#477 - Read, Write, Race

by Arti Sonthalia and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan

“Read, Write, Race” by Arti Sonthalia and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan. Published by Scholastic. A heartwarming story of a young boy having dyslexia.

Raghav is a ten year old who struggles to read and write. Year after year he has been labelled as dumb by Karan who is the smart boy in the class and a bully. Karan and his gang keep nagging Raghav as dumb and miss no opportunity of making fun of him. The teachers have always felt that Raghav is lazy and seem to have given up on him. He has been pushed to the last bench always and felt lonely. When his best friend Vedh leaves him and joins Karan’s gang, Raghav feels very upset. A friend with whom he had shared his weakness about the struggle to read and write now taunts him along with Karan.

The book starts off with Raghav at school on first day of grade five. He has come determined that he will try harder this year to achieve his dream of being able to read and write better like the others in his class.  His hopes are shattered by the presence of a strict class teacher Ms Joseph who is branded as Hitler and the constant fear of not being able to read and write while the bullying and loneliness without any friends by his side continues. He doesn’t talk about his problems in reading and writing with anyone including his parents. Is it possible for him to achieve his dream of reading and writing? Will anyone recognise that he isn’t lazy or dumb but has a difficulty? How will he know that he has dyslexia? Can he get any kind of help? Read the book to find out all of these.

The book touches upon several important themes other than dyslexia itself like perseverance, friendship, bullying, difficulty, acceptance, empathy, inclusion, support and aspiration. My nine year old was moved by the story and cheered for Raghav as the story progressed. Initially he wasn’t able to understand why Raghav was struggling so much for tasks which are normally easy for most children of his age. He didn’t seem to be differently abled. This was the first time he was hearing about dyslexia and was curious to know more about it. He got a glimpse into how a child feels left out and lonely when he is not able to open up about his problems with anyone. We discussed about how trust is important in friendship, the role of a good teacher and how one can be supportive of a person facing difficulties. We loved the message in the story that a true friend is one who accepts you the way you are. The book is definitely needed to create awareness about dyslexia making it a “MUST READ”. The book recently won the FICCI publishing award for the best children’s book of the year in English in the below 10 years category.

Recommended Age

The book is apt for children aged 8/9 and above.

Reasons to Read

The book is a good means of introducing dyslexia to children through a relatable story.