Founded in 1980, Adarna House is the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

' first and largest publisher of children’s books

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

.

History

During the mid-1970s, the Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP) found itself in need of a series of storybooks to supplement their mental feeding program. They approached Virgilio S. Almario

Virgilio S. Almario

Virgilio Senadren Almario, better known by his pen name, Rio Alma, is a Filipino artist, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. He is a National Artist of the Philippines....

, a well-known poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and literary critic

Literary criticism

Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...

 of that time, to spearhead the production of this series. He then recruited author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

s, editor

Editor

The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...

s, illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

s, and researcher

Researcher

A researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...

s for the series, which he would call Aklat Adarna. (The Adarna bird is a fictional creature which had the ability to cure any sickness with its song.) The name was chosen to evoke the healing power of education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

 and knowledge against the struggle of the Filipino against poverty

Poverty

Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

-causing ignorance.

When NCP concluded the storybook program, Almario carried on with the project through the Children's Communication Center. Soon enough, with its increasing number of publication

Publication

To publish is to make content available to the public. While specific use of the term may vary among countries, it is usually applied to text, images, or other audio-visual content on any medium, including paper or electronic publishing forms such as websites, e-books, Compact Discs and MP3s...

s, CCC needed a distributor

Distributor

A distributor is a device in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine that routes high voltage from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the correct firing order. The first reliable battery operated ignition was developed by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. and introduced in the...

 and publisher and a decision was made to found Adarna Book Services, later renamed to Adarna House, Inc.

Preschool

For many years, Adarna House's preschool line was limited to a collection of 5 posters for preschool teachers and day care workers. Three years ago, they released the Ready for School series — a set of 10 flip book

Flip book

A flip book or flick book is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be...

s (one side with Filipino text, the other with English) discussing preschool concepts like colors, shapes, emotion

Emotion

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...

s, and directions.

Through a partnership with Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read , is an American non-profit organization that advocates for childhood literacy. ROR was founded in 1989 at Boston City Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and was based on the premise to "encourage parents to read regularly to their children and give them the tools to do so." The...

 Philippines, Adarna House published the very first English-Filipino board book

Board book

A board book is a type of book printed on thick paperboard. The paperboard is printed and used for both the cover and the interior pages. Each page panel is a minimum of two plies of paperboard thickness. Unlike a typical paper book that is bound with saddle stitching or perfect binding, a...

s in the country.

Storybooks

It was 1977 when 8 pocket-sized and landscape-format storybooks were published under the Aklat Adarna Series. The titles included Istorya ni Dodong (The Story of Dodong) in two parts, Si Pilar Katerpilar (Pilat the Catterpillar), Ang Pag-ibig ni Mariang Makiling (The Love of Mariang Makiling), Digong Dilaw (Yellow Digo), Munting Patak-Ulan 'Little Raindrop), Nang Magkakulay ang Nayon (When Color Came to Town), and Si Emang Engkantada at ang Tatlong Haragan (Emang the Enchantress and the Three Rascals). The last four of these titles are still in print, with Nang Magkakulay ang Nayon being relaunched with English text and a Cebuano

Cebuano language

Cebuano, referred to by most of its speakers as Bisaya , is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people mostly in the Central Visayas. It is the most widely spoken of the languages within the so-named Bisayan subgroup and is closely related to other Filipino...

 translation—a first in Adarna House history.

Since then, Adarna House has published more than 150 original stories, with over a hundred stories still in print as storybooks and big books, or compiled in Aklat Adarna volumes.

Manuals and References

To promote reading, literacy

Literacy

Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...

, and education, Adarna House has worked hand in hand with reading specialist and educators to produce manuals for parents, teachers, day care

Day care

Child care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...

 workers and storytellers.

Its Toys and Games Manual, Storytelling Manual, and Lesson Plans for the Big Books are aligned with Adarna House's aim to enrich and supplement the curriculum

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

.

Through the support of cultural institutions and relevant organizations — such as the National Centennial Commission, Bench, and Oishi — Adarna House has come up with books that aim to collectively identify things that are distinctly Filipino. Adarna House's reference books are easily marked by its use of the 100 number, as in 100 Events That Shaped the Philippines, 100 Questions Filipino Kids Ask, and the two-volume 101 Filipino Icons.

Adarna House's science book

Science book

A science book is a work of nonfiction, usually written by a scientist, researcher, or professor like Stephen Hawking , or sometimes by a non-scientist such as Bill Bryson...

s, on the other hand, have titles that begin with "Can we". Can We Plug Into Lightning?, Can We Drink the Ocean? and Can We Live on Mars? feature colorful and humorous illustrations, trivia

Trivia

The trivia are the three lower Artes Liberales, i.e. grammar, rhetoric and logic. These were the topics of basic education, foundational to the quadrivia of higher education, and hence the material of basic education, of interest only to undergraduates...

, photos, simple science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 activities, as well as contact information of several relevant institutions.

Other Products

Recognizing gaps in reading resources for certain ages and interests, Adarna House has endeavored to break new ground and publish alternative reading materials for children and young adults through poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 books, like Buwan, Buwang Bulawan, and novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

s, like Displaced.

Services

Adarna House only has one office, located in Quezon City

Quezon City

Quezon City is the former capital and the most populous city in the Philippines. Located on the island of Luzon, Quezon City is one of the cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila, the National Capital Region. The city was named after Manuel L...

. To make up for limited visibility, it holds book fairs in schools and participates in trade fair

Trade fair

A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...

s throughout the year.

The publishing house is also known for its storytelling

Storytelling

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...

 sessions, called Kuwentong Adarna. Facilitated by a member of Adarna House's pool of storytellers, the sessions are done to encourage children to take up the habit of reading.

Apart from storytelling, Adarna House also facilitates numerous workshops for children and adults. Regularly held during summer vacation, Klasrum Adarna for kids offer a variety of writing

Writing

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...

 and illustration

Illustration

An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...

 classes, while Klasrum offerings for adults include storytelling, teaching beginning reading, and library improvement among others.

Adarna House also offers book development services to individuals and institutions out to commission the production of a book project. The services include copy writing, editing, research, illustration, art direction, and printing.

Partners

Adarna House works with various organizations to carry out its primary goal "to educate and entertain the Filipino child."

In partnership with DepEd and Ronald McDonald House Charities

Ronald McDonald House Charities

Ronald McDonald House Charities is an independent 501c3 organization whose mission is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children across the world...

 (RMHC)'s Bright Minds Read!, big books and a collection of lesson plan

Lesson plan

A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction for one class. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class instruction. Details will vary depending on the preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the need and/or curiosity of children...

s were developed to help public school teachers use children's literature as a springboard in building reading skills among beginning readers.

The Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of Social Welfare (DSWD) and Development are major partners for the Early Childhood Development Project. DSWD also worked with Adarna House for Ang Buhay ni Bimboy, a guide for parents and day care workers in nurturing children.

As one of the main proponents of Teens Read, Too! (a year-long reading campaign for Filipino teenagers), the Filipinas Heritage Library has hosted many of the campaign's activities under its roof. It is through this partnership that the Pilar Perez novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

s for young adults were created.

The Meralco Management and Leadership Development Center (MMLDC) Foundation workds closely with Adarna House for Lakbay Kalikasan, which promotes environmental awareness through storytelling, puppet shows, and nature trips.

Adarna House serves the Philippine Board on Books for Young People as its Secretariat. With the logistical assistance of Adarna House, PBBY is able to organize its activities such as the National Children’s Book Day celebration, PBBY-Salanga Prize, PBBY-Alcala Prize, and the Salaysayan National Storytelling Competition.

The Reading Association of the Philippines came on board Adarna House’s Libro Mo, Libro Ko program to help identify beneficiaries for the program. For every pledge of donation to these beneficiaries, RAP offers free teacher training and Adarna House comes in with additional book donations.

In 2008, Adarna House and Reach Out and Read-Philippines launched the first bilingual board books in the country during the opening of Aklatang Adarna, a reading corner at the Philippine Children's Medical Center.

Two five-storybook series, Batang Historyador and Batang Katutubo, were completed with United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF).