Celebrities enthrall kids at reading marathon

By Tam Notosusanto

JAKARTA (JP): "The town judge pointed at the two statues. 'You,' he said, 'did you see anything happening to the rolls of textiles?' But the statues, of course, remain silent. They just stand there without a word..."

Actress and dancer Titi Qadarsih recited these words, taken out of the Chinese children's story The Trial of Two Statues, about how two sculptures were accused of stealing the goods belonging to a traveling salesman. Qadarsih helped in visualizing the imaginative story with her comical expressions and gestures, which invited gales of laughter from the young audience in front of her.

For two days, last Saturday and Sunday, the small stage inside Bentara Budaya Hall in Central Jakarta was surrounded by children. They were sitting around it, heads up, eyes focused on the succession of people taking the stage to read out various children's books for them. Some of these people were familiar faces to the children: actress Nurul Arifin, dancer Nungki Kusumastuti, comedian Eko Patrio, former education and culture minister Wardiman Djojonegoro, well-known TV show persona Pak Raden, model Ratih Sanggarwati. Some of the others may not be familiar to them, although they are famous anyway: G.M. Sudarta, Taufiq Ismail, Ratna Sarumpaet, Tika Bisono, Astari Rasjid.

They took part in the Reading Marathon organized by the Society for the Advancement of Children's Literature (KPBA) to observe National Children's Day on July 23. In the event themed Peace Through Books, some 110 folktales from around the world were read nonstop -- save for a one-hour lunch break -- from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"What we have here is book reading, not storytelling," said Suyadi, the man behind the Pak Raden costume, himself a children's book writer and member of KPBA.

"In storytelling, the personality of the storyteller is the main priority. He can use whatever words and ways of telling the story. In book reading, the personality of the writer must be respected. The reader must be loyal to what is written and cannot step away from it. It's just like in a poetry or short-story reading."

Which may be difficult for those readers, almost all of them were doing this for the first time. Even a seasoned actor like Remy Sylado had reservations.

"It's not easy to stick to the book and at the same time make sure it's communicative enough for the children," he said.

"It's tough to maintain their full concentration throughout the reading," said psychologist Sartono Mukadis.

Both men somehow managed to pull it off, Sylado with his thunderous reading of The Race Between The Bull and the Tadpole while Mukadis with his calm, more toned-down rendition of The Graduate who Makes Serabi Cookies.

Over 100 children, along with their parents and chaperones, sat on the floor, facing the stage during the ongoing readings. When some of the readers failed to captivate them, they talked among themselves, or ran around the room making noises of their own. But when Qadarsih's histrionics or Patrio's funny antics were accompanying the stories, all eyes were on the stage, and laughter was heard frequently.

Multitalented artist Sujiwo Tejo easily stole the kids' hearts with his hilarious rendition of The Contest of Sleepers, even though he actually abandoned the book on the stage and acted out the story with two fellow actors instead.

Some readers, like Wardiman, were so into this event they came back for an encore the next day.

"Events like this should be copied by similar children's literature enthusiasts," he commented, "so that we would have several more children storytelling events scattered nationwide."

KPBA has in fact been nurturing activities of this kind of since its foundation in 1987.

"We observe and stress high care in the quality of books and their authors, and always emphasize the need for them," said its founder and chairwoman, Murti Bunanta, who did her doctorate dissertation on the retelling of children's folk stories in Indonesia.

She said the society attempts to elevate appreciation for children's literature through seminars, film screenings, exhibitions and various trainings for its members, for example, in writing children's stories.

Nathalia Y. Susanto, 42, who arrived with her husband and two bookworm daughters, said that she benefited from becoming a KPBA member. "It's a facility for fellow enthusiasts. We can exchange thoughts and have discussions. And improve ourselves through the trainings."

"With this kind of program," said anthropologist and folklorist James Danandjaja, "we will motivate more publication of our own stories and traditional folktales, to balance out the supply of imported stuff. Thus our kids will know about our very own Kancil (the Mousedeer) in addition to Donald Duck."

And even if storytelling itself is no longer an Indonesian household's tradition, there are other avenues. Stefan Rozkopal, first secretary of the Slovak Republic Embassy, who demonstrated admirable fluency in reading out stories in Indonesian, cited an example from his homeland.

"In my country, at 6 p.m., on the most popular radio station, maybe like Kayu Manis here, there is a storytelling session for 15 minutes, with music accompaniment. And then on our state television at 7 p.m., there's a 10 minute storytelling program," he said. "Events like today's program must be held more often, and more people should attend them. The events should go from school to school."

Paulus Wayong, who took 68 children under the Cipete-based Panti Nugraha Foundation, a social organization he works for, to the Reading Marathon, has another suggestion.

"The reading session should have been divided into several segments," he said, "the organizers could invite different schools or groups for different time slots of the day."

And what says the target audience itself?

"It could have been funnier," said Johan Heryanto, 8, a fourth grader from South Jakarta. He and his 11-year-old brother Denny, who enjoy listening to stories told by their teachers at school, liked Qadarsih and Tejo and wished all the readers were as funny.

Even though their 38-year-old father Kimfoek Heryanto said that Johan is an avid reader who regularly spends after-school hours in the library, the boy does not hesitate when asked to choose between his favorite TV show Ghostbusters and story- reading events like this.

"Ghostbusters!" Johan replied with a sweet, innocent smile.