BLOG TASK #003 - A BOOK REVIEW

Sep 13, 2015
4 min read

BLOG TASK #003 - A BOOK REVIEW

Before reading this weeks Blog Task, please do check out our book reviews which can be viewed by clicking the Book Reviews tab on the navigation bar at the top of the blog page, cheers!

"According to a study conducted by the National Library (PNM, Malaysians now read an average of 14 books a year, from only two and a half pages about 14 years ago. However, according to The Star, it is still not enough."

If you were to organize a campaign to improve the reading habits of Malaysians, what are some of the activities and strategies would your group implement to get Malaysians to read more books. Suggest at least FIVE strategies and activities.

One of the few ideas our group has come up with to get more locals to read more books would be to create a social challenge. Just like the how the recent ALS Ice Bucket Challenge went viral and helped to create a great sense of awareness to the disease, we would create a Read A Book Challenge that would hopefully go viral and to encourage others to read more. It may not sound like a very exciting challenge, but what we think is the core attribute to get someone interested in reading is to actually do it. So what better way to do that than to create a challenge that would make majority of the people who are on social media who are also adventurous to succumb to peer pressure and to actually take up the challenge and make that very first step to pick up a book and to read it.

The next idea we thought about was to have a Library Day once every few weeks. This idea would be implemented in schools, colleges and universities that have libraries and would encourage students to grab a book to read as part of their studies. A short book review would also be required from them to get them to express their feelings about the different books they have read and whether or not they would recommend it to anyone else. This idea would seem very forceful but I’m pretty sure majority of the students would prefer participating in this than going for their respective classes. This idea will definitely instil that seed of reading into the students who participate and they will also learn to grow and nurture that seed throughout their lives.

Moving on, we also thought of building mini convenience libraries that are literally built on the streets and pathways. We feel that there are many people out there who also don’t read much because they are just too lazy to actually go out and look for a good book to read. So, instead of them having to go out and look for books, we bring the books to them. The mini libraries would be built nearby public areas such as bus stops, shopping malls, air ports and so on and would encourage passer-by’s to have a look at the small selection of books provided and to maybe pick one up to read on their journey on the bus or plane.

Another strategy we would implement is to have various group assignments for different college and university students that involves them reading a certain interesting book and writing a report or review based on what they have read. This is also in addition to the part where we bring the good books to the people instead of the other way around. Having assigned interesting books to be read by them, they will be put into a situation where they will have to read the book and this will again, create that stepping stone to draw the students attention to wanting to read more books like those. At the end of the assignment, the students may go back to doing what they like to do best but deep down inside, they have this small little desire to actually want to read more. Instilling this mediocre desire will be important in drawing people to want to have a desire to read.

The last strategy we would impose would be to organize more Big Book sales around the country. This would definitely help draw in people who actually enjoy reading but because of the current prices of books being not too affordable, they have sort of stopped. This strategy would allow them to indulge in cheap and affordable books that will help them to rekindle that fire to read again. On another note, this strategy could also draw in other people who are just going to spend money on the books whether or not they read, but just because the book is on sale they would buy it. This could also in some way get them to read the books that they have bought, and can instil that seed of reading into them, which will slowly grow if they choose to water it.

THE END.