Ashima Sharma, Keekli Reporter, 1st July, 2015, Shimla
There is a famous saying by Ernest Hemingway, “There is no friend as loyal as a book”, and to inculcate reading habits among their students, the management of St Thomas School, Shimla has organized a three day Scholastic ‘Book Fair’ in the school premises here today. School Principal Vidhupriya Chakravarty was present on the occasion to encourage the students and give her valuable suggestions to help them choose the right book. Principal Chakarvarty said, “The fair will last three days and it is an annual affair in the school but this it is for the first time that famous publishers Scholastic have come the school to display a huge assortment of books covering a wide array of subjects”.
The display of books was divided into various sections including media, activity books for all classes, fiction books for classes from 3rd to 12th, science fiction, education, discover more (science) series, non-fiction, teens and much more. The stalls were well designed and the placement of books was quite attractive. There was enough space for children to move about and browse through the books with ease. Such book fairs also help children in making independent decision as they learn to purchase things for themselves.
Students browsed through the books with great enthusiasm and thoroughly enjoyed the fair as they handpicked their selections varying from science to spooky stories; puzzles to poems; and fiction to facts.
Talking to the students about what they thought about the fair, Payal of Class 8 said, “It is very interesting and impressive. There are a lot of books. I am planning to buy some chapter books from the education section”. On asking Vriansh of Class 7, what kind of books he will buy, he said, “I like reading fiction, so I will go for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Big Game by Dan Smith”. While selecting books, Sidhi Singh of Class 6 said, “I love reading ghost stories so I picked three books from the very famous series by R.L. Stine, Goosebumps, namely My Best Friend Is Invisible, The Haunted School and Ghost Camp”.
Ratan Sharma of Class 7 said, “I am very fond of science, so I picked one book from the Discover More section. This book gives detailed description of all the planets, Milky Way and other outer space facts”. Naman Singh fond of Star Wars series said, “There are many Star Wars books in this fair, I will buy at least two books”. The Media section including the Marvel series, also attracted many young students. Parvesh of Class 7 said, “Out of all the Marvel heroes my favourite is Spiderman, so I would like to purchase the same”. Students from senior classes were seen at the popular writers section where books of authors such as Ravinder Singh, Paulo Coelho, Jeffrey Archer and Khaled Hosseini were on display. Out of the wide range of books from all disciplines of education, the section on fiction was a hit with the kids.
To further add attraction to the fair the representatives from Scholastic also gave away some fun goodies such as trendy sun visor, colourful sippers and plush soft toys on a minimum purchase of Rs 400, Rs 500 and Rs 600 respectively.
Books are a rich source of knowledge, values, cultures, education and much more, which directly or indirectly help in changing everyone’s outlook while at the same time helps children to learn about various aspects of life. The book fair was loved by all and was indeed a treat to the eye and the soul.
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