2 April 2020

New Delhi, 31 March 2020: In these tumultuous times, Katha – an organization that has been creating reader leaders, since 1988 – continues to work with, and for our communities, extending support to those, who stand in dire need of the same. Amongst the many initiatives that fall under this overarching objective, Katha has released an e-book titled “The Mystery Of The Missing Soap”.

This unique e-book is an amalgamation of creativity and purpose, serving an important cause: it aims to encourage our children to understand, in their language, the essentials of hygiene and health, necessary to overcome the current challenges.

The lucid language, the attractive design and layout, and the ease of downloading the e-book are bound to find resonance among its readers. The e-book is, currently, available in English, Hindi, and Tamil. The Marathi and Assamese versions will be available in due course.

The storyline revolves around the evil Asura, Tobakachi, who wishes to conquer India by spreading the attack of the deadly Coronavirus; the e-book serves as an exciting one-stop guide for children to know how to protect themselves from the pandemic, as it is filled with interesting facts and do’s and dont’s that children should follow.

The e-book will be soon available at a nominal price on Amazon Kindle. However, the books can also be read for free on https://books.katha.org/e-books/

Says Geeta Dharmarajan, Founder, Katha: “The idea is to reach out to everyone, including children from low-income communities, and hence, anybody can read the book for free. All they need is an internet connection or a smartphone/laptop/any other device that supports an internet connection. Our objective is to protect our children from this pandemic, as much as is possible, and awareness is crucial for the same.”

Notes to the editor:

About Katha

Starting in 1988, Katha’s work spans the literacy to the literature continuum. By seamlessly connecting grassroots work in education and urban resurgence, Katha brings children living in poverty into reading and quality education. Over the past three decades, through its many programmes, Katha has helped over one million children help themselves out of poverty. Katha has several programmes in place to help check poverty across the country: Katha Lab School, Katha’s Slum Resurgence Initiative (SRI), Katha English Academy (KENGA), Katha School of Entrepreneurship (KSE), and others. Katha has been the recipient of the Millennium Alliance Award 2013, the ICICI India Inclusive Award 2012, the North India Winner of India NGO Awards 2009 and it has also been nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Katha’s “I Love Reading” programme has also garnered recognition for its work, when it was awarded the Millennium Alliance Award, in 2013, by USAID and the Government of India.

About the contributors

Geeta Dharmarajan loves writing for children. She received the Padma Shri in 2012 for her work in literature and education. She was also the joint winner of the Business Standard Award for Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018.

TR Vivek is a journalist based in Bengaluru. He is currently writing a contemporary biography of the Kaveri River to be published by AddPublications.

Suddhasattwa Basu is a renowned illustrator, painter, and maker of animation films.

Charpak Dipta is an Oxford alumnus and an award-winning illustrator, a foodie and a globetrotter.

- JP International School