"For every child there is a book that will draw them in. One may not care for magic but is pulled towards adventure; you have to find the thing they like. It is a bit like food, somehow."
That was the thought we set out with when we arrived at Bookfest. Every child chose a book that looked interesting to them and began reading, without waiting to be encouraged.
The choice made by the child is the part that matters. A book handed over because it "has to be read" starts with a handicap that is hard to make up; one picked off a shelf from among dozens of covers already begins with a promise. And if the choice turns out badly, that is a gain too: the child finds out what they do not like, which is as useful as finding out what they do.
A book fair has, in addition, an effect a library does not: there you can see a great many people doing exactly the same thing. Reading stops being an individual task and becomes something others are doing too, at the same time, for pleasure.
The best sign of the day was the quiet that followed the choosing — the moment when each child settles down with their book and needs nobody else.