As a child, one of the biggest highlights of the new school year was going to the annual book fair set up in our small elementary school library, where I eagerly scanned the tables in search of the one special book that most struck my six-year-old fancy. In retrospect, it’s clear that events like these largely contributed to what would become a lifelong love of reading.
As electronic publishing continues to increase, what effect will this have on traditional book fairs, like those I remember so fondly? In all honesty, I just can’t imagine my childhood experience having been reduced to merely sitting at a computer screen and clicking through a long list of titles, without the joy of actually feeling each book in my hands as I passionately debated the literary merits of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
Have book fairs played a role in your life, whether as a child or as an adult? Do you see e-publishing as a threat to these types of events?
-- Heather Walrath
(Graphic Credit: National Book Festival)
Maybe they can combine the technologies to expand the book fair experience. You have the traditional part of the fair, where you can walk around and see the books, and then you have a series of computers set up. These will have more options, naturally, and chosen books can be sent to the school to be picked up.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've never been to a book fair (!!), I've the fundamental concept of those, as with book clubs, one of which I'm tangentially a member. I think book fairs are spectacular breaths of fresh air, at times literally, in that you get the hands-on experience: as basic as it sounds, the joy of a traditional book reader (are we "traditional" if we opt for non-electronic books?) is to sort through books in crates, blowing the dust off covers, hearing the creak of a spine, folding the page back or not (in an effort to respect the original architecture of a book), dogearring or not, higlighting or not, creasing the spine at each open, turning the page, relishing in the idiom "a page-turner," accidentally reading ahead to the next page through peripheral vision, etc. etc. All of that is retained in print books and the book fair is a place to enjoy that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think book fairs are threatened; the family is just getting bigger rather than its members merely being replaced. Before printed books, there was the oral tradition of storytelling. That hasn't gone away, and similarly, I don't think book fairs will go away either. However, their presentations might change. It's possible that there might a hybrid experience of e-books and print books, as mentioned above, making it somewhat of a cross-generational, almost divisive, experience, but the only way to accept something is to understand and be educated about it. What better way than a hybridized version? It could be a learning experience for young, old, tech-savvy, and tech-not-so-savvy.
I am of this same belief...I think there will always be a place for the fair in its "traditional" sense, but it will naturally and organically develop into a new experience that will capture your senses in more ways than just the tactile. Perhaps books in their physical form will be presented next to their digital, further brought to life by theatrical players?
ReplyDeleteI'm quite curious to see how even this year's Fair on the 25th will differ from those we remember as children...