Book Release : 10 Women Centric Kannada Books

Last month, 10 books from the ”Vanitha Chintana Maale” series were released by Navakarnataka Publications. This set of books mainly contains content which is women centric.

Via Citizen Matters

Navakarnataka Publications was established in 1960 and has as its motto: Pustakada Muulaka Manukulada Seve (Service to Mankind through books). In its nearly 50 years of operation, Navakarnataka has published more than 2500 different books that cater to a wide range of people – from intellectuals to the common man.

The ten books are aimed at making the reader aware of the various trails and tribulations a woman undergoes in India. These books, all in Kannada, include novels, real life events and autobiographies. They are either original works or translations of works from other Indian languages.

The books released on this occasion by the Chairperson Dr. Vijaya, a noted author and critic, were: Noori (a novel by Dr. Janaki Sundaresh), Mannindda Eddavaru (a novel by Kusuma Shanbagh), Shakthidhamada Sathya Kathegalu (real life events, written by G S Jayadev), Aalahala Hennamakkalu (Malayalam novel by Sara Joseph, translated by Prof. Parvathi G Aithal), Ushodaya (Telugu novel by Volga , translated by Miss Sampath aka T S Rukmayi), Antima Jwaale (Hindi novel by Himanshu Joshi, translated by Dr. J S Kusuma Geeta), Nirakshariya Aatmakathe (autobiography in Hindi by Susheela Roy, translated by G Kumarappa), Noovu Tumbida Baduku Sangathi Baduku Nammadu (with an autobiography in Marathi by Babytai Kambale, translated by Chandrakanth Pokale, autobiography in Bengali by Bibi Haldar, translated by G Kumarappa, autobiography in Tamil by Bhama, translated by S Flomin Das) and Baduku Nammadu (autobiography in Marathi by Babytai Kambale, translated by Chandrakanth Pokale).

Read the entire article here.

Persepolis 2.0 - Graphic Novel about Iran Elections

Via spreadpersepolis

Persepolis 2.0 describes Iran’s post-election uprising and spreads the word about Iranians’ historic struggle against repression. Based on the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi and edited by two Iranians living abroad.

Since the Revolution in 1979, Iranians have coped with an increasingly repressive regime. Attempts for greater social and political freedoms have resulted in brutal crackdowns by the hardline government. The ensuing apathy and significant boycott of the 2005 presidential elections led to the election of the ultraconservative mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Four years later Iran has become increasingly alienated and its people more polarized than ever before. The campaign of former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Moussavi galvanized voters hoping for change, especially among the youth – two thirds of Iran’s population is younger than 32. On June 12th 85% of eligible voters cast their ballots and what happened next changed Iran forever…

Image Source

Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies

The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies is place 'where tools of the trade that have died or have just about died a slow slow death are cheerfully exhibited'.

The image below is an Ellipse Guide. But what is an ellipse guide?

Before Illustrator it was near impossible to draw a 43 1/2 degree ellipse but these handy guides got you close.

I have a vast array of various guides just waiting in storage for the day the electricity is forever gone. (Link)

Visit the online museum to see the Haberule Type Gauge, drafting brushes, a Specialty compass and other forgotten art supplies. You can also submit images of any artistic tools, machinery, gadgets, etc. that you feel have bitten the dust.

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Favourite Retweets of the Week

An extension of yesterday's Twittering Thursday post...Though this post is mostly about all the retweeting that took place throughout the week.

@Storybird linked to The Annotated Weekender - a fun blog of doodles over the Guradians weekend magazine. Updated every Saturday, it is a great place to go to for a chuckle.

@indiawater tweeted about the National Water Academy - a short-duration program for NGOs and media, @thebetterindia was tweeting about the Village Services Trust, @questionbox tweeted about the Question Box being used in Africa, @sangamindia linked to an article on a bank for child workers that helps them get back to school, @adropofwisdom tweeted about the Teach India campaign and @thinkchangeind linked to their blog post on Swaraj University.

@gkjohn was spreading the message of a campaign to clean up Bangalore in a day while @thinkmaya linked to the following article : 10 Ways Journalism Schools are Teaching Social Media.

Shifting to book news....

@gkjohn - Seen this @nytimeskristof column on "The Best Kids’ Books Ever"?

@worldbooktrade - 20 mln yuan subsidies allocated to ancient book publishing in 2009.

@cinnamonteal - Lexicon reprinted

@promoteabook - The Growing Children's E-book Industry

@abhaga - PROJECT C-a new monthly comic magazine project-Join, contribute!

@neilhimself - Free (good, often classic) STORIES! One a week, all this year. 27 so far.

@FirstEditions - Reading matters: A literary cricket team.

@katharnavas - 100 Best Blogs for School Librarians

We leave you with @CarinBerger 's tweet on June Corley's typographic sculptures. They are cute, funky and quirky! Check them out here.

Image Source : Kaushal Karkhanis

Twittering Thursday

From our world of Twitter, a weekly update...

The biggest news was our favourite site BoingBoing featuring us on their site and mentioning our CC-licensed images. Yayyy!

Another place you can keep track of us is on friendfeed. Our facebook url is also easier to remember now (www.facebook.com/prathambooks).

Travelled back in time to visit our blog archives and read about Story Revolution and Book Nooks for Kids in Bangalore.

We went from reading about creating sustainable water infrastructure to being impressed a poster made of soap, from English skills helping rural students to street kids painting a restaurant, India's richest men joining Bill Gates for a literacy drive in slums and Ignou announcing the launch of 100 community colleges.

The following articles on the Karnataka Learning Partnership blog made for good reading - Competency Levels of Students in Karnataka, Will Govt take steps to make schools better, The Wrongs in the Right to Education Bill and Keeping Kids in School : Tackling High Dropout Rates.

Three other interesting articles were Tweetraising: The Potential For Charities On Twitter , Civic Apps Could Redefine The Way Citizens Interact With Cities and why Gmail Should be the Hub of Your Company's Social Media Strategy.

In the world of books....

... Mitali Perkins book 'Rickshaw Girl' is being translated into Marathi, IDW plans to publish deluxe editions of Archie Comics, The Bound for Success exhibition at the Bodleian Library has some stunning examples of bookbinding on the theme of water and the Human Genre Project has short stories and essays about genes and genomics.

Moving on to Fellowships, Grants and Volunteering Opportunities...

@YatinSethi tweeted about Schwab Foundation - Social Entrepreneur of the Year Competition - India 2009, @thinkchangeind tweeted about the One Billion Minds 2009 Fellowship Program, and @adropofwisdom tweeted about Asia Pacific Future 100 program.

@FYSE tweeted about Indian Youth Summit on Climate Change: Badlaav 2009, Rotary Social Entrepreneurship Business Plan Challenge 2009 for youth (for people in Singapore) and the $1 million award from Gates Foundation for Facilitating Innovation in Learning.

The Bernard van Leer Foundation if offering a Fellowship for Young Journalists working on Children's Issues. The IHEU-HIVOS 2009 grants application are now open and the Teach India campaign is back this year (See their 'Teach a lesson for lunch' poster)

Since, this has become a really long Twittering Thursday post, we shall post the second part of this post tomorrow. Come back to find the other links that caught our attention.

Image Source : Matt Hamm

Agent 009 - Theme for a Library's Summer Reading Club

For two decades, the Edmonton Public Library has held a summer reading club for young readers. In 2008, nearly 14,000 youth registered for the club. This year's theme is...

Via Edmonton Examiner

Young readers are being encouraged to enter a written world of intrigue with Agent 009, this year’s edition of the Edmonton Public Library’s annual summer reading club.

Running through Aug. 22, the popular program is open to children of all ages. Participants receive a casebook, and must read 90 minutes to unlock each of eight clues.

Those who crack the case receive a book bag, and upon solving their fourth and eighth clues are given an entry into the grand prize draw for tickets to a mystery party later this year.

Of course, the library is relying on the junior sleuths to be truthful when filing statements on how much they’ve read.

Read the entire article here.

Image Source: sebastien.b

My Milk Toof

Came across 'My Milk Toof' some time ago and have been enjoying the cuteness of it. It is an absolutely adorable storytelling project.. oozing with creativity, fun and cuteness (of course!). So, how did it start?

When I was young, I placed my baby teeth under my pillow and when i woke up I'd find a shiny new quarter. But whatever happened to those little teeth? Where did they go? Would I ever see them again?

Many years later, a little tooth was standing at my door. It looked familiar. Its name was ickle. Welcome home, my milk toof!

The blog that started in March 2009 follows the adventures of ickle and Lardee. Go through the archives and see ickle reading, going on a field trip, ickle and Lardee get a their toof cleaned (and become bubble monsters) and more.

Go over to the My Milk Toof blog now. I assure you that ickle and Lardee will bring a goofy 'toofy' grin to your face.

Image Source: Inhae Renee Lee (via My Milk Toof)

Indian Institute of Cartoonists Celebrates Its Silver Jubilee

The Indian Institute of Cartoonists is celebrating its Silver Jubilee in Bangalore with an exhibition that is on till July 18th.

Via The Hindu

“The health of a political system is measured by the kind of cartoons it produces,” said playwright and Jnanpith Award winner Girish Karnad at the inauguration of the silver jubilee celebrations of the Indian Institute of Cartoonists here on Wednesday.

As part of the celebrations, the IIC has organised an exhibit of the entries for the Maya Kamath Memorial Awards for Excellence that was held a month ago, at the Indian Cartoon Gallery.

The exhibit featured around 70 political cartoons in English and regional languages by 41 cartoonists from across the country. The cartoons commented on various issues ranging from dynastic politics and terrorism to communalism and the recession.

The exhibit is on till July 18 from 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. at no.1, Midford House, Midford Garden, off M.G.Road. Call 25595252.

Read the entire article here.

Image Source : FLEECIRCUS is super busy, will catch up soon!

Mid-Year Strand Book Festival

Time to go and shop for books at the Strand Book Festival in Bangalore.

Via Times of India

In its fourteenth year in Bangalore, the Mid-Year Strand Book Festival has widened its range of titles. There are over 30,000 books to choose from.

The collection caters to all age groups with hardbound classics, management books and a children's section. Titles such as `Beyond The Da Vinci Code' by Sangeet Duchane, `Dreams From My Father' by Barack Obama, `Seven Million Years: The Story Of Human Evolution' by Douglas Palmer are up for grabs. Also available are coffee table books like `Wonders Of The World' and `Historica: 1,000 Years Of Our Lives And Times'.

The sale is on at Basava Bhavan, opposite Hotel Chalukya, till Sunday, from 10 am to 8:30 pm.

Image Source : abrinsky

TED in 3 Minutes

@tedindia's tweet said "TED in 3minutes! Pressed for time, need a sneaky quick fix of inspiration? We have shorter #TEDtalks for you". We have featured quite a few TED talks on our blog and are quite liking these small doses of 3-minute talks too.

We liked the concept behind Tinkering School and spoke about it a few months ago. Now, you can watch a short talk on it too.

Gever Tulley uses engaging photos and footage to demonstrate the valuable lessons kids learn at his Tinkering School. When given tools, materials and guidance, these young imaginations run wild and creative problem-solving takes over to build unique boats, bridges and even a rollercoaster!

Watch other 3-minute TED talks here.

OpenLibrary Integration on Flickr

Before we talk about OpenLibrary's intergration with Flickr, a quick note on OpenLibrary from their website:

One web page for every book ever published. It's a lofty, but achievable, goal.

To build it, we need hundreds of millions of book records, a brand new database infrastructure for handling huge amounts of dynamic information, a wiki interface, multi-language support, and people who are willing to contribute their time, effort, and book data.

Coming to the news of OpenLibrary's integration with Flickr...

Via booktwo.org

And now this exciting move has borne some fascinating fruit: OpenLibrary Machine Tags on Flickr. Machine tags are machine-readable versions of the ubiquitous tag system that Flickr and now many, many sites use to describe and organise content.

Machine tags are an incredibly important link in the bookdata chain, as they allow us to harness bookdata across any number of services.

So the uptake is pretty low at the moment (80 at the current count), but I’ve been tagging my books on Flickr - covers, graphic interiors and text - and I’ll be watching to see what uses there are.

I think it’s really important we start moving beyond covers as the defining “image” of a book - so in particular, I hope people start tagging interior photos. I’m also aware of the possible uses at projects like the Book Seer and bkkeepr (as Tom notes), so… well, we’ll wait and see…

Read the entire article here.

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Kids and Publishing Deals

Increasing number of kids are creating a name for themselves in the world of publishing.

Via The Times of India

WHEN Reet Kapur was six, her m o t h e r got her to write stories almost daily in her brown diary, stories like The Day My Dog Went Flying and The Day I Vanished. She found it appealed to her more than studies and she was off to a flying start – as an author.

At 14, she embarked on her book, about a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder. The now 16-year-old is ready to see it in print. “Two publishers have expressed interest,” says Anuj Bahri, who runs the Red Ink Literary Agency, which was also behind the Conspiracy of Calaspia, published in 2006, by teenaged twins Jyoti and Suresh Guptara, who wrote the first draft at the age of 11.

Recently, the Slumdog Millionaire child actor Rubina Ali was also in the news for her book Slumgirl Dreaming, based on her life. Actor Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana has also drafted a book on a girl with six-feet (false!) eyelashes. And, some years ago, pop icon Madonna’s daughter Lourdes wrote a Christmas story for a book. While Reet Kapur extensively trawled the Internet for information and case studies related to the disorder, 14-year-old Anshuman Mohan, a student of St Xavier’s School, Kolkata, drew from life. His book, Potato Chips, has been snapped up by Harper Collins, who plan a respectable first print run of 5,000 copies early next year.

Says V K Karthika, chief editor, Harper Collins India, “It’s smart writing and there’s nothing like it in the market. We hope to grow with him.” Anshuman, meanwhile, is already on to his second book. The Agatha Christie fan says a movie based on his book won’t hurt. “It has all the elements of school life… the exams and the cheating; romance and thrills. As I wrote, I did visualise some parts of it as a movie,” he says.
Other publishers are also investing in young authors. For instance, Niyogi Books brought out Wings of Fantasy, a collection of stories by Ragini Bali in 2005, when she was 12 years old. The book jacket tells us, “I don’t compose words, something deeper does.”

Read the entire article here.

Image Source: deserttrumpet

Collaborative Charity - Vote for Your Favourite Ideas

Paul Buchheit's experiment 'Collaborative Charity' works on the principle that he will donate money to a cause that people vote for.

From Paul's blog...

Donating money to worthwhile causes seems like a good idea, but doing it right requires knowledge, wisdom, intelligence, time, and of course money. I have at most two of those things. The traditional solution is to rely on "experts", but that has its own problems.

One of the great things about the Internet (other than the obvious) is that it enables people to collaborate in new ways, and each contribute little bits of their time and knowledge.

Now I'm trying it for real -- I have a lot of ideas, but not much time, so I'm starting with the simplest solution that I could find. It may not work, but it should be interesting.

Here's how it works: I'm going to donate a bunch of money, but I want random people on the Internet to decide where it goes.

Here are the rules:

• The money MUST go to an IRS recognized public charity. No exceptions.
• I've created a topic on Google Moderator where people can submit and vote on ideas. I've never used Google Moderator, but someone told me that it's good, so hopefully it works :)
• Ultimately, this is just a recommendation and I may completely ignore the results if they are stupid, so don't bother spamming.
• I also created a group on FriendFeed where people can submit links and discuss ideas.

Read more here.

Our friends at Literacy Bridge are on the list too. Read about Literacy Bridge and their Talking Book project here. After reading about them, if you decide to vote for them, click here.

You can also view our other posts on the Talking Books here, here and here.

You can also view the other ideas here.

Daniel's Daily Monster

Its almost lunch time and just spotted a Flickr set titled 'Daniel's Daily Monster'. From 7th May, 2009, John Hicks started drawing a little monster card every weekday to go in his son's lunchbox. Adorably cute! See the entire set here.

Reminds us of the Lunch Bag Art post we have posted earlier.

Image Source: Jon Hicks

Free chapter of forthcoming book on Bill Watterson (creator of Calvin and Hobbes)

Via Boing Boing

Nevin sez, "To drum up interest in my forthcoming book "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip," I am offering interested readers a sample chapter from the book, which comes out on October 1 via Continuum Press. If interested readers send an email to lookingforcalvinandhobbes@gmail.com they can request their very own free copy.

In Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip, writer Nevin Martell traces the life and career of the extraordinary, influential, and intensely private man behind Calvin and Hobbes. With input from a wide range of artists and writers (including Dave Barry, Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Lethem, and Brad Bird) as well as some of Watterson's closest friends and professional colleagues, this is as close as we're ever likely to get to one of America's most ingenious and intriguing figures - and a fascinating detective story, at the same time.

Read the entire article here.

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Remix Time : Create Your Story With Our CC-licensed Illustrations

More illustrations from our books are going up on our Flickr account. And guess what? None of them are under a copyright. We have licensed them under a Creative Commons license (Learn about Creative Commons here). So, feel free to use them however you please.

The pictures we have uploaded till now have links to the entire books too. So, you can read the book..and then put your own spin to the story and create an entirely new one. Or get your kid to create his/her own story.

The pictures we uploaded this week were from our book 'Happy Maths 1'. Hop on over to our Flickr account to see them. Illustrations from our other books can be found here.

Happy remixing!

Terrible Yellow Eyes - Art Inspired by 'Where the Wild Things Are'

Cory Godbey's blog 'Terrible Yellow Eyes' is a tribute to Maurice Sendak's book 'Where the Wild Things Are'. The blog serves as a growing collection of work inspired by the classic.

Via Terrible Yellow Eyes

What I've wanted to do for sometime is make a collection of paintings inspired by Where the Wild Things Are as a tribute and celebration of the book. And now with the release of the film later in the year, the world of Wild Things has opened even wider.

My goal for this project is really just that, expressing of my love for the story. None of the art has been done for any profit but has all been created out of admiration for Maurice Sendak and Where the Wild Things Are.

Over the coming weeks and months I'll display a growing collection of works created by invited contributing artists and myself. We share a love and admiration for Sendak's work and the pieces we present here are done as a tribute to his life and legacy.

Simply put, like a visual love letter to the book, with Terrible Yellow Eyes I am seeking to celebrate and promote the original masterwork by Maurice Sendak in the best way I know how -- with pictures.

Read about the project here and sift through the wonderful artwork here. Keep checking back to get your dose of happiness and inspiration as the site continues to update regularly.

Image Source : Alberto Cerriteño ( via Terrible Yellow Eyes)

Indian NGOs can apply for the EC Grant on Education

Via FundsforNGOs.org

The European Commission (EC) has issued a call for proposals for Indian organizations working for improving the quality of elementary education in the country under the “Exchange of International Best Practices in Education” – Actions in India and Overseas – “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” (SSA II) for Universalizing Elementary Education, INDIA. The SSA II was launched in 2001 by the Government of India with the funding support of the European Commission, DFID and the World Bank for the universalization of elementary education. Although substantial improvements have been recorded in this program, yet the desired results have not yet been achieved particularly in certain states such Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa. However, continuous reforms have been undertaken by the government for improving the quality of primary education and improve enrolment of children, including girls and prevent drop-out rates. As part of these reforms, the government has identified two important areas for managing primary education. These are: “Strengthening teacher cadre and career management systems to address effective structures and processes for teacher recruitment, development, ongoing skill upgradation, performance assessment and teacher accountability;” and “Strengthening processes to address practices for effective school management and autonomy, including decentralization, and aspects of school leadership with focus on quality improvements.”

As these areas are also part of the EC’s “Exchange of International Best Practices in Education,” the focus of the funding is “to reinforce the long term impact and sustainability of quality improvement initiatives focusing on teachers and schools in SSA II.” Activities under this funding program include organizing exchange visits for national and state representatives to the EU, preparing inventory of best practices in education from various countries, including the EU, bringing in EU policymakers to workshops and seminars in India, developing reports on best practices and producing publications. The total amount allocated for the program by the EC is around €3,000,000 and minimum and maximum budgets are fixed between €2,750,000 and €3,000,000.

More information here.

Image Source: Pratham Books

Clay Shirky: How Social Media Can Make History

We can't get enough of the TED talks... So here goes...

Via TED

While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics.

World Tibet Day - The Story Behind Lama Mani Books

A year ago, I connected with Aravinda Anantharaman on Facebook and learnt about an organization called 'Think Tibet'.

Think Tibet was set up with two fundamental objectives: to be a resource for young Tibetans in exile to learn about their society and culture in the face of constant change; to create awareness about the Tibetan people in the local community. The avenues to achieve these objectives are largely the arts – through art collaborations, theatrical workshops and productions, books for children and events that encourage dialogue and understanding of a community in exile. ( via 1shanthiroad)

A year later, Lama Mani Books has come out with two books for kids to talk about life in exile. On World Tibet Day, Aravinda agreed to do a guest post for our blog and give us some insight on how the project took shape.

It was on the night of 17th March in 1959 that a 23-year old Tibetan monk escaped from his summer palace in Lhasa. He was the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal head of the country in the Himalayas. Ironically, he walked out the doors of his palace, dressed as a soldier. No one recognized him. It was a long and difficult journey down the mountain, and the Dalai Lama and his entourage also had the Chinese army to watch out for. A week later, they were able to pause and a messenger was sent to India, seeking asylum from Prime Minister Nehru. The journey continued with great difficulty and it was a fevered Dalai Lama who crossed the border on 31st March 1959. He was followed by tens of thousands of Tibetans who heard of their ‘Kundun’s’ dramatic escape with enormous relief. The decision to escape may not have been an easy one to make and indeed, life in India was harder than any they may have known. The tropical climate was a shock to these nomadic people. Furthermore, the only immediate employment was as coolies on the Manali road construction. The first refugee camp came up at Bylakuppe, near Coorg, in Karnataka in 1960. Other camps came up at various places, wherever a state government offered land. Karnataka has five settlements in all and is also home to the three main monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism, along with other smaller monasteries.

It was a decade ago that I first interviewed a Tibetan sweater seller. His name was Dorje. Sitting on the pavement amidst the piles of sweaters in Majestic, we spoke in Hindi, a language neither of us knew very well. He spoke of walking from Tibet and fighting in the Bangladesh war, for India, and his woes as a sweater seller. We spoke for a long time and when I took leave, he said, ‘I wish to die in Tibet.’

Over the years, I’ve heard that echoed many times over by many Popo-las and Momo-las (grandpas and grandmas). And it always bothers me to hear it.

When my friend Jangchup finished college a couple of years ago, he said he’d like to do something for his people; I offered to help. One of the things we eventually decided to take up was publishing of children’s books. We found that in Tibet there were storytellers who went from place to place with their scrolls of thangkas, narrating the grand old epics. They were the Lama Manis of Tibet. We also found that the Tibetan epic of Gesar Ling is the world’s last living epic, the Iliad of the East as some call it. With such a tradition of storytelling, and such a vast cultural history to draw from, we set up Lama Mani Books, our tribute to the storyteller and our contribution to the community.

Our intent is not to rehash folk tales or Buddhist stories but instead tell stories of here and now. Consequently, our first two titles are part of a series we call ‘Meyul’, a Tibetan word that has no English equivalent but best describes the place that’s not one’s home. The books were designed to introduce life in exile, and describe how people lived and worked while keeping up their identity. Our first stop was the old age home, or gyenso khang as it’s called, at Doeguling refugee camp, Mundgod. It’s the first old age home set up in exile, whose residents have all journeyed from Tibet half a century ago. We were struck by the serenity and the hope of the people who had contended with so much. No one complained to us and we were met with a ready smile on every visit. From this came the story of Dorje’s Holiday at the Gyenso Khang. For our second title, we chose the most visible section of the Tibetan community, the sweater sellers. I didn’t meet Dorje, the sweater seller again but seeing the Tibetan sweater sellers dressed in their chubas and sitting in their stalls on the crowded Indian pavements, I couldn’t help but feel they must long for home sometime. And hence the story of Dolma Visits the City.

Both these books are set in real places, among real people and animals even. They will be available in bookstores shortly. But for now, they are taking email orders and can be contacted at info@thinktibet.org

PS: A Tibetan edition of the books is in progress

(Aravinda is a member of Think Tibet. Loves reading, writing, being with animals. Works with Hippocampus, an organisation that promotes reading among children. Lives in Bangalore with her husband and dog.)

Grants for Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries

Via FundsforNGOs.org

The Elsevier Foundation is inviting proposals under its 2009 Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries. The program provides support to libraries in developing countries for adding scientific, technical and medical information. The program supports projects such as digitization of the library information, knowledge preservation, training and education for librarians and researchers and long-term partnerships between developed and developing countries for technical assistance and training. Projects should preferably be innovative, have the potential to generate impact in the society and demonstrate sound sustainability. The Foundation provides grants up to US $5,000 – 50,000 for one-year projects as well as for multi-year projects. Proposals can be submitted by email, mail or fax. The last date for submitting the completed proposals is 9 August 2009. For more information, visit this link.

Image Source : charityshopper (via The Visual Dictionary)

Rewind. Recap.

The week that was...

We are trying to make our blog as multilingual as we are ( Pratham Books publishes books in 11 languages). Last week we had a post in Marathi. You can read Dr. Utkarsha Manish's post here. Pratham Books also organized a storytelling and puppet making workshop for kids. Subscribe to our blog through RSS or email to keep track of such events. We hope to see you at the next event!

Keep track of literary events taking place across the world in the month of July. The Vodafone Crossword Book Award 2008 shortlist was announced recently and the winners will be announced on July 23. The award 'recognises and rewards the best of Indian writing and ensures that works of merit reach a wider audience'. We were happy to know about the launch of the Connexions Community. Connexions is a space 'for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web'.

We also came across articles mentioning a book on the nesting behaviour of 51 species of common Indian birds, a national library in all metros and an art exhibition inspired by manga comics. Check out these literary themed trucks created for a campaign to promote the Kansas City USA Johnson County Library and to encourage reading. We also like the idea behind the 'Ticker Tape' radio which allows users to decide what content they receive and the duration of content they receive.

Listen to WaxMP3 , a player for Creative Commons music, while you go through the links in our Twittering Thursday post.

At Pratham Books, we LOVE food. So, when Yvette Garfield from Handstand Kids agreed to do a guest post for us, we were happy. But, when we saw that she had sent us the recipe for chocolate noodle clusters from her Chinese cookbook, our stomachs felt very very happy. Did your child try his/her hand at making this sumptious treat?

Image Source: Meanest Indian

'Ticker Tape' Radio

Will Carey's 'ticker tape' radio is such a quirky idea.

Ticker Tape is an internet radio for people who demand tailor-made content. Using content available via the internet, Ticker Tape scans for news stories from around the world broadcasting them to the listener who can manage the content via the Ticker Tape website. Pulling the cord allows the listener to choose the duration of the broadcast. How the creation of content is controlled, how we assert control over that content, and how content can assert control over us is explored through the simple interaction of the Ticker Tape system.

More pictures here.



Image Source

Literary-themed Trucks

The Johnson County Library is spreading the message of reading through literary-themed trucks.

Via osocio

What a great way to spread the word for a library!
In Kansas City USA Johnson County Library couriers are making their book deliveries between Library locations in some specially decorated, literary-themed trucks: Captain Ahab’s Fine Seafood, Benjamin Button’s Diaper Service, Kafka’s Pest Control, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s Pharmacy with the tag line “Available at Johnson County Library.” The messages on the trucks are part of campaign to promote the library, the many stories that can be found there and to encourage reading, even the classics.

According to County Librarian Donna Lauffer, the vehicle campaign should generate interest.

“On first seeing the trucks, people may think oh, what a clever name for a business,” she stated. “Then catching the tag line ‘Available at Johnson County Library’ will definitely get them thinking more about the message and what the library has to offer. We think the campaign will be fun and interesting for the public, especially those who have read the books and are familiar with the characters and authors.

Read the entire article here. See more pictures here.

Image Source: jocolibrary

Art Exhibition Inspired by Manga Comics

Ragini Srikrishna is a student of class IX and is all set to have an exhibition inspired by Manga Comics.

Via The Hindu

Mangas, Japan’s cult comics, will find a resonance here with an art exhibit titled Girl Power!, which begins on July 4 at the Oxford Book Store in Jayanagar.

She has been practising art for three years and enjoys painting landscapes, still life and young people on oil and acrylic.

Girl Power! is an acrylic series that draws from the Japanese manga.

Through this project, Ragini aims to create art that not only empowers girls but also encourages both boys and girls to appreciate each other as team players. “Girls and boys should enjoy the same status. It is not fair that we do not enjoy the same opportunities,” she said.

Read the entire article here.

This young artist is also putting up some of the paintings for sale. Half the proceeds will be donated to FAME India, a non-profit charitable trust focused on educating and training children and young adults with developmental disability, as well as those with cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy.Way to go girl!

Image Source: jasohill

National Library in All Metros

Via India Today

The Visva-Bharati University and the National Library are set for a complete overhaul with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh doling out Rs 100 crore and Rs 20 crore, respectively, to these two institutions which have been in dire straits because of apathy, negligence and wastage of funds over the years.

While the stress in Visva-Bharati will be more on restoration of art works and preserving Tagore’s traditions, the National Library will be fully computerized and its 25-lakh treasure trove of books, documents and newspapers brought under the click of a mouse.

“We are creating a special cell where the comparative languages will be taught in a big way. Uniting languages is the basic aim of philology. Once the other works like restoration and preservations take off and Visva-Bharati is set to return to its old glory, then our philology section shall be the pride of the nation,” he said.

Dr Banerjee said that around three lakh books were simply “lying around” with no cataloguing having been done. “We have books and documents, not to forget newspapers, dating back to 250 years and more. Godowns were stacked with books with readers having no access to them and termites eating into them. “Öur first priority is cataloguing. An inventory is a must,”the director added.

Dr Banerjee said that he had plans to take the National Library to other metros of the country through city hubs, the first of which had been set up in Kolkata but is languishing. “Once computers take over, this should not be difficult and somebody sitting in Delhi can visit our hubs and access books from there, if not from home directly.

Read the entire article here.

Image Source: Octobit

Twittering Thursday

Paraaa paraa paraaa...Twittering Thursday time!

Chuckled at this ad from the New Zealand Book Council, created a video of our storytelling and puppet making workshop with Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj, uploaded pictures of the event and revisited our blog archives to read about 'English Lessons Through Radio'. We also put up illustrations from our books under a CC-license and they can be remixed and reused to create your own stories.

We were reading 'Free vs Fee : Why Government Schools Deliver Results' and 'We Could Abolish Class 10 Board Exams: Kapil Sibal' and 'Sources of Data on Schools in Karnataka'.

Find out what your child can win by sending in a picture of their bookshelf to the 'Around the World in 100 Bookshelves' project. These alphabet keychains brought a big grin to our face. Aren't they cute?

@YatinSethi was tweeting about Lorenzo Natali Prize for Journalists 2009 calling for entries and the One Billion Minds 2009 Fellowship Program.

@thebetterindia is looking for journalism students to intern at The Better India. Mail contact@thebetterindia.com. @Everywun is also looking for journalist students or bloggers interested in writing for social change? DM them on Twitter if you are interested.

@gkjohn had news on the 2nd National Conference on Children’s Literature and 26th National Children’s Book Day in Philippines.

@paperbackjack linked to a serious warning about DRM and Kindle.

@arunpatre's tweet informed us about All for Good, a new service to help you find and share volunteer opportunities, @LWFIndia linked to success stories of 'Because I am a Girl 'Campaign, @mybangalore linked to LSI Corporation India's “Backpack” community initiative.

Now for some book news...

@thecreativepenn had a tweet about book publishers making a move toward mobile to attract teens. @BookChook linked to her blog post on Letters to Leonardo - a new novel and a literacy activity.

Dhimant Parekh's free ebook of short stories can be read here. (via @thebetterindia). Indian Folklore Research Journal has a few articles on how myth shapes identity (via @indianfolklore).

All children's book publishers should read through 'Tough Love: An Open Letter to Kids' Book Publishers' (via @worldbooktrade).

We leave you with this great concept behind an ad to collect donations to sponsor vaccinations in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Image Source: Will Bryant

Handstand Kids Chinese Cookbook : Recipe for Chocolate Noodle Clusters

We have blogged about the Handstand Kids Cookbooks before and chatted with Yvette Garfield (author and founder) about why she started Handstand Kids.

Yvette Garfield is our guest blogger and loves food and travel. She shares the passion for culture each of the Handstand Cookbooks spreads to young minds in this post. With the weekend coming up, the recipe is a perfect way to unwind with your kids and allow them to make some tasty treats for themselves.

The recently launched Chinese cookbook allows children to take a journey, with the Handstand kids, through China’s culture, language and food. Read below for a recipe for The Handstand Kids’ “Emperor's Favorite Treat Chocolate Noodle Clusters.”

Ingredients
2 cups (12 ounce bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups (5 ounces) Chinese chow mein noodles, broken into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) salted peanuts

Tools
Measuring cups
Medium microwaveable bowl
Large mixing bowl
Rubber spatula
Nonstick baking sheet
2 soup spoons

Instructions
1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper, parchment paper, or aluminum foil.
2. Melt the chocolate chips and butter together in a microwave-safe bowl in a microwave oven, stirring every 30 seconds. Heat just until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
3. In a large mixing bowl, toss the noodles and peanuts together. Pour the melted chocolate mixture over them and stir. Use a rubber spatula to coat the noodles and nuts with chocolate quickly before the chocolate hardens.
4. Use 2 soup spoons to scoop up spoonfuls of the mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet. Set the baking sheet in a cool place or refrigerate for 15 minutes until the chocolate hardens.
5. The clusters can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

Alternative: Try using different types of nuts. You can also leave out the nuts and just use the chow mein noodles!

The Handstand Kids Chinese Cookbook comes packaged in a large takeout box with adorable kid-friendly plastic chopsticks. Recipes are rated in difficulty from 1 to 4 chopsticks. A four-chopstick recipe requires more parental help, but an older child should be able to make a 1 or 2 chopstick recipe with minimal assistance from mom. Ingredients and utensils are listed in Mandarin as well as English.

Each cookbook in the series encourages kids to get involved in their communities. The Chinese Cookbook suggests hosting a food drive and donating the proceeds to a charity of choice. I am doing my own charity work through the Chinese Cookbook by donating a portion of all sales from www.handstandkids.com to Nothing But Nets when customers use the promotional code NETS. Nothing But Nets is a grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a leading killer of children in Africa.

Visit www.handstandkids.com to learn more! Happy cooking everyone.

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Book on Common Indian Birds

Since it is a Thursday and we shall have a Twittering Thursday post up on the blog later this evening, it was a nice coincidence to come across a book on birds to keep with the bird theme of Twittering Thursday.

Via The Hindu

Sukumar Arumugam, who writes under the penname Chinna Sathan (his childhood pet-name), is unassuming and a mild mannered. He has documented the nesting behaviour of 51 species of common Indian birds.

With co-author Bal Pandi, a temporary birdwatcher at Koonthakulam bird sanctuary near Tirunelveli, Sukumar spent five years researching minute aspects of nesting and bird behaviour in Koonthakulam, Sathyamangalam and Sulur. The book has 300 original photographs and 50 sketches by known naturalists like T. R. A. Arunthavaselvan, Sivaprasadh and M. S. Mayilvahanan. Apart from studying nesting, the book details riveting facts about why perching birds stand on anthills, what happens to broken egg shells and notes on various topics like sanitary habits of birds and predators of nests.

Without an (International Standard Book Number) ISBN and a renowned publisher, Sukumar has only the State to fall back on. The Tamil Nadu government usually procures a 1,000 copies of his books for government libraries. Sale is usually done through friends and associations. This time he hopes to sell copies online, after getting an ISBN. The author, who feels school children ought to read the book, hasn’t contacted any bookshops as they take “40 per cent profit”, making the book unaffordabale. Apart from conservation activities, Sukumar and Hari want to create a corpus for Bal Pandi to get a monthly income, with the proceeds from the book. Pandi, who nurses orphan birds and has received many conservation awards, finds a well-deserved note in the book. The clinical detail in which the author describes Pandi’s techniques for healing birds is remarkably enlightening.

The book is priced at Rs. 650. For details visit http://nestingbook.webs.com/.

Read the entire article here.

Image Source : Subharghya Das

Connexions Community Launched

Connexions is a space 'for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web'. It contains educational material for people of all ages and is free to use and reuse under a Creative Commons license.

Via the connexions blog

Over the course of the past year, the Connexions (http://cnx.org/) community has undergone explosive growth. Thousands of learners, educators, and authors visit Connexions each day to exchange ideas, experience, and knowledge through a rich collection of open repository modules and collections.

As the centerpiece of this community effort, the Connexions blog (http://blog.cnx.org/) will serve as a place for users to connect, interact, and explore the Connexions project (the main site at http://cnx.org/). This blog will contain a blend of updates, editorials, and tutorials, including:

* Featured content vignettes highlighting exemplary Connexions content
* Announcements for new site features and Connexions-related events
* Insider updates regarding current and future software development
* Friendly authoring competitions and calls for new content
* Tips and tricks to help members take full advantage of the site's features
* Video tutorials highlighting solutions to frequently asked questions
* Staff updates to show users what goes on behind the scenes at Connexions

In addition to visiting the blog, you can also follow updates through on Facebook and Twitter, or directly through the RSS feed. We also have plans to release a number of video tutorials on YouTube, photo albums on Flickr, and other related projects involving several popular internet services.

Read more here.

Some of our content is also up on the Connexions platform. Here is a video of Gautam John representing Pratham Books at the Connexions 2009 conference. If you have any questions, feel free to email us.

Literary Events in July

PaperTigers has a list of literary events taking place across the world in the month of May. You can view the entire list here.

One of the events taking place in Delhi from 27-31 July is Their Magical Years: a National Workshop on Early Childhood Learning and Development.

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Vodafone Crossword Book Award 2008

The Vodafone Crossword Book Award 2008 shortlist was announced recently. The awards include categories like English Fiction, Indian Language Fiction Translation and English Non-Fiction. The nominees were selected from 176 entries and the winners will be announced on July 23 and will be given Rs.3 lakhs each.

Via The Hindu

Instituted in 1998, this book award “recognises and rewards the best of Indian writing and ensures that works of merit reach a wider audience”. Butalia, who headed the panel, said that such literary awards are a good thing for all concerned. They provide recognition and sales to authors. For publishers, it’s a reassurance that they are on the right track. For readers, it’s a sign of what is good. And for sponsors it’s a way to connect with matters of intellect rather than lucre. But despite the obvious benefits it is also true that literary choices are highly limited and even more subjective.

The award is also a way to support existing writers, and that’s why it is not given posthumously.

Some of the books shortlisted are Manjula Padmanabhan's “Escape”, Amitav Ghosh's “Sea of Poppies”, Chaturvedia Badrinath's “The Women of Mahabharata” and Aatish Taseer's “Manto – selected stories”. You can find the entire list here.

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