Hello! My name is Vandana and I have been with Bookworm for 3 years now. When I joined Bookworm, I was very surprised to see so many different books in it’s library. On the first day I was a little worried, wondering if I was supposed to read all those books. I was a bit relieved when Deepali introduced me to the library work and told me that I must try and read at least one book every week.
For the last 26 years of my life, I have not read a single book except for school books. This was a good start and I started taking books home to read. I would ask my husband to read out to our son Saksham. And I would also listen to these stories. Once when Sujata ma’am told me to do a book talk during our Monday meeting, I chose a book and read the book continuously for 3 days. I felt my book talk was okay.
After about four months, it was my turn again to do a book talk. I looked for a book in the Outstanding Shelf and I found one named “Cry, Heart, But Never Break” by Glen Ringtved and illustrated by Charlotte Pardi. It was an amazing book which connected so much to my life and my grandmother. I have always cried when I watched movies but for the first time in my life, I cried reading a book.
I understood then that a book is not only for studies but there are books that have connections with us, our lives. That book helped me to understand that I have to read books, as these books help me explore my feelings, myself. From then onwards, I have been reading many different types of books. These books have given me the confidence to do book talks not only in our Monday meetings but also in the different schools in front of children too.