Visit to The New Delhi World Book Fair

On 13th January 2016, 54 children from class X visited the New Delhi World Book Fair at the Pragati Maidan. They were escorted by nine teachers. The Book Fair is organised by the National Book Trust India with The India Trade Promotion Organisation. Each year NBT organises several activities for children in collaboration with various schools, NGOs and other organisations working in the field. Besides the opportunity to browse through an assortment of books of different genres, the children also get a chance to interact with some famous authors and illustrators. In fact, a few of our students did get to meet author, Parvesh Chandel. Many purchased copies of his new book Stir my Heart, Still my Soul, a 2015 childrens bestseller. Such is the power of author interaction! This year China was given special coverage and so an entire pavilion was dedicated to the country. Guests from the country could be seen mingling with the crowds at this pavilion. In one corner, a stall showcased details about the upcoming Beijing International Book Fair 2016. The Fair also had a Childrens Pavilion.

The pavilion amply decorated with colouful posters and rows of books catering to diverse tastes. We decided to spend extra time here. As time was short, we quickly divided ourselves into groups and spent the next two hours browsing through the stalls. There was also a reading corner. Some of us were quite content to sit here and enjoy the collection of books on display. Stalls were set up by a number of publishing houses such as NBT, S. Chand, Scholar Hub,bScholastic, Pratham Books, Om Books, RatnaSagar, Pearson and Raj Pal. With so many publishers on display, it was hard to decide who to visit. Our children were fascinated by the wide selection and each was able to spot something of interest. They were so engrossed in selections that it was difficult to get them to move them. The Fair is an excellent place to find books of publishers from around the world. Keeping in mind this years School theme, I bought a few books on Africa to add to the reference resource in our library. Several books were available at discounted rates and were very affordable. This was another reason for buying and most of our children took advantage of this! Taking children to a fair of this kind encourages them to get aware about books available in the market. It also promotes reading, particularly when one is able to get hold of books that are appealing. It is a necessary experience. We hope to undertake the trip again next year.

Ms. Tarannum Athar, School librarian.