Jamshedpur, June 27: The dream that there should be “a book in every child’s hand”, that has already been spreading in 20 other states of the country, will now reach the children of Jharkhand, too, through the efforts of Pratham.

Pratham, a Mumbai-based NGO, works with its associates, local bodies and NGOs in different states to help underprivileged children read better through a designed accelerated reading method.

“We found that there were not enough quality fiction books that children could read. Pratham Books came through with the Read India movement to fill that gap,” said Ashok Kamath, Managing Trustee, Pratham Books. To cut down on retail margins, they sold their books through the internet. In neighbouring Bihar, Pratham Books is running a massive drive in seven districts, in co-ordination with Unicef and the Bihar government.

“We work through an organic movement and through partners, as it is not possible for Pratham to be at grassroots everywhere. We are sure to reach Jharkhand in a year’s time, since we have plans to cover children across the country,” said Suzanne Singh, communications consultant, Pratham Books.

The idea is to deliver high quality fiction books, that upper class children have access, to under privileged children, she added.

The books are available in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu and Oriya.