one that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.

This week, we have the perfect chance to celebrate our great unspoken hero: THE BOOK

Yes.. happy world book day everyone!

Years back.. there was one question put forward to an author..“what’s your favorite thing about being an author?”

The author replied, first, the process of creating an exciting, magical story which inspires and entertains and secondly, sharing that story with children.

It is good to write a good story and keep it to oneself but sharing it with children, taking them on virtual adventures and making them laugh is what that matters.

UNESCO chose 23rd April as World Book Day to pay a worldwide tribute to books and their authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading, since 23 April 1616 was the date of death of Shakespeare and other prominent authors.

It is a tradition for people to exchange books and sharing the happiness of reading.

Make this a special day for your child by reading or gifting him/her a wonderful book which they will cherish for life.

“Be awesome! Be a book nut!”

You can read more about the world book day in the UNESCO website.

When you hand over a group of bubbly kids with boundless energy, to a trainer- equally energetic and full of passion, the chemistry between them works like a charm.

That’s what has been happening at Read & Shine for the past 4 weeks. Kids who attend one session of Read & Shine want to come back for more sessions.

Before going to the details of the series, let me first tell you about the motivation behind such reading sessions. LongLongAgo, as a library provides wonderful collection of books. Now the challenge was how to make the kids interested in books, how to get them into voluntary reading habit. Many parents were complaining that kids are not reading, they are more interested to watch TV/ play games in computer !!

Reading is a skill that has to be nurtured and developed like any other fine and gross motor skills, right from childhood.

To achieve this, the child must ENJOY reading; he/she must ABSORB and RELISH the book. Once the child picks up the reading habit there’s nothing like it. This will be the best gift you can pass on to your child. Many surveys have been conducted on the reading habits of school children and it has been found that there is a direct correlation between a student’s reading habit and his school performance.

So we approached Supraja, founder of “The Winners”. She handles enrichment programs for small kids & who appreciates the importance of developing Reading as a habit. Thus our collaboration “Read & Shine” was born. “Read with LongLong Ago and Shine as a Winner”.

Now getting into the nitty-gritty of the sessions, Read & Shine series was launched on 31st March, 2012 with an enthusiastic bunch of 26 kids. A variety of story books covering folktales, real-life, comical, magical & informative books about animals, environment etc. were read-aloud to children in a lively way.

• First session started with story books with books like “Storm in the garden, May I Bring a Friend” and a lot of action. This was the ice-breaker and the kids instantly bonded with Supraja aunty.
• Second session on April 7th, was “Informative Reading” on Penguins. A penguin puppet amused the kids, and the kids seemed to know a lot about penguins. Next there was a small ‘penguin race’ where the children had to waddle like a penguin. Then for the lighter reading party the kids read “Samira’s Lunch” along with Supraja. Reading was made fun with voice modulation, lot of actions and interactions. Choral reading encouraged children to work as a team and read aloud.
• Third Session was about magical powers & the good ways to use those powers through books like “The Magic Paint Brush” &”Funny Bunny’s Magic Tricks”. They were also thrilled to learn a magic trick from Supraja Aunty.
• Fourth Session was about “Discover Our Earth”, where the session started with kids and Supraja “Spinning like Earth”. As the spinning gained momentum, kids gained a lot of information about planet earth, and it’s natural wonders. …on the lighter side it was again something round & nice to eat … “Silly Story of Bondapali”.

So far we saw how the kids ENJOYed the sessions, now how is child going to ABSORB and RELISH the book?

This is achieved by “Bookipedia”, where the kids do interesting activities based on the books covered on that day. They ABSORBed the content of the book and reinforced the knowledge through this activity. By doing so he is RELISHing his reading experience and also preserving the knowledge gained.

I could see that after each day’s session the kids’ perception of reading a book was changing. Now to keep up their reading spirit at home, LongLongAgo decided to give them a book for each session. When they came out of the class, the kids were overjoyed to receive some interesting books from us. Some of them even wanted to sign themselves for the book and agreed to be responsible for their book. Next week when they came back, asking for a new book.I could hear one of the parents telling that her child asking for “Bookie Time”!! And little Jayesh, who went inside the class crying for his mummy, the first thing he told his mom when he came out was “ I want to read a book ”!! His parents were flabbergasted!!

You can view the photos of our little Readers in Action.

In the upcoming session we will be taking up books about Inventors, Mythology, Marine Animals, Trickster stories, Tell Me Why etc.

Registrations are open for May. Please contact Chitra (95661-93957) for seat availability and registration.

“Nothing can replace the feel of holding a book and reading it”, said Ms. Supraja.

Read the coverage of Read & Shine initiative in Chennai: Yocee Link

Program Highlight

• Book-Reading with Dialogues, Expressions, Read-Alouds & interactions.
• Role Play
• Book Quiz
• Book Reviews
• Bookmark, Book tree making
• Bookipedia
• Book making exercise
• Authors Talk and more…
• Read @home – each participant will get a book to take home and read.
• Raise a reader – Hand out to parents to raise a reader @ home
• One month subscription from Long LongAgo. (4 books)

Program Benefits

• Guaranteed to kindle the spark of interest for reading among the kids.
• The child is encouraged to read from various sources.
• Maximizes the learning from book reading.
• Improved concentration level and analytic skills.

The program is conducted at multiple locations, for details contact
Ms. Chitra at achitra@longlongago.in / 95661 93957

A good book inspires…imagine what a good library can do!!

The following poem is submitted by Miss Vanshika, a Longlongago member.

Flowers All Around!

Red is the rose,
Yellow is the sunflower,
just like the Sun.
White is the lilly,
which floats through the water,
just like lotus do.
flowers all around my house
flowers everywhere
flowers all around the world.

By,
Miss Vanshika Baskaran
I B, K’Sirs School
Coimbatore

You can view the original poem here.

Share and let your friends know that you ‘like’ the poem in our facebook page.

You can also submit your children’s work here. Send your membership number and content (Short stories, Poems, Reading Tips etc.,) to icreate@longlongago.in

The reading habit is a lifetime gift for a child, because reading builds language, knowledge,concentration and intellect in children.

“Happy Readers” is a unique child-friendly enrichment program which will develop a desire for reading from various sources, look at reading as a more enjoyable experience and feel more proud about the learning that comes out of it. This is accomplished through a series of child friendly activities like

1. Reading from various sources- Each day the trainer will cover different reading sources like different kind of story books/ informative books, tell me why books, journals etc..
2. Book reading with dialogues, expressions, read alouds and interaction
3. Book Quiz
4. Book Reviews
5. Authors Talk
6. Making of bookmark, bookipedia, book making etc.

The pre-book and post book activities included in this workshop is what it makes it unique.

A pre book activity may include some dialogues about what is this book about,(understanding the title) talking about authors, appreciation of the illustration., why this book has been written etc.The child’s imagination is made to work here

A post book activity will make sure that the joy of reading is put into action by drawing, sticking pictures and writing things about what they read. The learnings from the book are reinforced through this activity

Like this each pre-book and post book activities are guaranteed to kindle the spark of desire to read more.

The workshop concludes with the proud moment for the child when he/she creates her own book.

Title – Happy Readers
Venue – GRS Bridge 2 Learn, Y 49, 9th street, Near Ayyapan Temple, Anna Nagar, Chennai- 600040.
Time – 10 am to 12 pm
Date – 26th Dec, 2011 to 29th Dec 2011

For registrations contact Ms. Chitra @ 95661-93957 or chitra@longlongago.in

Visit our Facebook event page to know more about the event and our activities.

Longlongago members get a special discount.

Book reading with dialogues, expressions & child interaction will bring reading to life. Activities like Book Quiz, Role-play, Action Songs, Reading will boost the reading fun.

Date:20.11.2011
Batch Timings:
Batch 1 : 10:00 am – 11.30 am
Batch 2 : 12:00 pm – 1.30 pm
Batch 3 : 2:30 pm – 4.00 pm
Batch 4 : 4:30 pm – 6.00 pm

Limited Registrations : Only 100 seats and 4 batches

Registration Fee :
Free for Longlongago library members
Non members – Rs. 250 per child

Venue : Community Hall, Rani Meyyammai Towers,
MRC Nagar, Raja Annamalaipuram,
(Near Chettinad Vidyashram)

RSVP to Chitra @ 95661-93957 or chennai@longlongago.in

Mr. Varma is known for his novels The Lament of Mohini, Maria’s Room, Devil’s Garden: Tales of Pappudom to name a few. Some of his popular plays include Bow of Rama, Midnight Hotel and Platform among many others. He was awarded the Charles Wallace fellowship in 2004, and was Writer in Residence at Stirling University, Scotland. He currently teaches Creative English at the Chennai Mathematical Institute. He has also taught English Literature and Journalism at the Madras Christian College. Mr. Varma is the great grandson of the artist Raja Ravi Varma and grandson of Regent Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the last ruling Maharani of Travancore.

Date: 27th August 2011

Time: 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Agenda: 3:00 pm – Buzzer registration
3:15pm – Lighting of the lamp
3:17pm – Welcoming our chief guest
3.30 pm: Book Reading and story telling by Mr. Varma
4.30 pm: Buzzers talk
4.45pm: Long Long Ago – Buzzing books of the week.

Venue: Vivekalaya School, Trichy Road, Coimbatore

Please RSVP in our facebook page.