. Illustration by Francine Yulo *** Books are one of those things that are essential to a child’s growth. Obviously, right. Reading builds attention span, teaches patience, expands vocabulary, and builds form recognition. All very good things. But living in Shanghai, it’s not easy to find good kids' books, and even the larger net of Taobao can be pretty limited. So, for a few better options, I decided to head to the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair. Now, right off the bat, the book fair was facing some serious competition. Literally right across the hall was the Video Game Expo, replete with its black lights, giant robots, blaring 180bpm acid-techno, and video games as far as the eye could see. You couldn't have set it up any better. Clash of the ages: books versus video games. And for both parent and child alike, this posed just a huge life challenge. How am I going to be like, “yo, this kids' book fair is gonna be way cooler”. Lies. Such lies. It felt like I was at the onset of an issue that I’d be facing for much of my kid's (and my own) ongoing childhood -- books versus video games. While the cool families entered the Video Game Expo, me and my kid sucked it up and went to the book fair. Here's our experience therein: The fair was broken into two sections with publishers and wholesalers on one side, and the kids space/retail space on the other. While the former trade space was organized, civil, and refined, the latter kid's space was like Dante’s ninth circle of hell, reserved for the literary likes of Satan, Brutus, Judas, and Cassius (not the French disco / house crew, they’re sick). It was like ten-thousand kindergarten recesses unleashed into a Barnes and Nobles. This frenzied warehouse space came complete with loudspeakers clashing for attention, giant piles of books with no discernible order, and rightfully exasperated employees milling around looking baffled. Even the hardest of the hardest ayis, could only handle this scene for about two hours. Me and the fam managed a full hour before my kid descended into total madness, and my wife teetered on the verge of utter exhaustion/rage. That said, after battling through feral gangs of tai tais and mohawked toddlers, we did get up to some intense crate-digging, and the Children’s Book Fair offered up some serious selection. So, turns out, I discovered that I've got different tastes in books than my kid. While the cool dad in me wanted to pick up abstract stories of morality with post-modern illustrations and hard-hitting life lessons, my kid was like “dog”, “cow”, “circle”. We settled on Where the Wild Things Are, which feels like a mix between the two. I can recite every line from that book from memory from when I'm a kid, no joke. And it feels like you get new things out of it every time you go back to it as you age. It’s also a good lesson in raving with that “Wild Rumpus” party going on for like two days straight. At the end of the book you see Max getting home with heavy jaw-grind, just ready to crash. But when it comes to kids' books, it’s important to remember, we’ll probably be reading them like a thousand times, so it’s good to find a story that will keep us mildly entertained. In that respect, Click Clack Moo is a big winner. Dr. Seuss was representing, with my personal favorite The Sneetches, available for purchase. It’s been a while since I read it, but I’m pretty sure it had something to do with Sneetches and how they end up getting steetches. A good life lesson right there. The book fair was also heavy on board books -- a big one for toddlers cause they can’t fuck 'em up as fast. It took my kid about 6 months to chew through That’s Not My Tractor. All the big names were there, with Eric Carle still killing it. If you don’t know Eric Carle, he’s the dude with that cut-and-paste collage style art. He did Brown Bear (and all its subsequent sequels). That dude found a winning formula and is just laughing his way to the bank. It’s pretty much just, “what do you see?” “I see Noun”, and then he cuts it out of some construction paper and photocopies it. Every time that cat needs some extra skrill he just gets out the scissors. But, you know what, my kid loves that book. Big up, Eric! Peppa Pig was also holding it down. Clifford the Dog was out in full force, and Rod Campbell with his Starters Crew was on the corner pushing numbers. If you feel like zapping your kid into a trance like state, there was this trippy optical illusion book, though I’m not sure what that would do to a toddler. Or you could gift your child with the eternal joy of Baroque Art -- a favorite among kids everywhere. All-in, the classics were on full rotation. Everything from Curious George to the Mr. Men books (with Mr. Bump or my personal favorite Mr. Uppity), making up a large part of the book fair. In fact, it was surprising to see how little has changed in the world of children’s books, with most of the big titles from my own childhood still making the rounds. I also picked up The Tiger and The Wise Man. To be honest it’s probably not the best book for kids -- the language is inappropriate and the wise man gets eaten by the tiger in the end. (Oops, spoiler.) I wasn’t really sure what to take away from it. But the women are in saris and the dudes are rocking turbans. I just wanted to represent for my Desi brethren out there, cause when do we come across Indian-themed kids' books? Maybe The Jungle Book, but most people have already forgotten that shit takes place in India. And, hmmm, Rudyard Kipling -- maybe best not to get into it. I guess we didn't do too badly in our first books versus video games matchup. There's a wealth of stuff out there, carrying on even from my (and probably your) first experiences of reading. Should be great to revisit these worlds again. At least until my kid's old enough for Killer Instinct X.

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