By Kusumanjalee Thilakarathna
This week on Little Stars is a passionate book collector and an avid reader. He not only reads but also shares what he feels about the books he reads on his YouTube channel “Booktalk with Navindu”. With the support of his parents, he also maintains a Facebook page, where he can interact with his 3,600-plus followers. This book reviewer, Navindu Wijewardena, is still 11 years old.
You have an impressive collection of books Navindu. Approximately how many books do you have in your collection?
There are approximately over 500 books in my collection.
Can you also tell us how you collected this many books, and have you read them all?
Almost all these books were bought by my parents. Most of the time I receive these books because of my educational achievements. Normally, my parents buy these books from the International Book Exhibition at the BMICH, The Big Bad Wolf, the British Council Library clearance sales, and leading bookstores in Sri Lanka. I have read almost all of them and my parents continuously buy books for me.
Do you only read English books?
No. I read Sinhala books too, because they are also interesting.
Tell us more about yourself.
My full name is Lekamlage Navindu Hasmitha Wijewardena. I go to Nalanda College, Colombo 10 and I study in grade seven (English medium). I have a younger brother. I like to play the thammattama and sing Jana Gee. My hobbies are cycling and playing my electric organ.
Can you remember how old you were when you first started reading by yourself?
I quite remember reading my first book, a Sinhala book, at the age of three.
Movies or books?
Obviously, I choose books, but I also watch movies when I get a chance. When a new movie is released in Sri Lanka, we would try to go and watch that movie. We have Netflix, where they grade movies according to your age. Since I don’t watch television, I really enjoy movies. Still, I do not watch Sinhala-dubbed movies.
Why do you think reading is better than watching movies?
Because we can read books no matter the place, position, and time. But if you are watching a movie, you have limited time and space. In my opinion, books can take you to a whole new world of fantasy, in comparison to movies, and some books are totally shadowed by the movies, like the How to Train Your Dragon book series.
Can you recommend five books to our Little Stars readers?
- The Magic School Bus by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen – this is a book series which is very good to gain knowledge
- The Secret Seven by Enid Blyton – this series has 15 books which can relax you
- The Famous Five by Enid Blyton – with 21 books, this series can reduce your stress
- The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling – This book series of seven is fantastic. You would love to get your hands on these
- James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl – this is another marvellous book you would love
- Appointed as the mentor of the first Sri Lankan Pick a Book Juniors club in 2020 (Pick a Book Juniors is an international book reading club)
- Second place in the Mischief Makers Summer Reading Challenge conducted by the British Council Library in 2018
- Member of the team which won the Space Chase Summer Reading Challenge conducted by the British Council Library in 2019
- Cub Scout Gold Star holder (2019)
- Badminton novice champion (Under 11) at the Nalanda College Sports Meet in 2018
- Obtained 185 marks at the Grade Five Scholarship Exam in 2018