Through Captivating Graphics and Engaging Text, Going to School in India Presents the Stories of Remarkable Children Going to School in a Vibrant and Varied Country

Going to School in India is a multimedia presentation of photography, graphic design, and text. This highly original book relates the personal hopes and challenges of some of India’s school-age children, including nine-year-old Amla, whose school is on a train platform, and thirteen-year-old Devki, who attends a night school for girls that is lit by solar lanterns.

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 6, 2005 -- The Global Fund for Children (Washington, DC) today announced that Lisa Heydlauff, author of the empowering new book Going to School in India, will visit PS 214, the Michael Friedsam Elementary School, in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday, October 11, 2005. Going to School in India is a project of Shakti for Children, the publishing program of the Global Fund for Children. Ms. Heydlauff will participate in a special reading and interactive event with the school's 4th- and 5th-grade students. The October 11 event is designed to educate American students about the diverse experiences of children of the same age in India. About 40 percent of PS 214's student body is of South Asian origin.

Going to School in India is a multimedia presentation of photography, graphic design, and text. This highly original book relates the personal hopes and challenges of some of India’s school-age children, including nine-year-old Amla, whose school is on a train platform, and thirteen-year-old Devki, who attends a night school for girls that is lit by solar lanterns.

The book was inspired by a seven-year-old student who asked his teacher, author Lisa Heydlauff, "What is it like to go to school in India?" Ms. Heydlauff, who was raised in England, Canada, and the United States but now calls India home, promised that if she ever got the chance she would find out. Over a period of seven months, Ms. Heydlauff traveled extensively across India and observed firsthand how children in India navigate busy streets, cross rivers, trek across deserts, and climb mountains in order to go to school.

"Often against incredible odds, these spirited children overcome great obstacles in order to pursue their basic right to go to school," says the author.

Going to School in India, like other children’s books published by Shakti for Children (www.shakti.org), is the collaborative fruit of some of the most talented authors and photographers today, including photographer Nitin Upadhye and graphic designer B. M. Kamath, renowned for their vivid and dramatic style.

Shakti for Children is a program of the Global Fund for Children (www.globalfundforchildren.org), a nonprofit grant making organization committed to advancing the education and dignity of young people around the world. A portion of the proceeds from sales of Going to School in India will be donated to the Global Fund for Children to support community-based educational programs worldwide.

Going to School in India is published through an ongoing collaboration with Charlesbridge Publishing, a leading US publisher of picture books for children of all ages. The book is available from the Shakti for Children website (www.shakti.org) and all major bookstores.

Interview opportunities with author Lisa Heydlauff are available on Monday, October 10, Tuesday, October 11 (afternoon) and Wednesday, October 12 (morning) in New York City. For additional information, please contact:

Simi Ahuja: (347) 385-6651

Raja Choudhury: (917) 769-7616

About Author Lisa Heydlauff

Lisa Heydlauff is a global person, part of a generation that understands the world as a truly interconnected system. She has been on a lifelong journey to explore communication as a preparation for change, for solving problems. She moved from England to the United States as a young girl and found that her experiences were very different from her schoolmates’ and that this made connecting with other youth challenging. Later she returned to England and taught children in an alternative school. She realized that she could tell them about Mexico because she had been there, but not about India, for example, because she could not speak from experience.

She is determined to continue her quest in India, where she has lived and worked for the last six years. During that time, she worked for UNICEF and began, on her own, to conceptualize a collection of stories about children in India. She also edited a magazine with a minuscule budget and learned how to work with the advertising sponsors who made production possible. As her idea crystallized, she found a photographer and set out on months of travel all over India, seeking out schools and children whose words and experiences she could present in stories. The result is new and fresh. Parents in India, and increasingly parents and educators in North America, have told her how thrilled they are to share these stories with their children, and to open their eyes to the lives of children who may live far away, but who share similar dreams and aspirations.

About Shakti for Children

Shakti for Children is a program of the Global Fund for Children, a nonprofit grant-making organization that supports community-based educational programs that help expand opportunities for children around the world. A portion of the royalties from Shakti for Children books, along with other private gifts, helps fund the Global Fund for Children’s grant making.

For additional information about the Global Fund for Children, please visit www.globalfundforchildren.org

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