I did two more book-readings yesterday – The Circus Boy and The Old Yellow Scooter. The reactions were completely different! Children never stop surprising me.
The first reading (The Dictionary) was wonderful – I got questions about reading, writing, publishing, drawing…
The second reading (Dreams) was strange – I wondered whether the girls understood the story at all. I got all kinds of questions that were totally random – about how many languages I spoke, about what my mother wanted to be when she grew up, about who my class-teacher was…
The third reading (The Circus Boy) was lovely. The questions made me feel that the girls really enjoyed my story. They wanted to know what happened after that. What did Girish feel? What did Ravi say? How did Jatin react? It was heart-warming.
The fourth reading (The Old Yellow Scooter), with class II instead of class III, was grand. The children were freer, and more willing to listen and share. About twenty of them have promised to bring me stories to read, and drawings to look at, on Friday.
One compliment took me by surprise. My librarian assures me that it’s a compliment, and I’m trying hard to be convinced. One girl in class II told me that when I was reading the story, she felt like sleeping. I hope she’s one who has bedtime stories read to her and enjoys them very much.
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