Children's Book Show
Ir. Having read the letter from Ann - arvey (15 November) may I take this PportUnity of saying a brief word about he Children's Book Show? First of all, may extend my sympathies to Ann Harvey for e unfortunate impression the show made
n her. The Children's Book Show must be ed at in its proper context and it is,.[: fter all, first and foremost a book show. IS Year's committee aimed to enliven the age of the Children's Book Show and also widen its scope and interest by staging ciliary activities under a general theme of e World of Entertainment. We hoped br oviding activities linked to this theme iffd- the world of books to provide children th an interesting and enjoyable outing. o this end, various companies were invited. Perform and others to mount displays as a ekground to these activities.
In the event, the problems which con- nted us stemmed from the very success of the show. Many, many children, however, did enjoy the show (and one must not of
course forget the adults since against all appearances these made up a third of the attendance). This was particularly noticeable in the cases of school parties which had obviously been well prepared beforehand by their teachers. Many came with questions to answer and points to look out for and these undoubtedly got most out of their visit. Perhaps in future more teachers might approach the book show in this way.
An event like the Children's Book Show is extraordinarily difficult to organise since one is catering for such a variety of people: for children from three to sixteen, for the specialist teacher, librarian or bookseller, and for the parent. How does one accom- modate them all? And if a school party arrives from some considerable distance without prior notification does one turn them away because the hall is already crowded? These are problems which exist and which we hope a future book show com- mittee will be able to solve. We attempted to solve problems which have arisen out of former Children's Book Shows and due to the unprecedented success arising out of this year's hook show we bequeath further and new problems to those coming after us.
Patrick W. Hardy Chairman, Children's Book Show Commit- tee, The Publishers' Association, 19 Bedford Square, London wc1
Sir: I cannot comment on Ann Harvey's strictures about the Dogg's Troupe (Letters, 15 November) but I fear she either came on a rather bad day or expected something rather different.
My wife and I came up for the day and though our first impression was one of mill- ing children, after a minute or two, when one had got used to the noise, it was very stimulating to see a great many children making lists of books and looking at what was on display with great interest.
As parent and bookseller I was anxious to see as much as possible and found the display arrangements very easy to follow and a number of the publishers' stands showed some originality.
The actual organisation coped very well with the milling children; perhaps by the Monday, when we went, the faults had been corrected. All in all I would rate it a great success and hope to take my son, who will then be seven, next year.
David M. Courage Bridge"Cottage, Melbury Osmond, Evershot, Dorset
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