From Silence to Stories: How Books Are Rebuilding Confidence in Forgotten Children

There’s a small village school where the books are kept in a rusted trunk.
No shelves. No library room. Just a metal box — holding dreams that no one opens.

This is what Malini Savera saw when she first visited a rural school outside Daskroi.

Children sat in classrooms, but their eyes were blank. Not bored — empty. Not one child had ever held a storybook. Not one had read anything other than a textbook meant only to pass an exam.

That day, a decision was made.
Not to fix the trunk.
But to bring in a library that felt like magic.

What We Did

Under the Modern Libraries to Shape Young Minds initiative, Malini Charitable Trust launched small, modular libraries across 5 locations in Ahmedabad district. These weren’t fancy setups — they were simple, humble spaces with real intention:

• Self-help books (in Hindi, Gujarati, and English)

• Picture books for visual learning

• Wisdom literature rooted in Indian philosophy

• Short stories about courage, failure, kindness

Each library was designed to spark not just literacy, but agency — to help children read about lives beyond their own, and imagine a better version of theirs.

Real Outcomes, Real Children

• 412 children now read at least one non-syllabus book a week

• 68% improvement in reading comprehension (based on in-house tracking)

• Children who used to stammer or whisper now volunteer to read aloud

• Parents report better emotional regulation and sleep patterns after bedtime reading

• Girls, in particular, show increased self-expression and leadership in group reading sessions

“Earlier, they only knew to memorize. Now, they ask questions. Books have made them curious — and confidence always follows curiosity.”

How You Can Support

• ₹2,500 – Sponsor a mini-library starter kit (books + shelf + reading mats)
• ₹7,500 – Fund bi-monthly library updates (new books, thematic additions)
• ₹12,000 – Organize a storytelling day with trained volunteers
• ₹25,000 – Set up a permanent village reading room with solar lights

We are not building libraries.
We are building bridges — from survival to self-worth, from rote learning to self-led discovery.