Logos Hope back in town

Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Writer

THOUSANDS OF persons, including teachers and students from educational institutions, flocked the Rockfort pier in Kingston to benefit from a book fair now in progress on the ship,
Logos Hope
, the world's largest floating book shop.

The book fair, which is expected to end March 23, started in Kingston two weeks ago following a visit to Montego Bay. It is being staged under the theme 'Bringing Knowledge, Help and Hope', and will offer participants a variety of books with more than 7,000 titles.

All the shelves were crowded as readers browsed the pages of different texts while others were busy checking the prices before they hastily approached the cashiers.

The younger children gravitated to storybooks as they picked out their favourite fairy tale.

"I am here to get a Dora book and some colouring books," said four-year-old Jada Myers, who was enthused by the wide range of books on sale.

For the older children, encyclo-paedias were their main interest as they toured the facility.

According to Daniel Vaupel, a team member on the ship, the sales were going well as persons tried to get books covering a range of subjects, including science, sports, hobbies and religion.

He said the aim of the project was to help persons to get good-quality literature at affordable prices.

"We are working with a lot of publishers around the world and we have been getting some big quantities, which we are giving out at good prices," he said.

Vaupel said approximately 3,000 persons visited the ship daily, touring the book store while participating in the cultural-exchange programmes offered on the ship.