New Delhi   

Learning language the animated way

Fun-filled initiative: School children launching “Legendary Lives”, a series of books and animated stories by former IPS officer Kiran Bedi (left) and former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: Ten children from villages and slums on the outskirts of Delhi were the chief guests at the launch of ten books and animated stories authored by former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi.

“Legendary Lives”, published by Puducherry-based BookBox, is a series of children's books and animated stories, distributed by Orient BlackSwan, which brings to life anecdotes from the life of “icons we tend to glorify from a distance”.

National Skill Development Corporation MD and CEO Dilip Chenoy was the guest of honour at the launch where BookBox co-founder Brij Kothari spoke about use of technology for mass literacy.

A social enterprise born from a student-led business plan competition at Stanford University in the United States, BookBox came up with the concept of “AniBooks” or animated stories to support early literacy and language development. BookBox's mission is “a book for every child in her/his language”. The books are targeted at children between five to ten years of age.

“We've been to village after village and not found a single children's book there. We felt compelled to do something. BookBox is our answer to delivering the reading experience to children, on screens that they already watch,” said BookBox COO Nirav Shah.

Ms. Bedi appreciated the initiative and said she was “glad” to share her life's experiences through “Legendary Lives”. Since children love to watch cartoons, AniBooks have animated stories with subtitles in the same language as the audio. Same language subtitling or “SLS” is a scientifically proven technique that supports literacy and language learning because it is known to cause an automatic reading response.   

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