Book club promotes reading culture

At the presentation of the book, The Girl Wanted a Lion as a Pet, written by Emmanuel Okoro, values of promoting reading culture were highlighted. Okoro, who is the Coordinator of Booktent Book Club, said, “Reading is the bed-rock of civilisation. Today is an important day in the history of the world; it is special because we publicly declare our love for reading; we sow seeds that are set to blossom and bring about the needed change in our lives, our community, our country and our world through reading culture”.

The inauguration of the Booktent Book Club and community reading were held at Otodogbame Community, Ikate, Lekki Lagos, and it attracted art -lovers, less privileged children and other stakeholders.

The author got encomiums for a work well done, as the book would encourage literacy in communities and help students strive for academic excellence.

According to him, “We are focused on building an army of readers, one reader at a time, and to inspire the love of reading. So we get everyone to pick a book and read and when we come together, we discuss the books read”.

The UN Ambassador, Unyime-Ivy King, challenged participants to read and summarise her book, Burning Hurt. The three children who performed well in the contest went home with cash prizes.

She pointed out that the objective is to help children secure a future that is threatened by a habit of not reading, no libraries or under-stocked libraries, adding, “Our task is to build one child at a time using the instrumentality of the book to correct social vices and engender change”.

The community Leader, Hon. Solomon, encouraged the children to read, especially in their mother tongue. He stressed that though English language is good, it is nothing compared to one’s mother tongue. He also promised to give a plot of land to the club where a proper library will be built.

Another highlight of the event was a poetry reading and poem recitations by Mrs Oyeyinka Banjo, Oreva Okoro, Amos, Elijah Atinkpo, Warri Stanley, Christabell Emubo and Wekome Okoro.