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A harvest of Sinhala childrenā€™s books

LITERATURE:ā€We are quite serious about the publication of childrenā€™s books, as we cannot afford to miss or go against the good intentions and ethics as laid down by the educationists.

First of all we select the suitable manuscripts written by writers who have a vision and a gift, and then we need creative illustratorsā€, said Prem Disanayake, Surasa books publisher (Fast publications) taking time off from his busy schedule of printing various types of books, original as well as translations.

Disanayake is a journalist and an artist himself who knows the tricks of the trade, and as a result, he makes a judgment and passes on to his team.

The new childrenā€™s book Taru Ahasai Ketumatiy (star studded sky and Ketumati) written by Iroshini Asha Ratnavelaand quite well illustrated by Dasa Hapuvalana, runs to sixteen pages.

I read the book here and there to find something refreshing; it contained not just the usual childrenā€™s story type, but an alternative type where there is a story as well as a positive thinking guiding philosophy. A certain poor girl with keen interest in matters pertaining to the sky becomes an astronomer.

This may look a mere dream to an adult, but if tested with children I am sure they would like this kind of story. The story is undoubtedly sadly woven with events of poverty, sickness and struggles to make ends meet in the beginning. The tone of sadness however gradually wanes when the girl determines to make a world for herself.

Anura B. Senevirataneā€™s Hirukumaraya Saha Kammali Minussu (the Sun prince and the lazy men) revolves round the idleness of people who sleep till late in the morning hours missing the beauty of the natural creations like the birdsongs, blooming flowers and the mild sun rays penetrating through the windows.

Illustrated by Indranath Thenuvara this story tells us the very people who miss the natural creations, surely miss the creations of the Sun prince that gives birth to the entire day. A worried Sun prince sees the greatest of the gods to get advice to make people wake up to see his creations.

What follows is the sending of a ā€˜cock-a-doodle-doā€™, the bird known as the cock or the rooster who announces the arrival of morning with his inimitable sound. But still some of the people are lazy in their beds and mats ignoring the wake up call.

Then comes another idea, the greatest of the god wants the small birds too to make their songs heard by the people and the flowers wavered by the morning breeze to see that they are enjoyed by all people.

This way all the people were in a way forced to get up and enjoy which became gradually a habit remaining to this day. Thus the people claim that the morning hours are brighter than the rest of the time and the main intention of getting up in the morning seems to be the enjoyment that goes hand in hand with it.

But still the Sun prince (hirukumaru) unhappily feels people would fall asleep once again, and to prevent that scene he begins to make the sunrays slightly intensified. In this manner the child is made to feel the splendour of the nature creatively.

Folklore

Quite a number of childrenā€™s books that included the Surasa book label contain material drawn from folklore, history, religion, and science. Many of these could be utilized for silent reading in the classroom as well as material for reading with the teacher.

The childrenā€™s book Ratu Puta (The Red Son) by Daminda Jivan Ranasinghe and illustrated by Tissa Kumara is one such example drawn from the local folklore source, where the two types of birds known as the crow and the koha (known as cuckoo in general context), though look alike, differ from each other in mannerisms.

The female Koha bird lays eggs for the most part in the nest made by the crow and when the eggs are hatched the crow becomes angry over seeing the little koha bird coming out of the eggs in her nest.

But here is a story woven around the other side of the matter, as the koha birds who come to Colombo from the far away Sinharaja forest abode to rest a while in a crow nest, as the time had come for the female koha bird to lay the eggs.

The female koha bird, lays her egg in the nest of the crows and in fear of her enemies, the koha birds leave before the arrival of enemies. The female crow however is a different type because she does not want to ill-treat the innocent little koha bird coming out of the egg in her own nest.

Time is up for the koha parents to see their little being, and to their much surprise, they see how it is looked after by the female crow bird despite the opposition from some of the other female crows. The narrative, to an adult, may show traces of illogical ā€˜anti natureā€™ material.

But the case may look quite different with a child; he/she will gain more knowledge on the aspects of kindness in social conditions even from an unbelievable point of view like in a fairy tale. Thus the child comes to know that at a particular given moment the fateful anger has to be stopped by some one and the rest of the good things will follow.

Creations

Surasa books also include creations on the reinterpretations to Jataka tales and folk tales. As usual many stories are woven around animals like stags squirrels and deer. The birds and beasts appear not as enemies but as good friends of human beings.

In Pinvanta Girava (The Pious Parrot) by Kamal Sri Liyanage and illustrated by Bethmegedera Sumanapala one finds a fine example of a newly created narrative that teaches the children to love the animals by understanding the inborn nature of their behaviour patterns.

In this example a certain parrot who used to bring disaster to a certain farmer by plucking the sheaves of paddy is made to be trapped and the farmer comes to know that the parrot had not wasted or brought disaster to him in an evil manner, but had made use of his legitimate share of the paddyfield by taking the seeds to feed the parents as they are too old to fly.

The tender closeness to parents in their old age is pinpointed from one point of view. This concept of good heartedness is a religious attitude, which is treated in many ways in the Jataka collection and could be reinterpreted in modern terms to socialize the child.

ā€œDo the children still prefer Aesopian parables and La Fontaine type of stories?ā€ I asked Disanayake, and the response was instant. ā€œYes they do and they are still unchallengable.ā€

Quite a number of translations and adaptations also have appeared in this list of books for children. In this manner the Surasa childrenā€™s books are made available for children of all ages. The children, obviously, love reading good books and we have to provide them with the right kind of material.

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