Book Fair Bonanza: How to pick the right book|By Ahana,11, Bangalore

A book fair is the best way to get new books without persuading your parents or without putting in much effort. It helps you explore the world of reading.  

 

If I had to describe my book-fair experience in one word, it would be – awesome! 

 

 

I live in Bangalore, Karnataka. The book fair I attended happened in Jayanagar, very close to my home. Each week, this book-fair moves from one area of the city to another so that all the book lovers can enjoy it. Here is how it works :  

1. Pick your box size and pay for the size of the box.
2. Find your favorite section/sections (mystery, crime, horror,fantasy, biography etc)

 

3. Pick up the books you liked the most and put it in the box

 

4. Once you’re done with step 3, repack all the books to make sure they all fit in properly. 

   (The lid must close perfectly)

 

5. Get it taped. 
6. Pay for the size of the box.

 

Small box costs Rs 1,199  | Medium box costs Rs 1700 | The large box costs  Rs 2999.

 

7. Go home

 

8. Unpack your new books

 

9.   Enjoy! 

 

My experience: 

 

My mom found out about this book fair through Instagram. I was really excited and couldn’t wait to go.

 

On the day : 

 

We reached the venue at around 11:00 a.m. That was about one hour past the opening time. I went to the book fair with my mother, Dr. Rakshitha, my grandmother Indu ajji and my brother Eshaan. 

 

The crowd was amazingly large. There were people of all age groups (including babies!)

 

It was a huge room arranged with long tables. On top of each were mountains of books. I mainly spent time at the fantasy, mystery, crime and horror sections,  although I did explore several other sections like non-fiction, children’s books, stories for women, fiction, motivational, books about plants, sea, cooking,  oceans, nature and biographies. 

 

It took us nearly two hours to find nice, funny and interesting books. We found a lot of great ones. 

I picked a few books, so did my mother and brother. I wasn’t really sure if all these books would go into the box. They had provided a platform at the far end of the room. It was a perfect space to spread out all our chosen books to leisurely decide and to pack properly. I realised that with just a few books in the box, I ran out of the box space. How to pack them all without eliminating a few books was the next thing I needed to decide on.  Neither me, nor my brother, nor my mom wanted to let go of the books they had chosen. We all loved the books we had  picked so dearly. That is when Indu Ajji came to our rescue. She placed a few books horizontally and a few books vertically. This way, we managed to not only pack all the books but surprisingly got extra space as well. 

We then went around searching for more books to fill in that extra space and came back with 4 books. We rearranged the books several times to make sure they all fit properly (The box got a little tear at the top left corner in this process). 

 

 

We had chosen a small sized box. The only reason I chose the small box was because my mom didn’t let me go for the medium sized box or the large box.

           

 We ended up buying two copies of Awesome Egyptians but no complaints.  My brother and I can read the same book at the same time without squabbling over it.

Here are my tips to choose a book from a huge pile :  

 

1. Check for an interesting title.
2. Read the summary at the back of the book.
3. Read a few pages to make sure you like it so you don’t regret getting it later on
4. The book size matters 

 

It’s that easy! 

 

Challenging area : 

Once you find a book interesting, you should pick it up even if you are not sure of buying it. You can always decide later whether to or not to buy. There is one challenging thing about the book fair. If you put back the book to pick it up later, you will have a very good chance of never finding it again. It will get mixed up with other books as the organizers keep adding new bundles and also it can get picked by another book enthusiast.

 

Packing and billing : 

We enjoyed our freedom to choose the books and most of all, I enjoyed packing them. It was like a puzzle. You have to find the correct pieces and fit them in the correct area. We packed our box to the brim. It was an absolute miracle that we could fit so many wonderful books in such a small box. 

 

After making sure they all fitted in, we got it billed. 

 

Thankfully, the box passed the billing with no objections despite the rip in the corner and we were all really overjoyed. 

 

We also got 2 free bookmarks !

 

As we were walking out, big, new bundles of books were arriving.  I was curious about what kind of books the bundle would contain but I was satisfied with what was already in my box.

 

 

Back home : 

 

We rushed back in a hurry to unbox all the books and to read every single one of them We didn’t even allow mum to have her routine cup of filtered coffee in peace at her usual fast food joint.

 

I shared this experience with my Father, Dr. Arshad.

 

My father’s reaction = 😀

 

 My love for reading has helped me learn new words. I have got an online badge from my English teacher. It’s called the “WordSmith” badge.  

 

Everyone must experience buying books at book-fairs. We usually buy books and then box them up. This book fair was different because we had to choose a box size and then fill in books.  

 

Book-fairs are the best way to get knowledge and experience.  So next time you go to a book fair, get as many books as you can and enjoy reading.

 

You can visit usedbooksfactory.com for more information

 

Happy Reading : )