Rakib Ahammed
Holding his mother’s hand, tiny Hridoy was hurrying her from one corner of the fair to another to look for a book he could buy. His mother Mita Islam wasn’t happy at all about the stall layout at the Ekushey Boi Mela this year.
“We have been moving around for half an hour now. There is no children’s corner and it’s not easy to walk from one corner of the fair to another with a toddler in hand to locate a stall,” she said yesterday evening.
“Besides, the prices of childrens books are higher at the fair than at shops outside,” she complained.
This year the Boi Mela has no dedicated corner for children’s like the previous three years, though 50 stalls are dedicated to children’s books.
Bangla Academy Syed Mohammad Shahed said, “The publishers argue against a fixed corner for children’s books as they complain that such stalls usually sell other books as well.”
Foreign books and not local ones seemed abundant at the children’s stalls. Stall owners say that books on foreign cartoon characters as Superman, Spiderman and Tom & Jerry are selling the most.
Traditional Bengali books for children, reflecting local culture and history, are not selling well, salesmen said.
“Most of the books are on characters from foreign cartoons, TV serials and computer games. I could not find enough books on nursery rhymes or stories which we used to read during my childhood,” said Sushmita, a service holder and mother of a six years old girl.
“its quite a disappointment,” she said.
Meanwhile, readers saw a total of 87 new books released on the fourth day of the fair yesterday.
These include 23 novels, three essay collections, 14 poetry collections, 11 story collections, two children’s books, nine autobiographies, one on history and three on politics.
New books from popular writers that arrived at the fair yesterday include — Plumed Peacock and Gomkhet Kak O Onnanyo Lekha by Kabir Chowdhury, The Blue Sting by Syed Shamsul Haq, Sonar Apel Kalo Ghora by Serajul Islam Chowdhury, Dinbadoler Onggikar by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Deyaler Shahor Dhaka by Muntasir Mamun, Rangabhora Bangadesh and Baundule by Sumanto Aslam.
Like other days, the largest crowds gathered in front of the stalls selling the latest from the popular writers of the country.
Publishers said that they are now eagerly waiting for the weekend, which they expect should see larger crowds thronging the annual event.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
