Children’s content company, Bookosmia, recently launched a character called Sara. The 10-year-old reads stories by children and listens to video stories from India’s best storytellers. Sara’s Be a sport stories have life lessons from sports. Bookosmia, founded by Nidhi Mishra and Archana Mohan publishes books, e-books and content in audio formats too.
Bookosmia has created a new role for Sara during the lockdown — curating a daily segment called GratitudeDuringCovid. “We are a children’s content company and like all other publishers, roll out fun and meaningful engagements for children,” says Nidhi. “When we were contemplating what else we could do, Archana hit on the perfect idea — ask children what they are grateful for and publish what they have to say. That is how we started GratitudeDuringCovid, a daily segment where Sara publishes two submissions (poems or/ essays) from children across India.”
Children lead their lives with a constant inflow of ideas and concepts, says Nidhi. “Parents, school or teachers rarely pause to ask children how they feel. We see ourselves as different from other content companies, as we have a two-way conversation with our audience. We have digital and video stories to engage meaningfully with children. We ask them how they feel during the lockdown.”
Nidhi says GratitudeDuringCovid helps children process their emotions instead of hopping from one activity to another. "Every child feels heard and this boosts their confidence. Parents have written to us that such experiments help empower the children. It will help children grow and bring about a positive change."
There has been an overwhelming response for GratitudeDuringCovid, says Nidhi. “Through the lockdown, we have been publishing children’s poems and essays from across India. We are flooded with inputs from seven to 16 year olds, from Kolkata, Ankleshwar, Bangalore, Gurgaon and even Switzerland. The emotions and thoughts children have exhibited are amazing.”
While younger children are thankful for nature, getting to spend time with their parents and hearing the chirping of birds, the 12-year-olds and above have shared pieces on becoming conscious of the privilege they have, of the freedom to “go inside themselves if not outside,” of empathy for their domestic staff and of exploring a new self.
Harini, content manager at Bookosmia, who interacts with parents and children says, "We have an agreement now with an international journal to republish some of the submissions.”
To access GratitudeDuringCovid, log on to https://bookosmia.com/category/saras-gratitude-during-covid/
