‘My First Library 2’ -Book Launch

ith a humble beginning as a Government teacher and becoming the Principal of Asian Grammar School and Giggles International Montessori, Thushari Koralage has achieved a great feat in spreading her knowledge to children with her selfless and compassionate nature. Her latest book launch, ‘My First Library 2’ will be an insightful, eye opener to many kids who are still grappling with difficulties in mastering English vocabulary, vowels and reading. ‘My First Library 2’, the second book in the series is also the ideal set of books for English beginners in the age group 4-5 to improve their confidence and reading skills in English.   
The book launch ‘My First Library 2’ is scheduled to be hosted on June 22 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute at 4.00 p.m. The book launch is expected to be graced by many notable attendees representing the Ministry of Education while many other distinguished guests including school principals and novelists will attend the book launch. It will be graced by the Secretary of the Ministry of Education W. M. Bandusena as Chief Guest while the Guest of Honour will be the Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Education. The Additional Director of Education, Zonal Director of Education, Edward Mallawaarachchi and school Principals are a few among the other distinguished guests attending the event.   

Speaking to Daily Mirror, Thushari said that this is the second set of books in her ‘My First Library’ series aimed at enhancing and encouraging the confidence within children to read more English books. “Actually, I started writing these books to build the self-confidence in children to read books. Very often, children hate reading English books considering it would be difficult to read and decipher. Children find themselves in this position because they do not have very simple books to begin with. This of course is why I started a book for beginners as ‘My First Library 1’ with simple words and illustrations related to them and ‘My First Library 2’ is the second in the series” Thushari said.   
 She said that the second set of books, ‘My First Library 2’ aims to teach vowels and simple three letter words. According to her, each book contains one story with ten simple sentences and each sentence is accompanied with an illustration. “My books go as ‘I can read series’ giving the confidence to a child in his/her ability to read a book and understand it. By the time they finish reading the entire set of books, they gain the assurance that they can read easily and understand. I would like to note that the main idea of writing these books is to improve reading among children.   
I really love working with the kids and every day is a day of inspiration for me with them. Children prefer my books because it comes in a handy package in which the books could be easily stored after reading. ‘My First Library 1’ consists of six books and ‘My First Library 2’ consists of five books. Both sets of books, ‘My First Library 1 and 2’ are launched to the market as a little, portable briefcase version.” she said.   

"‘My First Library’ series aimed at enhancing and encouraging the confidence within children to read more English books"

In addition to ‘My First Library 1 and 2’, Thushari has also written several other work books for Montessori children such as ‘Pencil Writing Book,’ ‘Let’s Start Reading ABC’, ‘Let’s Start to Write 1 and 2’, ‘Let’s Start Numbers’ etc. Stating that all the books are accompanied with illustrations. She believes that these books would immensely help beginners in understanding the study material in a lucid and comprehensive manner. Despite being a Principal, Thushari prefers her role mostly as a teacher and spends time teaching junior English Literature for children between age groups 5-16.   
“I actually enjoy teaching children and I can see what their needs are. Whenever I want to start a book for beginners, I find that there are no book-based on our country or culture but all are related to the UK, US or Indian contextual framework. So I started writing for the Sri Lankan children with a Sri Lankan context with familiar words and names for them. I have invited all the Directors at the Ministry of Education, my friends and my favourite novelists for the Book Launch. However, most of the invitees are from the field of education” Thushari added.   

" I started writing for the Sri Lankan children with a Sri Lankan context with familiar words and names for them"

Stating that she got a very favourable response from her school staff, parents and the Secretary of the Ministry of Education in support of the book launch, she emphasized the importance of being fluent in the English vernacular which is deemed to be a universal language. She launched ‘My First Library 1’ back in 2014 and since then she has achieved to sell about 2000 packs. She hopes that the book launch ‘My First Library 2’ would also have a better avenue for young readers to improve their English reading and understanding skills further, while ensuring a hassle-free and comprehensive approach to learning English. The books will available for purchase only at Sarasavi Bookshops Island wide.

Pics by Waruna Wanniarachchi