Children take a break from school, head to the book fair

Large number of school children make their way to the 11th Karachi International Book Fair

KARACHI:

In a queue, the students from different schools entered the Karachi Expo Centre's three halls for the Karachi International Book Fair early on Friday morning.

There were some who had come with their teachers and some who had taken a half-day leave from their schools to attend the fair with their parents. The students scattered around the halls, visiting stalls setup by various publishers and book sellers. The children seemed more interested in fiction books, while some were seen buying non-fiction books about space.



"This is a Disneyland of books, I've never seen so many books together under one roof," said Wahab, who is in class six at The Generation's School's south campus. My school library does not have this many books, he commented. His friend, Mubeen, came over to show him the book he bought from the Liberty Books stall, 'A Beautiful Lie' by Irfan Master.

A group of students had also come from Surjani Town's Azeemi School, who were spotted taking an interest in the Urdu books on display. Rohail, who is in class seven at the Azeemi School, was interested in purchasing a translation of the Quran. "I am only here to get an easy translation of the Quran," he said.

What teachers have to say

"We plan to add some more books to our school library, which is why we are here with our students," said Mehreen, science teacher at The Generation's School. She added that members of the school administration were there to buy books while keeping in mind the interests of their students.



"If we bring children to book fairs and literary events they will take more interest in reading, which is a healthy activity for them," said Hira, an English teacher at the Falconhouse School. She told The Express Tribune that the school had received an official invite from the organisers to bring the students to the fair.

Fun activities

Apart from the book stalls, publishers have also set up stalls offering different games for the children.

Liberty Books setup a 'selfie' booth where school children were seen taking pictures of themselves with their friends. According to a representative of Liberty Books, the store has begun a campaign to encourage people to take pictures of themselves and post them on the official Liberty Books Facebook and Instagram pages. "Children should post their selfies, along with the books they buy from our stall on our official Instagram and Facebook pages and we will select five children every day and award them a voucher of Rs1,000," he explained.



Kids' day out

Arisha had asked her mother a day before to pick her up from school early and take her to the book fair, so that she would not miss the variety of books offered on the second day of the fair. "Last time I came on the third day and I was not able to find good books," she said unhappily. Her mother had also taken a day off from work to take her to the expo. "She is insisting that we visit the fair every day," said her mother.

Housewife Asma brought her five-year-old son, Hashir, to the fair. "I know he is too young but if I keep bringing him to these events, he will grow up to be a book lover," she said.

A lounge has also been setup for children, where they were seen painting pictures. Three halls at the expo centre have been dedicated to the event, with 330 book stalls offering books.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2015.