IMPORTANT UPDATE: CONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED TO AUGUST 30, 2017

Here’s your chance to illustrate a book for Pratham Books' StoryWeaver and get paid for it! 

Some of us look at the word “tree” and doodle this:

And others conjure up something like this:

 

(Illustration by Archana Sreenivasan from 'Let's Go Seed Collecting')

or this:

(Illustration by Vinayak Varma from 'Jadav and the Tree Place')

If you belong to the second category, then this contest is right up your alley!

Who is Ameena?

We have got a fabulous story coming up - 'What is Ameena Upto?', written by Roopa Banerjee. It is a charming story about a girl called Ameena and the antics she gets up to when her family isn't looking. We know Ameena is a mischievous little girl with a big imagination. But what does she look like? What does her family and her home look like? All of that is up to you! This is your chance to illustrate a children’s book for Pratham Books StoryWeaver!

Here is an extract from the story ‘What is Ameena Upto?’

Everyone’s wondering what Ameena is up to on a sleepy Sunday afternoon. After all, where did the coconut shell, the paint, the buttons, and newspaper go?

The contest will be judged by award-winning illustrator, art director, writer, editor and overall publishing rockstar, Vinayak Varma. If we like your Ameena and vision the most, you will be chosen to sign a contract with us. You will get two months to illustrate the whole book, which will be published by Pratham Books on StoryWeaver. And yes, it’s a paid contract.

This is a Level 1 story, which is for children who are eager to begin reading. This is how pages of level 1 books look:

(From 'What If?', written and illustrated by Hari Kumar Nair)

Contest Guidelines

• The contest will run from August 9-30, 2017.

• Please send your illustration notes to [email protected].

• Participants must be over the age of 17 to participate.

• By submitting your original art work to 'Who is Ameena?' 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.

Format

• Size of illustration: 11.17 inches (width) x 5.35 inches (height). This is the recommended size as it fits neatly into one of the templates on StoryWeaver. 

• The illustrations should be high-res (150-300 dpi).

• Format: JPEG

• File size for each illustration: Between 2 to 4 MB; above 4 MB will slow down the upload process

For any queries, write to us at [email protected]!

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Pratham Books intern Rahel Rao, puts together some stories guaranteed to make you guffaw and giggle!

One of the most popular sayings in the world is: laughter is the best medicine. With this in mind, we have compiled a list of hilariously told and beautifully illustrated stories that will surely make you smile and brighten up your day!

1. सोना की नाक बड़ी तेज (Sona’s Smart Nose) by Vinita Krishna and Suvidha Mistry

Sona’s strong nose can smell all the amazing flavours of the chuskis (or golas) in her uncle’s shop. But wait! Something also smells bad! Can Sona figure out what it is?

2. ಕಣ್ಣಾಮುಚ್ಚಾಲೆ   (I Spy!) by Samvida Venkatesh and Sandhya Prabhat; translated by Asha Yogendra

Play a game of I Spy! with Sania, on her birthday. Can you and Sania find all eight friends in this beautifully illustrated book, while learning subtraction at the same time?

3. Kallu’s World 3 - Mangu Mali and the Ambia Bhoot by Subhadra Sen Gupta and Tapas Guha

Join Kallu and his friends in his third adventure in the series as they try to get juicy mangoes from Mangu Mali’s haunted tree. It is a colourfully illustrated, hilarious story, sure to bring a smile onto your face.

4. వార్షిక క్షవర దినం (Annual Haircut Day) by Rohini Nilekani and Angie & Upesh; translated by Ambika Ananth

It is the day Sringeri Srinivas gets his annual haircut. But, when he asks people to cut his hair, nobody has the patience. He finally ends up finding help in the most unexpected place.

5. Mr. Anand has an Adventure by Mala Kumar, Manisha Chaudhry, and Satya Krishna Prakash

The adventurous Mr. Anand finds Greeno when going on a walk in the forest. Greeno is crying and, when Mr. Anand agrees to help, their adventure begins.

6. आकऽछी! आऽऽ क् ऽऽछी! (Hatchu! Ha-aaa-tchu!) by Sharada Kolluru and Lavanya Karthik; translated by Sandhya Taksale

Hatchuram’s sneezes are so loud, they disrupt the entire village, from the milkman, to the peacocks, to the earthworms and the mice. How does the village respond to this? Find out in this colourfully illustrated story.

7.   டொக் டொக்! (Tok Tok) by Vidhya Pradhan and Reshma Barve; translated by N. Chokkan

There is a loud noise and it’s keeping the king awake. Join the kingdom as they try to find out what is making the loud noise that keeps their king awake, making him cranky the next day.

8. Tommy and Tingu by Kanchan Bannerjee and Natasha Mehra

Tommy’s owner has a friend called Rohan. Rohan’s cat is called Tingu. In this cute, short story, find out why exactly Tommy is scared of Tingu. This is a perfect book to read-aloud to children.  

9. खोदकर भोवरा पंबरम (Pambaram, the Naughty Top) by Kavitha Punniyamurthi and Ajanta Guhathakurta; translated by Sushrut Kulkarni

When Pambaram the top is spun after years, he begins spinning everywhere, out of excitement. Chase him along with Priya and Bala, trying to catch him and stop him from making a mess everywhere.

10. ಹೀಗಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ? (What if?) by Hari Kumar Nair; translated by Aparna Prasanna

In this story, born out of Shyam’s wild imagination, he thinks about what his life would be like if all his features were different. What would life be like if his legs were as long as building; or his teeth so strong, he could bite into anything! Beautifully illustrated, it is a great book to read aloud.    

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As part of StoryWeaver’s Freedom to Read 2020, the Institute for Multilingual Education (IMLi) has translated and created an open digital library of 100 storybooks in Kolami - a vulnerable indigenous language from Maharashtra. These books include bilingual Kolami-Marathi books. The digital storybooks were launched at the District Institute for Education and Teacher Training (DIET), Yavatmal on February 17, 2020, with chief guest Hon. Shri. Dipak Chavne (District Education Officer, Yavatmal) and keynote speaker, Dr. Prashant Gawande (Senior Lecturer, DIET, Yavatmal). Certificates were handed out to the educators who participated in the translation process and a reading session was conducted for Kolami children from schools in the district.

Here is an interview with Alaknanda Sanap, the founder of IMLi.

Do tell us about the IMLi - Institute of Multilingual Education, its vision, and the communities that you engage with.

The Institute for Multilingual Education (IMLi) is a registered trust working towards education and language education in India. While it has been active since 2017, it has been registered in 2018 by a group of social activists. They believe in the vision of the organization ‘to support and promote reading and multilingual education in the country with a view to promoting children's learning, engaging with community knowledge and culture and all-round development’. They believe this can be achieved through both academic pursuits such as research in language development, or through creation of multilingual books for children and through programmatic interventions such as teacher capacity building programs and advocacy. 

IMLi has helped set up mini-libraries in anganwadis and school in Baramati district of Pune and trained anganwadi (pre-school) teachers on early childhood education and early literacy. They have created videos for readlongs for select books, and are in the process of creating supportive material for teachers to adopt MLE better in schools. 

How did you come across StoryWeaver? What prompted you to enter into a collaboration?

IMLi had collaborated with a few organizations in Maharashtra who had translated books for tribal children and it was seen that these played a very good role in improving children's engagement with books and reading. When the Freedom to Read campaign was announced, it was felt that a similar effort could be undertaken for languages which really needed more books. 

Do tell us about the Kolam community and their language. What resources are currently available? What are the challenges faced by Kolami children when they enter school?

The Kolams are a relatively small tribal group, spread across 4 states of south central India i.e. Andhra  Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Until as recently as the 1940s, they typically practiced slash and burn farming and foraging, and were reluctant in intermingling or settling down. As such, in Maharashtra, they are part of the subcategory of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG), that are accorded more attention and support from the government for many welfare schemes. They are renowned for their familiarity with the jungle and skill in divination and the propitiation of local gods, particularly gods holding sway over forests and hills. Now, most of them are found in villages and plains where they work as tenant farmers or agricultural labourers, and a very small number of Kolams live in hill settlements. Some of them own the land they cultivate. They are scattered over a large area.

The Kolami language is part of the Dravidian language families, and as such, bears little to no resemblance with the state language of Marathi. Kolami children face a steep challenge when they enter formal centers of education such as anganwadi or school, as simple instructional words are also different. 

What are the benefits of creating a local digital library of storybooks in Kolami?

If Kolami children get child-friendly reading material in addition to the syllabus, such as songs and stories, they will happily and easily familiarize themselves with Marathi letters and words. We have created and published bilingual books in Kolami-Marathi and books in Kolami on StoryWeaver. 

Within Maharashtra, the Kolams are spread over three districts, and there are close to 200 primary schools with predominantly Kolami speaking children across the districts of Yavatmal, Chandrapur and Nanded, with close to 3500 children. These Kolami bilingual books can be used by teachers to support early literacy skills, and reading and writing instruction in classrooms

Photos from a Kolami reading session at DIET Yavatmal, held to mark the launch of an open digital library of 100 Kolami storybooks.

Tell us about the process of translation, and about the team that worked on this project.

IMLi reached out to the government teachers from the Kolam community, through the District Institute of Education and teacher training. The teachers were very happy to be part of such an initiative and enthusiastically agreed as this "was for the benefit of our children". Teachers passed on the word and referred each other and eventually 10 teachers were finalized to be part of the first workshop. While the initial plan was to translate the 100 books in phases, the enthusiastic support of the teachers made it possible to undertake the entire translation in one go, over the course of 2 workshops in a week. IMLi shared the importance of multilingual storybooks and helped the teachers understand the key points for translating for children. The workshop happened in mid September and was spread over a week. 

Many of the teachers had translated the school textbooks in Kolami and had been part of other translation and literature collecting efforts in the community. Another round of review workshops was held in October when four of these senior teachers were invited to review the translations. These 2 workshops were also held across a week. 

The translation team of educators at work, giving children access to storybooks in Kolami - a vulnerable indigenous language of Maharashtra.

After this, the reviewed translations were typed and first drafts of all books were prepared. After discussions, it was decided that most of the books should adopt a Marathi-Kolami layout and only a few books should be made in purely Kolami. 

The draft Kolami books were then proofread with a team of volunteers who are working on a field research project on the Kolam community. Thus, after many rounds, the final books were prepared. 

Storybooks in Kolami and Marathi-Kolami translated by Team IMLi

How do you hope to reach more children through your books in Kolami? How do you see the books being used by educators?

We plan to reach out to the Education Department and the Tribal Department to explore opportunities of collaboration. The Departments support publication and dissemination of books and story-readers for children in their respective schools. IMLi can also support the adoption of these books with teacher training sessions on pedagogy for integrating books in language learning.

Thank you so much, Alaknanda and Team IMLi, for giving children the #FreedomToRead in Kolami! 

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You can read the storybooks translated by IMLi here.

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