The Sunday Times, in partnership with PRAESA (The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa), launched the new Sunday Times Nal’ibali Storybook today (16 May 2013). Attended by the Western Cape Minister of Education, Donald Grant, the event celebrated ten new children’s stories commissioned by the Sunday Times and written by South African authors.

The illustrated stories will be printed in all our official languages, starting with English and followed with isiZulu and isiXhosa later this year. The storybooks are aimed at young children from Grade R to Grade 6 with the first  200 000 copies donated to schools, reading clubs, libraries and other NGO reading initiatives around the country.

The Sunday Times has already produced two such storybooks and distributed 2 million copies of these to schoolchildren nationwide. Having received a generous donation from Mrs Coralie Rutherford this year, Times Media has been able to commission a new book and incorporate it as part of a joint literacy initiative with PRAESA. The initiative, Nal’ibali, supports bilingual literacy development and encourages parents and children to engage with each other through reading and storytelling.

“We have been fortunate to work with a number of talented South African authors and illustrators in putting together this magical collection of stories. A treasured storybook can be just the thing to spark a love of reading in children and this is precisely our intention – to skill children to become readers for life,” comments Patti McDonald, publisher of Times Media Education’s supplements.

“Books and stories deepen our thinking and understanding by stretching our imagination while encouraging creative problem-solving. To have stories that our children can relate to in their home languages is an invaluable asset that we need to keep growing in our country,” comments Dr Carole Bloch, Director of PRAESA.

The Storybook launch, held at the Dalubuhle Primary School in Franschhoek, as part of the Franschhoek Literary Festival, was attended by the school’s pupils. It included a reading by Chris van Wyk of his contribution Mr Hare meets Mr Mandela in English and in isiXhosa by volunteer librarian Ms Siphokazi Mangwane.

The Sunday Times Nal’ibali Storybook includes the following stories:

You are a journalist and you write books for adults. What made you venture into children’s fiction with ‘A Kite’s Flight’?

I wrote it for my children; to show them my world as a child. One of my favourite things to do when I was a boy was to fly kites. But, as we lived abroad when my children were younger, I also wanted to get them interested in Africa and nurture a love for the continent and its scope for adventure. As I child, I was fascinated by the pyramids and the rain forests in the Congo. I needed to share my excitement and love of travel with them. But I also wrote it for children who are growing up the same way I did. I wanted them to be allowed to imagine and dream. That is what books did for me.

How did you discover reading as a child?

I grew up in an informal settlement in very bleak times. One day, one of the boys who lived nearby asked me if I wanted to go to the library with him. I was six. That mobile library changed my life. I discovered books about people who lived in other parts of the world going through the same things I was and, most importantly, managed to escape their miserable existence. I loved books by James Baldwin, they were familiar to me.

Is this still relevant today?

I think it’s really important for South African children today. I spend a lot of time reading to children and talking to them. I am proof that they too can rise out of their circumstances. I was exactly like them – same terrible schools, homework by candlelight and barefoot till I was 15. I realised early that everything starts with reading – that boy who took me to the library went on to do very well in life. He was the only one of my peers I know of who did.

How do we improve literacy in South Africa?

We need to build a culture of reading. Children need to read more than just text books; they need to go beyond their readers. If we are interested in building this nation, then we need to make books cheaper and improve libraries. The foundation of our nation has to be reading. If we continue the way things are, we will never have a vibrant democracy where informed people can add to the debate.

So, do you think newspapers have a role to play here?

I do. Newspapers played a huge role in my life as a teenager. Newspapers make one inquisitive and give an understanding of the world. They’re also easily accessible. And to make newspapers sustainable for the future, they need to capture potential new readers.

What do you think of the Nal’ibali campaign?

I think we need more of these projects. We often think it is up to government but it is more important for the private sector and individuals to be involved. It’s heartbreaking that education is still not of a high quality. We could learn lessons from Asia, where empowerment has been achieved by giving everyone the same quality education. I believe that if people are well educated they will be able to manage on their own.

Do you plan to write any other children’s stories?

My kids are the harshest critics and I have been told they’d like a real book now. I’m under pressure to come up with a detective story! I have just done a baby’s book called That’s Better for Jacana – it is about the fear I used to have of the dark. I’m enjoying telling my own stories.

William Gumede is an associate professor at Wits University and author of a number of books including the recently released best-selling ‘Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Time’s and ‘A New Introduction and editing of Nelson Mandela – No Easy Walk to Freedom’.

This column originally appeared in the PE Herald (24 April 2013) as part of the Nal’ibali ‘Here’s the Story’ series.

A: I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer. Even before I knew how to construct sentences and paragraphs. There are hundreds of filled notebooks in my old bedroom that my parents are forbidden from throwing away.

Q: Why do you write for young adults?

A: I find young people far more fascinating than adults. They’re fearless and resilient, and can bounce back from anything.

Q: Do you think today’s young adults are very different from you at that age?

A: Teens today seem a lot more mature than I was at that age, but then again I could have been immature. It could be because there are so many more media channels available to them, like the internet, which exposes them to absolutely everything.

Q: What were you like as a teen?

A: I held on to my childhood for a long time, then one day I woke up as a wild, uncontrollable creature that drove my parents insane. Thankfully that didn’t last and by my senior year I was quite bookish and introverted.

Q: What inspires you?

A: Everything: books, films, music, a random flash of someone walking down the street. Most of my ideas come to me in dreams.

Q: What do you think young adults should read?

A: Young adults should read whatever they please. Everyone has his or her own tastes.

Q: How would you encourage youngsters to read? And write?

A: Books are very expensive, and the best and most cost-effective way of bridging the gap between books and readers is libraries.

Sally-Ann Partridge is an award-winning young adult novelist from Cape Town. She was named as one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans, a distinction given out annually to notable South Africans under the age of 35. Her fourth novel, Sharp Edges, will hit shelves in August. She recently made the shortlist for the Commonwealth Writer’s Short Story Prize. 

This column originally appeared in the PE Herald (17th April 2013) as part of the Nal’ibali ‘Here’s the Story’ series.

The event comprised of three sessions. First we introduced Nal’ibali; then focused on World Book Day; and lastly we played games with the children. Lebo demonstrated how the games are played and we played two games with them. The children were excited to play the games and were so eager to participate – there just wasn’t enough time! While we only had a small space to use, we managed this by only taking small groups at a time. We also began talks about starting a new reading club at the school, which is very exciting!

It’s not always easy to get children engaged. They were very excited to see us at first – maybe our Nal’ibali t-shirts sparked their interest! But when we were started talking about World Book Day, they got a little lost. So we got them talking instead – asking them about their favourite books and why celebrating books is important. They actively participated and gave meaningful answers, which showed me they were grasping the concept of how important books are.

To create awareness about Nal’ibali we composed a fun song for the event. It goes like this… We hope you’ll pass it along!

Me, Nali’bali and books we are friends x3

We are friends x3

We are friends forever x3

Sithembiso Solomon Nhlapo is the Cluster Mentor for the Free State. Cluster Mentors conduct training, mobilise parental/community involvement, and facilitate mentorship and coaching for Nal’ibali  Story Sparkers, volunteers and Community Action Group members.

I preferred Julius Caesar to Romeo and Juliet. In Virginia Andrews’s works I learnt how tough life can be for children, even boys, long before I met Virginia Woolf and learnt that sometimes life with boys can be tough.

I also learnt that some boys can drive some women to madness.

And that some of the most beautiful poetry written by boys was inspired by women.

Some boys died for love. Others started wars to fight for girls they loved – and even more boys were killed in those wars.

I had all these boys – to help me through my teenage years.

And I met most of these boys in the books I found in a stuffy and dark garage filled with old furniture, old clothes and boxes.

With my uncle’s old maroon Beetle glistening under the hot Mamelodi sun, it was clear the room was never built to house a car, but to be a storage room for much more precious goods.

In the garage I found a room of my own, where I read. This room kept me from trouble. It sheltered me through the most difficult years of being a teenager.

In the boxes and trunks which belong to uncles and aunts I found textbooks from an era when reaching your “JC” (junior certificate) was an achievement.

I spent hours in my grandmother’s garage paging through magazines, some of which were as old as I was.

I had gone through all the magazines when I started looking at the novels.

I was taken to a new world of words the first time I opened a novel, which was outside the school curriculum.

It was Andrews’s Flowers in the Attic. It took me less than a week to finish the book.

I went to the library to find the sequel, Petals on the Wind. Before long I had read most of her books at the library.

In one of the trunks I also found Ed McBain, I went to the library to find more of him.

My life changed when I picked up Katherine Neville’s The Eight. I travelled around the world, I learnt about chess, I knew all the chess pieces and their movements long before I learnt to play the game.

When I learnt to play the game from a boy I met in my late teens, he was impressed that I knew so much about a game I didn’t even know how to play yet.

I read all the books I could find.

But for the children who will go through my collection, they find in my pile the likes of Zakes Mda, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ellen Banda-Aaku, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, JM Coetzee and Nelson Mandela.

As American author Mary Ellen Chase said: “There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.”

I encourage every child to read. It doesn’t really matter what you start with.

It could be a magazine, the inside of a Chappies wrapper, the free newspaper delivered on your doorstep every week.

There is a wonderful world out there and books are the cheapest and easiest way to access it. Books allow you to dream, to imagine.

Read, not only to dream, but to see the world, to experience the world of others and to open your eyes to a new way of looking at your world.

Phumla Matjila is a columnist and the acting features and opinion editor at Sowetan. She has worked as a sub-editor and columnist for The Times. Reading in her spare time is always a pleasure.

This column originally appeared on TimesLive (12 March 2013), as part of the Nal’ibali Here’s the Story series.

“The training was more interactive and we did lot of demonstration of activities and reading,” says Malusi. “We used four languages during the training: Sepedi, isiXhosa-isiZulu and English. All the games were done in the different languages. Multilingualism is so important – I even learnt new words! We played lots of games too; for example, the Banana Song, a multilingual action song. The children copy the actions of the teacher or instructor, while singing along. The song uses different verbs with the actions (for example mash, eat, chop, waving at friends), and so is good for teaching second language verbs, as well as developing cognitive skills. It’s very fun and everyone loves it! Teachers and reading club leaders can translate it to their mother tongue at home.

“During lunch time we were entertained by a group of children from the school who did rhymes and dramatized one of the stories the school teacher librarian often read aloud to them. I decided to invite the children to stay for are read-aloud slot after lunch. We read aloud ‘The Little Hare in isiXhosa, Engilsh and Sepedi.

“The highlight of the training is the young boy who participated in the training who started the school club when he was still a student Dikhabje Primary School. He still helps at the library, although he is in high school.”

The training also highlighted the resources available on Nal’ibali’s online platforms, such as the Facebook page, website and mobisite. Phuti Masenya, a Room to Read trainer, said that “I will encourage teachers to read and model to learners, and encourage storytelling.”

Naturally, I looked to the illustrations to tell me the story instead. These were wonderful, full of imagination, humour, darkness and wonder. They captivated me and made me come back to the books over and over again.

I also remember having a record player in my room and a stack of records filled with stories, which I used to listen to early in the mornings or late at night. I would lie in bed dreaming up images in my mind.

I was nearly 11 when I moved with my family to South Africa. I was faced with a new language and two new hurdles. It was no longer a matter of merely reading, but speaking as well.

Communication with anyone was very difficult and I was caught behind an invisible membrane between me and the new world. Children at my school would communicate with me through sign language and drawings. I found myself relying once again upon illustrations to help me understand the people around me and the stories in new, foreign books.

Illustrations are wonderful storytellers. They are a visual narrative which mirror the written story, expand upon it and add atmosphere.

Illustrations invite children to read the stories depicted inside books and help break the barrier between child and the written word. They invite young readers to follow the rabbit down the hole.

One of my cherished memories of my niece, who lives far away from me, is her wonderful ability to turn any illustration into a story.

At bedtime, I would read three stories to her, then she would pick out a book and tell me a story based on the illustrations. Her version of the story was never what the actual book was about, but rather her own interpretation.

Illustrations still draw my attention to a picture book. If the illustrations capture my imagination and pique my interest, I will read the story.

I love how books, their stories and illustrations inspire us to share and tell each other stories, whether these are based on reality or fiction. Stories form the fabric of our lives; they bind us together and encourage our imaginations to soar.

Polish-born Maja Sereda has been illustrating children’s books since 2006 and hopes to write and illustrate her own stories in the near future.

This column originally appeared on TimesLive (29 January 2013), as part of the Nal’ibali Here’s the Story series.

When I was young, it was a treat to wake up early in the morning to find a pencil-outlined sketch of a character from one of my childhood books, drawn by my mother, waiting for me to colour in. Over time, imported picture books such as Pookie, a tale about a little white rabbit, and other anthropomorphic renderings made their way onto my bookshelf and became firm friends. I still have a few childhood books, which I sometimes read.

Those early years were a fertile season in my literary journey and I often wonder if it explains why I have published many books in the picture-book genre. For me, the illustrations are as important as the words on the page because they are often a child’s first exposure to fine art. When I’m writing for this age group I have a strong visual image in my mind, but when the text is released to the illustrator, I’m open to their interpretation of the story. Sometimes their illustrations are very different from how I visualised the story, but I’m intrigued by the artist’s interpretation.

An illustrator’s challenge is not to duplicate the words on the page, but to provide images which enhance and complement the words. I’ve been so fortunate to work with superb South African illustrators like Joan Rankin, Kathy Pienaar, Marjorie van Heerden and Jude Daly.

Through my studies in African Languages (I studied Xhosa at Rhodes university) I became exposed to the oral tradition of storytelling, and when South African publishers called for stories with local content I drew on African folklore and folk tales, publishing collections of folk tales and tales which I invented myself. It’s almost as though the folk tales replaced the fairy tales in significance because they were rooted in the African landscape, unlike their counterparts which originated in the northern hemisphere.

As my own children grew older, I wrote progressively for older age groups and the illustrations became less significant.

Stories can unite generations, forming the link between ages. A mother or father will want to read a book to their child which they enjoyed as a child. A grandmother will indulge her love of reading, acquired over many years, by telling a story to her grandchildren or reading to them. It’s so important to hear words read aloud or for young readers to see the flow of language on the page.

Diane Stewart is the author of 30 books. She won the MML Young Africa Award for her short story ‘The Crash’. Her latest book is ‘Who’s Afraid of the Dark’ (Jacana: 2011).

This column originally appeared on TimesLive (19 February 2013), as part of the Nal’ibali Here’s the Story series.

A: The Link@Yeoville was initiated by Roedean School as it was decided that the progress of the Nurturing Orphans of Aids for Humanity (Noah) children attending Roedean’s outreach programme needed to be monitored.

Hence the conceptualisation and development of the literacy project at Yeoville Community School.

The Link@Yeoville has grown to include volunteers from all walks of life, including mothers from surrounding schools in the area, grannies and granddads and working people. Deutsche Bank employees rotate on a weekly basis and participate in the literacy project.

Q: What do volunteers do?

A: At our centre we see 79 selected children from Grades 2 and 3.

Each volunteer works one-on-one with a child who is struggling to read and write.

They spend 45 minutes with the child once or twice a week.

The sessions take place during school time, so it is very serious, and very structured. Twenty minutes is spent on paired reading, 15 minutes on sight words and letter formation, and 10 minutes on shared reading.

The results have been outstanding. For the volunteers, it is a rewarding experience and many of them fall in love with “their” child.

Q: How are results measured?

A: I attended The Shine Outreach Workshop in Cape Town. The children are tested using a “D1” baseline literacy test and then re-tested using the same test after attending a number of sessions.

We train our own volunteers based on the shared and paired reading system. Volunteers don’t need to be teachers. Anyone who can read can help.

The Gauteng education department and principal of the school hold us accountable and we furnish them with reports of each child’s progress. Last year, we had phenomenal results after only 17 sessions with the children.

Q: How did you come across Nal’ibali?

A: We learnt about it through Shine and every week it was a mission to try and get hold of it. We have now been put onto the distribution list, but there are never enough copies.

When I hand copies of Nal’ibali out, often to the children who aren’t a part of the programme, you’d think I was handing out sweets, such is the excitement of receiving a book to read.

As there are about 50 children in each class, I think it would be wonderful if the pupils could pull out a Nal’ibali (or even a newspaper) each time the teacher was busy with something else, and get on with doing some of the activities or reading the stories.

Q: What are your hopes for your project?

A: We are busy trying to get shelving for a library and we are looking into a maths programme. The great thing about this initiative is that it is cost- effective.

All it really needs is people willing to give of their time. It would be wonderful to see this being supported by corporates and communities around the country. Imagine the difference it would make.

Q: The last word?

A: It has been proven time and again that if children are exposed to books, they realise they can learn.

I often think to myself: If that child had not been with us, he would have been lost forever. If children can read, they have a better chance at life. If children of our future generation can’t read, what does that mean for the future of South Africa?

Lynette Jackson is a co-ordinator for the Link@Yeoville centre. 

This column originally appeared on TimesLive (19 March 2013), as part of the Nal’ibali Here’s the Story series.

With reading aloud shown to be “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children”, according to the National Academy of Education & National Institute of Education, Nal’ibali teamed up with award-winning author and illustrator Niki Daly to offer a special story for all to enjoy on World Read Aloud Day – and help create a South African first with the largest number of people reading aloud at the same time.

To reach as many people as possible, Niki Daly’s story A gold star and a kiss for Thoko was included in Nal’ibali’s weekly bilingual reading-for-enjoyment supplement in partnership with Times Media. Two hundred and seventeen thousand (217 000) copies of the supplement containing the story and read aloud tips appeared in The Times, The Dispatch and The Herald in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal. An additional 30 000 copies were distributed directly to reading clubs, literacy organisations and schools part of the Nal’ibali network.

And as part of Nal’ibali’s goal to connect people to quality reading material in a range of South African languages, the story was made available in six South African languages for viewing and download on the Nal’ibali website and mobisite. Parents and Nal’ibali partners were encouraged to print out the story and share it within their own networks… And share they did – reading aloud to 13 401 children for World Read Aloud Day!

Individual & partner support

Nal’ibali partner FunDza also shared the story in all six languages on its mobisite and platform on social networking site MXit, receiving 1 342 views across the languages.

One hundred and ninety-one (191) parents, caregivers, teachers, volunteers and librarians signed up on the Nal’ibali website, reading aloud to a total of 9 389 children – from sharing the story with one or two of their own children to reading it aloud to hundreds of children at their schools and assemblies.

In addition, Nal’ibali programme partners spread the word – and story – among their own networks to help promote reading aloud as a reading-for-enjoyment strategy for children’s literacy development. Nal’ibali partner, The Shine Centre (pictured left), distributed the story to 87 of the volunteers, who reached a total of 534 children. “They loved the story as did the volunteers and the Centre Managers. We were very happy to participate,” says Linda Codron Shine Communications Manager.

In Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, and Underberg in rural KZN, 20 reading clubs and four Khululeka family literacy groups part of the Family Literacy Project shared the story to 295 children.

Soul City also came on board, sending the story to its network of Soul Buddyz Clubs across SA. Says Nelisiwe Hlophe, Soul Buddyz Clubs Manager: “The story was read aloud in 3000 Soul Buddyz clubs!”

Nal’ibali mentors spread the word

As co-initiating partners and founders of the Nal’ibali Campaign, PRAESA’s own team hit the ground to help get people hooked on reading aloud long after March 6. Nal’ibali Cluster Mentor for Gauteng, Bongani Godide, kept busy over World Read Aloud Week, sharing the story with 450 children at Motjoli Primary School, where crew from SABC 2’s Morning Live came to film the event; 105 children in Daveyton; 120 children at Leratong Primary School and 60 children at his own weekly reading club,

In Cape Town, Nal’ibali hosted two read-aloud events – sharing the story in isiXhosa with over 300 children at Harare Library in Khayelitsha, and 60 children at a special reading with the author himself, Niki Daly, at Central Library.

In addition, Nal’ibali Cluster Mentor for Western Cape, David Jeffery and Nal’ibali Programme Coordinator and storyteller Malusi Ntoyapi read aloud to 400 learners at the Lathi-tha School of Schools and 30 children at the Philippi East Library.

KwaZulu-Natal Cluster Mentor Gcinimuzi Radebe and his team gathered the Grade 1 to Grade 6’s at Efefe Primary School under a tree on the school grounds. “After the reading we asked them to read aloud to their fellow students too. As we had copies of the story, we divided the kids into small manageable groups and assigned each group with a volunteer. Each child read aloud to his group and then passed it to the next person to do the same. Next up with SizumphakathiPrimary School, where teachers lent a helping hand to facilitate read aloud sessions with the children. The newly formed Majomela Reading Club invited members of the community to come enjoy the story, too.

“We encouraged parents that they should be part of their children’s reading activities and also to be good role models by reading books too. We then introduced the story, which we read together and helped children to understand the story and to also read aloud. Most parents were also involved in this process, especially the young ones! Some pledged that they would start reading and telling stories to their children,” says Radebe, who adds: “After the event I had a casual chat with one of the grannies and she noted: ‘I used to tell stories to my grandchildren, but ever since their father who works in Johannesburg bought them a television set, they lost interest on this culture of storytelling we had. They spend most of their time on television. But with programs like these, their mindsets might change’.”

Radebe and his team of volunteers finished off with a read-aloud session at Qalakahle Crèche, reaching a total of 458 children!

In the Eastern Cape, Cluster Mentor Malusi Puwe took A gold star and a kiss for Thoko to Ikhwezelihle Primary School, where the task of reading aloud the story was given to grade 5 leaner.

Says Puwe, “the children admitted that no culture of reading that has been instilled in them. Yes, they know a few stories that have been read to them by their teachers but not at home.”

At Enqileni Senior Primary School, one of the students was also given the task of reading aloud to the rest of the school, taking the total number of children read to in the Eastern Cape to 1 200 children!

Hitting the airwaves

In support of Nal’ibali’s drive to get SA reading aloud on March 6^th, the Breakfast Stack on Durban’s East Coast Radio, with a listenership of 1.9 million, launched a call to listeners to download the story – and shared their own attempt at reading aloud online.

Jet Club supported the drive by sending members read aloud tips and a link to the story to its subscribers; and Child Mag promoted the initiative via its website and social media platforms.

And through an ongoing partnership with with Kagiso Media, who run MSN in South Africa, banners promoting Nal’ibali’s World Read Aloud Day drive with Niki Daly were run across the Kagiso Media network, including Skype, MSN, Zalebs, as well as the East Coast Radio and Jacaranda Radio websites.

“Improving literacy among the next generation of South African’s is a cause that is closely aligned with the goals of the Kagiso group, and the team at Howzit MSN. Aligning with Nal’ibali to promote literacy on World Read Aloud Day was a natural choice, and a project we are proud to offer our continued support,” says Steven van Hemert, Executive Producer, MSN South Africa.

Finally, award-winning jazz singer and mother of five Judith Sephuma called on SA to read aloud to their children through an exclusive interview with SowetanLive in support of the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign.h Nal’ibali to promote literacy on World Read Aloud Day was a natural choice, and a project we are proud to offer our continued support,” says Steven van Hemert, Executive Producer, MSN South Africa.