By PRISCA SAM-DURU

THE battle to revive the dying readership culture of Nigerians with emphasis on inculcating the attitude of reading in people beginning from an early stage was rekindled at the weekend, with the presentation of a story book for children titled ‘Ranga’.

Written by the proprietress of LeavesGreen School, Magodo, Lagos, Yetunde Fawehinmi, the launch of Ranga which was part of a celebration to mark her 40th year birthday was held at Ikeja, lagos. .

At a period when all focus especially that of the youths are on the internet with easy access to both destructive and useful materials, coupled with the fact that parents no longer spend quality time with their children, the presentation of the book couldn’t have been timelier.

The author Yetunde Fawehinmi (2nd right) with the co launcers during the presention of Ranga. Photo by Prisca Sam-Duru

Yetunde an indigene of Ondo state, having spent not less than sixteen years in England during which she occupied the position of Nursery school manager in England said during the celebration, that nothing would be more fulfilling for her than to bring back her wealth of experience home to make great impact on the Nigerian child.

The huge gap in children Literature created by authors’ concentration on writing for secondary schools without consideration for nursery and primary schools in addition to the fact that most children enjoy reading foreign materials, informed the publication of the book.

Explaining  further on her reasons for coming out with such material, Yetunde noted that,” Having looked at how we are gradually losing out in terms of teaching the children our language, cultures, traditions and values, I  thought it is high time we started offering children literature rich in African folktales.

“I used Ondo state which is my state, the cities, mountain climbing festival called Mari festival, Owena Farm which is all about Cocoa farm and most importantly, ranga itself which is a model rabbit to tell an educating story. Ondo is the largest producing farm for Cocoa so, I decided to write about Cocoa farm to teach children that there’s always something exciting about someone’s heritage”

“ I also discovered that parents no longer read bedtime stories to their children because the world is turning the women into corporate mums who hardly have time to educate their children so, Ranga is out to close the gap created by technology and modernization”.

Ranga is a very colourful children literature written in such simple language with pictures and illustrations that aid easy comprehension without assistance. And to demonstrate that children can read with or without help, some Pupils of LeavesGreen School Magodo, Lagos during the presentation, read excerpts from the book.