BOOKS

Learning outcomes
By the end of the poem, students will be able to:
● explain the ability of books to open up our imagination.
● discuss the knowledge of distant places and different times that books provide.
● identify the poetic devices, especially the image of sailing to distant lands.
● note the contrast between body and mind.
● contrast the reality of the present with the fantasy world that books offer.

Poem summary:
Books contain wonderful information about other parts of the world. As we read them or look at the
pictures, we are carried away in our imagination to new lands with different people who give us new
ideas about the world. We get so engrossed in the world of our books that we forget the room we are
in as we become friends with a character in a storybook or enter a different space or time. Our body
may be in the chair but our mind is in the fantasy world created by the book. Each book is like a magic
box a child opens to find everything they love to see in the world of their imagination.

Pre-reading
● What kind of books do you like to read? Why?
● How do books help us to develop our imagination?
● How do books help us to gain more knowledge?
● Which do you like better? Story books or books about general knowledge? Why?

Understanding the Poem The room…chosen friend.

Play the poem on the screen, in parts. / Read the How can our room melt away? (We are not aware
poem in parts. Pause to explain / discuss / check of our surroundings as we live and move in the world
comprehension. created by whatever we are reading.) Who is this
chosen friend? (Our favourite character in the story
What worlds … our eyes.
with whom we identify and with whom we can relate)
Why does the speaker in the poem describe a
book as a world of wonder? (A book creates a new Discuss:
imaginary world that fills us with wonder because it Do we begin to feel what the characters feel, as we
is different from our real life.) What happens to us read? How does drifting into the story make the
when we begin to read a book? (We are transported story more interesting?
to a different world that fills our imagination as if it
were real and teaches us new ideas about different Or we sail…over there.
people and different ways of living.)
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 What does it mean to sail along a page? (It means Contrast between body and mind, and, here and
that we travel in our imagination to another time or there: Here’s our body in the chair, But our mind is
place.) Where is our mind while our body is in the over there. Our imaginative entry into the world
chair? (Our mind is transported to the place or time the book creates for us is compared to us sailing to
created in the book we are enjoying at the time.) distant lands in different ages. From the real world,
the speaker takes us to magical realms that books
Each book…their lovers.
open up to our imagination. From such a wide-
Why is a book compared to a magic box? (Just as angled treatment of exploration of strange lands in
a magic box holds secret treasures for the one who different times, the speaker zeroes in on relating to
unlocks it, even so a book holds hitherto unknown a single character as a friend.
knowledge between its covers for the child who reads
The use of we instead of I is significant. We holds
it.) Which words of the lines rhyme in each stanza?
all of us together in the shared experience that is
(The first with the second and the third with the
common to all book-lovers.
fourth)
Poetic devices:
Appreciating the Poem
Rhyme: Every two lines rhyme with each other.
The theme is that reading is a magical experience
Books-looks; rise-eyes; away-play…
of exploration. This theme is unfolded through
comparison and contrast: Books are compared to Alliteration: What worlds of wonder; which with.
wonderful worlds, and reading, to travel. Our flights imagery: Sail along a page…land or age
of fancy are compared to our travel, exploring
different places in different times. It is contrasted Metaphor: Each book is a magic box
with our body sitting in one place, on a chair.

Post-reading
Discussion
● Have you related to any character as if he/she was your friend? Did you learn anything from her/his
story? Share with class.
● Why is it important for us to enjoy books?

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 QUESTION BANK WITH ANSWER KEY

BOOKS
How does our mind get transported into the story we read?
When we read a story, we remain completely focussed and everything else around us is forgotten.
The text that we read becomes so interesting that the things, places and characters carry us away into a
world that is enchanting.

STUDENTS’ BOOK ANSWER KEY

BOOKS

Understanding the Poem

Suggested answers (Accept any logical answer)
A. 1. It feels as though the room is melting away because when we read a book, we forget everything
around us.
2. a. The friend is a character from the book that seems to come alive.
b. While reading the story, the reader may begin to like certain qualities of the character so much
that the reader may make this person a special friend.
3. The feeling we get when we read the word ‘sail’ is a feeling of ease and smoothness. It is a soft and
gentle movement. When we read a book we get transported into the age and land of the story as
easily as sailing on water.
4. a. The mind is in the land and the time of the story that we are reading.
b. There is a distance between the mind and the body because the body is in the room but the
mind is far away in another age and another land.
c. This is a dreamy feeling and all book-lovers enjoy this feeling. It makes us happy.
5. A book takes the reader into the wondrous world of surprises and exciting events, just like a
magic box that brings out a whole load of exciting things, taking us by surprise.
B. Suggested answers (Accept any logical answer)
Reading a book is a magical experience, according to the speaker because it introduces the reader to
new ideas and experiences. It sparks our imagination. It takes us to new lands and makes us meet new
people while being seated in our own homes. Just like how a magic box brings out exciting things, a
book can also spring surprises for a book lover.

Appreciating the Poem

1. The speaker uses lines like “New ideas and people rise...in our eyes” and “we sail along the page to
some other land or age”. These lines give us a feeling of a journey, where we see different places
and people.

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 2. The speaker knows that like her, there are many other people who love books. She is speaking not
only for herself but for all book-lovers across the world. Therefore, she uses words like ‘us’ and ‘we’.

Words in Use
(answers for the last option vary)
A. 1. books: cooks; looks   2.  away: play   3.  lovers: towers; covers   4.  end: friend; send
5. chair: there
B. 1. b  2. e  3. d  4. a  5. c

Going Further
(free response)

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