Pratham Books Champion : Neelam Joshi

This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

This story was shared by Neelam Joshi.

Today I conducted a storytelling session at G. R. Palkar School, Karvenagar, Pune in the morning. The children enjoyed the story of Paplu a lot. They enacted what giants do - roaring laughter, long fangs, horns (!!). They also enjoyed saying magical words along with me. It was my first time telling a story to a large group of 46 children and was little apprehensive about their reaction. I was plesanatly surprised to see their reaction. A twinkle in their eyes as they were immersed in the imagination, a little giggle, their imitation of my mimicry act. Overall, a very fulfilling experience.

As part of the session, the kids did collage of Paplu, the giant. Each group of children was given a chart paper. One of the kid in each group volunteered to be
the Paplu, by sleeping on the chart paper, while others drew his/her body outline. Later, Paplu's clothes were glued together as a collage by using assorted paper strips, just like the tailors in the story.

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to conduct this session. 

Thank you Neelam 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.