A huge truck pulled up on the street where my parents live, right at the gate in near which they sat shooting the breeze.
A friend who had stopped by for a chat told me that this truck was unclogging the drains. The manhole cover was off and the workmen were using a high-pressure hose to dislodge the blockage. The drain was being cleared by a machine. Sure, humans were supervising it, but it seemed so much more humane than the manual scavengers I had seen unclog drains in the city I live in.
My mind instantly jumped to a picture book I had read aloud with my 5th to 9th graders, a while ago…’My Name is Gulab’ by Sagar Kolwankar, published by Tulika Books.
We had discussed just this...how when machinery is available, humans are still exploited too and I can’t wait to share these pictures the next time I do a session with this book.
This powerful book made my students think about what they see happening around them. To look out of the windows of the vehicles they travel to school in, and notice the lives of others along the streets they pass through. To reflect on the different circumstances that would force a human being to accept jobs like manual scavenging…the discussion went from a lack of education to reasons for this and caste inequalities.
These are big themes…yes. I believe that we need to nudge children to ask questions, to reflect on their thoughts and pre-conceived ideas. They may not have a solution, in fact, they most certainly won’t. But a successful read-aloud session is not about having all the answers, but rather thinking, raising questions, discussing, and the best possible outcome…read further.
There is a certain power that a well-written picture book holds.
Picture books are for ALL ages, I cannot emphasise this enough. They are powerful, concise mediums through which we can nudge interests, thinking, imagination, emotion, and most importantly…questions, especially the kind that challenge the status quo.
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Reading is so much more than vocabulary, grammar, listening skills, and comprehension. If we reduce it to only this, we are missing the whole point of raising readers and thinkers.
Read here about how I shared this book with my students.
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