The ultimate dream of every avid reader is to set up a home library with a large collection of books. Manav S. Delson, an 11-year-old bibliophile from Muttathiparambu in Thanneermukkom, near Cherthala, is living that dream every day at a very young age.
His mini library ‘Manaveeyam Pusthaka Veedu’ has around 1,000 books, mostly children’s literature. An avid reader himself, Manav encourages other kids in his locality to the world of reading by lending books from the library.
“Nothing gives me more joy than reading,” says Manav, a class 5 student of Government UP School, Velliyakulam, Cherthala. He was led to the world of reading by his grandmother Ratnam Scaria, a retired government school teacher at a young age.
“On average, I spend one-and-a-half hours reading books each day. I read five to six books every week, which gives more joy than playing video games and watching videos online,” says the young bookworm who likes the works of Nandanar, Priya A.S., Subash Chandran, Anne Frank, Sherlock Holmes stories, and so on.
Manav recently completed reading Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography My experiments with truth. He says the father of the nation has revealed things “straight” in the book. Riyante Kinar by Abdulla Kutti Edavanna is one of his favourites.
The library was started as part of a lower primary school project two years ago. The books in the library are either bought by his parents Delson M. Scaria and Suma Jose or gifted to him by teachers and other people. Manaveeyam has a stock register, issue register, magazine/periodicals register, visitors diary, and a seal. A number of children in the locality borrow books from the library, where Manav acts as a librarian.
“Although Manav started reading books some four years ago, he was not an ardent reader back then. We have never insisted he read books, magazines, or newspapers, but tried to instil the value of reading. His grandmother played an important role in cultivating reading habit in him. A fan of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, he used to read articles about him in newspapers. Later, he started reading stories, kids’ adventures, and crime thrillers among other books. He improved his reading skills a lot in the last 10 months or so as the COVID-19 pandemic prevented him from playing outside and going to school. He has read around 100 books during the period. The library was set up after understanding his keen interest in reading,” says Mr. Scaria, father of Manav.