For Mint Lounge
Published on 10 October 2024
Now with Indian comics and graphic novels getting on to the audio book bandwagon, this format of storytelling is gaining traction with children across the country.
What if now you could listen to your favourite comic book characters in an audiobook? For nearly a decade, Marvel Comics has been putting out audio productions around its popular characters such as Ant-Man, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and more. Graphic novels such as Neil Gaiman’s Sandman too are available in the audio format. And now homegrown comics have got onto the audiobook bandwagon. The adventures of iconic comic character, Chacha Chaudhary, for instance, regaled kids in the 10-13 age group for decades. It was even translated into 10 Indian languages. This August, the comic creators announced that stories of Chacha Chaudhary will be relaunched as an audiobook series. It is expected that through this new medium, the inaccessibility factor that rides with printed medium—language and literacy barrier, among the foremost—will be overcome. and the stories will reach a larger cohort of listeners.
It is for this reason, say publishers and educationists, that audiobooks have become so popular over the past few years. According to Statistica, a German online platform specialising in data gathering, the revenue in the audiobook market in India is predicted to reach US$ 355.10 million in 2024. With an annual growth rate of 10.51 percent, this revenue is expected to reach US$ 585.30 million in 2029. And children are a big part of this increasing consumer base.
According to Gurugram-based psychologist and life skill coach, Meenu Bhargava, there are three main reasons why audiobooks are picking up pace among children. She calls them the ‘AAA’—“accessible anywhere, anytime, and by anyone. A child could be sitting in a car and listening to a story, either on his or her own, or with the family. Even if they can’t read, or some words are too difficult to understand, they will be able to understand and enjoy the story,” she elaborates.
Audiobooks also help stories reach children on the neurodivergent spectrum. An article by the Abbey Neuropsychology Clinic, titled 'Audiobooks: How they can help kids with learning disabilities', states that audio books are especially helpful for children with learning disabilities or dyslexia. “There is a proven alternative for children who struggle to understand printed text: they can listen to their textbook,” it stated. India’s National Education Policy (NEP 2020) also stresses upon the use of technology in education and mentions the development of educational software through which books will be available to students in different format—including audio and video. “Till date, 3211 audio book chapters of NCERT textbooks of classes 1-12 have been developed as audio or talking books and uploaded on the DIKSHA portal,” mentioned data by the Union Ministry of Education.
Engagement is the hallmark of any good content. Renowned children’s author, Ruskin Bond, compared audiobooks to oral storytelling which can stimulate interest and lay the path to reading a book someday. Twenty-five of Bond’s all-time favourite stories were launched on an audio platform this year. Delhi-based researcher, Shruti Das, also feels that audiobooks are a big help to parents who want their child to take up reading but don’t have the time to read them a book. “A few months back my friend suggested audio storybooks for children, and it was such a great discovery. Now my six-year-old daughter and I listen to bedtime stories together every night. She laughs when the narrator says something funny, sighs when there is a sad moment. I think both her comprehension power and interest in stories have increased.”
There have been numerous studies on the role of audiobooks in improving comprehension. One such study published in the International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications in 2021, studied the effect of audiobooks in improving listening among English majors' students at academic institutions in Vietnam and found the results to be 'significant'. Education therapist and author, Erica Warren, also stated in an article published in 2021 that audiobooks can improve word recognition, pronunciation and visualisation abilities. Listening, after all, is a key sensory ability and is intricately related to our speech. Vadodara-based Raina Mehta, a homemaker and mother to two boys, aged five and seven, concurs and adds that audiobooks help her sons learn the correct pronunciation of words and voice modulation. “Their imagination is ignited through hearing,” she adds.
The iconic Chacha Chaudhary comic series being relaunched in the audio format goes to show the gaining popularity of this format of storytelling.
Audiobooks also have the advantage of being updated faster, said Kunj Sanghvi, VP of content and curation at online audio platform, Kuku FM, where the Chacha Chaudhary stories will be relaunched. “The stories of Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu, for instance, have been re-contextualised to suit today’s audience in the audioseries. Instead of ghosts and fantasy creatures, they face zombies and werewolves; and the solutions that Chacha Chaudhary comes up with are with the help of technology,” he says.
Pooja Kadaboina, editor at Karadi Tales, a publishing house in Chennai, has been publishing audiobooks for children since 1996-97. "We have developed nursery rhymes for 0-3 year olds (audiobook format) in the Indian context. So instead of a nursery rhyme like Jack and Jill which not all children can relate to, our rhymes are on things like mangoes, the monsoon season, autorickshaw, tailor, etc. These are available on our website as well as our digital platform." In the retelling of stories from the Panchatantra and the Jataka Tales in audiobooks, besides the focus on language, Karadi Tales also spotlights developing Indian traditional music literacy. “These audiobooks are like films, where there is a break with music, or there is music in the background. Each story comes with songs," she adds.
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