The ‘Read, Dream, Create’ campaign, an initiative of the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), has hosted a series of highly creative activities for young book lovers at the 36th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), ranging from silhouette shows to miniature book- and puppet-making sessions.

Held at the UAEBBY pavillion, the ‘Miniature Book’ workshop catered to younger children in the evenings and school students in the mornings. It showed the participants how to design and create a miniature book to write their stories. They also learned how to bring a paper puppet to life and create a backlit puppet theatre production.

The interactive ‘Paper Characters’ workshop focussed mainly on writing and drawing, where the children cut out shapes of birds and animated them to give the impression that they were flying, as part of a story telling exercise. The workshop was attended by students from the ‘Awladouna Centre for People with Disabilities’.

Meera Al Naqbi, Manager of the ‘Read, Dream, Create’ campaign, said: “We took part in SIBF as part of our commitment to support cultural events, bringing together children and young people and helping them to develop and hone their talents.”

At the ‘Young Story Teller’ workshop, the children told their favourite tales, while in costumes and in character, showing great talent and confidence in making speeches, putting the workshop theory into practice.

Launched in 2013 by the UAEBBY, ‘Read, Dream, Create’ aims to bring children and books together and promote the importance of reading among Emirati communities. It also encourages children and young people to read, innovate and create, develop their writing skills and transform their ideas into engaging, well written stories.