2 weeks Ago By Carla N. Canet
The Big Bad Wolf Books aimed to continue its epic quest of reaching a million new readers in the Philippines. They are back at SM City Bacolod North Wing for the second time with children, non-fiction, and fiction books are displayed starting near its event Center and panning to near the main entrance in the East portion of the North Wing. Terence Leong, Special Officer to the Managing Director, and Lesley Ann Almeda, the Project Director were here to lead the biggest book sale in the world, a brand that began in 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It was named Big Bad Wolf because people from all walks of life can easily remember it - whether they are adults or a child. “We never used superheroes but something catchy and very easy to remember,” Leong said. The Big Bad Wolf Books has its biggest book sale at SM City Bacolod North Wing which has kicked off from September 20-29, 2024.
Leong said they are here to provide an opportunity for others to enjoy reading books. “Our mission is to change the world one book at a time. We are on the road to getting one million new readers in the Philippines.
We are back in Bacolod for the second time because this is a wonderful city and is very welcoming. We have a good partnership with SM City,” he said. Bacolod City can contribute to their target of a million new readers as they have a variety of books from children’s books, to fiction and non-fiction.
And through these three categories, we can continuously get new readers. With the various kinds of books that they have, he is sure that the people can find a book that they will fall in love with. BOOKS VS SOCIAL MEDIA Leong said” I don’t say that one is better than the other.
But for me, a book is always naturally the first goal for any child to learn how to read. The access to knowledge and information is through a book on top of tablets and other gadgets. The power of a book is to be able to impart empathy, knowledge, and also imagination.
” The biggest difference is that when you read a book, you are not only learning and educating yourself but through reading a book, you are also building your creativity because if you are reading a book, you will also naturally imagine the world of what you are reading. And that is something very powerful because it is not comparable to anything else. It depends on what you are building in your mind.
Access to books is easier than accessing social media content because you need a phone and the internet to watch something on YouTube. We want everybody to have access to literacy, and knowledge and have an opportunity to build their imagination and creativity, he said. OUR MISSION IS ALWAYS TO INCREASE LITERACY FOR EVERYONE We want to help increase literacy for everyone so that everyone will have an equal opportunity to gain knowledge.
We are not here to bring English books but to provide books that can increase the literacy of everyone. We run the biggest book sale in the world, Leong said. Almeda also said that Big Bad Wolf also provides free space for local publishers and vendors to join them.
Big Bad Wolf is in 50 countries and 38 cities. It is the Filipinos who read the most as compared to other nationalities in Southeast Asia. Filipinos have a very good command of the English language.
It is their mother tongue aside from their Filipino language and dialects. Many Filipinos speak English well and they love to read fiction. They buy books for their consumption and not for others.
THEY SUPPORT LOCAL PUBLISHERS AND ARTISTS They have Books written by San Anselmo Publications, Inc., Southern Voices Printing Press, Librong LIRA, Aklat Alamid, Aklat Mirasol, and DB Books. These are independent publishers wherein Big Bad Wolf served as a platform for them in our quest to help change the world with one book at a time.
They also support libraries because books serve as windows of opportunity for kids. They partnered with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the book donations. They supported a community in Marawi where the children were victims of the siege.
The book donation is a lifeline of hope for these kids, Almeda said. Books are also a source of inspiration during troubled times and can also be a getaway, for us to be able to help others in any way, we are happy to do so through our books, Leong said..
