Housewife Turns Entrepreneur; Gives Ahmedabad a Children’s Library- JustMonkeying!

Wednesday October 03, 2012 , 3 min Read

It’s been around 10 years that Santosh and Jayanti have lived in Gujarat. In all these years they found the lack of good libraries for kids. Having visited many libraries across Ahmedabad they found that good books were available for adults, but the libraries lacked books that a child would pick up and read. This gave them an idea, an idea to address the need of a good children’s library and inculcate a culture of reading among the children. This led to JustMonkeying.

“JustMonkeying is a fun filled place where children have the freedom to browse, choose and explore the books of their choice. JustMonkeying is a door to the world of imagination. There is no restriction on children such as to maintain silence like other conventional libraries do. Also there is no specific time limit to return the books,” says Jayanti, Founder, JustMonkeying.

Being a house wife, working on this idea from home gives her immense satisfaction. The venture has also benefited their son who is an avid reader himself. “*JustMonkeying is just not a children's library, it's a place where kids learn, comprehend and prepare for real life*,” accentuates Santosh.

JustMonkeying has a plethora of carefully selected books from top international publishers aimed at creating the reading interest and thereby to develop the vocabulary, comprehension, creativity and imagination skills amongst kids of all ages. The library is based in Bopal, Ahmedabad.

The present collection is of around 4500 books. The most read books & authors are: Percy Jackson, Atremis Fowl, Geronimo Stilton, Diary of a Wimpy kid, My Weird School, Famous Five, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tinkle, TinTin, Roahl Dahl, Children of the Lamp, Harry Potter, Horrible Science, Chota Bheem, Barbie, Tenali Raman, Amar Chitra Katha, Fairy Tales, Garth Nix, Squires Tales, Asterix, Tom Sawyer etc.

They buy most of the books directly from the publishers. This way they remain constantly in touch with the publishers and are updated on the new arrivals.

“Parents are very cooperative and they do understand that if proper resources are given to the children, the children will ultimately develop the right habits. Parents are taking the initiative and spending time and money for providing the right kind of books to their children at the right time. This has assisted the children in developing interest in books and enjoy reading,” says Jayanti, talking about the response they have received from the parents.

On the business front, they’re actively looking for corporate/business sponsors. They are also ready to help set up community libraries for large housing complexes, societies, et al, on a plug and play model.

On your next visit to Ahmedabad, do visit JustMonkeying! This children's library has a Page on YourStory Pages.

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