It's not a closed chapter!

Turning Pages

The new-age child doesn’t go by the book, quite literally. A generation swearing by Google has its time devoured by internet, TV and gaming consoles.

For the rest, who have an appetite for reading, the choices are dime a dozen.

Children’s literature, has been undergoing a paradigm shift from, say, the generations past. And by Jove, how!

Young adults are taking flights of fantasy to the world of vampires. The Dickensian and Stevenson books, a once-upon-time popular reads, have made room for ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Eragon’. Clearly, fantasy fiction has cast a spell on them. Not without a reason though.

Poornima Shekhar, a senior teacher with the National Public School, Koramangala, says children go for books that can be read quickly and thrilling ones at that. “Young people dismiss fairy tales as stupid. But ‘Harry Potter’ series is also like a fairy tale although children won’t admit it.

Sadly, only very few read the classics,” she says.  But bookstores and libraries are feeling the pulse of the young brigade and stocking up all genres. Gopal Rao, Manager of ‘Eloor Library’, informs that the popular ones are Anthony Horowitz’s and Enid Blyton’s books along with ‘Harry Potter’ and the vampire books.

Gopal, who has been with the library for the last 15 years, says children are back to reading after a gap. “However, there is a lull at the moment as exams are going on,” he informs.

A class six student, Darshan Shetty, reads across genres. He says, in a rather matter-of-fact-manner, “I read everything except ‘love stories’ and my subject books.” He picks  ‘Artemis Fowl’, a series of fantasy novels by Eoin Colfer, as his favourite. “Apart from that, I love ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Percy Jackson’, ‘Goosebumps’ series, and ‘Asterix’.” Not forgetting to add, “I read mythological books and
classics too.”

Rajesh, in-charge of children’s section at Sapna Book House, says the books of Ruskin Bond, Roald Dahl, Anthony Horowitz and Enid Blyton are moving fast along with ‘Harry Potter’, Percy Jackson and the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’.

Old favourites like Ruskin Bond and Roald Dahl have survived the test of time.

Namratha Dinesh, a class nine student, describes these two authors as her favourites. “I am at present reading Ruskin Bond’s ‘Pot Pourri’. The language is easy to understand and based on reality. I’ve read most of his books and have also written a review of one of his books in my school magazine,” she says. “Among Roald Dahl’s books, my pick would be ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ too interests me as it is hilarious. Most of my books come from a library near my house,”  she adds.

 While all’s not caught in the net, things are not rosy either. Says Poornima, “Along with the numbers, the quality of reading too has declined. Reading is the basis of language building. Because of the failure to read good books, the language of most students has become superficial. The syntax is missing and colloquialism is creeping into their writing.”  She adds, “We have been introducing good books to students through book projects and they have taken it up seriously. I ask my students to read a variety of literature to understand what is good and what is not.”

Meanwhile, new heroes continue to emerge from the pages while a few old ones manage to stay put.