The Storytellers

My father, who lives in constant fear of dystopia, was complaining to me the other day about a seven-year-old he recently encountered: his friend's grandson. "The child was on his smartphone for two hours on the trot, playing some pre-set game.
He didn't look up once to inquire about anything magical. Remember, you guys were always hooked on books in your growing-up years? Whatever happened to a curious mind, reading and kids?"
Happily, it's not a zero sum game - though there have been alarming cues about children's reading habits. Worldwide, kids are reading less - physical books that is; but to offset that, sales of books are have been growing the last couple of years, while ebooks' sales are falling.
Maybe there'll be an overturn-overlap of magical realism soon, followed by a never-ending story on books and reading.
That's what former television journalist Sharavati Choksi and marketing professional Zeeshahn Fezi - both Dubai-based mothers to young boys - are hoping for. And working towards. Their publishing initiative Story For Me got off the ground exactly two months ago, and the market feedback - in a short span - has been reassuring.
Story For Me publishes personalised storybooks for the age group of "0-8", where, over the narratives and illustrations, the child who's being gifted the book is the "hero". The concept has been around globally, and even in the region. "But it's for the first time that a home-grown brand in the UAE is offering hair and skin customisations in storybooks," says Sharavati, adding there's a real basis for all this hairsplitting. "When I showed my son a personalised storybook - while we were still doing groundwork for the project - the first thing he said was, 'But that's not me! I don't have blonde hair or blue eyes!'" (As usual, the kids proved to be the best touchstone in research.)
The UAE, a melting pot and a hub of expats, is home to many nationalities, so it's particularly important to impart this level of customisation. "Because," Sharavati continues, "these books are not objects, they are attachments for life - every child will [presumably] treasure them forever."
There are currently 13 titles which can be form-fitted: seven for boys, six for girls. Yes, it's an "equal" world, but, then, there are certain things that "appeal" to little boys - like cars - and some that girls identify with more easily - like teddy bears. or playing cricket and learning ballet (respectively). The larger lesson - for both genders - remains the same in all titles. You can do anything. Anything at all. "So, if you're a girl and you want to be a fire-fighter who rescues a cat, then you can. be whatever you want to be, the world is your oyster, you're the pearl inside," the two women iterate in unison.
It was almost serendipity that 2016 - when the blueprint for Story For Me was being drawn up - was anointed the Year of Reading by the UAE. "We really wanted to start Story For Me last year so we could fit into the scheme of things!" says Zeeshahn. When it didn't work out quite so soon, the two were happy to note that 2017 was the Year of Giving. "So our proposition is 'Give the gift of reading to a child'," she smiles. Taking "reading" to the next level of "giving".
The critical takeaway you get from speaking with Sharavati and Zeeshahn is that, "Books have been very essential in our lives, so we decided to do something to get kids back into the fold of reading. and make them fall in love with reading. See, we grew up in India at a time when information technology, in our daily lives, was almost non-existent. What we would look forward to the most was the smell of a new book, holding it, flipping through the pages. that's the credo we want to transpose to kids."
Children these days, they point out, are getting too distracted with whatever online offers them; "online is great, but being online cannot come at the cost of reading books".
So, what are the 'offline' hooks they offer?
"Well, for one, when children see their name and personalised photos/illustrations in the book, there's an instant connect. We have clients who tell us their kids love these books so much that they take them to school, to bed - even to the loo! They own it, it's their book, it's a prized possession. If we can inculcate that kind of resonance in kids in the UAE, our work's done!"
Then, there are the lessons showcased in the books which are bound to strike a chord - an emotional one. Sharavati and Zeeshahn give examples: the storybook titled Home Sweet Home. "It's all about your favourite corners in the house, cooking with your mom, gardening with your dad. For a child, a house is filled with memories. When you read it to a child, there's always a discussion that ensues. The child will always ask the parent, 'So, which is your favourite part of the house?'. Isn't that a great conversation starter?"
Or The Champion, which is about being a sport in life because you win some, lose some. "You can lose a match one day, but you'll win too. You also learn other stuff of champs: adopt a healthy lifestyle, eat well, eat on time, sleep well."
Or Desert Adventure that teaches a child about the animals in the desert, the lost warrior tribes, about survival and beating the odds. "It was a learning curve for us too [while working on the book]," the two chuckle.
Along the way, quality control had to be a given. "There was a lot of care - thoughtfulness was paramount, and there had to be super content. We are teaching a child how to read, we can't have grammatical errors in the book!" laughs Sharavati. "There's a very intense editing process, draft after draft was fine-tuned," adds Zeeshahn. "Same with the illustrations: if we didn't like the illustrations, we'd scrap them and go back to the drawing board. no compromises. But what helps is that we have a great team that truly believes in the products and don't treat the project like a regular job." (Interestingly, the stories are all penned by mothers - working moms and stay-at-home ones. "They have to be real stories - and who can create them better than moms?" is the logic at play.)  
Finally, the two ladies are mighty chuffed about the fact that the child is the 'star' in the books. There are no fairytale princesses or superheroes; they want to keep it everyday and grounded. No magic wands, only the sheer magic of reading.

Get 'em hooked!
Top parenting tips to convert the little ones into readers
SHARAVATI:
1. Bed-time reading. I cannot stress enough on the merits of reading out a story when your kid is about to turn in. Get him into bed, blankie and all, talk to your child - and then read out from a book. He will come up with stories of the day he's forgotten to tell, like, "This bit is reminding me of something that happened in school, can we talk about it?" This is the time when he's most comfortable, when he's most happy. Reading with a parent - whether it's a mom or a dad - lulls him into a different kind of comfort zone, the child opens up, he talks, he imbibes.
2. Make the child read everything. When you're driving down SZR, make him read out a sign. When you go to the mall, make him read out shops' names. Make him fall in love with words: magazines, books, billboards - anything with the printed word.
3. Visual to printed. When your child is watching a favourite show on TV, a natural extension of that would be a book. Take cartoons; anything that a child is watching, when you supplement that with the written word, they take to it.
Books she'd like her child to read: Anything by Enid Blyton - they are just so amazing. And then, books by Dr Seuss: they are so motivational. He says: go, climb a mountain, you can do it - and the kids grow with the thought.

ZEESHAHN:
1. Books as 'prizes'. Whenever my child does something good, I reward him by taking him to a bookshop. Always a bookshop. He very happily chooses whatever he wants.
2. Books as references. Children are curious, they love learning. Whenever they ask something - say, your kid wants to know what a dinosaur is - DO NOT Google it and show him. Instead, take out a book. Whenever my child wants to know something, I take out an encyclopaedia and go through it with him, because when you read something, it stays with you.
3. Early intervention. You have to make books less intimidating for kids. They should be precious, loved, cherished. Make reading fun. Don't push the kid. Get them into it gradually. When my child has a party, I always get books as return gifts. They say readers are born on the laps of their parents - that's so true. And early intervention starts at home.
Books she'd like her child to read: Roald Dahl's Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And Alice In Wonderland - so many lessons to be learnt from them.

Reading matters
. Did you imagine that the tech revolution is driving the younger lot away from the printed word? Well, a few years ago, Voxburner, a youth research agency undertook a survey on reading habits and came out with the finding that 62% of those in the 16-24 age bracket would rather read physical books than ebooks. And the most telling reason was, "I like to hold the product."
. The Guardian reports: "More than 360 million books were sold in 2016 - a 2 per cent jump in a year that saw UK consumers spend an extra 6 per cent, or £100m, on books in print and ebook formats, according to findings by the industry research group Nielsen in its annual books and consumer survey. The data also revealed good news for bricks-and-mortar bookshops, with a 4 per cent rise in purchases across the UK."
. According to Scholastic's biannual 'Kids and Family Reading' report (based on a survey), that came out earlier this year, in the US, children in the age group of 6-17 read "an average of 23 books in 2016". On an average, there are 104 children's books in a kid's home. A blog on edweek.org pointed out that the same report claimed that while "37 per cent read for fun five to seven days a week in 2010, only 32 per cent did so in 2016"; and that "77 per cent of parents with children ages 0-5 began reading aloud with them before their first birthday, while 40 per cent began when the child was less than three months old".
sushmita@khaleejtimes.com
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