KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — The Children’s Book Week is back! This year the event, aimed at promoting Malaysian children’s books, their authors and illustrators, will be held from May 28 to June 5 at the concourse of Bangsar Village 2.
Now in its fifth year, the festival organised by Silverfish Books and Oyez, will be bigger than ever, with plenty of related activities for children and adults.
Raman Krishnan, the proprietor of Silverfish Book, says, “Since it will be during the pre-Ramadan school holidays we will expect visitors from all over Malaysia. Everything will be on a bigger scale. Book sales, storytelling and craft activities.”
There will be plenty of Malaysian children’s books, both in English and Bahasa Malaysia. Tutu Dutta’s Timeless Tales of Malaysia is popular with the crowds, and Raman has his favourites also.
“I like Emila Yusof’s My Mother’s Garden for her illustrations and her introduction to Malaysia flora, Jainal Amambing’s Longhouse Days for his charming story about living in a longhouse which few in the peninsula understand and Nor Azahar Ishak’s Under the Sea is a wonderful undersea-book of batik painting, and educational too.”
There will also be storytime sessions for young readers this year. Raman says, “We will have a storytelling tent in the form of a teepee, two storytelling sessions every day — morning and afternoon — with authors like Azhar Ishak (he’s very good), Heidi Samsuddin, Ng Kok Keong, Peter Worthington, Rositi Rashidi and Yusof Gajah. It promises to be a lot of fun.”
Another highlight is the creative writing competition for children, ages nine to 12. Entries will be in the form of 350- to 500-word stories in English; both fiction and non-fiction are welcomed. When evaluating their work, Raman will look out for originality first and foremost.
“Creativity comes naturally for children that age,” he says, “because most of them have not been spoilt by correctness and what is right. They can be really fun as long as parents and teachers do not interfere and try to ‘improve’ their work. (Adults write best when they unlearn enough to think like children!)”
Some parents worry about the children’s level of reading these days, whether they might be as prolific readers as the generations before. Raman believes that children are by nature intensely curious and are voracious readers if their parents allow them to read what they want.
“It helps if there are books lying around the house,” he adds. “When you hear parents say, ‘But you have not finished reading the one I bought you last week’ or ‘This one is better for you, darling’, then you know the children won’t be readers. Some will grow up to be readers because of their parents, and some will grow up to be readers despite their parents. The only thing parents need to teach their children is to respect books.”
The Silverfish Books/Oyez! Children’s Book Week
Venue: Bangsar Village 2 concourse, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur
Date: May 28 to June 5, 2016
Admission: Free
Storytime sessions in a specially-built story tent. (Free, but due to limited space, entry will be on first come, first served basis.)
Art and Crafts activities for children. Registration with a nominal fee will be required for some of these events. Please visit www.childrensbookweek.org for details.
Creative writing competition: For children from nine to 12 in English, with prizes. Entries (350 to 500-word stories, fiction or non-fiction) must be sent by email to [email protected] before Monday, 23 May, 2016.
Storytelling competition: For children from five to eight in English, with prizes. Free but registration is required at Silverfish Books before Monday, 23 May, 2016.
For more information please contact Silverfish Books [03-228 448 37, 03-22011758, [email protected]] and Oyez!Books [018-6370937 (bookshop), 012-3320937 (Linda), [email protected]]
