Book fair attracts hundreds of visitors

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 12/10/2006 1:31 PM  |  Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A 7-year-old boy was busy reading a science book, while his younger sister was carried away by a story of a princess from a pictorial book, ignoring other children around them.

""My husband and I bring them here after school. My son loves books, especially science-related books. He has enjoyed reading since he was a little boy, but his sister does not really like reading,"" Yenny, the mother of the two said Saturday at the Indonesia Book Fair at the Jakarta Convention Center. The fair ends Sunday.

Standing near the entrance to the center, Yenny handed them several books they had chosen from the shelves.

Yenny said she had encouraged her children to read since they were in preschool. She said that she and her husband regularly brought their children to visit book fairs, especially the big ones.

""I also want to get the discount, of course,"" she said with a smile. ""Moreover, we also want to teach them to love books. It's good for them to learn from books. Besides, they can also have a lot of fun here with so many interesting books,"" said the wife of a private tutor who lives in Bekasi.

Yenny and her family were among many other parents who brought their children to the fair that afternoon. Besides the discounts on offer, there were many educative programs provided by the organizer and publishers participating in the fair.

""We have planned several educational activities for children, such as storytelling, workshops on science, discussions and the like to attract visitors,"" said Jecky Indramarta of Dyandra Promosindo, the organizer of the annual event.

Indeed most of the participants are school book publishers, who are aiming to attract students and young people to visit their stands.

Erlangga publisher also held a storytelling session and creativity workshops during the event to attract parents and children. It is also inviting Kak Seto, a popular educator, to the event, as well as holding a yoga class for young visitors.

Another school book publisher carried out a multimedia workshop for students Friday and inspired many enthusiastic students to learn more about multimedia, including how to make a film based on a book.

""We came to the fair because we heard that there will be a multimedia workshop here,"" said Fendy, a third-grader of state high school SMA 9 in Tangerang.

Fendy, along with his two friends had asked for a day off school to join the workshop. He said that they enjoyed the session very much and planned to visit the next book fair.

""This is our first visit, because we live a long way away from this place. But I will be happy to come here again,"" said the young boy who wants to go to Bandung Institute of Technology to study chemical engineering.

Jakarta has regular book fairs and most of them are not short of visitors.

""Of course, I wouldn't miss this kind of event. As far as I know, this is one of the biggest book fairs,"" said Listy, a mother of two who took time off work to join the event.

Listy said that her priority was children books for her two toddlers, however, sometimes admitted to buying recipe books for herself. She said that usually she allocated about Rp 500,000 when visiting a book fair.

However, this time she couldn't help spending more as she found a series of books for her children at a stand for Rp 1.3 million.

""I can't afford it. It's way too much, but I guess it's OK. Besides they allow us to pay in installments,"" she said. (01)

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