Sonali Bhatia
In most school libraries, books are divided according to age group, shelved that way and made accessible to students accordingly. Thus, a child studying in class IV will rarely have access to a book deemed by the librarian as being appropriate for class VIII – and vice versa.
I find this to be quite unfortunate. The class IV child may be capable of reading and enjoying fiction meant for teens, and the class VIII youngster may want to relax a bit with a book that takes less effort to read. One isn’t being challenged enough; the other’s delight in reading is being curbed. Besides, the books in the library are not being used to their full potential.
Take the “MR MEN” and “LITTLE MISS” series of books by Roger Hargreaves, for example. Delightfully written and illustrated, these books have an appeal across all age groups. They can be used with students from class I to X.
The author is an educator and freelance journalist based in Bengaluru. She can be reached at sonaliarun@gmail.com.