monalisa patsani, post news network, Bhubaneswar, April 22: This is a book-cum-reading club with a difference. This club is part of a city library, dedicated to school-going kids. College students are, however, welcome. There are no membership fees either to enroll in the library or the club. The library remains open on all days expect on Mondays, between 2 pm and 9 pm. The club promotes reading among young people.
Alongside the must reads for the kids such as the Famous Five, Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, A tale of two Cities, Oliver Twist, abridged version of Shakespearean dramas for the children etc. interesting books aimed at knowledge building of a growing mind could be found on the racks of the library.
With an aim to promote reading among children the Bakul Foundation started Bakul Children’s Library in 2007 where young boys and girls could read books without spending a penny. The library at present has 20,000 books. There are some books for adults as well. The parents of the members therefore, can use the library as well. In order to make the adults at home the Foundation recently changed the name of the library to Bakul Library.
Sujit Mahapatra, the founder of the Bakul library said, “We started the library with a purpose to motivate children in schools to read good books. We wanted the children to develop the habit of reading instead of staying glued to electronic gadgets. There are many who have the fear of reading books; we inspire them to read by giving them short and interesting stories, which help them deal with the fear and ultimately overcome it.”
He went on to say, “We categorise each reader into different levels and shift them to the next level in keeping with their progress.”
To motivate the children the library formed a book club and a storytelling club, christened The Book Club and The Storytelling Club. While the Book Club can accommodate an adult reader the Storytelling Club is meant only for the children. The Book Club meets twice a month and the Storytelling Club meets twice every week. While on Fridays stories are told in English on Saturdays stories are told in Oriya.
“Children meet and share their latest reading in the Book Club formed in the library. Members discuss about particular books they have read recently and share their individual experience of reading. Here basically they discuss and analyse the books they read. Children from nursery to high school students are the members of the club and they individually choose the books for their leisure reading,” said Sujit.
In the Storytelling Club volunteers from different educational institutions and distinguished guests of different walks of life come to tell stories or read from different books. Many prominent figures from the field of literature, art and cinema have visited the library during the storytelling sessions and have shared good number of stories with the children. Nandita Das, actress and director, Dash Benhur, writer of Oriya children’s stories, Usasi Mishra, Oriya film actress, were among the notable personalities to have visited the Storytelling Club recently.
“Recently Ameen Haque, a young writer, visited the Storytelling Club and also did a workshop with the children and motivated them to read stories whenever they got time. Many students from different colleges also visit the club and read out stories and even enact those in front of children,” Sujit said.
Pooja Mishra, a volunteer who has been associated with the library for the past three years, really enjoys the company of young children and often engages in the storytelling act herself. She also helps the kids choose their next book. “I really love spending time with children and since my college days I used to volunteer in different organisations. In Bakul we try to motivate young children to read books other than the course-related ones. The library has a good collection of books which are mostly donated by different persons,” she said. The library at present has no lending options. Authorities may in future introduce the lending facility.
Shipra Nayak, a class IX student of Capital Girls’ High school, who is a regular visitor to the library, has been participating in all the activities of the Book Club and the Storytelling Club. “I visit the library every day after school and spend more than two hours reading stories and other books. I love reading books. The smell of books makes me really crazy. The book club here is also very interesting as it helps us to put our points of view in front of other readers. Discussing our latest read in the club encourages us to read more and more books,” said Shipra.
“Reading comics and story books fascinates me. I love reading books during leisure time and so far I have read all the books of the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. Books on Harry Potter, Gulliver’s Travel, Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island are some of my favourite books. Most of the books that I have read till date are read in this library. This is my favourite place in the city and I often visit this place,” said Somyashree Nayak, Class VII student of St Xavier’s High School.