, beautifully illustrated by Sahil Shaikh, a Communication Design student from the DJ Academy of Design. 

An illustration from the storybook The Man in the Moon, written by L Frank Baum and illustrated by Sahil Shaikh

An illustration from the storybook How the Whale got his throat, written by Rudyard Kipling and illustrated by Sahil Shaikh

Do read the books on StoryWeaver and let us know what you think!  We hope you love these books as much as we do. 

---

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below! You can also reach out to us through our social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

comment (1)

---

Akoss Ofori-Mensah of Sub-Saharan Publishers is working with Neil Butcher & Associates (NBA) to research the impact of open licensing on publishing business models by sharing books in underserved local Ghanaian languages. The collaboration aims to understand how open licensing works and 'its benefits to children; especially allowing them to read stories in their own mother tongue.'

Sub-Saharan Publishers, founded by Akoss in 1992, is an indigenous Ghanaian publishing house now specializing in African children's books, African literature, literature on the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and scholarly books. The environment has always been an important theme to Sub-Saharan Publishers, as is gender. Akoss explains the reason for her emphasis on the environment.

"I love nature; I grew up in a rural community where life is dependent on nature; the forest, the rivers were protected by traditional rules. In my adult life I have seen these rules thrown to the dogs; the quest for quick riches has turned our rivers into muddy ponds and farmlands are being destroyed. The traditional environmental protection rules are no longer respected; and government is having a hard time getting its environmental laws enforced."

Sub-Saharan Publishers is trying to meet the needs of children and young people to have books that they can enjoy reading, and which represent African children and their interests.

Award-winning children’s books published by Sub-Saharan Publishers include: Kwajo and the Brassman’s Secret about Ashanti gold weights, which won the 1982 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa and the 2015 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature, which is given by the University of Oklahoma in the United States; Cat in Search of a Friend, which won the 1985 Austrian National Book Prize;  Sosu’s Call, which won several prizes; The Magic Goat, which won the 1999 Toyota Prize; Mimi Mystery, which was on the 2014 IBBY Honor List; and, most recently, Gizo Gizo, which won the Children’s Africana Best Book Award for 2017.

Until now, all books published by Sub-Saharan Publishers have been fully copyright protected. Now that Akoss has decided to experiment with open licensing, Sub-Saharan Publishers has digitized three stories based on tales from Northern Ghana—Fati and the Honey Tree, Fati and the Green Snake, and Fati and the Soup Pot.

"The FATI books were developed when Kathy Knowles, a Canadian librarian working in Ghana felt that there should be simplified stories for Ghanaian children who are just beginning to learn to read. However, she could not get a publisher in Ghana so when she came to me with the first manuscript I agreed to publish it. I found an illustrator for the book and it somehow became a success. The first book in the series was translated into French with support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through La Joie par Les Livres, A French NGO.  They are now being shared with Francophone West Africa." shares Akoss.

The Fati books have been published on StoryWeaver and will also go on the African Storybook Platform soon. These three stories are available in English and three Northern Ghanaian languages, using a CC BY licence here. 

Open licensing allows Sub-Saharan Publishers to have these books translated into other local languages and shared electronically, so that children elsewhere in Ghana and in other African countries will be able to read more culturally relevant local stories in their mother tongue. Children learn to read more effectively if they learn in their mother tongue, but very few children in developing countries have access to enough materials to support local language literacy acquisition.

"The books have also been translated into northern Ghanaian languages, namely, Dagbani, Sisali and Dagaare, three major languages in northern Ghana and since the stories are set there. I hope children in that area would now enjoy stories in their mother tongue. Open license has made it possible for children in that area to read stories in their own languages." shared the publisher.

Read more about NBA’s work in early literacy and open licensing for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, please visit the Early Literacy Resource Network: http://www.earlyliteracynetwork.org/

 

Be the first to comment.

---

StoryWeaver is celebrating #LaughterMonth to ring in the new year! Here are some books that will bring a sprinkle of laughter, a dash of chuckles and even a guffaw or two into your life. 

This illustration by ROSH originally appeared in 'The Girl Who Could Not Stop Laughing' wriiten by Meera Ganapathi and published by Pratham Books.

1. The Girl Who Could Not Stop Laughing written by Meera Ganapati and illustrated by ROSH, revolves around little T.Sundari who just can’t seem to stop laughing even when it gets her in trouble. She wonders if it's a problem that she should do something about. Her plans to control her laughter fails until she goes to her brother. Does he have a cure? Find out in this riotously lovely book here. 

2. Lesley Beake's It Wasn't Me from BookDash is beautifully illustrated book by Gwendolene van der. This cheerful book tells the tale of what happens when a mother leaves her kids and the pets home alone. What could possibly go wrong? Let’s find out here. 

3. It's All the Cat's Fault written by Anushka Ravishankar and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan is about a boy who gets scolded for not completing his homework. He, however, has a legitimate excuse! Read about what happened to him, and you'll see how one thing can lead to another, and another, and another... Find out how it all ends here. 

4. What Are These For? written by Bhavini and illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat. The cat enters the kitchen and topples all the utensils, much to the awe of the children.  The kids want to know all about the objects splattered on the floor. Bhavini's fun rhymes makes this a delightful read for children! Read the story here.

5. Achoo written by Sudhir, illustrated by Subinita Deshaprabhu and translated to English by Gouri Srinidhi. Kabir is our troubled protagonist who sneezes all the time. It makes him spill his milk, gets him thrown off the bicycle and the list just goes on! Can he stop his sneezes? Read to find out what fresh troubles his sneezes bring to him, his friends and his family! Read the story here. 

---

Do leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach out to us through our social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Be the first to comment.

---