We are delighted to host books published by the Nature Conservation Foundation, and make them available for free under the CC BY 4.0 license on StoryWeaver. We hope that our community will enjoy reading & learning more about India's wildlfe through these stories, and that they will be translated into many more languages. The first 2 books resulting through this partnership are Gyalmo, the Queen of the Mountains and  Birds That Sing Their Name.

In this post, we'll give you a closer look at the making of 'Gyalmo, Queen of the Mountains'!

About the book: Koyna and her friend Lobzang are in Spiti Valley, trying to spot the most elusive cat in the world, while Gyalmo, the snow leopard, watches from a distance as they try their best to see her. Written by Ranjini Murali and illustrated by Komal Jain.

Ranjini Murali, the author, is the Conservation Scientist at the Snow Leopard Trust. In this interview, she tells us about her fascination with the mountains and why she wrote a children's book about snow leopards.

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Tell us why you chose to write about the mountains?

This story was first written for the 'Hindu in School' newspaper supplement which was meant for children studying in Bangalore and Chennai. I wrote this story then, as I wanted to introduce children to the fascinating animals of the Trans-Himalaya.

What is the message that you hope to share through these stories?

When I was a student in Bangalore, I didn't know there were snow leopards in India, nor did I know of these stunning landscapes or the amazing biodiversity present here. Maybe children now are more aware of this, but through this story, I hope to bring a bit more awareness to these landscapes.

Illustration by Komal Jain

What inspired you to conceptualize this story?

I've worked in the Trans-Himalaya for more than 10 years now and have never really seen a snow leopard! Part of this story was inspired by my constant search to see the snow leopard. The chase sequence was inspired by an video I had seen online of a snow leopard chasing a bharal!

Illustration by Komal Jain

How did you get to know about StoryWeaver, and what prompted you to make your story available on our platform?

I knew of the amazing work that StoryWeaver was doing, making reading accessible to children everywhere, so I jumped at the opportunity when a colleague reached out to me about plans of creating books on the platform. I especially love how the stories on the platform are accompanied by amazing illustrations. I was so excited to see this story come alive through the illustrations! I also like that the stories are available to be translated, so they are accessible to more children around India.

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 Read Gyalmo, the Queen of the Mountains

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Edu-Cater, is a group of educators who are striving to create 'healthy learning environments'. They design interventions for facilitators who implement them in their respective learning environments. Each module/intervention typically spans 1-2 weeks. While their work encompasses many spaces, The Edu-Cater team strongly believes in the power of books and reading, which prompted them to start a project called Treasure Trove.

Treasure Trove sets up mini-libraries in schools or settings that have limited or no access to books. So far the team has helped set up 3 mini-libraries across Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Of the three, the team  engages closely in one of those settings as the other two spaces had all the resources except access to books, which Treasure Trove  helped them acquire.

“We work in a school called Sathya Sai school which is in semi-urban environment in North Chennai. Our target group is Class 5 children. Though this school does not have a proper library, there is tremendous support from their end to inculcate the habit of reading.”  shared Sriram Sampath, one of the founding members of Edu-Cater.  

Siram outlined what the team does via this intervention:

“In the first year of intervention (when kids are in class 5), we empower them with certain skills we deem to be most important like the ability to create, think and collaborate. In the second year of intervention (when kids move to class 6), we want them to feel confident enough to pick up books and read them.”

For both these interventions, Team Edu-Cater is using Pratham Books and StoryWeaver.

Introducing new words and books Treasure Trove shared the story  'The day the vegetables came to school' with children and using the story to introduce them to the words 'Author', 'Illustrator'  and 'Translator'.

“We gave all the children a small spiral notepad and encouraged them to maintain their own dictionary in it.” recounts Sriram. “The students carried  it with them everywhere to record new words that they come across and their meaning. During the course of sharing this story, students noted down many words that were new to them and asked us for the meanings.”

The team noted how children were excited to note down new words and curious about their meanings. “One of the boys had noted down a few words in his dictionary and had managed to locate the meanings of all the words except one during the course of the week.” remembers Sriram “The moment we entered the class at the next session, he headed straight to us and asked us for the meaning of the word!”

Children found many ways to use the notebook, with one doubling it up as a reference book. “He had drawn the parts of the brain in it.  When we asked him why he did this, he told us that he wanted to  use the book as a quick reference for tough content!”

Create your own story “We divided the children into teams and showed them the wordless version of 'The Birthday Party'. We then asked each team to come up with their own stories based on the original. It was delightful to see them express their ideas, which was the primary objective of the exercise. But what moved us was when they referred to their dictionary and introduced the new words they had learnt in the stories they weaved. It was amazing!” recounts Sriram “One group of girls was determined to use the new words that they had learnt the previous week. They created their story and were identifying spots where they could insert these new words. This sort of student ownership and little moments are what we call impact.”

When Edu-Cater asked one representative from each team to come forward and share their team’s story, more than one person came forward from each group to read out their stories.

“Many teams had more than one member reading out the stories as a result, and they took turns to do this. It really is a sign of their enthusiasm and confidence, to read!” feels Sriram.

The Treasure Trove project caters to around 85 children currently and there are plans to re-engage with last year's batch, making the total number of children impacted 170.

You can see more images from Edu-Cater sessions here: https://www.facebook.com/facilitatingisfun/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1489288461383170

The team’s future plans for class 6 include the purchase of a Library In A Classroom. “With this in the repository, we are confident that we can get the class 6 kids to pick up books of their choice and start reading!”

Good Luck to Sriram and his team! We look forward to reading more about them and their work!

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The results of the Pratham Books Retell, Remix and Rejoice contest 2016, Adult's Category are here! We know you've been waiting for the results for a really long time now and we're so, so sorry for the delay!  

Now, on to the results. This year we received a whopping 119 entries. 83 of those entries were in the Adult's Category (16 years and above) and we were pleased to see 2 Tamil stories and 2 Marathi Stories in the mix! You can see all the entries to the contest, including the Adult Category here.

CONGRATULATIONS to…

'Mr. Moon's New Friends' by Vibha Lohani and 'The Little Pup's Dream' by Rohini Lochan.

That’s right, we have two winners! Each will receive a printed copy of their winning story and a hamper of Pratham Books’ latest titles. Read on to find out who our judges were and what they had to say about the winning stories.

Arefa Tehsin spent her childhood treading the Aravali jungles with her naturalist father. As a child, she was often found trying to catch a snake or spin a yarn. She grew up to be a traveller, storyteller and was appointed the Hon. Wildlife Warden of Udaipur for a term. She is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books including The Elephant Bird. Her latest book is Wild in the Backyard published by Penguin. She writes columns and articles for various national dailies and magazines like The Hindu, Outlook Money, Deccan Herald, TerraGreen etc. A dreamer and rationalist, she is a serial traveller who wants to go on an endless journey starting with planet earth.

BAM! Books is an Instagram-led project which talks about children's and Young Adult books, curated by Bangalore-based writers Bijal Vachharajani and Maegan Dobson Sippy. Focusing largely on books with a South Asian context, BAM! aims to help parents, educators and young readers find books they can meaningfully connect to. Find out more at: https://www.instagram.com/BAM_Books/

What the judges had to say

BAM!Books

On Mr. Moon's New Friends: "A good story with strong rhymes in place." 

On The Little Pup's Dream:  "Nice simple couplets bring out the concept and a sweet resolution."

Arefa Tehsin

On Mr. Moon's New Friends: "The illustrations go very well with this poetic story about Jake who introduces the friendless moon to the creatures of the night."  

On The Little Pup's Dreams: "A pup looking for an escaped dream and his friends lending it a little bit of their magic to make it better! To know what the perfect dream is about, you'll have to read this rhythmic story right till the end."

You can find out who won the children's category over here.

A big thank you to our amazing judges for taking the time to read each entry and share their feedback and marking. Also, thanks to everyone who took part in the contest, your stories are now on StoryWeaver to share with friends, family and the entire world!

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