Fair shows books retain popularity

Heather Kawan and daughter Hannah discovered some great reading at the Red Cross Book Fair. Photo / George Novak

Four-year-old Hannah Kawan might not be able to read all the words yet but it did not stop mum and daughter finding some gems at the Tauranga Red Cross Book Fair.

Her mother Heather wisely avoided the crush of Saturday's opening to take advantage of a more leisurely atmosphere yesterday, where Hannah was able to choose books that looked interesting.

"She is just learning to read. I'm trying to encourage her as much as possible," Mrs Kawan said.

The little girl, who starts at Greenpark School next month, already has a lot of books which she enjoys flicking through. And the sale was also a chance for mum to pick up a few bargains.

Book Fair organiser Heather Dabrowski said Saturday morning had been very busy, with the queue stretching down the street before the sale opened.

By yesterday, it had settled down to a steady stream of customers and she expected to repeat the success of last year's first Book Fair, when they raised $10,000 by selling 8000 books.

Mrs Dabrowski said the fair involved a huge amount of work in which volunteers had spent every Tuesday since February sorting books.

Red Cross's advantage was that books could be stored on the premises, with the Greerton office also large enough to hold the sale. Magazines and cheaper books were sold in the garage.

Former Bay of Plenty Times editor and book collector Glenn Pettit browsed the books on Friday to find titles that were more collectable. The most expensive, with a $30 price tag, was artist Peter McIntyre's book, New Zealand.

Mr Pettit said most of the books he recognised as having some value were New Zealand local histories. An early history of New Zealand engineers was quite rare but he had not put big prices on the books.

"People go expecting to find a treasure or two," he said.

Mrs Dabrowski said the collectable books were priced realistically and people still got a bargain.

Jigsaws were a good money spinner, with hundreds selling really well.

Better quality unsold books would go to Red Cross shops, be given to community groups, or offered to the organisers of other book sales. The rest would be recycled.