A much-welcome initiative

Cover jacket of the magazine.

The reading habit is on the wane. As today's children grow up they get more absorbed in their 'electronic' lives, and there is very little in terms of entertaining, and at the same time educational, books and magazines for children in Bangladesh.
Bengal Foundation has taken the welcome initiative to bring out a children's magazine in Bengali. “Jol Porey Pata Norey” is an effort to offer children an incentive to read as well as provide them recreation. The first issue of the children's periodical is out at bookstores as well as Aranya in Banani, Bengal Art Lounge in Gulshan and Bengal Gallery in Dhanmondi, according to a press release. The magazine has poems and rhymes, along with a short story, health tips, letters, an interview, lots of fun activities for children to do, jokes, puzzles, comic strips as well as two entertaining activity pages from “Sisimpur”. What's more is that the publication is bright and colourful and sure to capture the little ones' hearts and attention at first glance. It is aimed at children between the ages of 3 to 12.
“Jol Porey Pata Norey” has a limited edition, which comes with a two-page Braille supplement for the visually impaired. This supplement is the first of its kind in Bangladesh as a regular magazine for visually impaired and blind children. These supplements will be distributed free of cost to different institutions which cater to the blind. Rafiqun Nabi heads the editorial board as chairman while Luva Nahid Choudhury is the editor and Nazia Jabeen the consulting editor. “Jol Porey Pata Norey” is sure to bring a new dimension to the world of reading, particularly reading in Bengali, for little ones.