The 38th Manila International Book Fair at SMX Convention Halls at SM Mall of Asia was swarmed with book lovers!

To enkindle the love for books, I usually take my kids to the bookstore and have them pick a book that’s within reasonable budget. They love carrying a book or two when we go for trips and oftentimes ask us to read to them. I wish that they continue to be bookworms and as a mom that means – always giving them new books to devour.

My dad, daughter and I visited the MIBF to scout for bargain books for personal use and for donating to charities supported by Steemit Philippines (@SteemPH). It was our first time to go to MIBF and I really didn’t know what to expect. I was worried I would lose my little one in the crowd but since it was still a weekday, it was still manageable. We headed straight for the Children’s books.

There were plenty of local Publishing houses such as Adarna House, where we bought most books, we also saw Abiva, Vidal, MSA and Christian Publications like Christian Literature Crusade and Church Strengthening Ministry Publishing.

As stated in Adarna’s House’ top 5 things to do at MIBF, #1 is Support Local Publications.

The thing that I loved with the books we bought from Adarna House were that they included topics that spark a child’s imagination such as – “Why are trees important?” and “Can we live on Mars?” We also bought a ton of coloring books for an upcoming Music and Art Therapy session for a Caloocan SPED Center. The Adarna folks were kind to give us free trinkets at the cashier while waiting for them to bag our stuff. Thanks Adarna House!

National Bookstore and Fully Booked had some books on sale but the most they went for were 20% off. We opted to buy at Fully Booked at the ground floor because they had a wider selection in different genre. They had a full section just for Children’s books. Here’s my daughter trying to pick a book, reading it and when she’d get to the third page, I’d say, “you’re almost done reading it, are we still buying this?”

Then she’d go on and pick the next book. She picked up the Trolls book, then said, this one, this is it.

There were book signings and storytelling for kids but we were in a rush so we didn’t participate and we didn’t notice any celebrities although MIBF’s facebook page has photos of a few doing book signings. We did spot this cute furry Shopkins mascot and my daughter giggled while they posed for photos.

It’s so Fluffy I’m gonna die!!!

Grolier books are expensive but we loved trying out their Logico system.

Grolier’s booth excitedly let my daughter try out their Math Puzzle which is part of their Logico System. They had payment packages at only Php1600++ per month for 12 months but it was too pricey for our pockets. I did promise them I would link their fb page up, click here to check that out if you’re interested.

We were looking for Religious books for kids to donate to a @SteemPH library projectand we opted for these Children’s Bible Books from CLC booth. Bible books for only Php 100! It was a great bargain! We bought 3 101 Questions Comic Books for Php500. My daughter wanted her own copy of Bible for Toddlers which she says she will read to her little brother.

We ended up buying… *Drumroll*

• Brain Quest Trivia game,
• a book about Dinosaurs which she picked for her little brother,
• The Little Prince or as she calls it Le Petit Prince (we had just watched the movie and she saw that was the title)
• a Trolls book (they have read it EVERYDAY since we bought it, I am getting my money’s worth on that one)
• Can we Live on Mars by Adarna Science
• Why are Trees Important by Adarna Science
• Bible for Toddlers

I’ll add the rest once I find where they hid it.

Our book haul! Some of what’s left in the bags, I let the kids have at it before I could take photos.

Our MIBF experience was short but we thoroughly enjoyed scouring for book bargains. We will be ready for the next MIBF with a book list in mind and maybe by then we can buy those Grolier stuff that break the bank.

Love books too?

Check out my posts about books I’ve read and loved:

• Happy at Work, Happy at Home
• Revisiting Anne of Green Gables

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References:

1. https://adarnahouse.wordpress.com/2017/08/15/top-5-things-to-do-mibf-2017/
2. https://www.facebook.com/manilaintbookfair/

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Originally posted on luvabi.com

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