I have been wanting to write about Pratham Books, which is an NGO doing some wonderful work in promoting reading among children. I waited a while as I wanted to pick up the books and get a personal idea before writing about it :).
First here's the information given at Blogadda:
Activity: Pratham Books was set up in 2004, as part of the Read India movement, a nation- wide campaign to promote reading among children. Pratham Books is a not-for-profit organization that publishes quality books for children in multiple Indian languages. Our mission is to see "a book in every child's hand" and democratize the joy of reading.
In the last 6 years we have published over 200 titles in upto 11 languages and have spread the joy of reading to over 12 million children!
Details: Read about our why we are using Creative Commons here: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/24780
Support: reading, literacy, education, kidlit, children's literature, publishing
Note: We have put a lot of our content under the Creative Commons framework and we have begun to see success with this. Which means that we make our stories and illustrations available under an open license model and the larger community can then repurpose our content to create something completely new and thus contribute to the cause of a book in every child's hand. Our books have been adapted by our community into a range of new creations from audio and Braille books for the print-impaired, to iPad and iPhone applications - all to reach every child in India.
We are hoping that many more people can come forward and help translate/remix/re-purpose/distribute our Creative Commons licensed content.
This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. I am exercising my BSR. You can too with three simple steps. Visit http://www.blogadda.com/bsr/ and support the NGO's.
And here's my personal take:
This amazing initiative brings out books for as low as Rs. 10 and gives so much variety at prices like Rs. 20, 25 that I sat down on a stool and looked through the collection at Sapna Book House in Jayanagar for quite a while before "settling" for some of them. And there were still so many books left in the pile I'll definitely have to go back many more times to actually make it through all of them :). Here are photos of the books I picked up to give you an idea.
For the 3-6 years category:
For the 7-10 years category:
For Introduction to Reading - these are books with short and simple sentences and I couldn't resist preparing for S to start out on the reading journey :) !!
First here's the information given at Blogadda:
Activity: Pratham Books was set up in 2004, as part of the Read India movement, a nation- wide campaign to promote reading among children. Pratham Books is a not-for-profit organization that publishes quality books for children in multiple Indian languages. Our mission is to see "a book in every child's hand" and democratize the joy of reading.
In the last 6 years we have published over 200 titles in upto 11 languages and have spread the joy of reading to over 12 million children!
Details: Read about our why we are using Creative Commons here: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/24780
Support: reading, literacy, education, kidlit, children's literature, publishing
Note: We have put a lot of our content under the Creative Commons framework and we have begun to see success with this. Which means that we make our stories and illustrations available under an open license model and the larger community can then repurpose our content to create something completely new and thus contribute to the cause of a book in every child's hand. Our books have been adapted by our community into a range of new creations from audio and Braille books for the print-impaired, to iPad and iPhone applications - all to reach every child in India.
We are hoping that many more people can come forward and help translate/remix/re-purpose/distribute our Creative Commons licensed content.
This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. I am exercising my BSR. You can too with three simple steps. Visit http://www.blogadda.com/bsr/ and support the NGO's.
And here's my personal take:
This amazing initiative brings out books for as low as Rs. 10 and gives so much variety at prices like Rs. 20, 25 that I sat down on a stool and looked through the collection at Sapna Book House in Jayanagar for quite a while before "settling" for some of them. And there were still so many books left in the pile I'll definitely have to go back many more times to actually make it through all of them :). Here are photos of the books I picked up to give you an idea.
For the 3-6 years category:
For the 7-10 years category:
For Introduction to Reading - these are books with short and simple sentences and I couldn't resist preparing for S to start out on the reading journey :) !!
The books look very interesting. Haven't seen them at Crossword or Landmark though. Do you where else you get them? (other than Jayanagar)
ReplyDeletewe've picked up a few pratham books and found them pretty good, especially for the price! I now buy almost all books from flipkart thanks to a sad lack of bookstores out here in the wild north :)
ReplyDelete@Poornima - they are also available online at http://prathambooks.org/. Delivery charges seem decent, I wanted to handle them in person before trying it out online though, but was pleasantly surprized by the superior quality of the paper at the price they are offering !!
ReplyDelete@Aparna - I've heard about them for a while, and while I still like to go back to the more expensive Dr. Seuss variety once in a while, these are definitely great for introductory reading!! Didn't know bookstores are lacking in the north - a pity!!
@Poornima - just noticed on the site that they're offering free shipping until Nov 15th !!
ReplyDeletesounds pretty interesting..will get hold of some..are there any for around 2 years of age. R is still at a stage where he can tear off the pages. So I prefer the hard bound ones..
ReplyDelete@Uma, Not sure if they have books for toddlers to look through themselves. Like you say, the hard paged ones are better for that. These were more of the story telling (by us :)) type as far as the ones I saw.
ReplyDeleteI too love Pratham books Aparna - they have a lovely list of low priced books full of stories relevant to India. I once read one which was about a carpenter and his son.
ReplyDeleteYes Preethi, their range of books and the quality of paper they are providing at such low prices really amazed me !
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful that we have more and more books themed around locales that we are familiar with!
ReplyDeleteAsh
Ash, don't know how I missed this comment earlier, sorry about that.
DeleteYes, it's great to have books that kids can relate to their surroundings and families, and pick up some local culture while they're at it :).
Hi Aparna,
ReplyDeleteJust spotted this post. Thank you so much for taking the time out to actually check our books before reviewing it. Thanks for your suppport!
Wow!! that is quite resourceful:) Do you know any bookstors that stock them,..so I can actually flip through some before deciding to buy. But at the prices they are offering the books, I can give it a miss, and decide to buy online. :-)
ReplyDeleteMaya, thanks a lot for dropping in. I am in awe at your enterprise and will definitely continue supporting :).
ReplyDeleteDeeps, I felt the same way that atleast for the first lot I wanted to get my hands on it - I found them in Sapna Book Store at Jayanagar 4th block but I am sure they must be available in other stores too. I have sadly become a very occasional visitor to bookstores after the Kindle, and only go when I want to check out children's books.
Hi...
ReplyDeleteI'm also a pratham books admirer.. I have become a pratham books executive in Jaipur also now. Earlier I was working with Pratham in Rajasthan and now for Pratham Books.
These books are not just for children but for the students of designing also. Few of my college friends bought books for me for their designing classes.
Dear Kritika,
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping in, great to know you are associated with Pratham - I really admire their work!