At Pratham Books, we love visiting schools, reading out our stories, and conversing with the children and teachers. It’s a great way to collect feedback, understand how our stories are perceived, and reconnect with our purpose. And so, a few weekends back, a sunny Saturday morning found us outside the colourful Sujana Convent School for a story reading session with Oracle. Oracle supports the development and creation of our STEM books.  The read aloud was organised with the help of Mantra4Change.

At this event, we decided to simply observe and left the story telling and activities to be carried out by the very enthusiastic Oracle volunteers who joined us.

We carried with us ‘A Butterfly Smile’ by Mathangi Subramanian for the 6th grade class, and ‘A Cloud of Trash’ by Karanjeet Kaur for the 5th grade class.

The 6th graders immediately found the colourful butterflies and bright faces in the story charming, and were soon listening intently to the volunteers. Keen ears and peeled eyes followed Kavya’s story as she recollects leaving her peaceful village for crowded and noisy Bangalore in search of water, deals with her peers, and struggles to confidently share her knowledge about butterflies. The Oracle volunteers had an interesting discussion with the kids about the kinds of butterflies they’ve seen and admired, and how to be brave in front of new friends. With the lovely colours, relatable experiences, and simple but interesting knowledge about butterflies, the story was an immediate hit with all the kids. By this time they were excited about the activity and raring to go. Armed with stationery and butterfly outlines, they had a fun time creating and naming their own paper butterfly parks.

At the same time, the 5th graders were entering Cheeko’s world, where her casual littering habits have created a monstrous cloud of trash that follows her around and acts as a major obstacle in all her relationships. At the end of the read aloud, the children were given stationery, and asked to come up with posters telling people not to litter. Whether it was Cheeko’s experience, or their own observations, they were all brimming with ideas and opinions, and words and drawings were flowing freely. There were some strong slogans expressing great disdain for this sort of thoughtless behaviour. It was a lovely experience being able to witness their discussions and hear the conviction in their beliefs.

We snapped many photographs of the kids work, and had a quick snack break, and before we knew it, it was time to pack up and leave.

We all took different things back with us from the story telling session, and left excited about visiting again.

To see more images from the workshop, click here.

We thank volunteers from Oracle Bangalore for their time and enthusiasm for this session.

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It's Inktober, and we wanted to celebrate the amazing illustrators that we get to work with here at Pratham Books' StoryWeaver. If you're on Instagram, check out cool Instagram takeovers by some of our illustrators. We wanted to explore working styles, processes and more on our blog, so we got chatting with illustrator Bhavana Vipparthi. Read on! 

Bhavana Vyas Vipparthi, has lived and studied in Bangalore all her life. Having finished a Fine Arts course at Srishti, School of Art Design And Technology, she went on to do a masters in animation film design at NID in Ahmadabad. Her mind is now consumed by her terribly talkative two and a half year old son, a perfect dog, and a fellow animator husband. She makes up a million stories a day to stay sane. You can find their work on https://vimeo.com/thestudiospaceman

At what stage of the visualising process do you come up with the medium in which you choose to illustrate?

When I read the story, certain things pop out in terms of visual interest. In ‘A Cloud of Trash’, the big cloud of garbage hanging over Chikoo’s head was a great hook. I figured the most interesting way to show garbage isn't a drawing of garbage, but the real trash itself. The rest flowed from there.

 

Do you invent a backstory for the character in your head?

You do tend to find a way to identify with the characters when you design them. What they might be like, what they would wear or how they would express emotions. Unknowingly people you know or bits if your own memory fill in those gaps to make the character a real person.

Who are some illustrators whose work you admire?

Dave McKean is a brilliant mixed media illustrator and comic book artist. I can pour over his pictures for hours enjoying how he has constructed the images. Emily Gravett is another wonderful artist. I really admire her lines.

What do you find exciting about working with mixed media?

I enjoy the little bits of reality that the image has. It makes for a topsy turvy world. It's interesting to me to sit with a page and wander around the image and see different things. I find mixed media allows me that space to play with different textures and perspectives to generate interest.

What was the first character you remember making up in your head?

This is very hard. I really can't remember the very first. They all live with me on a daily basis. When you have a kid, everything is a character. The cardboard tube is a rocket that talks back. The plastic zebra and elephant are having a chat by the river...

At what point in your life did you know that illustrating is what you wanted to do?

I was very lucky to have had a wonderful teacher at Srishti. Soumitro Sarkar, was an illustrator and a fantastic teacher. I think he was the reason I understood that the kind or art that I like to make and all the stories I have in my head were welcome in the land of illustration.

Could you tell us a little about what you're working on now?

Currently I am working on illustrating a book, about an absent minded Ajja ,who is turning the house upside down in search of his umbrella:)

Do you have any advice for illustrators who are just starting out?

Find something about the story that you connect with. A place, a character or even an emotion that you can identify with. Then take that and play. I always start my ideas from there.

You can read 'A Cloud of Trash' in 15 languages on StoryWeaver.

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CONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 30TH, 2017

September 30th is celebrated around the world as International Translation Day. At Pratham Books StoryWeaver we take translations very seriously! After all, it’s thanks to them that we’re able to take books to so many children across India, in a language they understand.

While children love to read stories and be read to, they also love to hear and see stories enacted! Which is why this year, for International Translation Day, we thought it was time to find and share more engaging, multilingual video resources with our community. That’s where you come in!

The StoryWeaver StoryCorner contest

It’s simple, we’re sharing a list of some of our original language and translated books which we think lend themselves beautifully to reading aloud. We want you to send us a video of yourself enacting the story or reading it out loud in the most engaging way possible. The best entry will win a book hamper from Pratham Books and a signed illustration by celebrated children’s book illustrator Rajiv Eipe.

Contest Guidelines and Rules

1. Contest is open from September 30 - October 30th, 2017

2. All entries must be uploaded to YouTube and the YouTube link shared with us along with a small note about yourself and the title of the story you chose via email to [email protected]

3. Entries must not be longer than 7 mins

4. Entries of the stories shared on this page alone will be considered for the competition.

5. Contestants must be 18 years and above to participate.

6. Participants can submit more than one entry.

7. Prizes can only be couriered to an address in India.

Tips and Tricks 

1. Make sure you practice before filming. In front of the mirror or use your cats and kids as an audience.

2. Set your camera in landscape mode (horizontal)

3. Find a quiet space to film. Avoid filming near windows or in common shared spaces.

4. To reduce ambient noise, switch off fans, air conditioners and mixer grinders!

5. Remember your story could be used by our outreach partners in the classrooms they teach in. So while you might be telling the story to your camera, imagine there’s a bunch of kids listening! Really TELL the story.

Here are the books you can choose from

Pehelwanji learns a slippery lesson Available in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu and Telugu.

Not now, Not now in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Odia, Telugu

Ting, Tong Telugu, Marathi, Eng-Kannada, Eng-Tamil, Eng-Hindi

I Want That One Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu

Satya, Watch Out! Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil

Doong, Doong, Dum, Dum Hindi, Marathi, English-Hindi, English-Marathi, Juanga-Odia

Gulli’s Box of Things Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Odia, Telugu, Gujarati

Mouse in the House Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada

Angry Akku Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil

Aunty Jui’s Baby Marathi, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Urdu

Smart Sona Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil

Ghum Ghum Gharial’s Amazing Adventure Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil

Tok Tok Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu

Asila Basila Uthila Jaucha Kui-Odia, Hindi, Marathi

What Happened to the Old Shawl? Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi

Translations of these stories in other languages do exist, however these are by community members. Do try and choose a story from the above list that has a ‘Recommended’ tag. If you can’t find the story you’d like to narrate in a language you’re fluent in, then do go ahead and translate the story on StoryWeaver and then use it!

You can download and print the story (or stories) you will be reading aloud, or read them from a mobile phone or tablet.

Here’s a fantastic read aloud by Pratham Books editor and author extraordinaire Mala Kumar for inspiration.

If you have any questions do write to us at [email protected]

 

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