A visit to the book fair: building a love of reading

10 February, 2024 • Par David Bessette

I remember very clearly the first time I bought a book myself. At the ripe old age of nine, I was super proud to buy the brand-new Asterix book “Asterix and the Secret Weapon” (“La rose et le glaive”) with the money I had received for Christmas. I still have it, by the way. It's now in my classroom library, available to my students, who sometimes read it to find out what their teacher liked at their age.

Every year, I take them to the book fair so they too can get a taste of buying their very own book. It's a rich and formative act: first you have to choose it, which is less trivial than you might think. Children have to ask themselves about their own tastes, let themselves be tempted by the front covers and read passages. They can even chat with authors!

They also have to work out their budget. How much money can they spend? Will there be enough left for a treat? Oops, they also have to leave a little wiggle room for the 5% tax on books!

So many questions to ask and so many possibilities! And in the end, the child walks out with a book that is truly their own and reflects who they are. They understand a little better what it means to manage a budget, and they're already looking forward to doing it again.

If you'd like to share this wonderful experience as a family, you can mark the date in your calendar right now. I've tracked down all the book fairs whose dates have already been announced for 2024. Just click on them to get all the details.

Happy browsing!
David Bessette

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