The one and only session on children at the International Publishers Association Congress, which has just concluded its run from March 24-26, was perhaps indicative of a thriving and stable segment in an industry that has been roiled by digital challenges and online piracy. The session – called Literacy and Lifelong Learning: Encouraging Young Readers – began by defining “lifelong learning” as a process that begins the moment a child is born.
The golden period for learning, according to Risuan Aramcharoen of Bangkok-based Plan for Kids, “is during the first six years of a child’s life, and therefore, parents cannot afford to wait until school beckons or for teacher intervention.” Literacy, she emphasized, “is a human right. Unfortunately, only 16% of grade 3 students in Thai public schools are literate, and this has prompted our government to declare 2015 as the Year of No Illiteracy. To achieve this, all teachers, not just those teaching Thai language, are to help and ensure students could read and write at the required standard, even to the extent of providing extra tutorial classes if necessary. The implementation and monitoring of this initiative will be carried out by the office of Basic Education Commission.”
As a children’s publisher, Aramcharoen said, she believes her role “is to create premium products that are fun, creative, smart and happy for children. I want to emphasize the ‘happy’ part because when children are happy, they want to learn and they want to read even more, which then goes a long way in truly achieving literacy and lifelong learning.”
Fellow panelist Jose Manuel Gomez from Grupo Anaya, on the other hand, talked about major societal changes that affect childhood learning and literacy (and by default, publishing). “Kids are now brought up in an environment where they are used to the Internet, mobile devices and online information,” he said. “They are the ‘virtual society or civilization,’ and they require parents, teachers and the community – which hail from the ‘real’ or ‘physical’ society – to be the legalization agents or gatekeepers to ensure proper usage of the data or information obtained from the Internet, where confidentiality or privacy often does not exist.” He pointed out that teachers in the ‘virtual society’ will now function as facilitators rather than sources of knowledge and information.
The next panelist, Tom Bonnick of Nosy Crow, is already catering to this “virtual society.” The company’s Red Riding Hood app, for instance, takes a spin on the well-known fairytale by incorporating choices (i.e., alternative routes to Grandma’s house) that come with different adventures in a game-like stories-within-a-story approach. “We want to create print titles, e-books, and apps that offer an incredibly engaging reading experience, and provide a more efficient way of absorbing information that goes beyond reading,” Bonnick said. “It is perhaps much easier for us to work on something original like this app because we started in 2011 as a brand-new company without a backlist, and we came into the market just when touchscreen was introduced.”
All panelists, including host Amira Aboulmagd from Egyptian publisher and retailer Dar El-Shorouk, agreed that children’s publishing is the brightest spot in the industry and will continue to be. “Children have a lot of time to read while parents are sometimes too busy and tired. So we need to create great books that will make the kid want to pick them up, and start reading by themselves,” said Aramcharoen, whose children series, Kung King, has sold more than one million copies in Thailand. For Bonnick, “embracing reading in whatever format is the way to go. Reading is reading, whatever, wherever, and whenever.”
Reading, the panelists agreed, is not at risk. But reading and literacy, Gomez pointed out, “must adapt to the new realities outlined earlier. It will be at risk if we failed to adapt to the new needs and requirements of the virtual society.”
