NEW LIBRARY IN BORIM
Neil Gaiman writes, “libraries are about freedom, freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communications, about entertainment, about making safe spaces and about access to information. A library is a place of safety. A haven from the world, its a place with librarian in it” Truly, a library is a space which is created […]
Bringing Teachers into Library Practice
At Bookworm, our approach has been to work with children. This was not a strategic decision, but an organic one. It emerged from the simple truth, that children are open, receptive, warm, welcoming and critical, story worlds make immediate sense, they don’t need to be ‘taught’. Ursula LeGuin writes, “ Children have a seemingly innate […]
New Book Happiness
Bookworm’s mission is to spread the love for reading to every child and one way we do this in the Libraries in School Program is by introducing children to our collection of books. Children are exposed to different kinds of books such as picture books, board books as well as types of books like fiction, […]
Taking story time from the classroom to the courtyard
With the heavy rains gone after the Diwali holidays, we conducted the library sessions at Govt. Primary School, Merces (Std. 1-4) in the courtyard. The fresh air in the school compound, with coconut trees swaying in the breeze, has added magic to our library sessions. The first time the children sat with us outside, I […]
A Letter to Amy: A Scope for Discussion
I never knew that ‘A Letter to Amy’ by Ezra Jack Keats could be a solid discussion on whom to invite or not to invite for a birthday. This is a book about a boy named Peter who writes a letter to Amy, a very special friend, inviting her for his birthday party. I thought […]
Linking the Community to the Library
It has been three years since the Cipla Foundation (CF) has partnered with Bookworm to support the Libraries in School (LiS) Program in many of the schools and it has been a very fruitful partnership. We have been able to reach more children with the CF support and this has greatly benefitted the children. The […]
Display on different kinds of Books
A display is something that is put out prominently so that it is readily seen by all. Apart from this, according to Tessa Thorn, the purpose of a display in the primary classroom would enable: To extend children’s learning Celebrate Stimulate Inform Encourage children to interact with their environment To be used as a learning […]
What is a Library?
In The Librarian’s Book of Lists (Chicago: ALA, 2010), George Eberhart offers this definition: “A library is a collection of resources in a variety of formats that is (1) organized by information professionals or other experts who (2) provide convenient physical, digital, bibliographic, or intellectual access and (3) offer targeted services and programs (4) with […]
My experience in Sanjay Center for Special Education
When I was informed that we are going to Sanjay School, I was very happy as I had heard so many good things about this school but had never got the chance to visit it. I had heard that this is a school for special children. To be honest, I never knew what a special […]
Almost Trapped
At Bookworm our vision in practice is to take stories to children in diverse contexts to engender what Pat Mora calls ‘bookjoy’. It is close to fifteen years of this work on the ground and it surprised me to realise I felt trapped by a web of our own making. After weeks of deliberation by […]