Children’s Literature in Telugu
K Suresh
Editorial
November 2022, volume 46, No 11

Children’s Literature in Telugu is said to have had a golden period during the decades of 1960s and 1970s when a monthly magazine Chandamama was very popular. It was published in more than ten Indian languages. It had a fairly common structure with two-three serials, a Vikram and Vetal story and other stories dealing with test of honesty, cleverness and spontaneity, finding a successor to the throne or a bride for the son.

Otherwise, the mainstay for children’s books has been stories from Panchatantra, Aesop’s Fables, the epics and mythology. There were stories of Tenali Ramalinga, Akbar-Birbal, Mulla Nasruddin, Paramanandayya’s students from the genre of humour and wit. Stories of kings and villains trying for magical powers were common.

The other major writings for children were poetry and action poems. One of the forms was ‘satakam’—a collection of 100 verses. Each verse was of four lines with the fourth line being common, normally having the name of the writer. Vemana Satakam is one example under this genre. Each verse has a message about what is right and wrong and about human nature, worldly ways, etc. Traditional children’s rhymes whose authors are not known were popular and are in circulation even now.

There are some original prose and poetry writers of that period but, in my opinion, none that could stand the test of time. It seems that around the time of Independence almost all the popular children’s books were translated into Telugu. Arabian Nights and fairy tale collections by Grimms brothers and Anderson were very popular. Other popular translations are Sindbad the Sailor, Gulliver’s Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Robinhood, etc. Even novels like Treasure Island, Call of the Wild, Bambi, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland were translated.

From the 1960s, the Soviet children’s books entertained countless people for almost two decades. These were large books with beautiful colour pictures and very low prices. They created generations of readers and inspired many artists. During the same period, the contributions of Nehru Bal Pustakalaya (National Book Trust), Children’s Book Trust and (the then) AP Balala Academy have also been commendable.

With the closure of children’s magazines, there are not many avenues for authors to get their stories published, other than children’s pages/sections in various daily newspapers and weekly magazines. These sections have various activities and puzzles for children, information titbits, a drawing by children and a story. This story with an illustration is often limited to 100 to 200 words. The authors are forced with no choice but to fit into this pattern.

The other major disturbing trend is that the children’s stories MUST have a moral at the end. The expectation of the adults (i.e., parents, teachers and ‘well-wishers’) is that the child should learn something from a story. This has robbed the fun, humour, excitement and adventure of children’s stories in Telugu.

While most of the authors and publishers are focusing on the pedagogical content of the writings for children, nobody is bothered about the various studies and surveys revealing that reading skills in Telugu (as with other languages) are poor.

As the market for children’s books in Telugu is limited, publishers are not able to invest in quality illustrations, design, editing, etc. It is in this scenario that Manchi Pustakam was registered as a public charitable Trust in 2004 with the objective of publishing and promoting children’s books in Telugu. However, the journey precedes with ‘Bala Sahiti’, a Trust with similar objectives formed in 1989 when four friends felt the need for an organization focusing on children’s books in Telugu.

Manchi Pustakam has published nearly 350 books during the last 18 years. The books are under the categories of fiction (Story, Picture Story, Novel, Poems), Science, History, Life Skills, etc. Some books are in bilingual (Telugu-English) format. They also publish books on education for teachers and adults (www.manchipustakam.in). The objective is to promote reading and readers and the is focus is on developing children’s reading proficiency in Telugu.

Some objectives of Manchi Pustakam:

Participating in book fairs we focus on interacting with parents to identify age-appropriate reading material for their children; help teachers in building libraries for their schools and suggest activities around the library;  help donors and philanthropists in identifying books for donating to school and general libraries.

The problems faced: Lack of good quality original writings and writers in Telugu and lack of illustrators; no credible book distribution system in the Telugu States. Further, the demand for English as the medium of instruction and governments also opting for the same is eroding the Telugu reading culture.

K Suresh, Trustee of Manchi Pustakam, has varied experience of working in a daily newspaper, government and voluntary sectors. He has, over three decades, translated and edited scores of books both for adults and children into Telugu.