The New Indian Express (Sunday Express – Shop Talk) – March 11, 2001

On The Reading Trail

It is a world that brings forth fresh and spontaneous images from young minds. It is a world where an orange is ‘like a sun in the fridge’, ‘ a smile is like a banana’ and ‘spaghetti is like stretched fingers’. The world is Goodbooks.

At Goodbooks, an exclusive bookstore and resource centre for children at
Abiramapuram, kites hang from the ceiling and A Frosty Day, Fairy Tales, Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast and Aditi and the One-eyed Monkey peep out from the shelves. The Director of Goodbooks, Radika Menon says, "We try to open up children’s minds to the world of books. Goodbooks is an exclusive showroom for books. We don’t sell gifts, toys and other articles. It is a home filled with lot of activities for children and young people."

At this store, books are categorized according to the needs of different age groups. Alphabets, picture books, Aesop’s Fables, Bunny book series, and Little Friends are stored for young children up to five year. For six and above there are Walt Disney series, Times Asian Folk Tales, 366 Animal Stories, Fairy Tales and Treasury of Asian Folk tales and Read and Colour Freedom Stories while for eight-year-olds there are stories from Panchatantra, Sindbad, Bible and Mahabharata (retold) with illustration. For children above ten there is a separate section consisting of classics, folk tales, William series and general sports. Children of 14 years and above have Penguin Classics, Agatha Christie, Puffin classics and biographies of great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Guinness World Records 2001, Philips Millennium Encyclopedia, My vote counts and Face in the Water are the major attractions. Besides, there are also books on science, environment and sports.

The activities of Goodbooks include ‘Reading Trail’, ‘Meeting Place’, ‘Talking Point’, ‘Off Stage’, ‘Imagine Words’ and ‘Sa to Sa’. Reading trail is a lively storytelling and reading session in which children are drawn into the world of books.

"Children need models rather than critics," said Joseph Joubert. This is exactly what the bookshop attempts to do with its ‘meeting place’ sessions where the children meet eminent personalities from various fields. ‘Talking Pont’ is a forum for older children to discuss and debate on current issues. The ‘Off Stage’ sessions comprise reading of play, writing, storytelling and voice training which help children develop theatrical skills. ‘Imagine Words’ is a workshop on creative writing. ‘Sa to Sa’ is all about music. In this weekly session musicians and percussionists teach children the basics of music.

"I am really amazed by Goodbooks’ performance. Children don’t want to leave the place even after the class gets over. They want to spend more time here. It’s like their dream home," says Sathyanarayanan, a parent.

Discovering the potential of a child is the specialty of Goodbooks. "We have books in English, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu. They cover fiction, non-fiction, infotainment, information, textbooks, picture books, activity books, history, geography, and science etc. We get books from alternative publishers, government and non-government organizations, research and educational institutions as a whole," says A G Anil, Assistant Manager of Goodbooks.

In one of the ‘meeting place’ sessions in which T N Seshan, the former chief election commissioner, was the chief guest, a little boy asked, "Uncle, why are you bald?". "Why am I bald? What a way to start. My little child…" was a shocked Seshan’s reply. Another boy asked: "What is your advice to those aspiring to become IAS officers?" Seshan answered: ‘Go to an Ayurvedic doctor and get your backbone massaged with oil. Get tough. If you are inclined to stand up and fight, go ahead."

Tennis star Ramesh Krishnan, Ravi Chellam (wildlife scientist), Michael Muthu(theatre director) and Srinidhi Chidambaram (dancer) are some of the other eminent personalities who have spent their time with children at Goodbooks.