Pearson, the world's learning company, today launched MyPedia Reader Storybook - a compilation of 42 stories penned by young authors in a book. The book publishes the stories of the winners of MyPedia Reader Creative-writing Contest 2017, a contest organized by Pearson India.
This collection of children's stories gains a greater purpose when it is shaped as a Reader for supplementing English-language learning. While it makes a great platform available to children to share their stories with the world and become published at a very young age, as an educational tool, it also creates a unique peer-learning environment which traverses one classroom and expands to classrooms across the nation.
Pearson received more than 1500 stories from students across the country. The youngest author whose story got published is as young as 8-year-old and is a student of 4th standard. These stories were judged by a 3-panel jury comprising of award-winning author of children's literature in English - Santhini Govindan, children's writer - Arundhati Venkatesh and quintessential story teller for children - Indira Ananthakrishnan.
Ujjwal Singh, Vice President - Products & Innovation, Pearson India, along with renowned author Vineet Aggarwal unveiled the book. He spoke about the importance of nurturing children's imagination and innate creativity and encourage them to think critically. Commenting on the launch, Ujjwal, said "Imagination and creativity is a crucial educational objective to adequately equip the next generation for their future. Children are powerhouse of talent. Each one of them have different skill and if nurtured properly, they can certainly grow up to do wonders in their respective fields. We, at Pearson, love stories, and have designed MyPedia Reader which is an endeavour to share these stories with the world. While each story we received was beautifully crafted, but the ones that made it to the book brings a fresh new perspective."
He added, "With MyPedia Reader we wanted to create a fertile 'children-learning-from-children' atmosphere that encourages and nourishes the innate imagination and creativity of children. We provided a platform to children to share their stories and ended up with a path-breaking learning solution for reading and writing of English language."
The stories in MyPedia Reader come from different geographies and different cultures, thus creating a robust reading list that is rich, eclectic, diverse and cross-cultural. These stories stem out of children's own experiences, their issues and aspirations. They are told from children's viewpoint and perspective. Thus, putting together a reading list that the learners can (i) easily relate to, (ii) enjoy and (iii) get inspired from.
The platform gave the children an opportunity to register their achievements outside of academic expectations. It captures their 'bold ideas, wild creativity and optimism' in the shape of stories that are true to their viewpoint, issues, hopes and aspirations and builds them into a rich Reader. Kids wore the cap of a storyteller and penned wonderful stories on interesting themes such as Science Fiction, Folk Tales, Travel and History among others.
"A reader, a guide or a game book MyPedia Reader seems to be all the three rolled into one thoroughly entertaining, spellbinding English reading resource that will soon become the 'new normal'. Children would love to read it as they would easily relate to the young authors and their stories. It would initiate and encourage them to write with a replenished zeal. Prompts for critical and creative thinking will help children to broaden their imagination. Scribble pages will trigger free expression. The games are going to add that extra charm. Inspiration wall is really inspiring. Best part of all is the Charts and Checklists that guides children to write impressive stories. In short, MyPedia Reader is holistic. As an educational product, it is honestly like a breath of fresh air!" Meghana Munsunuri, Founder and Chairperson of Bodhivriksha Educational Society.