By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — The exclamations of awe and joy that came from within the Lambertville Public School’s library would have warmed any bibliophile’s heart.
Twenty children from Margaret Preston’s fifth-grade class roamed the library Friday during the school’s annual Scholastic Book Fair. When they found a book that ignited their imaginations, their comments ranged from “Wow!” to a shout-out to a buddy to “come see this!”
The theme of this year’s fair, which ran through Tuesday, was a safari.
As Scholastic advertised the event: “Soma! Ota! Kua!” translated from Swahili: “Read! Dream! Grow!”
Sponsored by the PTA, the annual event raises funds for the purchase of educational materials, according to PTA member Erica Rubine, who helped man the book fair. Last year’s fair brought in more than $2,000, she said.
Ms. Preston roamed the aisles with the children, occasionally calling over students to see particular titles, gently pointing out something they might enjoy.
”They love books,” she said. “They are definitely readers. They truly have a love for reading.”
In addition to the novels and other materials they read in class, some of the children enjoy reading fiction purely for pleasure. Seven of them bring in the books they are reading independently to a book chat group each Thursday with Ms. Preston. They eat lunch together, talk about books and enjoy a dessert brought in by their teacher.
Last week, Ms. Preston smiled with pride when she shared the fact that one boy, obviously reading beyond grade level, is intrigued by James Paterson’s novels of suspense.
She is equally proud when she speaks of another boy’s enjoyment. It had not come easy for him because English is his second language.
At the book fair, Kayla Marriott said she enjoys the “Twilight” series of young adult vampire novels written by Stephenie Meyer. A movie based on the books will premiere tomorrow.
Actually, when asked what she likes to read, all Kayla said was the single-word title of the first book in the series, “Twilight!”
She was so excited by the series she bounced up and down, her dark spiral curls bouncing along with her as she raised a hand in the air, high over her head, as if she were back in the classroom answering a question.
Some of the students walked through the aisles of books for sale with a pencil and paper, filling out their wish lists. Parents had the option of coming back on family night to buy their children a book from their wish lists or sending the money into school so their children could make the purchase.
Brittany Kerr was quiet as she perused the titles. Her gaze was intent, and her pencil was busy.
Among the 10 or so items on her wish list were popular books about Tinker Bell, Spy Girls and Camp Rock, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book” and “Princess” from the Puppy Place series.
The book fair was open to all grades. Offerings included titles for preschool readers to young adults, Spanish-language books, reference books, software and lots of physical science and animal books. There were also bestsellers, including “Harry Potter” and “Hannah Montana.”

