Thrilling two-days, literally

Children in the city were treated to activities, workshops and stories on fun, imaginary as well as historical characters as part of the Children’s Literature Festival, ‘Peek A Book’ in Shilpakalavedika

Petu Pumpkin always eats…” and thus started day 2 of ‘Peek A Book’, the first ever Children’s Literature Festival in Hyderabad.

This Children’s Day has successfully created quite a buzz among kids and adults alike. From finding superpowers to taking a tour through the by-lanes of Hyderabad, to uncovering facts and folklore related to the Taj Mahal, it was a thrilling experience for all. ‘Peek A Book’ brought all kinds of characters alive through their interactive storytelling and activity-based sessions.

With 35 sessions held over the span of two days, there was something for all ages between 5-14 years, which the adults were also sure to enjoy. Lubaina Bandukwala, who is based in Mumbai and curated this fest says, “Having grown up here in Hyderabad, I wanted to do something in smaller metros such as this. I think children’s literature merits a space of its own.”

At a time when technology seems to dominate most of our lives, and many a parent express a natural concern for the same, children were as eager as ever to travel the imaginary lands, test their memory power, improve their vocabulary and more. Lubaina explains, “With the gadgets, there is certainly more competition now to reading books, but I find that there are still several children who read.

Technology also serves the purpose, what with Kindle and such facilities.” Meanwhile, Deepa Kiran, a teacher-cum-trainer at Story Arts India, who also held 5 sessions at the fest, says, “When I tell a story in an exciting manner without cornering the kids with too many questions,

they really enjoy it. We tend to think that children get disinterested once you give them a gist of the story, but contrarily, they get very interested and soon are eager to pick up the book and read.” Deepa has authored a book titled ‘The Royal Mistake’, and like her, there were over 13 authors present on both the days combined. The authors hailed from various cities such as Mumbai and Bangalore.

On day 1, the activities included – an interactive session with author Arundhati Venkatesh for her ‘Bookasura: The Adventures of Bala and the Book - Eating Monster’; a storytelling-cum-puppet show by Padmini R of Spoorthi Theatre, based on the book ‘Revenge of the Puppets’ by Nadine DSouza; and a literary visit to the tiger preserve in Madhya Pradesh through Dr Vithal Rajan’s book ‘Jungu: The Baiga Princess’ among other sessions.

On day 2, kids were treated to a session with illustrator Zainab Tambawala on ‘writing and illustrating your own cartoon strip’, a hands-on workshop dispelling the myths about animals by Katie Bagli based on her book ‘Less Liked Lovables’ and a group discussion on how to be a journalist held by Shabnam Minwala.

The four categories of workshops took place simultaneously on both the days. While some groups were quizzed on Mughal history and the names of Shah Jahan’s children, others learnt of children trapped in warzones.

Author of ‘The Monster Hunters’, Parinita Shetty, who seems to have inspired the children says, “Ideas and inspiration for stories are everywhere.” Another author Katie Bagli, a former teacher in Mumbai said, “Children need to know animals are a part of nature’s intricate design. People consider some of creatures as bad luck, but I want to tell children that they are all beautiful.”

A class 8 student from a city school enthusiastically expressed, “We learnt so much and this was way better than classes at school.” Students from Oakridge, Meridian Banjara Hills, Delhi Public School Secunderabad, and Khusbow Vidya Nikethan Banjara Hills (brought by the Teach For India group) turned up to enjoy, gorge down stories and activities even more than the food available at the food stalls.