(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) First time visitors to the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival (SCRF) said their debut visit has left them wanting more.
Speaking to Khaleej Times on day five of the 11-day event, Indian national and 15-year UAE resident, Chris Fernando, said as a father of two, it's a great family outing.
"When I heard it was a kids reading festival, I loved the sound of it. It was something different. Most emirates focus on shopping festivals but this is unique and family-friendly."
Following the launch of the National Reading Policy in 2016, Fernando said it's great to see the UAE government putting such a focus on making reading a habit.
"When I was growing up in India, comics were a huge part of my childhood. I'd read them with such excitement. But that element is lost on today's younger generations because they're so addicted to technology. Promoting reading through events like this is well needed and very much welcomed," he said.
For father of four Ahmed Abdullah, his first visit to the festival with his wife and children exceeded all expectations.
"We live close by and heard about it so decided to come down. There is so much going on though, I didn't expect that. It's a pleasant surprise."
Like Fernando, he said the festival was a "welcome change" for a family outing. And though born and raised in Egypt, he said they're not only here to purchase books by Egyptian publishers.
"We will check out the Egypt literature but the festival is very diverse so we will wait to see how many books we buy."
Though a regular visitor to the Sharjah International Book Fair, Sunday marked mother-of-two Ingiza Rahimova's first trip to the reading festival.
"To be honest, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't realise it would be so big. This is my first time here but it won't be the last."
For her two daughters, she said the free workshops have been a big hit.
"One of my girls is actually in a workshop right now. She didn't want to leave. It's great to have such interactive activities to keep children entertained and it gets them interested in reading more too. That's great."
A big hit on day five of the festival was the 'Chemical Show', a scientific stage presentation which saw kids participate in a series of exciting experiments.
Based around the wonders of physics and chemistry, the two hosts set their hands on fire and even turned a red pepper rock solid using liquid nitrogen, before smashing it to pieces on the floor.
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