Children now spend more time watching TV and movies than reading books or listening to stories because of the unfair competition between the worlds of animation and books, and the cultural effects of children avoiding books will be seen in the future.

But the book “Do Not Cry, Mr. Cow” by Laleh Jafari, and published by Mehrak publication, is a good children's book.

* First, tell us a little about your new book.

As you know, this series of stories have been written for children and each one has a different story and character. Simple language, short sentences, and compactness are its features.

* Many parents have difficulties buying suitable books for their kids, but the question is, but the question is whether the problem is a lack of output or a lack of knowledge.

About a decade ago, there was no clear distinction between children's and young people's books in Iran, and the stories that were written were all childish, with age group A written only on the cover of few volumes; however, several meetings were eventually held to separate children's literature. Since then, we've tried to develop children's books with special standards as they were much needed, and there are now a lot of them, and I believe parents need more data.

* What is your recommendation for making these books more well-known?

They need to be more widely advertised on social media, in my opinion, so that people can find them easily. Also, writers must do a better job of representing their books, and relevant organizations can publish a list of good books for children so that parents can find them with a simple search.

* What are the other standards of children’s books?

I believe the stories shouldn’t be complicated because their young mind does not have the capacity to understand many things at the same time, and the number of characters should be small. Animals or items that they see around themselves can be the good topics of the stories since they must have had a prior experience in order to comprehend the narrative; otherwise, they will be unable to picture it.

* Did you follow any specific guidelines when writing the book's content?

Yes, and some of the content is instructive, thus they've been conveyed indirectly because stating them straight wouldn't be very beneficial. Educational content is meant to train children and help them develop their individual and social abilities, where to take care of themselves, where to escape and where to defend themselves. Kindness, friendship, and assistance are some of the other things that have been addressed indirectly. Children will learn about their emotions, how to properly express them, how to communicate more effectively, and how to create a peaceful world in their hearts by reading this book.

* Today, children have access to a wide range of animations, with many surprises, and these animations have a negative impact on the enjoyment of reading. Is this anything that the authors consider?

Yes! As writers, we need to be familiar with all of the tools and material available to children, including movies, animations, and games, because if we don't, we won't be able to develop books that are more engaging to read than watching movies, and as I said before, advertising in the media, such as television, is crucial, yet we do not see any commercials related to children's books.