Reviving the joy of reading

Aimed at reviving the culture of book-reading among children, Donna The Dolphin, a book created by <g data-gr-id="58">Sameena</g> Shaikh, helps children optimally use each of their learning styles. The book has been created with a special focus on all three learning styles — Visual: in the form of beautiful paintings, kinesthetics; Paper: engineering introduced in the book which will enable the readers to make the Dolphins jump and sharks attack; Audio: narration mp3 can be heard on a phone or laptop and can be downloaded from www.donnathedolphin.com.

Explaining the conceptualisation of the book, Shaikh said: “When I had my children — Aisha and Zoya — have a look at the first draft of the book, I was amazed to see their response. Their initial echo of appreciation still rings in my ears and inspires me till date. My mission by the Donna series is to revive book reading for children who are nowadays obsessed with i-pads and video games. I feel with this book, the journey has just begun. My support system has been my family and friends who have helped me in each of my quirky ideas.” 

She further adds: “The journey has been tough for me, managing finances and then getting a team 

including an artist, writer, <g data-gr-id="53">printer</g> and editor.” 

“The first member of the Donna Team, was a close family friend Sangita Gupta. She gave <g data-gr-id="66">colour</g> to my imagination. My managing consultant <g data-gr-id="73">Dermatoglyph</g> Multiple Intellect Analysis (DMIA), F Azam painted the dolphins. Incidentally <g data-gr-id="65">DMIA ,</g> is the analysis of biometric scans of the ten fingerprints which rolls out our inborn potentials,” she explained. 

“Next in line was finding the author, I couldn't write well so I asked people around me if they would 

write for me. I met <g data-gr-id="69">Viveik</g> Pandit during his first book launch, and once I explained the concept to him and soon he was <g data-gr-id="70">onboard</g>. <g data-gr-id="71">Viveik</g> wrote the story within no time. The process of matching the paintings with the story carried on until I finally had a rough book ready. After the story was in shape, I found Lustra Print in New Delhi who finally printed my book,” said Sameena,” Shaikh shared.

What really makes this book unique is the fact that it has beautiful hand-painted illustrations <g data-gr-id="67">complimented</g> with an interesting story-line. Also adding to its innovativeness word meanings have been placed in flaps, there are also drop-downs with <g data-gr-id="60">extra</g> information of the sea world. 

“The entire idea was to take the children through a thrilling yet learning experience, and in the process build sensitivity among kids with a subtle moral. There is curiosity building via flaps and drop downs. The book also has speech bubbles to illustrate conversations. It is smart in every aspect be it — language, vocabulary, visuals, audio enabling interactivity in <g data-gr-id="57">varied</g> way," added Sameena.