The kids are at home for winter break and it is indeed a real challenge to keep them occupied the whole day, without losing my sanity! With the weather playing spoilsport to outdoor activities I have been making excuses to take the kids outside. But even my excuses couldn’t stand up against Delhi’s mega annual event – the World Book Fair, and that’s exactly where my kids and I went. All roads led to Pragati Maidan and we were so excited to see so many people as excited as we were about books!
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The focus at the World Book Fair this year is children’s books and women authors. The organisers have promoted both in a big way and it was heartening to see that despite the prominent digital wave today, the book fair was teeming with kids pulling their parents to the various stalls. If you are planning a visit, we make it easy for you and tell you the top 5 stalls you simply cannot miss!
1.How Good is Your English? Find out at the Oxford University Press (Stall Number 172-202, Hall 18)
Oxford Ink, My Learning Ladder, World of Colours and Young Einstein are some of the interesting children’s books that are on sale for the first time this year. They have a “Common Errors in English” Quiz scheduled for 13 January from 3-5PM. This is an open to all quiz competition where the participants would be tested on their skills to spot the errors in sentences. Seems like an interesting way to spend the afternoon!
2.For ‘old but gold’ book titles head to Penguin Random House (Stall Number 475-515, Hall 11)
At the Penguin book stall, the comic that everyone still loves is Tintin – my all time favourite too. We picked up ‘The Adventures Of Tintin – The Crab With The Golden Claws’ to add to our growing collection. My son pounced on the Roald Dahl collection and ‘James And The Giant Peach’ was added to his stash. There is also a great collection of books by Indian authors like Ruskin Bond, Sudha Murty and Devdutt Pattnaik.
3. Interested in learning about the world and its languages? Hall No 7 is where you should go for the Foreign Language Books
Everyone wants their kids to learn another language and German and French are top favourites. The books are quite inexpensive and have been selling like hot cakes. Foreign publishers are making good use of this huge platform to promote their country, culture, and language.
4. Your kids need help with Hindi? The next stop for you should be the Partap Publishers and Distributors stall
It’s been drummed into our heads by our teachers that the best way to improve your vocabulary and spelling is to read, read and read! Hindi fable tales like Amar Chitra Katha, comic series like Chacha Chaudhary, books on Akbar-Birbal can be found here. My 10-year-old daughter got Panchatantra and my 7-year-old son reached for Vikram-Betal.
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5. Ready to introduce your daughter to Manushi – the modern powerful women writers of India, then you should be heading to Hall No 7EÂ
The focus of the Book Fair this year is women authors. The Manushi stall is filled with books by Indian authors like Dr. Pratibha Ray, Dr Swati Guha, Sukhwinder Kaur, Sashi Pande and Pamela Khan to name a few. Let your daughter find what interests her and learn more about our Indian authors.
There are also a number of seminars and panel discussions planned as a part of the fair. The children’s pavilion also had events like poetry recitation, storytelling sessions, painting competitions, skits, quiz competitions and dance programs scheduled.
The kids and I have returned home very satisfied with our purchases. They have rushed to their favourite corners in the sun to start on a book they each bought. Time to get myself a hot cup of coffee and retire with my new read too!
Image Source:Â NDTV India
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Neha Savla
Rati Ramadas Girish
Mansi Zaveri
