When I was in grade school, my favorite time of the year was Book Week. We had our DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time, and I remember we would goof around, literally dropping whatever we were holding and racing for the reading corner of the classroom. There was also one year when our class put on a “Little Mermaid” play, and I originally played Flounder, and then I had a wardrobe malfunction wherein my mishappen blue and yellow crepe paper costume fell to pieces during rehearsal (I had no idea how to make a fish costume — I stapled the crepe paper all around me and I think I ended up looking like Boo from Monsters, Inc. in her monster suit) so I ended up playing Scuttle (the seagull) at the play.
The part I looked forward to the most was the mini-book fair (yes, I was a bargain book hunter even way back in grade school) where some booksellers would lay out books on long tables and there were some really nice books to be had for as low as P5, P10, and P15. Every year I would get a hundred bucks from my dad to spend at Book Week, and then I saved my allowance for the week (I spent all of recess browsing through the books anyway!) so I could buy myself more books! I got a lot of books from those book fairs, including comic books (Peanuts, Family Circus, Grimmy, and Rose is Rose), trivia books, Sweet Valley books (of course!), and those little square origami books with free folding paper in them!
Anyway, this flood of memories was unleashed when I saw a bunch of photos on my brother’s computer. My brother Enzo teaches English and Religion classes at the Tuloy sa Don Bosco Foundation, an organization for poor, abandoned, at-risk, and homeless children. Last month was Book Month at the school, and they had a lot of book-reading activities, topped off with a book parade involving all their students. These kids don’t have very much, but check out the photos — they definitely prove that a little imagination goes a long, long way!!!