It’s the third day of the annual Manila International Book Fair. If I didn’t have many important tasks to prioritize, I would have been there since day 1. But, I do my best to be disciplined. I want to make my visit and my family’s visit cum field trip to this year’s MIBF a reward after working hard this week. So, I’ve decided to finish as many important tasks as I could first and then we’ll go to SMX, MOA tomorrow (Saturday). I know that the place would be more crowded since it’s a weekend, but this is our best option this year.

I love going to this annual event first and foremost because I am a book lover and bookworm! It’s like heaven for me to be surrounded by many wonderful books that are sold at discounted prices!

I used to go to this event even when I was still single. When I got married and had kids, it has become one of our annual field trips.

I use books A LOT in teaching my kids. I buy many of the books we use in our homeschool at the MIBF every year. Throughout the year, I take note of the books that I want to use and purchase for the kids. If it’s not something urgent, I put these books on my list of books to be bought at the book fair. That way, I get to save money and stretch our budget.

It’s not only books that are sold by exhibitors at the fair. There are also A LOT of educational materials that you can find at the fair. That includes curriculums, Math manipulatives, educational DVDs and toys and so much more. Thus, homeschoolers like me do our best to save up for this annual event and we do our shopping for our homeschool materials at the MIBF.

If my post is already moving you to head over to SMX, MOA to check out the wonderful stuff being sold at the MIBF, I’d like to share with you some tips to help you maximize your visit, especially if you are a first-timer. I highly recommend that you read my blog post 6 Ways to Maximize Your Visit to the Manila International Book Fair first. That would help you make a game plan for this year’s event.

Now, let me share what are some of the books and materials on my list this year.

Number one on my list of booths to visit is OMF Literature’s booth at Aisle I. We’ve been using Dr. Luis Gatmaitan’s books in our Science lessons. I like making our Science lessons relevant to my kids. I use these books to them to gently teach them concepts that relate to the human body and to our health. We already have six titles of Tito Dok’s books. I plan to buy some more including the book that he launched at the MIBF this year.

There is another book that I am excited to buy for my kids. This one is also a new title from OMF Literature. I like that this book encourages kids to be active. We already have the other books in the series and we loved all of them. I love that simple words and sentences are used in these books, yet the message or lesson is very powerful.

Another book that was not on my original list but I decided to include is another new title by one of our favorite authors from OMF. This is by Grace Chiong, the author of the Oh Mateo series. I like that the topic is about bullying. I believe that although my kids are homeschooled, they are not exempt from encountering bullies or from developing bully behavior. So, I’m buying this book also to teach them more about this issue.

Last but not least, I plan to buy this new title about the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. My youngest child was named after this Bible hero. I would love to read this to him!

I’m so excited to purchase these books because all new titles will be at 30% off, while old titles are at 20% off. I’m going to buy these books eventually anyway. Thus, I’m buying them this weekend while they are at a discount.

Here’s another promo that they have that is so tempting to avail of. If you do not have many books yet from OMF’s line for children’s books (Hiyas), I suggest that you grab this promo. It would be a great way to build or update your child’s library!

The next booth where I will purchase several books is Tahanan Books. I bought several titles from this publisher online a few months back for our History lessons. I used the books to prepare my kids for our field trip to Dr. Jose Rizal’s house in Laguna. Tomorrow, I plan to buy more books from their The Great Lives Series to introduce more Filipino heroes to my kids. We already have a copy of the book on Rizal. This time, I plan to buy books on the lives of Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini and Antonio Luna.

Another book that I want to get for my boys in preparation for our yearly Advent tradition is are these Christmas books: A Child’s Treasury of Philippine Christmas Stories and 12 Kuwentong Pamasko.

I also plan to buy of this new children’s book about the prehistoric Philippines. Incidentally, one of the authors of this book, Divine Reyes, is a classmate of mine in college. I’m excited to see her again tomorrow at their book signing.

I also plan to go to Fully Booked for some books like books from the Geronimo Stilton series (which are my eldest son’s favorite), All About the Philippines (for our homeschool History and Geography lessons), the board book Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle (because my boys love pancakes for breakfast!), Thomas the Tank Engine books (for my second son), a book on the orchestra (the exact title I could not remember now) and GRIT (this is for me and my husband). Their books are also at 20% off.

But I will check the prices first of the Geronimo Stilton series and compare it the prices at National Bookstore. I will also compare the price of the Thomas the Tank Engine books in Fully Booked with those in Powerbooks or National Bookstore because I bought some copies of the Step Into Reading books on Thomas & Friends from these bookstores before. These will be my birthday and Christmas gifts to my boys. You see, I’m not the only bookworm in the family. 😉 A bookstore or a book fair is heaven for all of us!

There are other books that I also want to buy like Making Christmas Count from Pauline’s. We already have some titles from this series. I think this title would be a great addition to our Christmas books. But since they have a promo of Buy 5 and you get the books at P90 instead of P100, I’m not sure if I can stick to my plan.

There are more titles that I want to buy from other publishers and booths. But this post already long, just like my shopping list for tomorrow.

Let me end with the last booth I want to visit, Heartshapers at Aisle Q, booth numbers 87-88. This is owned by a friend and a former owner of the group of companies where I was a former HR Manager. I got our educational videos from them including The Magic School Bus videos. If you follow me on Instagram, you are familiar with these because I often post photos of these videos and the other educational videos that I use to teach my kids Science and values.

Again, if you are a first-time parent, I encourage you to buy books, toys, and other educational materials at the MIBF so you can save a lot of money. If you are a homeschooler like us, the more that you need to go to this event! If you are a bookworm and book lover like me, I’m sure you will enjoy exploring SMX, MOA this weekend. Let me just warn you that you might go beyond your budget. 😉

When are you going to the book fair? Feel free to leave a comment to share what you plan to buy or what you bought.

Photo credits:

Titles from OMF Literature taken from their Facebook page.

Titles from Tahanan Books taken from their website.