How to Beat the Winter Blues by Writing a Book

How often do you find yourself stuck in the house on them cold winter days, suffering from the winter blues? I bet you said quite often, if you did then your answer is like that of most people during the winter months. I want you to stop right now and think about what you just read, if you do find yourself stuck in the house during the winter with nothing to do, you should consider yourself very lucky. Most people are always complaining that they don't have enough time in the day to get things done. So, accordi
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ng to a lot of folks, if you have nothing to do in the winter because your stuck inside, you are indeed a very lucky person.
Now, if this is true and you find yourself in the winter with nothing to do, and you need an idea to beat the winter blues, why not take up a great activity like using this time to write a book. Make some coffee, or your favorite beverage, grab a notebook and a pencil and start writing down an idea for your book. You can write a book of poems, or rhymes, or a biography about your life as a child to an adult, or a tale of horror, or whatever you want to write about.
By the time spring comes around, you can have your book done and ready to be edited, and published. These days there are some great options that allow anyone to publish and sell a book. You can send the completed manuscript to a book publisher that is highly known, and hope for the best, but as they say it is sometimes very hard for a new author to get published this way, but it does happen. You can send it to one of the many online self publishers, and have it turned into a book right away. Years ago these types of publishers called vanity publishers were not very reputable, and they often charged a high up-front fee from the author to publish the book, based upon the number of books published.
Now days the idea of a vanity publisher, or self-publishing as it's called has changed 100%, as it's rapidly becoming the way to have a book published. There are some great online self-publishing companies, and they do not even charge a fee, unless you want to purchase a marketing campaign for the book. These companies will publish and sell your book right through their online website store. For each copy of the book sold, they will get a fee or commission, and you will make some money too. These books are often picked up by other online businesses, and you can even have your self-published book sold through such sites as Amazon, and others. So, this winter when you find yourself stuck inside on them cold days or nights, get writing down your thoughts and ideas and write a book, it's a great way to help beat the winter blues.
There is a website that describes numerous activities and other methods to help eliminate the Winter Blues, this website is called: Winter Activities - and it may be found at this url: http://www.winter-activities.com
You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.  

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Writing Contests for Teens - Something to Do With a Boring Summer!

Somewhere between standardized testing, number 2 pencils, and bubble in the circle...children lose their love for learning. With the loss of funding in most schools, and in some places so much so that there is not enough money to supply even text books, the fine arts programs take a back seat to math, science and language.

Learning stopped being fun for kids somewhere around the time that the music programs were slashed, fine arts and art classes were removed or made extracurricular, and school libraries have to make do with what they can get through grants and donations.

All children need a way to escape, to be transported to magical times and places, faraway lands they may never visit in real life, or take a trip through history. Video games have become the way of the future, but there's not a lot to be learned from a video game. So how can children learn while also enjoying the experience? By reading!

The problem is, reading isn't as exciting to children as it once was. Computers, video games, internet, and other such modern marvels have taken the place of a good book in many youngster's lives. There is nothing wrong with these kids loving the internet, and there is much that can be gained by using the internet. In fact, a lot of these children use blogs as a creative expression and outlet, so they are writing. So why not take that writing these kids are doing and put it to some creative use?

There is a way. Several small publishers have opened up writing and illustration contests to young readers. These contests allow children to use their creative talents while also having a chance to be published in books or periodicals sold all over the country and even receive royalty contracts or scholarships.

One such publisher, who has created contests for kids this summer, and they also plan to keep contests running for children all year round, is Koboca Publishing. I recently spoke with Bo Savino, the author of Reggie & Ryssa, and the Summer Camp of Faery, one of the books used for facilitating this contest through Koboca Publishing, and here is what she had to say about the children's contests:

"I am very excited about the contests... [They are] going to be a great thing to energize kids...I love that most of all."

While most traditional writing and illustration contests have entry fees, Koboca Publishing's contests for kids don't have any entry fees at all. When I asked why Koboca Publishing decided not to charge an entry fee, here is what they had to say:

"No entry fees.... and [we] could probably make some money from entry fees...but [we] want it available for all kids...and some won't be able to do it with entry fees."

There are other small publishers and magazine publications / periodicals that offer writing and illustration contests for children too. Some of these charge small entry fees, some charge no entry fees, but they all offer a child a way to see their name and their art or work in print, while at the same time bringing back a love for literature and the arts. To find these contests, simply use your favorite search engine and search for children's literature or writing contests. Be sure to always check the authenticity of the contests before entering or allowing your child to enter into the contest.

These contests can help foster a love for the fine arts again, by getting kids involved in the literary and illustrative process, making them a part of something bigger, along with some noteriaty that all kids crave. Why not pick up a few copies of some interesting books for your kids today and get them started on a journey into the unknown that reading can bring? After a few books, help your kids get involved in writing or illustrating for publishing companies that hold these contests for the types of books they enjoy. Not only will this help bring a love of the written word back to your child, but it just might keep them busy during those long summer months and you will no longer hear, "Mom, I'm sooo bored. There's nothing to do!"

Good luck to all who choose to enter contests this year!

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Lessons Learned Number 5 to 8 - Writing and Publishing an Interactive Book/CD For Children

I recently published a book and CD set with a target audience of ages 3 to 5, and an expanded audience of ages 3 to 16. Yes, older siblings enjoy reading the book to their younger counterpart, particularly because of the format, and a related e-book that encourages the older child to help the younger one draw illustrations, and upload them into an e-book. The e-book then reads the story while the child's pictures are displayed.

This project took three years from concept to completion. These are some of the lessons that I learned while writing and publishing it.

One of the best things you can do as a children's book writer is to read other children's books. As a writer, you will glean insights from other people's creativity, and those insights will inspire you to tell yourself something like, "That's interesting, but I can do better." When you hear that message, that's the time to write your story.
Convey at least one of your core values - Core values in my latest book include "The inherent worth and dignity of every person." and "the importance of working together to resolve problems." I never state these things in my book, but they are there, and I feel better knowing that this book encourages values in which I believe--values that can improve a child's life.
Have each main character grow - Children want to grow themselves. They don't want to be told how to grow, but they do want to learn by example. If they can see how a character has grown, and they identify with that process, they may use the same process. I love knowing that children are prospering because one of my characters growth has inspired them.
Read your writing out loud - It sounds different. It's too easy to gloss over mistakes on paper. When you read, you hear what you've written, not what you think you've written. Also, if it sounds boring -- cut, cut cut. If you don't like to read aloud, then try using a text-to-speech converter. You can download many of these for free. When the computer voice reads your work, you'll hear mistakes that you might have otherwise overlooked.

This is one of several articles that explain the lessons I have learned. If you found this article valuable, search for my other articles that start with the title "Lessons Learned Number . . . "

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Writing For Children - Understanding The Young Reader

Understanding the Young Reader

What does it feel like to be a child? Lie down on the floor. Imagine what it would be like if you were dependent on another person in order to move around (just as a small baby is). How do you feel? What kind of control do you have over where you are and what you can see?

Now kneel up. How much more of the room can you see? You might find that your eye line is now about tabletop height. In what ways does the world look different from this perspective?

Finally stand up and walk around the room. Have your feelings changed?

Is there a difference in the kind of control you have over what you can see and where you are?

Some of the best children's writers seem always to have retained the ability to reach the child within. Michael Woods, a psychologist who analysed Enid Blyton through her books, wrote:

She was a child, she thought like a child and she wrote as a child....

While Paul Hodder-Williams, a publishing executive who had worked with Enid, noted:

She really loved children and understood instinctively what would interest them. It was with children that her gift of sympathy had its greatest flowering... That is why they have loved and will continue to love the best of the books which she wrote for them and them alone...

Writing effectively for children means not only writing about what a child is doing and thinking, but also seeing the world through the child's eyes. There is an important difference here. In the first case, you are writing about the child's world through adult eyes. This sometimes works but often it is too sentimental and appears unrealistic to the child reader. In the second case you are actually sharing the child's world view and allowing the reader to share it too.

Spend time with children, really listening to what they have to say. Try to remember how you felt and thought as a child. Reading old diaries, stories and school work can be a good trigger here, if you still have them.

You might find the following questions useful as a starting point:

What was my favourite book when I was a child?

What was the scariest thing that happened to me as a child?

What was my greatest happiness as a child? Why?

What was my greatest fear? Why?

Where did my monsters live? In the dark? Under the bed? In the cupboard?

What were my monsters like?

What made me feel most secure as a child?

What was my best school experience? What was my worst?

Who was my best friend when I was growing up? Why did we get on so well?

What were my ambitions/hopes/dreams as a child/teenager?

You will also find it useful to begin studying the work of other children's authors. Are they writing from an adult world view or that of a child? How do they speak to the child reader?

Children as Readers

Children are rewarding readers. They have an amazing ability to lose themselves in an imaginary world and will happily go along with the most extraordinary ideas in the books they read. They are also much less cynical and judgmental than older readers.

Louise Reed, Literacy Teacher.

It is difficult to imagine a book for adult readers featuring a peach so large you can sit in it, or a child-sized dancing centipede, as in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. For children the world is still a mysterious and wonderful place, where anything is possible. As children's writers, we are at our most successful when we recapture that sense of wonder and possibility.

At the same time, children appreciate fiction that reflects the reality of their lives. Even in the most astounding of stories, young readers will find much that they can identify with on a personal level:

... Everything is so deadly quiet, and the shadows are so long and black, and they keep turning into strange shapes that seem to move as you look at them, and the slightest snap of a twig makes you jump.

James felt exactly like that now. He stared straight ahead with large frightened eyes, hardly daring to breathe. ...

And then all at once, little shivers of excitement started to run over the skin on James's back.

James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl.

What child would not recognise these feelings!

In order to write effectively for children you need a good awareness of the way children think and speak, and the way they live today. If you have regular contact with children - perhaps as a parent, grandparent, teacher or carer - this will be relatively easy. Otherwise, you will need to find some other way of learning about today's children.

Films and television programmes written for children can be a good starting point. What you are looking for is an understanding of:

The child's world view - which is quite different from that of adults, and usually quite different from your own world view as a child (depending how much time has elapsed)!

What is important to children - what do they worry about? What do they think about key issues (indeed, what do children see as key issues)? Research suggests that some of the issues children most often worry about include:

bullying

the environment

crime and violence

examinations

friendships

pocket money.

How do children use language? Each generation of children uses language in a slightly different way - they have their own favourite words. This is particularly true for adolescents. Nothing will date your work as much as getting the language wrong.

What is the Modern Child's Life Like?

One of the most common errors made by new children's authors is to write stories of the sort they enjoyed as children, often an Enid Blyton-type adventure. Although Blyton's work still sells extremely well and can be found in almost every bookshop, this is not the sort of story publishers want from today's authors.

They are looking for work, whether fiction or non-fiction, that reflects the reality of life for today's children, which includes the following facts:

Almost two in three married couples divorce, which means that many children have experience of living in a single parent family or a step-family.

Over eighty percent of children live in an urban area - many of them have never visited the countryside and a substantial number have never seen a real cow, pig or chicken.

Children live in a multicultural society and attend school with children from a wide range of other cultures and religions.

Similarly, young readers may themselves be drawn from a wide range of cultures and religions, and stories should reflect this.

Publishers also like to see stories that deal with the issues children might face in everyday life - including going into hospital, bereavement, starting school or secondary school, relationships, living in a stepfamily.

In addition, writing successfully for children means writing for them as if writing for equals, not writing down to them.

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The Present Situation For Writing And Publishing Creative Writing For Children In Africa

Africa has highlighted a lack of books, especially picture story books for younger children, the expression of an African environment, both in text and illustration frame. Problems militating against the rapid growth in writing and publishing for children in Africa include the following:

(1) The bulk of the reading questions that the African child, the school books as a pound for pleasure and enjoyment.

(2) Books Most children are to be established.Such imported plants are generally insensitive to the local culture and unreflective of the social realities of the African child and his endeavors.

(3) Not enough African published books for children are available.

(4) If they are available, the illustrations in them are either

(a) poor quality

(b) not in color

(c) you do not have nice jackets.

(5) And if in color and of good quality, they are either tooexpensive, or for a few elite and far beyond the reach of most African children, especially in rural areas.

(6) The most serious African authors do not bother to write for children because they do not have the same status as writing for adults granted.

Africa has very little interest in written literature. Also in Nigeria, the award-winning authors is well marked by neglect of their authors. Writers are rarely as honoured.as footballare. Hardly a foundation in place to enhance the creativity of African writers. Literary awards are also scarce. Book Development Councils seem to be either missing or collapse, except in Ghana. In Sierra Leone and The Gambia is still lamented its absence is always. While in Nigeria, where it was once formed to develop, to the local publishing industry, it is hardly made any impact until it was swallowed up by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council. InAfrica in general, adults seldom read books for children - not even the parents. Among the more than 2,000 titles published each year for children in the UK, the production in Nigeria as compared to almost 60th

Despite the more than 100 publishers in Nigeria, the situation for children and young people remains bleak. This is mainly due to their textbook orientation, it makes contributions based on a school in captive market. It is proved that if only African children had access to more books that theywould read outside the classroom. An illustrative example of this fact from the year 1985 will see Ife Book Fair, where the Children's Literature Association of Nigeria (CLAN) held a special exhibition of books

Visitors in this state were adorned by the colorful illustrations of fairy tales Poster fascinated the wall, the top and back of shelves. Some even wanted to buy the poster medium images through a very talented artist from the Nigerian Television Authority. The festive moodto decorate the state of the balloons they sent together with the colorful posters attracted many children. It was the amazing sight of three children of different ages reading a picture book at the same time, obviously impressed by this picture book titled Not by Bread for Eze, Ifeoma Okoye, fascinated and publishing the fourth dimension in Enugu. It was one of those books where both the history of images and illustrations are perfectly integrated. It was about a boy who loved the bread and could Ezedo not eat enough of it. He wanted the bread all the time. So exasperated his parents sent him to eat nothing but bread. Eze was initially very happy. No one was pressurizing him to eat nutritious food. But he soon tired of eating bread all the time and his parents asked him other kinds of food. But she would not yield. Eze bread was so tired and stopped eating. He was hungry and weak and could not even play football with his friends. Yielded at the end of his parents andEze began to enjoy a balanced diet, have learned that boys do not live by bread alone. This underscores the importance of illustrations in books for children, the children were not only the history of Eze, but also fascinated by the imaginative and often humorous drawn pictures. If children are to acquire the reading habit, they have so appealing books that also mean, well-illustrated books. Even a child is two years old will enjoy looking at a picture book. Image poundscould indeed be expensive to some degree, if you insist on printing in four colors, the ideal would like to see in the richly illustrated stories The Drum especially for children from Chinua Achebe to write. But also wash and line drawings were so well drawn that they could also captivating.

Half-tone images than in the Adagbonyin's Singing Ashes (1981) may also be effective, through the masterful shading of the artist. A color books for children could be contagiouskeeping young readers, as well as Just in Case (1983) By Sandra Slater, illustrated by AL Satti.

Other good books are the colorful image of Amina the Milkmaid (1988) Fatima illustrated by Pam Pam K. Ofori, a Ghanaian, illustrates the first coin (1989) by Mabel Segun by the same artist, and how the Leopard Got His Claws (1982) by Chinua Achebe and John Iroaganachi. This has presented two variants in color, by Adrienne Kennaway.

Although Nigeria has a few goodIllustrators, most of them are good examples have been done by foreigners. It seems that many Nigerians can not illustrators to draw the faces of children and have problems with the interpretation of texts. To correct these deficiencies, CLAN secure training, two illustrators' workshops with UNESCO funding and published a book on illustrating for children (1988) by Mabel Segun be edited.

But this problem can only be permanently solved by the integration of text and illustrations, a feat mostcould be implemented by an author, illustrator, the costs of publishing in full color also reduced by the co-publishing with a number of publishers to improve conditions and reduce the unit cost of books. Sometimes a book with texts in different languages with the same color illustrations is published. In Nairobi, five publishers across Africa, including Nigeria's Press Daystar met in 1983 under the auspices of the World Association forChristian Community (WACC) and co-author of several books for children in full color and in the context of our legal obligations DUCCA.

The lack of good writers for children is also repugnant to the publication of literature for children in Africa. Because writing is for children, much harder than writing for adults, many adults can not either in the child's world connect and interact with it with understanding and lack of condescension, and the adaptation of content andLanguage of their writing to the child's age, experience and background ... A good writer for children must understand that not sound a child's psychology for the story wrong. Good literature for children a child's imagination and expand his horizons, awaken him a knowledge of the past with regard to the present and imbuing his ideals and values important for national development. Work ethic. Unselfishness, are loving relationships, acceptance of responsibilityamong the values that can be taught, not in a didactic, repellent, but with so subtly that children can be mobilized at national and international development. Good literature for children a child's developing creativity and innovative spirit, without which a nation can hope to move into the era of technology.

Good literature can give a child, the personal identity on a continent that has exposed the cultural imperialism through mass importforeign literature. Achebe does this through its well-written fairy tales like the flute, drum, and the former as the Leopard Got its claws co-written with John Iroaganachi and in 1972 published by Nwamife publisher. The latter was a picture of the first children's history books published in Nigeria and remains one of the best and most successful, with an East African Publishing House. Chinua Achebe is quoted as saying .. Is one of the best things I everdone. "Mabel Segun does this through character-building books such as the broken statue and Olu (1985).

In neighboring Ghana, many other problems, including the balance of payments difficulties the country, the consistently short supply of essential raw materials and lead
Spare parts to repair faulty equipment pressure. Published Under The Ghana Publishing Company "substantial number of books for children, one of the oldest and most beautiful was MesheckAsare picture story book, Tawia Goes to Sea, published in 1970. This was probably the first African-published book, the children gain worldwide recognition, and it was also the first book from an African publisher, will be translated into Japanese. Even better was the welcome news that a Ghanaian children's book was the winner of the 1982 Noma Award. This $ 3000 the prize went to Mesheck Asare, for his involvement picture story book "The Secret's Brassman Published by Educational Pressand producers in Germany of Kumasi 1981.The jury in the selection of it impressed by its "unique and thrilling story of the children, beautiful and imaginative, the author illustrates, position yourself as an artist and important aspects of Asante culture. She also found it noteworthy that a book of such high quality that was produced under such difficult conditions, then in Ghana. Asare as Achebe has the rehabilitation of the African child 's mind was through literaturedesigned to tell him his cultural heritage by all these fantasies and adventure book Chipo and the bird on the mountain and its newer Sosu's Call

Another point GPC Mercy Owusu-Nimoh The Walking Calabash was published in 1977, singled out for "Honorable Mention" in the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa Competition

Despite the many problems Ghana manages to maintain a vibrant and enterprising local bookstores and publishers. Companies such asAfram Publications, Adwinsa Publishers and publishing Wielerville are among those whose list includes books occasionally children.

In East Africa, the bulk of the book of the Children's Publishing exit from Kenya. The East African Publishing House in Nairobi, in particular an extensive list of image-pound full-color history has illustrated, as well as readers and traditional stories and folklore. Especially attractive is the series entitled"Lioncubs." Charity Waciuma, Pamela Kola, Asenath Odaga and Cynthia Hunter are among the most prolific writers in the EAPH list. Another productive is Children's Writer Barbara Kimenye, with the East African branch of the Oxford University Press, some titles are published by the centipede which Martha tells the story of Martha, who decided to get his nose full of sore feet, it was time to himself a pair of shoes.

The Kenya Literature Bureau of removal from the EastAfrican Literature Bureau has produced a couple of pounds for children among them Ray Prather's A is for Africa, a coloring book for Africa, contains forty full-page drawings, in which the different peoples of Africa, the small cards, which accompanied its geographic location.

Above all, Kenyan writer, Ngugi has Wa'Thiongo his Nigerian counterpart, Achebe, writing and publishing his first children's party, but later, in contrast to Achebe in his native Kikuyu language, butAs the great hero and the Flying Bus translating.

In southern Africa, have established Publisher Zimbabwe had a highly impressive collection. A government-supported private commercial companies, it publishes books on education, politics, literature and creative writing, history of Zimbabwe, but with books for children a good place. It fostered a wonderful magazine for children ANTS launched by a panel of Zimbabwe, the children, but I've learned a lotRegret has ceased publication more than 15 years.

Other publishers catering to the children here are Mamba Media and Zimbabwe Literature Bureau, the latter consists of a broad range of materials in Shona and Ndebele novels, poems, short stories, books, comics for children and materials for literacy development.

In Malawi, another company active in the development of children's books in indigenous languages published in the popular publications of Limbe.

In Lesotho, theChurch-sponsored Mazenod Book Center also has a substantial list of books for children in African languages,

In Zambia and Tanzania material is some of the children from the National Educational Company of Zambia and Tanzania Publishing House.
In South Africa began with the small local market can not make it possible to publish books in English to local children. English for Children's Books with a South African background or from a South African were usually writtenpublished in England. Written Jock of the Bushveld (1907) by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, is generally regarded as a book, the first English South African children. . This was published in South Africa in the second half of the twentieth century. Only in the 1970s, local publishers have recognized the need for indigenous children's books in English and start the use of the market. This change has been about single-handedly by the novelist Marguerite Poland with her Mantis and the Moon, which wasin 1979. The rise in prices for imported books for children from the publication of indigenous materials more competitive. The political changes in the 1980s then brought the improvement of the quality of education of African children and the decision that they could receive tuition in English. This created a large potential market for English books for children, specializing in the number of publishers. At the end of the 1980s English pound children were in dealing with the prominentpolitical and socio-economic conditions in the country. The English Children's book was even more pronounced in relation to the criticism of apartheid. with authors such as Lesley Beak, Dianne Case and Lawrence Bransby taking the lead.
As a result of the small local market, there are few original books published with full color illustrations. Cooperation with foreign publishers and the simultaneous publication in several indigenous languages is often the only way to make a viable publication. Also,Publisher of books for children focus on the publication series, beginners and second language readers.
The change in the government of the country and the level of African languages to official status, one would expect that he led the development of children literature in African languages has taken place but for various reasons not already available. The rise of African consciousness and nationalism in the struggle against apartheid is more due to the LEDIdentification of English as the language of education and freedom. For many African children to read better in English, and in many African authors prefer to write in that language. Also, only a small minority among the African children to read for recreation. Some publishers still try to publish high quality books for children in African languages, but not for a lack of local writers, most books in translation from English or Afrikaans are.
This suggests that the problem of languageas another factor complicates the rapid development of children's literature in Africa. Forced to put the language of writers working in foreign languages they speak not really write raises the question of the writers who trained to write in their indigenous languages. But then it still creates a further problem, since some of the authors of the books are written in African languages can not distinguish between the concepts and approaches for adults outside the experience of children. Similarly,They use an off-putting adult language.

There is also an unhealthy attention to the different ages of childhood. For many more books are written for middle-aged (8-12), while very young children remain largely neglected. Very few books have been written for young people. One is Angi Ossai's Tolulope (1979). Another is the love of Joy IKED accession. The Kenyan Asenath Odaga work jande's ambition is about the choice of career, which should be a major concern at this age.Macmillan's Pacesetter series also appeals to young adults, but their works will be of varying quality, tangles with crime, espionage and love.

There is also the chronic absence of magazines for children in most parts of Africa. In Sierra Leone, the attempt by The Sierra Leone authors and illustrators to establish one does not survive his second question. However, the invaluable role they could play in inculcating the reading habits in the child due to their wideVariety of topics, is the form of presentation and the fact that children love to read what they have written their peers and begin to recognize the similar creative impulses.

Most parts of Africa are not book-friendly because there are few, if any bookstores where you can buy books for African children. Neither is his access to libraries, just like that, especially in rural areas. School libraries are a phenomenon of a distant past. Where public libraries are still present and functioning of theirSections children are badly housed, poorly equipped, poorly ventilated, poorly equipped, poorly staffed and poorly located. So there is an obvious need for a thorough overhaul of library services in Africa. And efforts should be made to make it an essential public service from the central to local levels of government to give it to each municipality the opportunity to access books and growing. Similarly, every school library, should be well sorted andwell equipped.

The distribution of the books is another area of difficulty. For this is typically left to private companies, although some governments to distribute textbooks in purchasing large quantities to schools. Wholesale Book is best handled by private entrepreneurs trained in the discipline. But the main problem is hampered, the book dealers tend to settle marketing methods with more countries with a high degree of competence, appropriate to restrict where the largerCitizenship has been transformed into pounds. In Africa, the publishers and book dealers can not afford to wait for the buyer to come to them. Rather, they must take their products to the people, wherever they are. In Tanzania, therefore, enterprising publishers take books to the local markets. It mingled with buyers books and enjoy lively discussions with the publishers on all aspects of the books. The huge sales at these exhibitions have proven the usefulness of such innovative measures. This typewill undoubtedly promote adult awareness of the need for literature.

Efforts to promote and sell books in the West could be extended with adjustments, if necessary, intra-African book distribution, so that more conditions for the high cost of books, will be reduced. Why are children in Nairobi, for example, to read literature published by a local publisher in Nigeria? Much is lost by the closure of the African ChildLiterature. In 1976 an attempt by African books from all parts of the continent at the second Pan African Trade Fair in Algiers collapsed sale, kept such books back than 4000, because the Algerian government imposed a 120% tax on the books, they also had had made expensive. These fares must be improved with communication and transportation systems to be removed to facilitate trans-African movement of the books.

The situation, however, prepared for the changes seemIntervention of a number of organizations and institutions, thereby supplementing the efforts of others, such as UNESCO that have worked diligently in this area. There is a wide network of organizations to support the growth of publishing in Africa focused. One of them is APNET is the network to enhance book publishing by Africans in Africa. APNET, in close cooperation with the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), and wassupported by Bellagio. The Bellagio Group of donors has been investigating ways to improve support for a range of cultural industries, which are hopefully some African books for African children, there is now recognition among politicians that the arts are an integral part of the book is much the key to development.

Book fairs in Africa were fastly to established institutions with a graded series of initiatives to restore the otherwise desolateCondition of the books in Africa. The Pan African Children's Book Fair (PACBF) began in Nairobi, Kenya in 1991 through the initiative of the Foundation for the Advancement of Children's Science Publications in Africa (GHISCI). The fair has tried to foster a learning environment that addresses and the African Child 's maintains inherent properties of the imagination, curiosity and creativity. It has created a dynamic atmosphere to enhance the preciousness of the books in the learning of lifeof the child.'ve through a variety of activities such as art, toys, fun with science, debates, quizzes, creative writing, storytelling and reading aloud, Kenyan children to love and comfort with this event are urged to identify with more and more each year. Introduced in 1994, a children's library as part of the fair continues to sharpen appetites of children by children who could not buy any books about the opportunity to read a few books at the fair. SinceIn 1994, the reading tent has been a great attraction for children visiting the fair. This is conducted in other African book fairs well emulate this innovation. Exhibitors have also steadily improved their marketing skills, reaching out to show the children in a proactive manner, and introduced it into the books with new titles. In 1998 PACBK had a spectacular advance with the individual stands at a mini-library. Yet another innovation - A Children's Home Library campaign - waslaunched with children respond with enthusiasm, buy books and promised to start their own home libraries.

The Zimbabwe International Book Fair has had another important incentive for the development of book trade fair in Africa.The1998 of particular importance because it was their theme and related Indaba 'BOOKS AND CHILDREN "
At the inaugural meetings of the Indaba is that has to be emphasized to the 1990s book production for children wasbeen weak, if not non-existent in some countries. But have been reported since 1987, a spectacular growth in the publication of the children in the European and African languages. Has in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria greatly increased production, especially in the last ten to twenty years. Conditions have also significantly from an average of 3000 to 5000 copies per title, with the possibility of frequent reprints.

This progress was due to the following:

1. The creativity of AfricanPublishers, so they produce well-made books for children in terms of content, production quality and price.

2. The continued extension of the state purchase of pounds for schools and libraries.

3. Tangible support is made available to the publication of book acquisitions and development agencies, international organizations and N. GO 'S.

4. Significant growth in sales due to the efforts of publishers make their books at the national level andinternationally.

5. The collaboration between publishers and distributors, the development of exports.
But despite these difficulties, still, or were created in the following areas:

1 Large differences between countries. The situation in South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania is very much better than in other countries in their regions. Stand in francophone West Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Togoclear.

2 present difficulties in finding good authors and illustrators still exist.
3 readership is not sufficiently developed, given the level of illiteracy and the lack of a reading culture or custom.

4 Although there is a readership, the purchasing power is limited. For books are not as high priority in the fundamental basic needs.

5 The library network is not developed, especially in rural areas.

6 The distribution network is not developed.

7 The intensepolitical situation in Zimbabwe negatively on the favorable climate there created for the growth of the books are not only there but throughout Africa and Zimbabwe International Book Fair has deprived the international flavor.

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