Fair Celebrates Joys of Reading

Knowledge is power, but knowledge doesn’t happen without books.

That was the message Saturday at an East Los Angeles festival-style book fair, attended by 15,000 schoolchildren and their families.

The lesson wasn’t lost on Isabel Medina, 32, of Boyle Heights, who brought her sons, 10 and 4, and her year-old daughter.

“We’re here because parents need to tell their kids that it’s good to read,” said Medina, who emigrated from Michoacan, Mexico, 12 years ago and is taking college courses to earn a medical assistant certificate.

“Every story that you read has a message,” she said. “To be successful, you need to read. I used to work in a factory, packaging food all day. I don’t want my children to do that.”

The third annual fair at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, organized by the Los Angeles Unified School District, celebrated the culture of reading with music, balloons, face painting, clowns and games, woven together with author signings, poetry readings and book giveaways.

The 150 exhibitors in rows of white tents included book publishers, bookstores, companies offering accelerated learning and tutoring, college recruiters, libraries, and programs aimed at keeping youths out of trouble.

Alex Ibarra, 11, said he loves to read because it expands his world. The Breed Street Elementary fifth-grader explained: “It opens up places I didn’t see before.”

Literacy is not only crucial to success in individual lives, it is an important community asset, said Maria Casillas, president of fair co-sponsor Families in Schools. “It’s the way to break down ethnic barriers,” she said. “I remember reading ‘Roots’ and ‘Exodus’ when I was young, and thinking, ‘How extraordinary these people are.’ ”

The fair distributed about 30,000 free books on various subjects that were donated by the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, she said.

At one booth, 9-year-old Aidan Moreno was among an enthusiastic crowd of youngsters using pastel pens and stickers to create their own books. Words poured rapidly across the pages as the Nueva Vista magnet school fourth-grader wrote a biography of his family, complete with drawings.

“Mom -- she’s smart and really nice. Dad ... has a cool motorcycle. Grandma -- she’s good at math,” he wrote as he confidently told a reporter, “I remember everything I read.”

What does he want to be when he grows up?

“A rock star.”