November 17, 2002

A FEW years ago, long after both my daughters had graduated from college, we decided to clear out their childhood books. There were illustrated fairy stories, nature books and encyclopaedias, row upon row of Ladybird books, The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew. The Famous Five and the Secret Seven, all the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, a few Beatrix Potter, Winnie the Pooh, The Little House on the Prairie, Annie and a host of others, including various classics such as Black Beauty.

Since they were in good condition, we gave them to a children’s library. Even then, we could not bear to give away all, and kept some as a memento. Looking through these today, it is clear that the most memorable books of their childhood were not the same as mine.

As a child I had been entranced by The water babies, Little women, What Katy did and Lorna Doone. But they did not make the same impression on my girls as they did on me. But then, my father could never convince me to read Treasure Island — I hated adventure stories about little boys running away from home.

At nine, I joined boarding school in England. I recall my English friends devouring novels by Paul Gallico and Noel Streatfield, but the book I remember best is Kipling’s Jungle book. These enchanting tales were set in my homeland, in landscape I knew and the very names of Akela the lone wolf and Sher Khan the tiger, were words which had a meaning for me. So, from an early age I became aware of an issue, that I was to articulate much later: the need for children in English medium schools to read English storybooks that relate to their lives, culture and environment.

For my children, I would scour Karachi bookshops for reading material, beyond the ubiquitous Enid Blyton and Carolyn Keene, but even books by contemporary writers such as Raoul Dahl were rare. Although at some point I did manage to pick up Watership down by Richard Adams, a metaphorical fantasy about migrating rabbits, hugely enjoyed by adults and children alike — and the great publishing phenomenon of that time.

Armed with these memories, I set off to explore Clifton’s three major bookshops — and found much had changed. To begin with, there were several Raoul Dahls available. Watership down stood among the Puffin classics, alongside several timeless twentieth century novels for the young, such as Dear Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster.

While a gift pack of 10 paperbacks, included Carrie’s war by Nina Bawden and the The ballet shoes by Noel Streatfield. I was particularly interested in the Oxford Bookworm series of several short story collections according to genres, for older children, covering a wide range of writers from Graham Greene and Dorothy Sayers to Susan Hill and John Updike. There was also Homer’s Odyssey retold by Geraldine McCaughrean, the Whitbread-winning author of children’s fiction.

Once, very topical, new award winning books seldom appeared in our bookstores. This is no longer so. Last year’s Whitbread-winning, Booker-nominated The amber spyglass by Philip Pullman is expected very soon. Described as a “crossover” between adult and children’s fiction, this fantasy novel, the third in The dark materials trilogy is considered “the most ambitious writing for young people since Lord of the rings and the Narnia books”.

Of course, there’s nothing quite like a popular film to renew interest in a great book and demand for Lord of the rings by J.R. Tolkein has increased now that it’s an amazing movie. Novels based on television serials, ranging from Star Trek, to the Buffy and Angel seemed to do well too. There were very many horror stories by R.L. Stine with titles such as Monster blood; and Night of the living dummy.

The bookseller, I spoke to, uttered a universal truth when he said: “Children love horror.”

Of course, the magical Harry Potter occupies a very special place, for he has so captured hearts and minds of all children that he has been translated into many languages, including Urdu. More than that, he has succeeded in luring children away from TV, back to good old-fashioned reading. His creator J.K. Rowling certainly spins bewitching, imaginative tales, filled with wondrous creatures and a vivid, brilliant imagery.

The new rage today is Artemis fowl by Eoin Colfer, a high tech story of a 12-year-old in Ireland, who tries to steal gold from fairies. Some have hailed it as better than Harry Potter; others dispute this.

Good poetry books were scarce but there was one unusual and notable collection of children’s poems by contemporary writers Utterly brilliant poetry edited by Brian Potter. Meanwhile encyclopaedias, illustrated nature books, fairy tales and old classics continue to hold their own. Now the Islamabad based Alhamra has reprinted some all-time favourites including Pinocchio, Prisoner of Zenda, Black Beauty and The Arabian nights.

The most radical difference in children’s books today is the number of reasonably priced, if slim volumes, relating to different aspects of Pakistani life and Muslim history. The Goodword Books series includes “Stories from the Quran”, such as Two sons of Adam and The origin of life, while another is called Tell me about Hajj. OUP has paperbacks Stories from the Quran by Sajeda Zaidi, Ten stories from Islam by Ruth Whyte and the Lives of the prophet retold by Elma Ruth Harder.

Ferozsons has published a children’s series on Muslim heroes, including Salahuddin Ayubbi, and has others on Mughal Emperors. OUP’s illustrated historical readers include Akbarnama: Abul Fazl’s account, Humayunnama: Gulbadan’s account, Tuzk-i-Temuri: Temur’s diary, all retold by Zubeida Dossal. A similar series, “Homespun tales from Pakistan” has stories such as The tales that Dama told by Seema Naqvi.

There is also a wonderful nature book for the young Pakistani natural wonders by T.J. Roberts while Pakistan: the making of art by Akbar Naqvi spans the country’s art history from Buddhist art and Islamic calligraphy to Sadequain and Shahid Sajjad. The superior illustrations give these book an edge over other local publications.

There is in the bookstalls a particularly beautiful, contemporary story for young children, The beautiful pearl: a tale from Afghanistan by Fahmida Riaz. There are also some well-written, original stories for children by Pakistani writers which deserve a much higher visibility. This includes Bina Shah’s vivid Animal medicine, the entertaining Billa Nayee and other stories by Imran Kureishi, and Nayantara Noorani’s lively novel, Reflections, which came several years after her first book A dream come true that she wrote when she was a child herself.

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)