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Snuggle up this summer
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This is bookworm season for kids in the city, says DIVYA KUMAR
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Photo S. Thanthoni
THE BIG READ Share your favourite book
There are few memories one looks back on as fondly as those of childhood summer holidays. Long, lazy, sun-drenched days spent playing with cousins, of trips to the beach and inevitably, the library. Ah, the satisfaction of coming home with a whole pile of books to read, of losing yourself in a Famous Five mystery as you sprawl on your bed, relaxing as you can only during the holidays…
It’s heartening to know that some things haven’t changed. In spite of the Internet, video and computer games, cable TV et al, it seems like summer is still bookworm season for kids in the city. And Enid Blyton remains the hot favourite.
Adrian Fernando, for example, is an 11-year-old on a mission: he plans to finish every Famous Five book in the collection by the end of summer. “I’ve just finished the third volume, and I’m going to go buy the fourth,” he says with a grin.
“He buys them three at a time,” says mom Blossom indulgently. “He’s been pestering us to go to the bookshop to buy the next lot.”
According to V. Bhuvaneswari, head librarian at the British Council, children are actually reading more these days than a generation or so ago. “The children’s book section at the British Council has had quite a revival of late,” she says. “I think it’s because there’s a greater awareness amongst parents nowadays, and they’re encouraging their children to read more.”
Which means there’s another venerable collection of books that do very well around this time of the year: “Classics sell a lot during the summer because that’s what parents like to buy for their children,” comments Madhu, category head, books, Landmark. Blossom, for example, has bought Adrian volumes one and two of the Sherlock Holmes stories because she loved reading them when growing up.
But it seems what the kids really want to be reading (apart from evergreen Enid) are book versions of the fantastical summer fare from Hollywood. As Harry Potter has conclusively proved, watching the movies doesn’t turn kids off the books; it just makes them want to read them more.
“Fantasy is the most popular genre,” says Madhu. “Summer is big for movies such as “The Chronicles of Narnia”, “The Water Horse”, “Nim’s Island”, etc. and their books are always in high demand.”
And of course, books on a certain bespectacled boy wizard continue to hold kids enthralled. S. Subalakshmi, who’s in the seventh standard, just read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for the nth time (she’s read all seven books more than once) and is now planning to move on. “I want to read Narnia next, but I haven’t been able to get it yet,” she says regretfully. Meanwhile, there’s Nancy Drew to keep her occupied…
Incidentally, that intrepid girl detective has a lot of company these days — teen and young adult fiction for girls has grown more and more popular of late, with bestselling series such as Gossip Girl and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants being made into TV shows and movies.
But what about the young’uns? Well, it seems many of them are stuck in a rut with the usual bedtime stories or fairy tales. And parents such as Blossom are often locked in battle with the telly; just getting her six-year-old Bryan to turn off Jetix long enough to read is a tough ask.
“To wean them off the TV, the books need to be stimulating and colourful with movement and language that will gently challenge them,” says Padma Srinath, primary school teacher and co-ordinator of early childhood education at the American International School, Chennai. “Parents should consider picture books by Indian authors from publishers such as Tulika or Katha, which are easy on the pocket and match the quality of books from abroad.”
And for older kids, Padma’s all for a system where school librarians put together and hand out broad-based summer reading lists: “They can help parents guide their children’s reading during the holidays,” she says.
Meanwhile, get those personal summer lists ready — there’s a lot of reading to be done yet!
what’s hot this season
Movie mania
Movie-based fantasy novels sell well in the summer
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr
The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith
What girls want
Fiction for teenage girls is increasingly popular
Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares
Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer
Going Indian
Why not give Indian authors a try for picture books?
Brahma’s Butterfly by Meena Raghunathan
Aditi And Her Friends series by Suniti Namjoshi
Surangini by Partap Sharma
Princess with the Longest Hair by Komilla Raote
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