According to Kanoon General Directorate for Public Relations and International Affairs, the Kanoon’s mobile theater in Tehran Province has been set up next to the Kanoon’s booth at the 36th Tehran International Book Fair, and during the days of the fair, it hosts programs such as presenters and puppets, story plays, movement games, and competitions for children and young adults.
"Storytelling" and poetry reading with the puppet "Shadi"
All the programs planned by this mobile theater are about books and are aimed at promoting books and reading, and introducing Kanoon and its books. After each "storytelling" program, the book from which the story was told is introduced to the children, and the children are invited to visit Kanoon’s booth.
In this mobile theater, an attempt has been made to increase the attractiveness of the programs by using play tools, music, and puppets. The puppet "Shadi" reads the poem "Kind Friend" to the children from her special book that has puppet characters, and the children accompany her and recite the poem.
The story of the play "The Old Man and the Old Woman", which is taken from one of the Kanoon’s books, is told to children and young adults visiting the book fair.
Music, puppets, and stories are effective tools for conveying messages
Maryam Fahimpour, the head of the mobile theater located at the book fair, a storyteller and performing arts expert, pointed out that promoting the culture of books and reading through puppets is very effective, and said: Conveying a message without using tools will have a very short-term impact, but when we use music, puppets, and stories, the impact of words increases and will remain in the minds of children.
Fahimpour clarified: We invite children to participate during the performance so that they have a role, see, and enjoy. In this way, our material about reading is placed in their subconscious. In my experience, I have found that tools are very helpful in conveying the message.
Our goal is to convey the message in the shortest possible time
According to the person in charge of the mobile theater located at the book fair, with a tool like puppets, we can enter the mental space of children in the shortest possible time. A path that might have to be covered in several sessions and hours can be covered in 10 minutes with puppets and storytelling.
She considered puppetry, storytelling, and music to be the most important language for conveying educational concepts, including cultural, religious, health, and communication skills, to children, and added: "Our goal in this theater is to shorten time and make the goal permanent. In other words, we try to convey messages centered on reading to children in the shortest possible time."
The storyteller and performing arts expert said: When a child stays after the end of the play and storytelling and expects the storyteller to hug him, we realize that we have done our job well.
Maryam Fahimpour, a storyteller and performing arts expert, and Mozhdeh Zakariapour and Zeinab Alavi, puppeteers and art instructors of Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, perform a program for visitors at the Kanoon’s mobile theater in Tehran Province, next to the Kanoon’s booth at the 36th Tehran International Book Fair.
Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults will be present at the 36th Tehran International Book Fair by setting up three booths in the northern section of the Children and Adolescent Publishers, the General Publishers Hall (Shabestan), Aisle 18, Booth No. 581, and the Educational Publishers Hall (specially for the ILI), as well as the virtual section of the Tehran International Book Fair at book.icfi.ir.
The 36th Tehran International Book Fair is being held from May 7 to 17, 2025 at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla in Tehran.