April 7, 2002

AS I flipped through the pages of the children’s books in Urdu published by the Book Group, for review, my first reaction to the flamboyant display of endless dark and gaudy colours and big captivating pictures, was not very complimentary. I guess that is what you call the difference between a kid and a grown up: I would not even give it a second look.

But I must admit that when I decided to read the books with my 6-year-old triplets, plausibly the target audience as the books do not specify any age limit, to see how they liked the stories, I realized that I am a grown up. At the end of the reading, they cracked in laughter at the funny flight of imagination of a jumping rhinoceros shown in the sturdy little book, Kaun kooda written by Amira Alam and illustrated by Mehreen Zuberi, while they could not help wondering as to how the cotton flower was caught in the spinwheel and made cotton in the other storybook Kapaas by Samina Raza, illustrated by Zain Mankani.

While the small preface of one of the books says the writers are mostly teachers, the short and succinct text, simple sentences and rather absurd but basic rhymes remind me of the famous series of Dr Seuss in English, The cat in the hat, etc that perhaps make sense only to a kindergarten student or a grown up with an indulging sense of humour. “...A little volume of absurdity that worked like a karate chop on the weary little world of Dick, Jane and Spot,” says a review on the back of the book.

Khel khilonay is a collection of easy storylines that every child has come across at home, in a park, at a relative’s abode or school. The illustrations in big colour drenched pictures made by children of various schools will not let the little reader even blink for a moment and lose all the fun. Jugnu, Itna saaraa pani, and Cycle per saer sapaatay are fleeting thin books with brief storylines and an emphasis on jarring illustrations made my daughters sit in awe, immersed in an array of colours and shapes.

One of my first childhood recollections of such interestingly illustrated Urdu books for children read cover to cover in a few hours, are those published by The Book Foundation, an organization that also focused on producing good Urdu literature for children. Picture books and easy to read booklets made such wonderful reading stuff specially for those ‘English medium’ prone children who would otherwise not have the inclination or the opportunity to read books in their own language. The Book Group should also be lauded for its efforts to convey that it is crucially important to know one’s own mother tongue before conquering any other language.



 

Kaun kooda

By Amira Alam

ISBN 969-8556-35-4

22pp. Rs30



 

Kapaas

By Samina Raza

ISBN 969-8556-37-0

10pp. Rs25



 

Khel khilonay

ISBN 969-8556-00-1

58pp. Rs100



 

Jugnu

By Amira Alam

ISBN 969-8556-32-X

10pp.Rs25



 

Itna saaraa pani

By Rehana Asif

ISBN 969-8556-24-9

10pp. Rs25



 

Cycle par saer sapaatay

By Rizwan Saeed

ISBN 969-8556-34-6

8pp. Rs25

The Book Group, 187/2 C, Block 2, PECH Society, Karachi

Tel: 021- 431 0641. Email: bookgroup@cyber.net.pk

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