Madurai: Pavan K, a sixth grader, was flipping through the pages of a comic book at the 19th Madurai book fair on Saturday. His mother Jyothi Kannan was eager for him to choose some books to read. “I am trying to inculcate the habit of reading books among my children. We are willing to do anything to keep them away from mobile phones,” she said. “My childhood is poles apart from that of my children. How can I teach my sons the joy of reading books? They need to pick a book out of their own interest. Today, children are distracted a lot by the digital world.”Jyothi, who also has another son, was glad that Pavan chose a comic book and a tiny general knowledge book in the fair even as she bought a bag full of Tamil books for herself.Shashmika, a ninth grader, bought two fiction books. “In our family, each of us try to visit the fair every year and buy at least one book and try to read it by the next fair,” says Shashmika’s mother Bhagya Devi. This year too, motivational and self-help books, both in English and Tamil, went flying off the shelves. Tamil novel Velpari, books on the Ukraine war, politics, and cinema saw brisk sales. More than 10,000 people visited the fair over the weekend, with sales touching 15 lakh on Saturday alone.Ramesh E, a seller at Scholastic India stall, noted that sales of children’s books were dull this year. “Mostly, children pick comic books. We see many families coming with their children this weekend, but only some of them are purchasing books.”Muthu M L of Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation says many schools are visiting the fair to buy children’s books in bulk, but individual sale of children books remains low. While shops are offering a wide range of discounts for fiction and children’s books to attract customers, several visitors said they read e-books nowadays. “I mostly read e-books these days. I feel it is more convenient to read at night. At times when I don’t know the meaning of a word, I just click on it and know more,” says Shashmika. Her mother says she listens to audiobooks when travelling.
