The Jost Van Dyke Book Fair took place on Wednesday October 21 under the cool shade of the sea grape tree which overhangs the Jost Van Dyke Primary School. 

The Book Fair occurred exactly one week after the BVI Reading Council held its Book Fair at the Sir Rupert Briercliffe Hall to celebrate “Reading is Fun Week”.  The Jost Van Dyke Book Fair was a follow up to the initial Book Fair and was coordinated by the BVI Reading Council and the Jost Van Dykes Preservation Society.

The Book Fair commenced at 9:30 a.m. and continued until 3:30 p.m.  During this time each class of the Jost Van Dyke Primary School and the Secondary Division of the School had a chance to visit the Book Fair and to purchase books of their choice.  Several parents also visited the Book Fair and purchased books for their children.  Over seventy books, mostly with environmental themes, were on sale and by the end of the day over ninety five percent of these books had been sold.

Community volunteers such as Carmen Blyden and Lorraine Callwood read stories to the primary school students and to the preschool students at the Jost Van Dyke preschool.  In several cases, students also read to the community volunteers and the staff of the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society. 

Interesting discussion surrounded the reading of books such as “The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten” and “The Blind Men and the Elephant” as younger students  tried to understand the concept of food chains in the first book and older students learnt the danger of drawing conclusions without having all of the evidence in the second book.  Community spirit was also reflected in the contribution of a cooler of delicious lemonade by Mrs. Blyden and visitors to the Book Fair enjoyed sipping on their lemonade after they purchased their books.

The Book Fair proved to be an excellent opportunity to continue to promote reading on Jost Van Dyke and is it reinforced the efforts of the Jost Van Dykes Preservation Society earlier this year to encourage students to read the books in the Environmental Information Centre, which has been developed as part of the ongoing environmental project which is funded by the Overseas Territories Environmental Project (OTEP) and distributed through the Governor’s Ofice.

The BVI Reading Council and the Jost Van Dykes Preservation Society express special thanks to the Principal of the Jost Van Dyke Primary School ( Marva Martin), the District Officer (Carmen Blyden), Lorraine Callwood, and all the teachers, students, parents and community members who made this activity a success.

For more information on the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society and on its environmental project visit www.jvdps.org and www.jvdgreen.org or call 284-540-0861.

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