VISAKHAPATNAM: Who does not like to listen to stories? In an attempt to inculcate reading habits in the children and elders as well, the libraries in the city organised free storytelling sessions on Saturday, on the eve of the World Book Day.
Parents, along with their children, were seen spending the evening hours amidst books. While the kids were hooked into to he interesting stories told during the sessions, the parents were busy browsing through the books at the JustBooks Library.
“Our motive is to attract the younger generation by narrating good stories with the hope that they will imbibe the habit of reading. Most of the time, children coming for the storytelling sessions are accompanied by their parents and grandparents. We have seen parents along with their children sit in the library and share stories or read interesting books,” said Hari Madala of JustBooks.
The storytelling sessions are held every alternate Saturday. Awareness has to be created amongst parents to encourage their children to read books, he said.
There are as many as 6,000 books of various genres in the library with an average of 2,000 books being added every year. Six hundred books will be added next month.
Among the 300 active members of JustBooks, 60-70 per cent users are kids, said Hari.
“We intend to reach out to the corporates and schools for setting up mini-libraries. We are also active in the social media where people can ask queries relating to books,” he said.
“You tend to get the satisfaction of reading while holding a book. The joy of reading books becomes double when compared to virtual ones available on digital media,” said Aruna, a book lover.