Greta Thunberg was just eight years old when she first heard of climate change and its impact on future generations. That the elders including her parents were doing little to mitigate its effect eft her bewildered. By age eleven she was in the throes of depression. Getting a grip on an impossible task like saving the planet appeared impossible to her. She started with persuading her parents to make lifestyle changes to reduce their carbon footprint. At age 15 she was missing school and sitting outside the Swedish Parliament asking for action on climate change. Her banner that said ‘School strike for climate’, caught the imagination of her peers and soon many where engaging in similar protests in their communities. Collectively the movement went by the name Fridays for Future.
Though Greta Thunberg’s extreme activism is attributed to her suffering from Asperger’s syndrome, the fact is that children today are facing issues which their little minds are unable to process. Environment and wildlife conservation, conflict, terrorism and war, racism, poverty and hunger, immigration, refugees and displacement, gender identity and discrimination, sexual preferences and fighting stigmas attached to conditions like AIDS are all subjects that future generations will have to tackle and thus should be prepared for.
Some would say that a mountain of information exists today on Internet and kids have access to it. I would argue that it’s not just information. Children require a right perspective and need to form their own opinions over such grave issues. Recently Maharashtra became the first state in the country to introduce climate change and its impact in the syllabus for class I to VII in state board schools. Still text books are not sufficient. The current global issues which future generation will have to negotiate should be learned beyond school syllabus. And the best way to do this would be through children’s literature which introduces them to these subjects and also gives them an understanding of it.
The previous generations grew up on a staple diet of fairy tales, folklore, historical and mythological stories. In short most of what was fed was from the realms of history, religion, mythology and fantasy. It was either the past or surreal. But we live in a very different world today and there are real issues related to the very survival of this planet and mankind.
Author Adithi Rao has been adapting modern day relevant themes in her picture books. In one of her books Boy Bear she has dealt with the issue of wild life protection from multiple angles. Speaking about the story, she tells me “There is a boy whose father owns a bear, and a living is earned from making the bear dance for public entertainment. The story is grim from the bear’s perspective. There are hints of the suffering that an animal in captivity undergoes, especially in the domesticating and training process. On the other hand, there is the qalandar, Boy’s father who, like all the others in his line of work, is immune to questions of rights and wrongs of this trade. After the death of the father, Boy and Bear strike up a surprising friendship, and for the first time Boy sees the animal as a sentient being and not just a means of earning a livelihood. Boy begins to question things he once took for granted, and from this newly-gained perspective acts to save his friend.”
She also adds another dimension of the wildlife activists. “They not only rescued the bears, but also recognized that the qalandars - a marginalised, minority community - must also be rehabilitated if balance and harmony was to be established. This ability to rise beyond judgment and act from a space of compassion resulted in the cruel, centuries-old practise of dancing bears in India coming to an end.” Her story explains these nuances to children in a friendly and interesting manner. Another of her picture book Noon Chai and a Story tells about a little girl in a remote area trying to set up a library for children of her village.
Noon Chai and Other Story, author Adithi Rao, illustrator Ghazal Qadri
Books by foreign authors like Last Stop On Market Street exposes children to people from different communities, The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman tackles climate change in an easy to comprehend way, When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson deals with the life of two brothers who spent time in a UN run Dadaab camp in Kenya as Somali refugees while Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang gives insights about race and ethnicity.
Likewise Indian authors of children’s literature are also adapting their writings to provide children with practical learning experiences of current issues. Secret Tales from the Himalayas by Bulbul Sharma is an illustrated story about friendship between animals and trees. One Lonely Tiger by Binita Sen is the story of rapidly shrinking Sunderbans where one friendless tiger is left to play with his own shadow.
Children need to learn to make sense of their world in their early years as their very survival and well-being depends on it. Stories which introduce and explain relevant and contemporary issues to a child are practical and easy way to do so.
Along with the need for more children’s literature, reading habits also need to be cultivated in children so that they can learn to widen their horizons.
Most of us grew up reading foreign authors like Enid Blyton, Katherine Paterson, Betsy Byers, Judy Blume, and many regional and Hindi periodicals and comics. These were fun and at times moralistic. There were libraries in every locality which assured a steady supply of reading material and every kid in the neighbourhood was a member of at least one of them.
“Libraries and literary festivals just never lose their charm, never go out of style! In libraries that are free and open to all, it would be wonderful if a child from a strong reading background is partnered with one who needs help in reading and processing what is read. These partnerships make for strong friendships and help build a more compassionate community,” Adithi suggests.
And though electronic devices cannot be wished away, it is also true that they cannot replace human interaction feels the author who also conducts writing and storytelling workshops. “With a very young child, it helps enormously if the parent keeps the little one close and reads them the story. This develops a beautiful bond between parent, child and the characters of the story. If the child is old enough to read independently, then setting aside time to read together (with all devices switched off!) is a great idea,” recommends the author.
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