Rubin D’ Cruz wants readers in Kerala to begin a new chapter for children who have lost their books in the flood. “For children living in a village, a library is often his/her only source of good reading material. When the rivers breached banks and entered cities and villages, it also destroyed many libraries, big and small. It will take some time for the libraries to stock their shelves. The same is the case with personal libraries of many children,” explains Rubin, former director of Kerala State Institute for Children’s Literature.
To help such young readers, Rubin, at present Malayalam editor of National Book Trust, has begun a campaign to collect books for children. He has requested people to donate books for children. Fourteen such centres have been opened in all the districts of the State.
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Many well-known writers from all over Kerala such as Sunil Elayidom and Dr. Sreekumar, illustrator Venki, a Kozhikode-based writers’ group, Shabdam, and so on came forward to donate books. Many of them donated the books at outlets of Kerala State Book Mark. For many of them, the effort to search for the books of their childhood turned out to be a time travel experience.
Writer Radhika C. Nair says that she found it nostalgic to go through her collection because each book was bought with a lot of care and thought for her daughter to read and it was a little disconcerting to donate it. But she wanted to make sure that other children also got the opportunity to read those books.
“Since I posted the request on my page on August 23, we have collected about 1,000 books. That is not enough. So we have reached out to publishers also. Chinta Publications, Green books, and Kerala State Institute for Children’s Literature are among many that have promised to supply us with books. Once the schools reopen, the movement should gain momentum,” hopes Rubin. The aim is to reach at least a pile of books to libraries that were damaged by the rain and rivers.
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“It is not a difficult task if each of us try and donate a few books for the children in these areas. As a person who grew up in a village, I know how much of a difference a well-stocked library can make to a child’s imagination and creativity,” he adds.
Collection centres
Kerala State Book Mark,
Central Archives Building, Punnapuram, Fort P.O., Thiruvananthapuram
E-mail: keralabookmarks@gmail.com
Contact: 0471 - 2473921, 2467536
V.J.T Hall Compound, Thiruvananthapuram
Contact: 0471-2453822