Once upon a time there was a bear....
A few years ago, a young group of educationalists and musicians decided to recreate the joy of Indian stories for children through the medium of Talking Books.Those more informed about the children's publishing scenario in India said this effort would not be sustainable because:
* you can sustain Barbies and GI Joe's but the market for high quality children's books or audiobooks in India is too limited to offset the high creative costs.
* the television explosion has had children addicted to cartoons and similar programming that they have no inclination to read or listen to stories anymore.
Nevertheless, Karadi Tales was born, and the above assumptions have been proved decisively wrong. Each title of Karadi Tales has gone into reprint in less than 12 months of its release.
Children have taken to Karadi Tales like desert weary travellers to water. Tens of thousands of parents continue to give thanks for providing an enriching alternative to television.
In these times of excessive television, westernization and stressful education, Karadi has come to symbolize the antithesis of these trends:
...creating space for Indian culture in the child's mind
...providing meaningful entertainment alternatives for kids and families
...bringing fun into the development of early learning skills.
Karadi Tales has brought together some of India's finest artistes including Naseeruddin Shah, Gulzar, Girish Karnad, Usha Uthup, Nandita Das, Nassar, Manna Dey, Udit Narayan, SP Balasubramaniam, Shankar Mahadevan and many more.
The first title of Karadi Tales was launched in December 1996, featuring Naseeruddin Shah as Karadi, the bear. There's been no looking back. The year 2004 saw Karadi Tales enter the world of Audiobooks for young adults and adults. An imprint called Charkha Audiobooks was formed to cater to this segment of listeners and readers. Wings of Fire, President A.P.J. Kalam's autobiography, was the first release from Charkha Audiobooks. Now with over 50 titles spanning our catalogue, and many more under production, Karadi Tales is happy to be India's leader in the world of Audiobooks.
Karadi Tales also publishes picture books for young children under the imprint Chitra.
Chitra sources the best work from the world and brings them to India in unique,
English-Hindi bilingual editions. Chitra English Hardcovers is a series of exclusive
picturebooks in English, written by India's finest children's writers and illustrated
by many talented international artists. A very special imprint is Dreaming Fingers,
which makes tactile picture books with Braille text for children with visual difficulties.
The vision at Dreaming Fingers is to create beautiful picture books that can be
seen, read, and touched by all children.
Karadi Tales is part of ACK Media, India's leading entertainment and education company
for young audiences. Some of India's most-loved brands including Amar Chitra Katha
and Tinkle are part of ACK Media.
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