Book Review | Entrepreneur couple promotes physical literacy in picture book
In the era of television, computers and mobile tablets, are children missing out on the benefits and learning that sports have to offer? Is digitisation making children settle for a sedentary lifestyle?
These are the questions that entrepreneur-authors Vibha Agarwal and Mayank Agarwal address in their picture book Toori Mama.
In the book, which has a foreword by badminton icon Pullela Gopichand, Toori Mama, the eponymous character, is described as a ‘couch potato’ who binges on junk food and is averse to physical exercise. However, Toori Mama soon realises that this lifestyle cannot continue and he needs to change.
The book is on Toori Mamas’ path to fitness and the invaluable lessons he learns in this journey.
“Today, parents only focus on their children’s academic performance and not on their physical development. If a child is pulled up for his examination performance, parents make a hue and cry, but if they perform poorly in their sports classes that same attention is not given. We wanted to address this through our book,” said Mukesh, an alumnus of Indian School of Business.
Mukesh said the idea for the book dawned on him when he saw positive changes in his daughter through such stories.
“My daughter was five years old at that time and I wanted her to take an active interest in sports. I narrated bedtime stories to her with the same Toori Mama character on how one should work on their physical wellness. Soon I saw the difference. She started playing badminton, started jogging and started eating much healthier,” said Mukesh.
He explained that there was a need for such a book as most books on physical literacy in the market are for the ages of 14 years and above and use advanced English.
Toori Mama is written for children of the ages of three to 10 years with ample illustrations, which have been done by artist Vidhi Gupta.
Toori Mama
Vibha Agarwal & Mayank Agarwal
White Falcon Publishing
Price: Rs 799, Number of pages: 108