Pratham Books Champion : Bal Jeevan

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

The following photo story was shared by Vijay Sankaran. The storytelling session was conducted at Bal Jeevan.

Thank you Vijay, Malati and Bal Jeevan for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Surekha Pillai

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

The following photo story was shared by Surekha Pillai. 

 

Thank you Surekha for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Soraisam Devakishor Singh

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

Soraisam Devakishor Singh sent us the following photo of the storytelling session he conducted at Bal Bhavan, Imphal.

Thank you Devakishor for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Roshan Rathod

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

The following photo story was sent by Roshan Rathod.

Thank you Roshan for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Meera Damji

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

This photo story was shared by Meera Damji. The school Meera chose is a school by the railway tracks of Goregaon station. You have to cross the tracks to get there, there’s no other way. These children live in the slums by the tracks and were most creative when asked where else would they like to make kolams. The sky was the favourite. They were air drawing their kolams in the skies.

Thank you Meera for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Vishwanath S

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

Vishwanath S sent us pictures from two storytelling sessions that were conducted. Follow his tweets by following @zenrainman on Twitter.

The following photos are from the storytelling session conducted at the Govt primary School Hosagudya. 

The following photos are from the storytelling session at Govt. Primary school Byrapura.

Thank you Vishwanath for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Shwetasree Majumder

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

Shwetasree Majumder shared the following pictures from her storytelling session in Noida. Shwetasree is a lawyer with an 8 year old boy. The event was conducted on 8th September in Noida. 

There were 8 kids and after the reading my friend Aparna Rajagopal did a kolam demonstration and a Bengali alpana demonstration using both media of rice paste and chalk powder. After teaching the kids the basics of the technique we let them run riot and make their own kolams/ alpanas.

Thank you Swetasree for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Ekta Mundra

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

The following photo was shared by Ekta Mundra. Ekta conducted her storytelling session in Udaipur on 8th September, 2012.

Thank you Ekta for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Radhika Ganganna

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

This photo story was sent to us by Radhika Ganganna.

Thank you Radhika for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champions : Sujatha Padmanabhan and Sanjay Sondhi

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

Sujatha Padmanabhan wrote to us about the storytelling session conducted by her and Sanjay Sondhi on 8th September, 2012.

Sanjay Sondhi and I were busy planning for two nature camps for children to be held in Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, when Mala Kumar from Pratham Books wrote to me about International Literacy Day and the reading sessions being planned across the country. I bounced the idea off Sanjay and we both readily agreed to be part of the event. We anyway had a story reading session (The giving tree) in our programme! The workshop and camps were funded by the Shergaon Forest Division and the organization was done with help from the Bugun Welfare Society, Ecosystems-India and Titli Trust. 

The two nature camps were held at Lama Camp from the 6th to the 12th  of September. These were attended by 47 children and four teachers from four nearby schools. With each group we had a story telling session which included three stories: The giving Tree, Chuskit goes to school (in Hindi), and Susheela’s Kolam (the last two are publications by Pratham Books).

The children were enthused about being part of an International Literacy event. Illustrations were projected on a screen for The giving tree and Susheela’s Kolam while they were read out. Some of the children recognized Chuskit goes to school as this story is in the class 4 EVS text book.

Thank you Sujata and Sanjay for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : VIDYA Mumbai

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

VIDYA Mumbai sent us the following report about the storytelling sessions conducted. They conducted 6 sessions totally - 3 on 7th September and 3 on 8th September. They wrote:

VIDYA Mumbai celebrated World Literacy Day on September 7 and 8 across all its programs in Mumbai.

We joined hands with the Pratham Read Aloud Event to mark the ocassion.

Teachers,volunteers, professionals joined 'hands' to hold up books and read in communities and in schools for the less priveleged.

Often the sessions ended with children reading to the rest of their friends! Wonderful drawings emerged in response to the stories, songs and drama.

The books read at the Powai community Programs reached out to 300 number of children.

Shared Reading with the Big book and audio visual books was taken to schools in the Chaitanya Nagar Community.

At the Bhavishya Yaan, the Read Aloud created fun and joy more than 700 children across 6 schools.

Volunteers, teachers and children participated whole heartedly in this event.

Thank you VIDYA Mumbai for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Shipra R. Upadhyay

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

This story was sent by Shipra R. Upadhyay. Shipra R. Upadhyay is a history graduate form Nowrosjee

Wadia College. She further went on studying law and archaeology. A film and theatre enthusiast, since last seven years, she has been involved in documenting oral tradition. She tries to explore the idea of art, culture, tradition, custom, and sexuality in archaeological, historical, psychological and legal perspective. She has also worked on a small project titled Drug Addiction and Its Psycho-Social Impact on Youth. At present she is working towards a documentary film and a narrative monologue based on three prominent Hindu mythological female characters. She is also in the process of compiling the stories and tales which she has learned from her grandmother.

When we look around us we see that the children of this era are going through a great emotional crisis. We are providing everything readymade to them without realizing what they really need. When we say that that “today’s generation is not listening “, in fact we are partially wrong. We have never made them listen. All we are trying to do is to follow order…Do this… do that… manner we have instilled in our children..!!! How many of us ask our child to go and sit with granny or grandpa or any elderly person at home. Never or hardly, have we never thought about it that a child needs some emotional connect. I still remember my grandmother’s bedtime stories and lullabies. Memory of that moment adds a lilt in feet and a twinkle in my eyes. And it gives me immense pleasure when I share a story with a child. The story telling session for Pratham Books on 8th September just happened it was not organized. With a beautiful story “Susheela's Kolams' in my mind I boarded the train from Baroda to Pune. My happiness had no limit when I noticed a family travelling with two kids up to Pune. I generously offered them my window seat to them since children love to explore the landscape form the running train. As well behaved kids they were exploring the landscape from the window. Suddenly we broke into conversation about their hobbies and interests. And it was not very different to learn about all types of video games and computer games were their favorite games. A school teacher Mom never got time to tell them stories. The time they spent at home was only with books and games. As brief as I could have been, I explained their mother about the significance of storytelling and the story of Susheela's Kolams which I had in my mind. She was thrilled to know about this initiative and narrated the story to the kids in Gujarati. They not only turned best companion for that short journey but we shared many other stories. That was the biggest event and I always cherish those moments in my journey ahead…!!! 

Thank you Shipra for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Janahitha

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

Mr. Bheemasen A Kulkarni left a comment on our blog post saying he was interested in conducting storytelling sessions in Raichur. This was again at a time when we were closing entries for participation. We called him anyway and he said that he would be able to get volunteers to conduct storytelling sessions in 40 villages! Talk about real impact!

He sent us the following report and story : 

Thank you Bheemasen and Janahitha for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Srushti Mahamuni

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

The following story was sent by Srushti Mahamuni. She is a masters student of women's studies at the University of Pune. She enjoys working and spending time with children, the best. In her free time she loves to learn new languages, dance, read and travel. Get a glimpse into her world on http://srushtimahamuni.blogspot.in/.

She wrote...

The event was held, on 8th September, with 20 children from an NGO called Sparsh Balgram in Pune, Maharashtra. The NGO works with children who are affected with HIV AIDS. 

The children were aged 5 to 15 and all of them enjoyed the session. 

We made rangolis of different colours and dicussed their hobbies. We also danced at the end of the session. 

It was a very interesting session as the children were very interactive and awesome! 

 
They were very happy to have us, and liked that they got some more books for their library.

**********

Thank you Srushti for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Bano Haralu

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

Bano Haralu sent us this photo story.

Thank you Bano for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Rashmi Virendra

For International Literacy Day (8th September), we had a dream - we wished that 100 people would volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We ended up finding more than 250 champions to conduct storytelling sessions across the country. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

This photo story was sent by Rashmi Virendra from Indore.

Thank you Rashmi for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.