It took many thousands of years to make a book which looked even a little like a book as we know it! The Egyptians were the first to make paper from a reed called papyrus. Using black, dirty water as ink, the Egyptians wrote poetry and stories in picture.
Have you read or heard stories about King Arthur and his knights? Did you know that all these stories are just stories? There was no king Arthur in reality!
The famous Indian writer, Premachand’s actual name was Dhan Rai Srivastav. His first book, Soz-e-watan, was burnt in public by British! Premchand mostly wrote short stories. Some of his stories were made into Hindi films. Find out their names.
Charles Dickens’ first book was the Pickwick papers. It made him famous in Britain and America. His other famous books include Oliver Twisted, David Copperfield, great expectations, and a tale of two cities. Have you read any of them?
Agatha Christie wrote 70 novels and many plays. Her play he mousetraps had the longest continuous run at one theatre. Many f her books have been made into films.
Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in wondered land, taught mathematics at Oxford University. When Queen Victoria asked Lewis Carroll to send her a copy of his next book, she got a book on mathematics by C.L Dog son –because that was his real name! The adventures of Sherlock Holmes- Sherlock Holmes stories are available in six volumes. This is one of them. His address-221 B, street, London, has today become a museum with a collection of all kinds of objects related to this great detective and his cases. Yet he was only a fictional character created by Sir Arthur Con Doyle, a doctor turned author. The Holmes stories are narrated by Dr. Watson. Each of the cases he solves shows his amazing power of deduction and reasoning. The author tried to kill him in one of his stories but the readers would not accept it. So he had to be revived and the next lot of stories, the Return of Sherlock Holmes, was written! The author: Arthur Conan Doyle.
The war of the worlds: This book is a work of science fiction. It was written over a hundred years ago when space travel had not a reality. The book was adapted broadcast over the radio in the 1930’s and sounded so real that listeners were convinced that earth had been attacked by aliens from outer space! The author: H.G Wells.
The dairy of Anne Frank: During the Second World War, the German Jews were put in concentration camps by the dictator Adolph Hitler who was responsible for killing over a million Jews. This is the diary of a young girl, Anne Frank, written during this period. It gives us a moving picture of the terrible suffering the Jews underwent. It is a true story.
My family and other animals: do you like all animals? Do you like lizards and cockroaches? Do you like monkeys and snakes and birds? Gerald Darrell was a great animal lover and is only one of his many entertaining books. His anecdotes about animals as well as the members of his family will make you laugh!