CHILDREN love to read storybooks that have colourful illustrations in them because graphics give more detail to the story than mere plain text.

Keeping this in mind, “Graphic Stories” by Oxford University Press, is a step in the direction of providing children with knowledge about the lives of great Pakistani personalities, their inspiring work in spite of the hurdles they faced.

The first in the series is “Abdul Sattar Edhi” written by Amina Azfar. Like the remarkable man, this book is a very nice with appealing pictorial presentation of Abdul Sattar’s journey from childhood to the saviour of millions that he has become.

Similarly, the second in the series is “Akhtar Hameed Khan” written and illustrated by Rumana Hussain. Akhtar Hameed Khan was a renowned Pakistani development activist and social scientist. He is famous for promoting participatory rural development in Pakistan and other developing countries. The detail is again eye-catching, and tells how Akhtar Hameed Khan quit a well-established job in British India and how he worked for ruler development.

According to the writer, the information has been gathered where possible from the living sources close to the personalities portrayed, as well as from the reliable printed material. The illustrations have been researched to ensure that they reflect the authentic physical environment of the time and place they represent.

The graphical details of the books make them suitable for children, as well as prove very inspiring and effective in attracting reluctant book readers. Both the books are available in English and Urdu.