The act of reading is an important milestone in every child’s life, and educational pedagogy has devoted much time and energy to understanding  the contours of this process.  As a result, there is good  evidence to show that meaning must  accompany reading.  Librarians can play a strong role in making this happen and  to ensure that children read, comprehend, and make meaning at the deepest , touching not only the world around them but their inner world as well. One way this happens is primarily through questions from the children.  These are questions that stem from curiosity, from needing to grasp the meaning, and from an urge to go deeper into the content.  Perhaps some examples from encounters I have had over my 30 odd years with children and reading  will illuminate this further.

As I read out the words, “King Midas was overjoyed to see his daughter, and ran to hug her,” there is a gasp from the 5 year olds who are listening to me. This is the third time they are hearing the tale and even though they know the plot really well, the wonder and delight are fresh. But what ensues when I ask them if they would like to enact the story is significant. They have no written script; just the memory of the characters and the situation.  Each character comes to life as they take on their roles and flesh them out. There is the initial greed and later the inner realisation of Midas, the cleverness and sympathy of the angel, and the total innocence of the daughter. Added to this is the laughter evoked by the narrator, especially when he describes how a hungry Midas bites into his golden eggs! This meaning making seemed to me a significant deepening of a mere comprehension of the tale. As a school and children’s librarian, how children listen, read, interpret, make meaning, and ‘own ‘ stories in diverse ways, has always held my attention. So a session like the one I have described was an important discovery for me.

 “How long is nine feet, Aunty?” comes the question. I am reading out “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Caroll to a group of 40 children from the primary section, and doing it in weekly sessions. From this question I can see that the child already knows that feet are a measure of length. I look at the others. “Any ideas?”  “ My father is 6 feet tall so it’s more than that,” says one child.  “Must be as big as the giant in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’,” comes another response. I see that all the children are engaged in this conversation, and not impatient to go on with the story. “The story says her head hit the roof of the room.” There is a pause as they absorb this piece of information. “Aunty, I know.  She must have been as high as that big door.” “Let’s measure it “says another voice and a few children dash to my desk for the  tape measure. The measurements are done, an approximation reached about how tall Alice was at that point in the story, and we all settle back to read on.

Was it a chaotic session? Did the children interrupt too much? Did they break the flow of the narration? My answer to all these is an emphatic “No”! These questions and clearing of doubts are the breath that bring a book alive in all its facets.

  At a rural school in Uttarakhand, I read out “Mother is Mother” by Shankar. This is the story of a boy who sees a mother squirrel and her baby in a tree, and wants to own the baby squirrel. He goes through various methods to keep the mother away from her baby which he has kept in a cage in his room.  In the end, what is simple to understand, but why is a little more complex. I had been freely translating into Hindi as I read but wondered if I had the vocabulary to open up a dialogue about the way the story flowed. But language, I realise anew is not an impediment. What transpires as I can see, is that children wonder why the boy did what he did at the start, and then at the end. Many views are exchanged, for which my Hindi is adequate to break in with a question or a comment!  From the expressions on the children’s faces, I can safely assume that initial comprehension, followed by reflection, leading to more clarity, has happened. Of course, the vivid illustrations by Pulak Biswas has done much of the work. Later that day and the next, I was content to see quite a few children leafing through the pages of the book with thoughtful faces.

One delightful book for very young children is “The three kittens” by V. Sutayev  published by Eklavya. It is a simple story about the antics of three different-coloured kittens. With the help of a large sized edition, I sit with a group of 4 and 5 year olds in a semi circle so that all of them can view the pictures. I ask each one to tell the story page by page as they understand from the pictures, but the surprise element is that when one child tells her version of a page, more voices come with different  perceptions, and in this way layer after layer is uncovered as we leaf through the pages. The kittens are either seen as mischievous or scared  but have distinct personalities,  according to each child’s interpretation!  Here was an open-ended discussion on multiple meanings from a story.  

Amay is one of a group of 6 to 7 years old to whom I am reading out Carlo Collodi’s “Pinocchio.” They lap up every word with the usual interruptions to clarify or extend meaning. I promise to show them the film after the read aloud. It is the Walt Disney version. We watch it, and at the end, Amay turns to me with deep disappointment and says, “Aunty, they ruined the story!” “Why do you say that?” I ask. He turns to his classmates. “ Did you see how they made  everything so cute? And Jiminy Cricket’s whole character got changed!”  I hide my smile  at his strong but valid reaction. A lively discussion follows, and towards the end, it even touches upon how they could make a better film. One critical  voice can awaken others in a group.

 I have shared two examples of longer stories that I read out week after week. I felt this had merit because each time I continued with the reading, I would ask one or two children to give us a replay of what  had been read earlier, so that we could all recollect the story. It also meant that children who were still a bit fuzzy about the story had a break to mull over it and come back with questions. Youngsters have a way of imbibing a story or a thought, and let it swirl around in their heads without even being conscious of it. Deeper meaning can come through revisiting a story and by giving space for reflection.

Sometimes a book talk by one student can spark off some connections for the others. One young  boy of 8, did a book talk on “Basava and the dots of fire.” by Radhika Chaddha. An urban child, he still felt a strong connection with Basava, because of the strong bond of affection between him and his mother.  The description of the forest appealed to him aesthetically, but he had no direct knowledge of it. When the time came for questions from the others, I found it fascinating how each had an angle to appreciate in the book and together the group came to a richer understanding of the story. For one, it was the theme of friendship between seemingly unequal creatures. For another, it was the experience of fear and ‘aloneness’ in a darkening forest which she had seen for herself.  For yet another it was the vivid illustrations which made the story real.

Jeeva, age 6, was a bit of a terror in a village library we have started. He would run shouting through the shelves or pull out drawings made by others. But one thing which captured him totally were the read alouds. He would sit absolutely still and listen intently. I was curious to know how much he actually absorbed and understood. I did a read aloud of “Where is Amma?”  published by Tulika. This is a funny story about a young child who suddenly finds his mother missing and searches all over the house for her. There are clues scattered around, and a cat accompanying him with its own parallel story. Quite a layered book! So as I read and show them the pictures, I ask questions like, “ Why is he looking inside the ‘ice box’? Do you think she could be in there? Why not?” and so on. I show them a picture of the  terrace, where he looks for his mother. The clothes are drying and the sun shines fiercely. “ What makes you think his mother has been there? Why would she have hung the clothes outside?” There is eager participation from all the children and my little hero is at the forefront. The sound of his laughter when he sees the little boy look inside the ‘ice box’ for his mother is a joy to hear! Again the familiarity of the situation and the illustrations helped bring out the humorous aspect of the story. Picking up the nuances of humour in a story, is a higher order of comprehension.

One very crucial element is a read aloud from nonfiction. For young children the text must be chosen carefully.  Books about animals, and also about children of other lands make them very eager to understand, learn and talk. But it is important that the books have a personal touch like “Sonam’s Ladakh”, (Katha)” “Takdir the tiger cub” by Latika Nath Rana, and others like these. For early learners, NBT has an excellent collection of wordless books like “ My first  railway journey,” by Mrinal Mitra, “ A visit to the city market,” by Manjula Padmanabhan, “Procession,”  by Mickey Mehta and “ Busy ants” by Pulak Biswas.These wordless books are  beautifully delineated by extraordinary  artists, and demonstrate how imaginative and far reaching meaning can arise from  illustrations of excellence.

Reading between the lines is an essential ingredient for making meaning and I can think of no better story for this to happen than “What shape is an elephant” by Rumi published by Katha. Children of all ages are intrigued by the oral descriptions of the elephant by people who have never seen one before. What adds to the chldren’s delight is that they know what an elephant is, and  the characters in the story do not!  This is another facet of making meaning where they as readers know something which the characters in the book are not aware of. “Ismat’s Eid” by Fawzia Williams, and “Where’s that cat?” by Manjula Padmanabhan, have a similar flavour, and are greatly enjoyed when such hidden meanings are uncovered by the children.

From my experience as a librarian with children, I see that some of the aspects that help bring about a higher order of comprehension and even insight, are to have free and open dialogue around a book, encourage and even urge children to ask questions  arising from the reading, various activities centering around a story, selection of layered books with imaginative illustrations , introduction to humour, and a love for the nuances of language conveyed subtly by the adult ,and shared by the children.  I also find that sometimes new meanings are given to stories by different children and I  welcome that.

When I began to interact with children through the library and books, more than thirty years ago, what was uppermost in my mind was to bring about chats, discussions and questions, about  nuances in  the books they were reading.  Apart from the customary read alouds, I also introduced book talks some of which were a bit more structured, and some which were more informal chats about books. Many times I was an eavesdropper when such chats happened between the children. But at other times I was more of an active participant. Both roles were critical.

We also had activities like book auctions, book acrostics, and just-a-minute in the library. Each of these called upon the child to think, reflect and share facets of a book they had read. Perhaps I was doing this without being fully cognisant of certain basic tenets in early learning, but somehow I intuitively felt that complete appreciation of a book could only come from complete awareness of the tangible and the intangible, the seen and the felt, and even with a critical eye of discernment

The library is a collaborative space where such open-ended conversations can happen from a young age, and as librarians we have been given an opportunity to nurture and facilitate this to enhance every  experience of a book.

“As with the ocean, so it is with life,

Look beyond and further,

And you will surely find,

Much more than your eyes can see,

Much more than your hands can touch,

You may see anew a world

You thought you knew all about.”

Rumi.