One for the books: Sharjah Children's Reading Festival

Asli hai asli hai itrsquos a real dinosaurrdquo squeals a wideeyed little boy trying in vain to tug his older sister away from one of six animatronic models that are on hire from Londonrsquos Natural History Museum The mechanical TRex silences him with a roar before getting back to the business of sinking its razor sharp teeth into its fallen prey a hapless TriceratopsYOU THINK I AM EXTINCT Well I am back Children are all wideeyed at one of the models on display at the FestivalPalm wrapped firmly around her brotherrsquos hand the girl sees me smiling and draws closer ldquoI know yourdquo she says ldquoAnjana marsquoam right Irsquove read your books Can I ask you something Irsquove been writing for years now but itrsquos very hard to get published and I was wondering what you think of online publishingrdquo She is 14OPENING WINDOWS OF THE MIND Children walk through the aisles of books Writing for years I suspect the look on my face at the discovery is much like the expression her eightyearold brother wears as he gawks at the hatching eggs in the Oviraptor display The girl continues to impress with details about a book shersquos working on and a host of intelligent questions about indie publishing and royalties as we make our way through the exposition We go past a woman handing out child cancer awareness pamphlets with signs to look for which aside from lumps included symptoms like fatigue persistent pain fever or nausea this was quite an eyeopener and a stall on ecological awareness to her father whorsquos attending a workshop on the area labelled Chefrsquos Street But her enthusiasm extinguishes quickly as we turn towards Cookery Corner and she whispers ldquoPlease donrsquot tell my father any of this My parents feel that my love for reading and writing distracts me from my studiesrdquoTHIS TYSON PACKS AN ARTY PUNCH Sara Tyson Canadian illustrator and graphic designer conducting an art workshop at the SCRF Incidentally Tyson served on the Festival jury last yearResonateThe girlrsquos story was one I would hear from many of the enthusiastic boys and girls at the schools I would visit in Dubai Sharjah Ajman and Ras al Khaimah Disturbing as that was it was interesting to note that with a large population from literate South India there was at least no gender discrimination girls and boys were both encouraged to concentrate on Math and Science It should also be pointed out that educators one I met at Sharjahrsquos St Gregorios Orthodox Church M Pothen has authored a book titled lsquoWhere monsoon never endsrsquo a poignant tale of love and forgiveness set on the backdrop of the Naxal movement in Kerala had come up with some very impressive schemes to encourage reading and creative writingHAVE YOU DONE YOUR GOOD READ FOR THE DAY Anjana Vaswani centre talking to a student at a special assembly at Al Ameer English School Ajman But it seems possible that the lineup of the 11day festival which had over 120 publishers showcasing their books may have been based on a consideration of parentsrsquo attitudes Reflecting on his thoughts about the experience awardwinning Australian author Tohby Riddle his new book titled The Greatest Gatsby A Visual Book of Grammar presents the fundamentals of English grammar as visual information based on the idea that pictures are remembered better than words writes ldquoI found the Sharjah Childrens Reading Festival SCRF to be an intriguing and comprehensive event part publisher fair part academic symposium part literature festival and part educational expo It appeared to be an event for both adults and children and authors and publishersrdquoEmphasisThe emphasis that parents lay on Math and Science may well be the reason why Science sessions were slotted among art workshops book readings and creative writing workshops Dr Tibor Hegedus a Hungarian astrophysicist for instance was among many scientists invited here to make science fun If so itrsquos a laudable strategy Give parents sufficient reasons to bring their children and with a little luck parents may just leave with a new perspective on reading tooRiddle who had five events at the festival which were a panel session on childrenrsquos literature criticism a session with school children and three visits to schools in Ajman Dubai and Sharjah also felt ldquoIn Sharjah at least it seems that there is a sincere determination to develop childrenrsquos literature of their own and to match the quality of childrenrsquos publishing elsewhere The Festival is playing a large role in nourishing the literary culture needed to produce these outcomes Much of the Arablanguage literature on exhibition was of a nonfiction educational nature so there seemed to be much scope for developing and increasing the amount of literary content Going by an exhibition of illustrations at the expo which included at least one UAE artist the signs are really promising that this can be done wellrdquoContextAs we celebrate that one canrsquot help but wonder how many children here in India are also discouraged from appreciating art and literature Without a government similarly driven to do what it takes to develop a love for these the scenario is a little depressingAt breakfast one morning I had the opportunity to discuss this with Nicola Morgan awardwinning Scottish author who writes not just edgeofyourseat thrillers for young adults but also books on teenage brain chemistry her latest title The Teenage Guide to StressHere to talk to kids about how their brains develop Morgan highlighted how important it was for parents to understand the transformative power of reading its potential to generate empathy in children and its myriad psychological benefits numerous studies have shown that reading boosts selfesteem improves brain connectivity and function which do in fact translate into an overall improvement in the academic performance of kids But until the dinosaurs that roam among us realise this itrsquos certainly not a bad idea to use animatronics to steer people to booksOther crowdpullers at the festival included performances by childstar Nour daughter of a celebrated local musician and a designated lsquoDiaries of a Wimpy Kidrsquo area where children were entertained with activities like The Wimpy Kid drawalong and quizzes as well as exclusive footage of author Jeff Kinney talking about the books his involvement in the films and how he draws the characters The art gallery was a major attraction with people lining up to see Malaysiarsquos Wen Dee Tans awardwinning illustration of the girl with the redhot hair Japanrsquos Junko Naganorsquos intricate etchings and the intelligent artistic interpretations of Canadian Sara TysonExplaining that her acrylic paintings can take upwards of 30 hours to complete Tyson shows us one the image of a moustached splitface topped with two bowler hats that was commissioned by Strategic Finance Magazine for the topic lsquoSmall Company CFOs Strategic Partners or Scorekeepersrsquo The article she says ldquowas about the new roles that emerge for CFOs operating as strategic partners and trusted collaborators with CEOs and I wanted to illustrate the relationship between the CEO and the CFO as a partnership two businessmen becoming onerdquoAuthors this writer included were almost completely unanimous in the view that the highlight of the festival was the enthusiastic response we received from the children we met Visiting from the UK John Dougherty whose muchloved Stinkbomb and KetchupFace series was initially inspired by the names his kids called each other says ldquoBoth schools I visited were incredibly welcoming the staff was lovely and the children were a fantastically receptive audience In one school even when there was a power cut and I had to do half the event in the gloom of a hall with no windows no electric lights and no amplification the children listened and responded wonderfullyrdquo They would though Doughertyrsquos presentation the festival organisers tell us is quite a party complete with songs and lots of laughsPamperedThough there were a few hiccups many of us including the visiting scientists found ourselves before audiences that were either much younger or older than we were expecting which made interactions very interesting but meant extemporising the organisers went out of their way to see that guests were very well looked after A welcome kit handed to each SCRF guest at the hotel spelled out details of workshops and events including daily social events such as group trips to the Museum of Islamic Architecture or the Sharjah Biennial this meant visiting the lsquoheritagersquo area a title that amused many of us when we discovered that the oldest structure there is no more than 50 years old dinner in the desert and an afterhours tour of the aquariumOn my last night there just as we lined up for an impromptu shadow puppet performance Anne from Mexico decided to treat us to in the hotel lobby after dinner Dougherty joked that it would be hard to get back to doing things for ourselves after all this pampering At the time of going to press he emailed to say ldquoIrsquove being doing that very British thing of completely failing at Do It Yourself DIY during a public holiday the toilet has stopped flushing and I have to work out how to fix it Very much back to realityrdquo So it is for all of usThe writer received an award for the Best International Childrenrsquos Book for ages 713 at the Sharjah Childrenrsquos Reading Festival for a compilation of reimagined Indian folktales titled lsquoThe Talking Handkerchiefrsquo published by Mango Books the childrenrsquos imprint of D C Books