A large part of the vast array in children’s literature available at the Ekushay Book Fair are of very poor quality, both in terms of content and publication, observed renowned authors of children’s books and educationists. They however praised the growth in science fiction literature and comic books in the country. The fair will include a children’s hour from 11am to 1pm today.
Eminent educationists Serajul Islam Choudhury and Syed Manzoorul Islam, and writers Selina Hossain and Sujon Barua, observed publishers should more selective in their choice of books for children. The children’s corner is located at Suhrawardy Udyan where publishers and organisations publishing and selling children’s literature have set up stalls.
This year about 40 publishers have set up colourful stalls to sell children’s books. Bangladesh Shishu Academy set up their stall on Bangla Academy premises. Several hundred new books in genres of fairy tale, horror, science fiction, comics, adventure, detective story and parables for both children and adolescents, have arrived at the fair so far.
Fairy tales, ghost stories and comics are on the priority list of children, said stall attendants. Many of the stalls are swamped with ghost stories and cartoon characters such as ‘Motu-Patlu’, ‘Chhotoder Sera Bhoyongkor Bhuter Golpo’, ‘Vir the Great’, ‘Shiva the Great’, Bhuture Barir Bhut Konna’, ‘Magic Tricks’, ‘Bhoyongkor Bhuter Galpo’ etc. Mamunul Ajim of Shishughor Prokashoni and Rezaul Karim of Shishu Shahitya Boighor both stated these books were high on demand. ‘Many of these books are dangerous for children as they cannot learn anything from them,’ said Sirajul Islam Choudhury.
Manzoorul said most of these books were ghost stories based on cartoon characters. ‘When I went through the books I found most of them contained wrong spelling and sentence construction. They will not be helpful for the mental development of children,’ he added. ‘Many publishers bring ghost stories and cartoon characters eying brisk business.
They should be more careful about the publishing quality of children’s books,’ said Selina Hossain, also chairman of Shishu Academy. Sujan said ‘if we leave out these low quality books, the standard of juvenile literature is quite good.’ Children and young people, mostly accompanied by guardians, thronged the Panjeree Publications Ltd and Dhaka Comics stall to buy the latest comics. Panjeree Publications has come out with 30 different comic books. Of these, Basic Ali, Babu, Somo Mongol Abhijan, and Somo Kalpa Shikari are selling like hot cake.
Dhaka Comics also set up a stall at the book fair. A group of young cartoonists and comic book artists initiated the organisation with an aim to publish comic books that can cater to Bangladeshi preferences and culture. Their popular character is CK Jaki, an operative of an imaginary intelligence agency SBI, is assigned to track the godfathers of human trafficking.
CK Jaki’s two sequels, Mrittu Pathar-1 and Mrittu Pathar-2, are available at the stall. Besides, Muhammed Zafar Iqbal’s sci-fi graphic novel, Ruhan Ruhan, has become popular among children. The crowd at the book fair is gradually increasing and on on the eve of the weekend on Thursday, 131 new books arrived at the fair. Bangla Academy also held a discussion on the past and the present of Amar Ekushey Granthamela at the main stage of the book fair on Thursday. A discussion on the past and present state of studies on national poet Nazrul Islam will be held today.
