Lucknow: Open these books and experience how skin of a horse or camel feels. Another book encourages children to read Aesop's fables like ‘Hare and the Tortoise' and ‘Fox and the Grapes'. Pop-up 3D cartoon characters enhance curiosity. To reduce screen time and cultivate book reading habits, major attraction at bookshops are interactive books.
No longer confined to syllabus and storybooks, publishers and authors are increasingly focusing on interactive experiences, diverse and inclusive stories and engaging formats like 3D books, pop-up books, graphic novels and multimedia to attract children. Popular genres include fantasy, mystery and nonfiction, along with picture books for younger readers and there are orders for new stocks.
"Books are being designed thoughtfully to teach children number recognition, letter identification, counting, shapes, colours and seasons through interactive activities," said Shailendra, owner of a popular bookshop in HAL market, adding, "Several books come with Velcro stickers to be pasted on matching pictures."
A parent, Anamika Sachdeva, at a shop in Nishatganj market, said, "My little one loved the book I bought him with buttons on pages, pressing which one can hear hens clucking and cows mooing, besides colourful scenes of a sheepdog rounding up the herd, a piglet playing in the mud and ducks splashing in the pond. With simple text, holes to peep through, and finger trails to explore, it keeps children thoroughly engrossed."
Asaweri Gupta, selecting a book on solar system at a bookshop in Bhootnath market, said, "Best part of interactive books is they take my little ones away from mobile phone games and TV cartoons for a while. I bought a book containing currencies that had to be matched with their country names and my seven-year-old loved it and learned all the names so easily," said .
Member of Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, All India Association for Educational Research, and Professor at Lucknow University education department, Prof Amita Bajpai, said, "Interactive books capture children's attention, making reading a more immersive experience and enhance engagement to improve comprehension, while improving creativity and imagination as children not only explore but interact with the content too."
She said 3D books, interactive and pop-up books with their engaging and eye-catching designs attract even adults' attention, making complex topics easier to understand through visual, hands-on approaches. Her daughter enjoys flipping through them and says she would purchase them simply for their appearance.