Coffeespoons

Bel Kaufman, author of one of my all-time favorite books. ( img src ) I got an email yesterday from a Ms. De Silva of Open Road Media . It was a marketing email telling me about the release of Bel Kaufman's cult classic, Up the Down Staircase , in ebook format. It gave the usual short background about the author and a link to new content, specifically a video of Bel Kaufmann. Now, I usually do not do anything about emails like this. Not that I don't appreciate them--trust me, I do. I am shallow and, once in a while, I like feeling important enough for a marketer's email. But I have a lot of things on my plate--as might be obvious from the sporadic posts on this blog--so I really don't have the time to take books for review or even post announcements and such. But I'm making an exception for this. Because I am truly impressed.  First, I am impressed by Bel Kaufman. My God, the woman is 101 years old! And lucid as ever. I fell in love with Up the Down...

Maybe because I was thinking of Christmas? And maybe because, for the first time in ever , I only bought Filipino-published books. For the uninitiate, the MIBF stands for the Manila International Book Fair , the country's biggest and most prominent book fair. Unlike other book fairs around the globe, the MIBF is really more of consumers' market, with hordes of readers descending upon the happily waiting publishers and distributors, setting out to find the long sought for book or the cheapest bargain. And, lately, hoping to catch a favorite author during one of the book launches or author-signing events during the MIBF. The show runs for 5 days. It started on a Weds., Sept. 12 and will run till Sept. 16. My first visit was on a Friday, where I bought these four books for my kids: Three are from Hiyas Publishing (OMF Lit) and one from Adarna House, Inc. The Great Duck and Crocodile Race by Robert Magnuson - which I love. Love the art, love the text, love the messag...