Pratham Books Champion : Books for All

Books for All has been a Pratham Books Champion for a few years now. They sent us the first set of pictures from the sessions that took place at 3 of their centres in Noida.

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Thank you Books for All team for spreading the joy of stories.

In its fifth edition of the 'One Day - One Story' campaign, Pratham Books was joined by 3000+ storytellers who conducted 3200+ storytelling sessions. Many, many steps towards a 'Reading India'! 

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. In 2012, Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day . We will be sharing the stories of all our volunteer storytellers (Pratham Books Champions) through our blog. View more stories from the International Literacy Day Celebrations held in 2016. 

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 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 champions(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Project Mala

The Children Emancipation Society (Project Mala Schools) conducted 6 sessions this year : 5 in Mirzapur and 1 in Varanasi. Here are some of the initial photos we've received from their sessions.

School in Guria

School in Mujhera

School in Patehra

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Thank you Project Mala for spreading the joy of stories.

In its fifth edition of the 'One Day - One Story' campaign, Pratham Books was joined by 3000+ storytellers who conducted 3200+ storytelling sessions. Many, many steps towards a 'Reading India'! 

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. In 2012, Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day . We will be sharing the stories of all our volunteer storytellers (Pratham Books Champions) through our blog. View more stories from the International Literacy Day Celebrations held in 2016. 

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 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 champions(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champions : Oracle

Nupur Vimal from Oracle sent us the following notes and images of sessions conducted by employees of Oracle India. Multiple storytelling sessions were conducted across Delhi and the NCR region.

Date : 11th September

Location : Vidya & Child (NGO), Noida
No. of students: 280
No. of Oracle volunteers: 10

From the Prioritize Humanity page :

In association with Pratham Books, this was a learning experience for all and an innovative method of storytelling through role play and acting. We spoke about key takeaways: importance of being happy, sharing and caring, helping others, being obedient children, goal setting, dream building and virtue of patience in life.The kids, volunteers and teachers all had a great time.

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Date : 18th September

Location : MCD school in East of Kailash, Delhi

Number of children : 40
Number of volunteers : 15

We had another storytelling session today at an MCD school in East of Kailash, Delhi. We addressed nearly 40 children, with special needs and different learning capabilities. They loved the session. This time we used props as well. Thank you for this amazing concept. Our volunteers love this activity and are enthusiastic about inculcating it in our upcoming projects as well.

From the Prioritize Humanity page :  After initial introductions, we conducted a storytelling session on the book: ‘The Boy and the Drum’, through a role play. We followed it up with an extensive storytelling session through mimicry, art & craft, drawing, sketching and other innovative ways, to impart key messages. We also distributed a lot of useful stationery items to them. The children, teachers as well as the volunteers loved the session.

You can view more pictures from the session here.

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The 3rd session was conducted by an Oracle volunteer with her husband, in Gurgaon, where they enacted the story to around 10 kids.

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Thank you Nupur for helping coordinate these sessions and a big shout out to all the Oracle employees who took part to spread the joy of reading.

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In its fourth edition of the 'One Day - One Story' campaign, Pratham Books was joined by 2500+ storytellers who conducted 2300+ storytelling sessions. Many, many steps towards a 'Reading India'! 

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. In 2012, Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day . We will be sharing the stories of all our volunteer storytellers (Pratham Books Champions) through our blog. 

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations held in 2015. 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 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 champions(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Elizabeth Philip

This story was sent by Elizabeth Philip. Once upon a time Elizabeth Philip taught English and History in school. Now she tells stories to school children in Kanpur. 

Session conducted on : 2nd September
Number of kids : 26
Number of sessions : 1
Language the session was conducted in : English and Hindi

Elizabeth writes ...

My Takloo bag is ready. Banner, purse with coins, pot, photocopied pictures,flashcards,Takloo on a stick, a packet of salt, container, bowls( for a game) and the book, of course. Have I forgotten anything?

Takloo’s first stop is St. Mary’s Orthodox High School in Koyla Nagar,run by our church. The building is still under construction. The session commenced in April this year. There are 26 children in the Activity Room.

It’s time to begin the kahaani. I tell the children that there’s no raja and no rani but there is T_______.

Guess who? Turtle... tiger... tortoise ...Names of people are extracted with great difficulty. A teacher reminds them of a lesson from their readers and then some names come pouring forth Teenu, Tom, Tommy...

And then I reveal the name of the star of the day T...T...Takloo! Much laughter.

But they haven’t yet seen him or the book cover as yet.

We play Kaun Banega Toffeepati to guess who Takloo is. The clue is - he is vey hoshiyaar.

There are 4 options

1. Takloo ek pyaara sa kutta hai                  2. Takloo choron ka sardar hai

3. Takloo paanch saal ka bachha hai           4. Takloo ek seth hai jiske paas badi car hai

The child guesses right and he gets 4 toffees!!

O.K. Now you know 2 things about Takloo - He’s 5 years old and he’s clever.

What else would you like to know about him?

The children ask questions:

Where does he live?

What are his parents like?

Where does he study?

What is his address?

There’s a matka rhyme when Takloo is looking for a pot:

Alag alag aakar ke matke

Kuch bade, kuch chote matke

Kuch neeche rakhein hain aur kuch beech mein atke

Ho matke hi matke

Haan matke hi matke

Yahaan par mat lagana tum latke jhatke

Agar toot gaye matke to mummy pakad ke patke.

We have a little song:

Aasmaan mein taare timtim karte hain

Takloo ke batue mein paise chhan chhan karte hain

Taalaab kinaare medhak tarrate hain

Aur hum sab milke yeh geet gaate hain

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Thank you Elizabeth for spreading the joy of reading !

In its third edition of the 'One Day - One Story' campaign, Pratham Books was joined by 1300+ storytellers who conducted 1500+ storytelling sessions. More than a 1000 steps towards making reading contagious.

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. In 2012, Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day . We will be sharing the stories of all our volunteer storytellers (Pratham Books Champions) through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations held in 2014.

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 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 champions(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Under the Magic Tree

Shalini V Bansal from 'Under the Magic Tree' conducted 2 storytelling sessions this year. Shalini is a Storyteller and Designs and conducts program for Early Development Learning. Having gained exposure and experience in India and the US, Shalini brings her deep passion and love for children in her programs offered through Under the Magic Tree and PlayLabs India. Under the Magic Tree conducts Story Time and musical programs. PlayLabs offers interactive programs for babies and toddlers focused on Early Learning through fun activities designed to enhance physical, social, language, sensory and music/rhythm development in children.

Session 1 conducted on : 6th September

Number of kids : 88

Number of sessions : 1

Language the session was conducted in : 

Session 2  conducted on : 7th September

Number of kids : 30

Number of sessions : 1

Language the session was conducted in : 

The first session took place at Sri Satya Sai Baal Vikaas School (Noida) and the second session took place at Oxford Book Store (New Delhi) for children from ANK India NGO.

At both the sessions the response and the participation from the children was very enthusiastic. We 

started with the discussion on the geographic location of Anjarle and the culture of Maharashtra. Children came up with the description and culture of their own villages and that sure was a learning 

for me. Also, we discussed and enacted different animals the children had seen in their villages.

One thing which was common in both the sessions was the hearty laugh they had on hearing the name “Takloo”. Children loved the illustration of Banabai. After the story we all tried selling the salt 

and/ or any other thing in their own style. 

It was truly fun, pleasure and a heart touching experience.

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Thank you Shalini and Under the Magic Tree for spreading the joy of reading!

In its third edition of the 'One Day - One Story' campaign, Pratham Books was joined by 1300+ storytellers who conducted 1500+ storytelling sessions. More than 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. In 2012, Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day . We will be sharing the stories of all our volunteer storytellers (Pratham Books Champions) through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations held in 2014.

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 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 champions(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champions : Project Mala

This story was sent to us by Project Mala.Project Mala runs their own school and also provides free education, nutrition and healthcare to around 1200 children in 6 schools. Learn more about their work at www.projectmala.org.uk.

Number of children reached through the campaign
1. Project Mala School, Guria Village - 320
2. Bihara Village - 1000+ (Including villagers)
3. Project Mala School, Mujehra Village - 150
4. Mujehra Kala Village - 1000+ (Including Villagers)

In total around 2500 persons including children and villagers.

Four sessions at the following places in Uttar Pradesh
1. Project Mala School, Guria Village (Varanasi District)
2. Bihara Village (Varanasi District)
3. Project Mala School, Mujehra Village (Mirzapur District)
4. Mujehra Kala Village (Mirzapur District)

The sessions were conducted in Hindi.

Apart from telling stories, we did some extra activities in three centres as briefed below.
1. Project Mala School, Guria Village (Varanasi District) – Story Telling, Painting And Rangoli, Road Procession of 3 KMS with slogans
2. Bihara Village (Varanasi District) - Story Telling, Mehandi, Singing, Dancing and One act Play
3. Project Mala School, Mujehra Village (Mirzapur District) – Story Telling
4. Mujehra Kala Village (Mirzapur District) - Story Telling, Singing, Dancing and One act Play

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On International Literacy Day (2013), 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. In 2013, over a 1000 sessions were happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

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.