By Dimithri Wijesinghe
Veteran children’s book writer, illustrator and the author of the one book all Sri Lankan children are likely to have in common, the Umbrella Thief – Sybil Wettasinghe had her most recent children’s story book ‘Wonder Crystal’ entered in to the Guinness book of world records for having the most number of alternative endings.
The book is one of a kind as it is the result of the collective works of a number of children who submitted their imagining of the books ending to Ceylon Biscuits Limited, by whom the book was first launched in 2019 on World Children’s Day.
The objective of the book is to encourage children to use their imagination and explore their creativity thereby encouraging the children who read the book to complete the story by contributing either in writing, in a drawing or in poetry form their imagining of the ending.
The book ‘Wonder Crystal’ was shared with schools in all three languages and was well on its way to the Guinness Book of World records as the event alone in which it was launched held 30 thousand students and the students in the schools it was distributed to were encouraged to make their submissions as well.
A renowned Sri Lankan children’s story writer Sybil Wettasinghe has contributed immensely to the young minds in Sri Lanka, and has nurtured the creative thinking in many of us through her work. Her novels have garnered recognition all over the world, and many of her stories have been translated to multiple languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Korean, Dutch and Tamil.
The recognition Sybil has received is well deserved with our heartfelt congratulations to an eminent personality, who in her illustrious career has gone on to enrich young minds for generations and continues to do so to this day.
