Gaborone's new book club launched

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Wednesday August 8, 2007 00:00

 

The club will offer a variety of services, including report picking, school-fees payments, month-end relief activities and back-to-school shopping for busy parents and reading, writing, painting and story-telling for children.

'We will engage publishers, booksellers and other stakeholders to ensure the end-user gets quality services and products at the best prices,' quipped Seloko.
Seloko explained that for one to join the book club, he or she can collect membership forms at major bookstores in the city and pay the P120 joining fee for annual membership (P10 per month). Payment options are P30 for three months and P60 for six months.

'Nobody likes monotony. We all love fresh things, fresh ideas, fresh and exciting environments. As we strive to educate the nation, we need to bring vibrancy to how information is relayed to the user,' young Seloko explained. The entrepreneur added that educating with entertainment is vital in order to grab and command the attention of children.

 
'The Book ID Club is such a concept, because by relieving parents   of stress through our innovation of doing the boring and mundane jobs for families, we give them a fresh approach and challenge them to adapt to managing their time and concentrate on the core business of earning that cheque and raising the family in an exciting, stress-free, fresh way knowing that we are just a call away to lend a helping hand,' further explained Seloko.

 
Seloko said that the fringe benefits of being a subscriber is that members will get to receive one free novel every two months, invites to book reading sessions, publisher's discounts on textbooks, creative writing lessons, book exchange and children's computer fun lessons.

The club uses popular television personality Vincent 'Steez' Tiro in their marketing campaigns. Tiro, who is a co-presenter of Botswana Television's Coca-cola Flavour Dome, lamented that in Botswana the 'culture of reading and writing is dying' a natural death.
'As a well-known personality, I bought into the idea and I thought as a well-known personality I can do my bit by selling The Book ID Club to the general public,' he said.

The youthful celebrity revealed that one of his greatest fears is that electronic media is threatening to reduce the literacy levels among young children and to counter that he and his partners will revive 'traditional' ways of education like reading books, reciting poems, story-telling and writing, which, he believes, is the best way to go.

'Cool people read. Education is fun. Join the club now and be part of the cool generation. We are proud to be in a position to help the nation realise one of the pillars of Vision 2016... an informed nation,' said the enterprising presenter.
The initiative is supported by, among others, the Brackenedene Lodge in the Main Mall, which will act at The Book ID Club's base.