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Welcome to Tamil Storytime!

Building the love of Tamil through books, resources and learning kits.

Currently only available for shipping in Canada and the United States.
Free shipping on all book orders in Canada. Shipping is 3-10 business days. 

ISBN 9781777340704 The Magic Crystal and the Superheroes

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மாயக்கல்லும் அதிவீரர்களும்

The Magic Crystal and the Superheroes 

ISBN 9781777340704 

Tamil children can be superheroes too. In this story, an adventurous superhero sister brother duo tries to save a magic crystal from a fierce dragon. Will they be able to save the magic crystal? Read to find out. 

Our readers think ...

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5 reasons to add The Magic Crystal and the Superheroes to your book collection 

1.     Tamil children need more books with characters that are strong, brave and of Tamil heritage. Children should feel represented in the stories they read.

2.     Research shows media representation, including children’s literature, helps develop positive identity building, helps children feel more confident about themselves and take pride in their identity.

3.     Creating stories with diverse characters as protagonists allows others to build a better understanding of people they may not know much about.

4.     ​​This book is a dual-language book, in both Tamil and English; this helps build print awareness in both languages.

 

5. Reading books that are interesting and engaging to children will help build their love of reading.

A Message From the Author 

I was always that little girl who spent hours at the library, it was my absolute favourite place. While I loved books, one problem I found was I did not find books with characters that looked like me. As I became a children’s librarian myself, the lack of diversity in children’s books became even more prominent. Inspired by my daughter and son, I created strong and brave characters that would resonate with Tamil children. Tamil children can imagine themselves as superheroes too. 

 

Thank you for joining us on our adventure today.  I hope that you continue to join Mazhai and Sudar on their many journeys ahead! 

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5 ways to build early literacy skills in Tamil 

Research has found that engaging in talking, singing, reading, writing and playing help to build language and early literacy skills in children. 

American Library Association's Every Child Ready to Read

Toronto Public Library's Ready for Reading Program

 

Talk

Children learn new words through speech. Talking to child in Tamil allows them to hear new words and build their vocabulary. 

Sing

Singing in Tamil helps children hear new words that aren't commonly used in daily speech and allows children to hear the smaller sounds in words. 

Read

Reading together builds a strong connection. When reading is fun, and the material is engaging, children will want to continue to learn. 

Write

Writing helps children understand that letters make up words, and words have meaning. Pointing to words as they read helps them understand print has meaning. 

Play

Children learn about their world and explore their surroundings through play. Making Tamil reading playful and fun, helps to nurture a love for the language and reading. 

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My Story 

I was always that little girl who spent hours at the library, it was my absolute favourite place. While I loved books, one problem I found was that my imagination of the characters in fairy tales and the graphic representation did not match. This is why I preferred chapter books even as a young age, because I could imagine the characters as they were in my head. Characters that looked more like me and not Snow White.

As I became a children’s librarian myself, the lack of diversity in children’s books became even more prominent. I could see children holding on tighter to books in where the children looked like themselves – every child needs to be able to see themselves represented as strong superheroes. But the statistics for representation in children’s picture books are disheartening. When I became a mom, I did my best to include diverse books in my children’s library. I found that some of my children’s favourite books, were books where the illustrations of children looked like them.

 

It was always important to my husband and I that our children learn to speak Tamil and understand their roots. It is why we spoke to our children primarily in Tamil alone. Even when we read stories to our children, we translated them and “read” them aloud in Tamil. When my daughter was born, we searched for books in Tamil, with characters that looked like her, and was sad at the lack of inventory. I instead “read” English books in Tamil to her. My daughter loves stories. we would sit and make up stories together. Once her brother was born, our stories evolved to stories in where she and her younger brother were the leads. Her excitement in hearing these stories is what gave birth to Tamil Storytime. These characters are designed after my daughter and son.  

The miracle about motherhood is that, while you give birth to your children, it is they who sometimes give a new birth to you.

 

Tamil Storytime - To my babies.

Diversity In Children's Books .jpg
Huyck, David and Sarah Park Dahlen. (2019 June 19). Diversity in Children’s Books 2018. sarahpark.com blog. Created in consultation with Edith Campbell, Molly Beth Griffin, K. T. Horning, Debbie Reese, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Madeline Tyner, with statistics compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp. Retrieved from https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/picture-this-diversity-in-childrens-books-2018-infographic/

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