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Dhaka Day by Day

Nectar for Young Minds

by Fayza Haq
One of the happiest moments of one's childhood were those concerning the swapping of story books, magazines and comics. Ones friends were those that lent one the books. Through the lazy monsoon rains one had fried peas and potato chips and read Illustrated classics and comics. Thirty years ago the book shops in Dhaka had "Children's Digest", Teen Digest' and other absorbing classics and mystery books for children.
Today a very ordinary fairytales book In English costs nothing less than Tk 250, while a thin collection of colouring books for children from China is for Tk 130. There are Crly printed abridged classics for children n India and they do not last long. The same could be said of the reasonably priced Indian fairytale books. There used to be a few Russian books for children in the market some time back, but now there is a definite dearth of even these.
The children's section In the British Council is rich, but this library of late, with the upheavals in the city, is not easily accessible.
There are books for young ones at the Alliance Fran-calse and the Ooethe Institut too, but one has to be a member, and must know the languages well to benefit from these books.
The introduction of the VCRs and television in the last two decades. moreover, has destroyed the desire in our youth to read. Young ones in Dhaka today generally read less than what they did before. They tend to avoid classics and limit themselves
to detective and mystery novels. Science fiction capture* the mind of the science oriented teen-ager. But often little reading 1* done beyond this limit and that o( rare imported pop magazines.
Tb discus* children'* Reading material, Claude Delafosse and Sabine Krawczyk were at the Bangla Academy, holding a workshop there, and at other places in Dhaka and Chit-tagong. They had with them samples -of 15 different children's magazines from Paris. They talked about how essential reading materials were for children and how they could be presented in the most tempting manner.
Delafosse is the chief editor of "Astrapi" that appear* twice a month, and has a circulation of a hundred thousand.' He said that creating magazines for children Involved more work than that for normal magazines. "Everybody can't write for children. They are writers and journalists but they are not necessarily equipped with the talent to write in a way that they can hire children. To communicate with them you must be careful of their mind and taste," he pointed out.
Where do the staff of "Astrapi" get their in-»>n from? "We get our idea* from every-
In life anything ia interesting; you just
have to find the angle. We have basic subjects and deal with everything in history, gcogra-
3’ and science. In 12 year* we sometimes the same subject four times over but all from very different angles," the writer cum Illustrator replied.
Talking about how important reading materials were for children, Delafosse commented that It was very important "for children to have access to reading during their formative years. This also helps exchange ideas between parents and children as the youth often refer to their elders fb explain what they cannot understand. Some of the magazines for the young even cater for two-year-old chlldren.We hope that the magazines bring the parents and young ones together."
Discussing how different It was to bring out reading material on children the young editor said,"For the children's magazine the pictorial part is very Important. You have to mix the illustrations and the text to attract the child to the subject. Young children are hesitant and lazy to read long texts. They have
to be interested I and attracted by
the pictures. Both the text and the Illustration have equal importance. | We try to blend the । text with the illustrations. The illustrator's work has to be much more imaginative like that of a photographer. He has to be comic, d ream -11 ke, and poetic. The illustrator must have a high degree of creativity."
What made him go In for .children's magazine rather than writing and 11-lustrating for adults? "I love humour and non-
sense. I am childlike in many ways myself. It is rewarding to make children laugh and to Instruct them In a way that excites, intrigues and Interests them. I like the casual atmosphere that we work in while creating magazines for children. For adults one would have to be so much more serious and sedate." he replied.
Discussing the problems of bringing out a magazine on schedule, the magazine expert said that although his product was always In time for the readers, trying to meet a schedule is difficult universally. This Is because creative people do not have a clock in their head. I prefer to have good work handed in late rather than getting a poor one in time," he added. "Very often tne commercial section trie* to make us compromise and bring down the quality by printing something that is not quite up to the mark, but we try not to suc-cumb to such temptations. Children are the adult* of tomorrow. In dealing with their minds we are handling very precious and sensitive matter,"Delafosse remarked.
"Astrapi" costs 25 Francs and has a circulation of a hundred thousand. It employs 13 regular workers and various part-timer*.It* new* sheet. included In the magazine, la very innovative.