THE EDITOR, Sir:
WHILE THE price of books in general has become ridiculously high, it is the price of children's literature that is of most concern to me. Is it a conspiracy to keep the nation illiterate and uninformed? While I understand that publishers (and writers) want to make a profit, I think the price of books, especially children's, is just too high. It borders on the realm of the unethical and uncouth.
When I was a pre-teen and even early teen in the late '80s and early '90s, I purchased books for $5. I could buy lunch and then after school buy a book, almost every day! Now, some persons may say, 'well, that was some 15 and more years ago' but if you check the price of books now, you will find that a child cannot buy lunch and one of these books in the same day (without doing some prior saving, etc.), unless, of course, that child gets over a $1,000 a day as 'lunch money'. That is just the point. It seems that only the 'rich' can buy books for their children, hence keeping the rest of us in the 'dark'.
So the country's sociological forecast is as lopsided as it will ever be. Actually, if I, as I've said, could buy a book and lunch in a single day, then tomorrow's children seem even more doomed to illiteracy. Note also that other items, not just books, go up constantly while one has to struggle to get a 'pay' increase.
We must all play our part in securing a better life for our youth. Lower the price of books. In trying to get a book published myself, I found that the most one book costs to be published is $80 to $100. Now even with mass production, tax and profit expenditure, a book does not have to be that expensive.
I am, etc.,
NICHOLAS ALEXANDER
nic7lex@hotmail.com
Kingston
