|
Focus on Books:
Children's books: need for better guidelines
Professor Sunanda Mahendra
 As
October 1 happens to be the World Children's Day, the emphasis for
better reading material for children too had become a talking point.
Most parents and teachers are seen bent on the discussion that centres
round children's books and the way to select them with the advance of
technology quite a large number of children's books are produced. The
book lists indicate the requirement to select supplementary books
written with the child in mind. But the manner in which the books ought
to be selected is not quite clear. This was once brought to me by a
learned father who so desired books for his son and daughter.
How are we going to select a book out of the heap of glossary books
indicated as children's books? When we were young we had the books of
our time. But they are no longer extant in the book market. Hence the
problem is not so simple. We wish that there is a better method of
indication for the selection of children's books.
All time classics
I quite agree with the father who had faced this dilemma. We all
believe that it is the pleasant past and a bleak present we envisage.
Times have changed or to use a better term, the evolutionary factors
have paved the way for wide changes in the book production. Lewis
Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' may not fit the temperament of a present
day child. But it is a classic for all times. Jules Verne's 'Around the
World in 80 Days' may not sound a wonder. A child will challenge the
contents but not science fiction. It has advanced leagues ahead with the
films of Spielberg and fantasies of Rowling.
But then what about the children's classics like 'Treasure Island' by
R. L. Stevenson? What has happened to the William books of Richmond
Crompton. Are they still in vogue, I wonder! Even the Blyton books have
changed with the time. They are still popular even in translation. In
India I happened to meet an educationist who was a specialist in
folklore and the transformation of the subject into creative literature.
What he told me was fascinating. He said that the two epics Ramayana and
Mahabharatha had created a record by helping the Indian children's
writers to recreate new record breaking reading material accepted and
approved by the scholars. Similarly he pointed out that even the
classics like Jataka tales, Panchatantra, had given a new stock int rade
source for creative writers, with a special reference to children's
literature.
The Chinese example
In China too a similar factor had emerged. As pointed out in chapter
15 of the book titled 'Childhood: In contemporary cultures (1955)'
edited by Magaret Mead and Martha Wolfenstein, the celebrated Chinese
work 'Monkey' (translated into English by Arthur Waley, 1942, London),
though not originally written for children, has for long been the
favourite book of Chinese children from 6 to 10, an age when relief in
magic is particularly strong. The novel is based on an actual historical
event, the journey of the monk named Hsuan Chuang to India, during Tang
dynasty, to obtain the Buddhist scriptures.
A lot of folkloristic material are embedded, and the journey of a
pious monkey who is brave has his own magical metamorphosis. The
realistic record of events are superseded by a number of fantasies and
make-believes. This is regarded as a great and sacred work, liked by the
children as well as adults. Similar narratives are found in Japan and
India. Even parts of the work are recreated as television and film
creations. In Sri Lanka quite a number of children's works are created
via Buddha's life as well as the doctrine. The most popular trend in
folktale is the enveloping of the journeys of Buddha. But the imitation
of the content and structure of the popular children's works in the
occident has not been properly directed. The Sinhala juvenile
narratives, with exception of a few like Martin Wickramasinghe's Madol
Duwa, are seemingly imitative works as produced in thousands in the
West.
Role of illustrations
This is a point that has to be taken into much consideration in the
writing and designing of books for children I see that the writer and
illustrator Sybil Wettasinghe has been delving on this issue for years,
and as a result she has been a lovely flash stuff; and a pioneer
creator.
She had been engaged in a dedicated function of knowing the
conscience of the child of different ages. She has been also influenced
by the indigenous folklore and religious susceptibilities. But I see
that the tradition has not been either developed further or felt as a
serious teaching and learning project by the concerned educationist.
This is of course a random example.
There may be a few more children's book creators and designers
overloaded over the years. But the fact remains that there must be an
innovative ongoing discourse on the subject of children's books. It is
believed that at least a great writers of narratives like Charles
Dickens and Leo Tolstoy had a special knack for children's literature.
May we not take an example from them and set about formulating a code of
guidelines. The ministry of education should not merely consider the
production of text books as the sole necessity for children in this
country. The ministry if possible should implement the task of waiting
supplementary books of varying types.
Cultural responsibility
As the anthropologist Ruth Benedict has pointed out 'all cultures
must deal in one way or another with the cycle of growth from infancy to
adulthood'.
It is the innovative teacher (or educationist), the innovative writer
and designer that matter in the function of book production for
children. The total absence of a unit of creative educational material
on the part of the stat, had done more damage to the child than anything
else. The books meant for today's children may not be the same that was
produced 50 years ago. May the nostalgia for the past remain in the
minds of the adults, but the venture to produce books which help face
the challenges of today's life structures should emerge. May the parent
and teachers consider this issue seriously, instead of lamenting for the
bygone past.
In conclusion I quote the following words of Margerte Mead.
"It has long been the experience of workers in the cultural field
that a great deal is lost to science if the research worker does not
approach each new piece of work with a fresh mind, ready to learn new
things as well as to recheck earlier insights, repeat former checklists
and try the same taste over again." (5pp)
[email protected] |
