Paper Play

Author: Mala Kumar

Illustrator: Ruchi Shah

Swoosh came the wind. A sheet of paper floated in.

Manju picked it up and sat down to draw the sun. "Oh, this looks horrible! she said. Manju crumpled the paper and threw it out of the window. The paper fell on Wasim’s head. “Ah, a ball!” he said happily.

Wasim threw the crumpled paper ball up into the air and watched it come down. He threw it higher, and it came down faster. Wasim aimed the paper ball at Syeda, his sister.

“Got you!” he shouted with glee.

Syeda picked up the crumpled paper.

She stuck a pencil into it and said, “Would you like this lollipop? When I am big, I am going to sell many kinds of lollipops in my sweet shop.”

Just then, Bittu came in. “May I have the lollipop please?” he asked.

He pretended to eat the sweet and then rolled up the crumpled paper.

“Testing, testing, mike testing, one, two, three!” he said. “Now I am going to sing you a song.”

Bittu finished singing a film song very loudly.

Manju took the crumpled paper from Bittus hands.

She smoothened the paper and made a boat.

“Bittu, the famous singer will sail all around the world in

this big ship!”

“May I come with you too?” asked Wasim.

Wasim picked up the boat. Very carefully, he smoothened the paper.

Then he folded it like a handkerchief. He cut out a corner. Then Wasim opened the paper.

“Look here, all of you! Smile please!” he said as he held up the paper with a hole in the centre.

Syeda, Bittu and Manju smiled. Then they grinned. Soon they were giggling. Wasim crumpled his paper camera.

Just then, Anil came along with his donkey.

He picked up Manju’s pencil and drew lines around the hole in the paper. “That’s the best sun I have ever seen!” said Manju.

Anil's donkey grabbed the paper sun from Manju's hand and gobbled it up fast. He burped loudly. Then the donkey had a very strange look on his face.

Now who can tell if it was because he had eaten very fast without chewing well, or if it was because he had eaten up the sun?

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link .

Story Attribution:

This story: Paper Play is written by Mala Kumar . © Pratham Books , 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Other Credits:

This book has been published on StoryWeaver by Pratham Books. Pratham Books is a not-for-profit organization that publishes books in multiple Indian languages to promote reading among children. www.prathambooks.org

Illustration Attributions:

Cover page: Girl, boy and pony , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 2: Girl and boy drawing , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 3: Girl looking at ball of paper , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 4: Girl holding a paper lollipop , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 5: Boy holding a paper mike , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 6: Girl and boy singing , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 7: Boy playing with a paper boat , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 8: Boy cutting paper , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 9: Children smiling from a paper camera , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 10: Girl talking to boy with pony , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 11: Pony and paper , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC-BY-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link .

Illustration Attributions:

Page 12: Girl and paper house , by Ruchi Shah © Pratham Books, 2011. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC-BY-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Paper Play (English)

Manju finds a piece of paper. And in the hands of her friends, it becomes so much more than just a piece of paper. Illustrated using bits of paper, so that each page is a collage, imagination is at play in this little story.

This is a Level 2 book for children who recognize familiar words and can read new words with help.

Pratham Books goes digital to weave a whole new chapter in the realm of multilingual children's stories. Knitting together children, authors, illustrators and publishers. Folding in teachers, and translators. To create a rich fabric of openly licensed multilingual stories for the children of India and the world. Our unique online platform, StoryWeaver, is a playground where children, parents, teachers and librarians can get creative. Come, start weaving today, and help us get a book in every child's hand!