Today, the child reader is addicted to western popular fiction that includes Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, as well as monsters, aliens, vampires, phantoms and other imported characters. Books like the Hunger Games and the Twilight series grip young readers’ minds.
Roopa Pai parses the Bhagavad Gita for younger readers in this new volume from Hachette whose back cover exhorts interest by declaring ‘It’s one of the oldest books in the world and India’s biggest blockbuster bestseller!’ Keeping with the hyperbolic tone of the cover that insists that the young person is missing out on something mementous, Pai opens the book by addressing the eager reader with this observation.
This little school in Bhopal, 28 students strong at last count, is one among several such efforts in different pockets of India to make a difference to the way children learn. In this book, the prime mover of Anand Niketan Democratic School, Pramod Maithil, shares the story of the school’s journey so far, starting with why the school was set up in the first place.
School education is a significant part of one’s life span that endeavours to impart critical thinking, reasoning and logic among children. Within the paradigm of school education, science as a discipline is a dynamic, expanding body of knowledge covering ever new domains of experience.
Children’s literature in Bengal has a rich history, not unusual since Bengal was in the lead during the 19th century, and even later. The Bengal renaissance had also seen a rich proliferation of literature, including the genre of children’s literature.
Sowmya Rajendran’s The Boy Who Asked Why is an apt choice for a child’s first view of our society and its flaws. The book is meant for children aged 6 and above and is a very simple yet powerful introduction to India’s caste system, hierarchies, discriminatory practices and their repercussions over time. The Boy Who Asked Why is the story of Bhim, born to untouchables in British India.