Pick a Book is a community that aims to help nurture promising individuals, build future leaders, and bring about change through the wisdom from in between the pages of books.
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Pick a Book Consultant – Operations Hamsadhwanie Devadas[/caption]
Speaking to Pick a Book Consultant – Operations Hamsadhwanie Devadas, she described Pick a Book Co-Founders of K.V.T. Ramesh and Ragulan Tharmakulasingam as being the backbone of this community. They have taken a Sri Lankan idea global; they now have communities in India, the UK, and Singapore, which are all connected. Pick a Book Global Movement has allowed the members to remain interconnected to each other and aims to bring back long-lost social interaction. These communities are exposed to other cultures which teaches them people and social skills as well.
She explained that the community also does monthly events such as “Why I Read?” where they get authors and prominent characters on board to speak about the importance of reading and how it has benefited their lives. The Flipside Webinar Series mainly focused on discussion on books. These are usually conducted in the form of webinars, Devadas informed us.
Their most recent event was held during Children’s Day where they organised a writing competition. Sharing more about it, Devadas commented: “For the first phase, we got an Indian children’s book author to speak about his literacy journey and how to write a book. This was held online in order to provide this valuable information to a larger audience.” For the next phase too, they got down two child authors; one from Sri Lanka and one from India to discuss questions like how they began writing and what inspires them. The motivation behind this event was to promote children to begin writing; be it stories, or journalling, or essays.
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Pick a Book Co-Founder Ragulan Tharmakulasingam[/caption]
Next, they held a writing competition with the topic of “my quarantined life” after they had learned the basics of writing from these authors.
Finally, the participants were given a riddle where they were asked to create and craft the object that was the answer to the riddle. “We wanted kids to run around the house, use their creativity, and come up with the object that they thought was the answer to the riddle. We incorporated arts and crafts again to promote creativity in these young minds,” Devadas explained. She also added that as Milo was a sponsor, they thought this kind of activity that stimulates the brain would be a good representation of the brand as well.
The event featured more than 200 participants and many fun activities for the kids to engage in. Devadas added that they will be picking a winner of these competitions this week and it is soon to be announced.
Benefits of Pick a Book
By encouraging the reading habit and getting all participants to select a book, read and research on it thoroughly, and present a summary, Devadas explained that Pick a Book helps to hone his or her public-speaking, communication and presentation skills. By doing this, Pick a Book not only inculcates the habit of reading, but also helps to impart a wealth of knowledge.
They also develop a thorough understanding of the reading material and pick up on little things that they might not have noticed at first skim of the book.
A life without books is an unfulfilled life. “From within the pages of a book, is a wealth of knowledge, life lessons, and inspirations where we have the enriching experience of living the lives of others as we find our own feet in the world and discover within ourselves what we never knew we had,” Devadas expressed.
[caption id="attachment_166914" align="alignleft" width="225"]
Pick-a-Book-Co-Founder-K.V.T.-Ramesh[/caption]
She also informed us that when these events weren't held online, the participants had to present their summary of the book in front of a forum, which taught them body language and presentation skills. These skills are often not focussed on in schools, but are invaluable when one enters the corporate sector. They also have about four/five leaders appointed that are made to lead teams, and thus they learn leadership skills and teamwork as well.
Pick a Book has different clubs for all age groups ranging from kids to teens all up until adults. We have clubs in renowned companies and universities as well.
They have more events coming up for Halloween and for Christmas where they plan to have 20 consecutives days of activities for members. They want to teach kids skills like creative writing, storytelling, book writing, drama on fictional characters and poem recital which will all be elements involved in the upcoming holiday event.
Having said that in early December there will be a special event 'Redathlon' for corporates and adults, which is a book marathon that will showcase five book presentations continuously.
[caption id="attachment_166915" align="alignleft" width="240"] Pick a Book Consultant – Operations Hamsadhwanie Devadas[/caption]
Speaking to Pick a Book Consultant – Operations Hamsadhwanie Devadas, she described Pick a Book Co-Founders of K.V.T. Ramesh and Ragulan Tharmakulasingam as being the backbone of this community. They have taken a Sri Lankan idea global; they now have communities in India, the UK, and Singapore, which are all connected. Pick a Book Global Movement has allowed the members to remain interconnected to each other and aims to bring back long-lost social interaction. These communities are exposed to other cultures which teaches them people and social skills as well.
She explained that the community also does monthly events such as “Why I Read?” where they get authors and prominent characters on board to speak about the importance of reading and how it has benefited their lives. The Flipside Webinar Series mainly focused on discussion on books. These are usually conducted in the form of webinars, Devadas informed us.
Their most recent event was held during Children’s Day where they organised a writing competition. Sharing more about it, Devadas commented: “For the first phase, we got an Indian children’s book author to speak about his literacy journey and how to write a book. This was held online in order to provide this valuable information to a larger audience.” For the next phase too, they got down two child authors; one from Sri Lanka and one from India to discuss questions like how they began writing and what inspires them. The motivation behind this event was to promote children to begin writing; be it stories, or journalling, or essays.
[caption id="attachment_166917" align="alignright" width="243"] Pick a Book Co-Founder Ragulan Tharmakulasingam[/caption]
Next, they held a writing competition with the topic of “my quarantined life” after they had learned the basics of writing from these authors.
Finally, the participants were given a riddle where they were asked to create and craft the object that was the answer to the riddle. “We wanted kids to run around the house, use their creativity, and come up with the object that they thought was the answer to the riddle. We incorporated arts and crafts again to promote creativity in these young minds,” Devadas explained. She also added that as Milo was a sponsor, they thought this kind of activity that stimulates the brain would be a good representation of the brand as well.
The event featured more than 200 participants and many fun activities for the kids to engage in. Devadas added that they will be picking a winner of these competitions this week and it is soon to be announced.
Benefits of Pick a Book
By encouraging the reading habit and getting all participants to select a book, read and research on it thoroughly, and present a summary, Devadas explained that Pick a Book helps to hone his or her public-speaking, communication and presentation skills. By doing this, Pick a Book not only inculcates the habit of reading, but also helps to impart a wealth of knowledge.
They also develop a thorough understanding of the reading material and pick up on little things that they might not have noticed at first skim of the book.
A life without books is an unfulfilled life. “From within the pages of a book, is a wealth of knowledge, life lessons, and inspirations where we have the enriching experience of living the lives of others as we find our own feet in the world and discover within ourselves what we never knew we had,” Devadas expressed.
[caption id="attachment_166914" align="alignleft" width="225"] Pick-a-Book-Co-Founder-K.V.T.-Ramesh[/caption]
She also informed us that when these events weren't held online, the participants had to present their summary of the book in front of a forum, which taught them body language and presentation skills. These skills are often not focussed on in schools, but are invaluable when one enters the corporate sector. They also have about four/five leaders appointed that are made to lead teams, and thus they learn leadership skills and teamwork as well.
Pick a Book has different clubs for all age groups ranging from kids to teens all up until adults. We have clubs in renowned companies and universities as well.
They have more events coming up for Halloween and for Christmas where they plan to have 20 consecutives days of activities for members. They want to teach kids skills like creative writing, storytelling, book writing, drama on fictional characters and poem recital which will all be elements involved in the upcoming holiday event.
Having said that in early December there will be a special event 'Redathlon' for corporates and adults, which is a book marathon that will showcase five book presentations continuously.