A key element of library work is that of interaction. Texts are read, shared, discussed, dismissed, awaited as children in our pre COVID libraries gathered at regular intervals on our shared journey of becoming readers.
This interruption in our social lives simply meant we had to think again. As is want to happen when intentions are well placed, a gift of a book arrived from our friend and long time supporter Jerry Pinto. A wee book by him titled My Daddy and the Well, with illustrations by Lavanya Naidu published by Penguin Random House India.
The story begins like this
When my daddy was a boy, he lived in Moira. Moira is in Goa
We had an idea. That is all it took. Let us share this book widely with children and ask them to share it with others and respond to the book in a way that we all have a sharing together. The idea sprung from the rare event of a book for children based in Goa !!!
We have an activity at Bookworm borrowed from the school sports field of the relay race. We put our hearts and minds together to design this sharing in the form of a Book Relay.
A sub set of the team designed activities that allowed for different kinds of reader responses. These were printed and affixed to the back inner cover of the book.
A call went out for race starters. Each reader had to simply read, respond and take responsibility to pass the book on. We decided that when six readers had raced their way through the book, they could call up the library and we would pick up the book for a big hurrah !
It worked like a charm. Across five geographies , one of which were children in Moira , Goa the book passed hands. Each reader filled in the response sheets perhaps unknowingly drawing on family conversations, retrieving fruit and flower names from memory, reading around Goa to answer questions like
Do you know if red bananas still grow in Moira? Can you name some fruits that grow in Goa.
Some say Moira was named after the peacock, some say it was named after the Maurya dynasty. Do you know the origin of the names of any other places in Goa.
The book relay connected six families together for each geography and within each family it enabled conversations while the reader read, reflected, wrote out responses and stayed excited about the journey of the book. Simple every day practices enabled by a lovely book and a thoughtful team. We urge you to try it in your community. Write to us if you want further ideas . We know from these responses that it brought joy in a time when everything seems to light up only if we are on screen, My Daddy and the Well showed us that , that is not entirely true !
