Telling stories to change kids’ lives

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 12

Telling kids that stories can change their life might be a bit dramatic. It’s nonetheless true. City’s Book Fairy — Nazi Puri — has been working on this concept for quite sometime. A member of the global reading movement, The Book Fairy that started in UK in 2017 and supported by actor Emma Watson, Nazi is the only Book Fairy in India to engage in ‘Read with the Fairy’ programme, a specially designed reading and storytelling session for kids.

Nazi has been conducting special storytelling sessions, introducing kids to the world of children literature, for the past one and a half years and managed to reach out to hundreds of underprivileged kids, who otherwise remain aloof to books besides academic learning.

“The concept of Book Fairy is to let everyone have access to books/literature. The Read with the Fairy programme aims to go beyond the text books and work as an alternate learning tool for underprivilegded kids,” says Nazi.

While she conducts reading and storytelling sessions for school kids, her programme for underprivileged ones are altered to be more relatable.

“The classic fairy tales and stories have to be made relatable for kids as they do not have access to books or stories as their parents mostly are illiterate or do not have time. We gather at any particular colony or spot and hold an interactive session based on a book. The response has been encouraging as these kids do not have access to books and their parents too are not educated.”

When she first started reading programme for children from BPL families, most of their parents laughed off saying that they do not have time for stories. But she knows how a book can change a life. “I read stories that talk about hard work, inspiration, dreams and goals to make kids understand. Sometimes, I read real life inspired stories. It helps kids improve their cognitive skills, language and grammar, while also introducing them to the world of literature.

Nazi had invited Cordelia Oakley, founder member of The Book Fairy project to host a reading session at Shree Vinayak Nishulk Paathshala, a school for underprivileged. The programme was launched in collaboration with Phulkari – Women of Amritsar.