WILD READING: The Sài Gòn Zoo and Botanical Garden is working with Trẻ (Youth) Publishing House to offer a reading area called “Reading Space for Children” with quality lighting and interiors systems, bookstores and staff, and also facilities for eating and drinking. Photo courtesy of Sài Gòn Zoo and Botanical Garden

HCM CITY — The Sài Gòn Zoo and Botanical Garden and its partner, Trẻ (Youth) Publishing House, are working to offer a reading area, helping to spread the reading habit among children this summer.

The area at the zoo called “Reading Space for Children” will have quality lighting and interior systems, bookstores and staff, and also facilities for eating and drinking.

Trẻ Publishing House will offer Vietnamese and foreign books, comics, and magazines for children, many of which are new copies and feature topics on the natural world, plants and animals.

Best-selling books on rare animals living in Việt Nam by famous writers Hồ Huy Sơn, Trần Gia Bảo, Phương Huyền and painter Đỗ Biên Thuỳ, will be included.

Summer activities, such as painting clubs, games and sports contests, will be also offered.

“HCM City has few places for children to read. Public libraries often lack reading materials meant for them. We hope our reading area will be completed and attract children and their parents, who often park themselves in the zoo for the whole day,” said Mai Khắc Trung Trực, director of the zoo’s Animal Factory.

SPREADING THE HABIT: Reading spaces in HCM City help spread the reading habit among children. VNS Photo Thu Anh

The Sài Gòn Zoo and Botanical Garden, located in Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Street in District 1, was established in 1895 and is the country’s largest zoo and botanical garden.

It is home to hundreds of species of mammals, reptiles, birds, and rare orchids and ornamental plants. It has more than 1,500 animals.

It includes the Museum of Vietnamese History of more than 25,000 artefacts featuring the traditional culture of South Việt Nam.

It has worked with international organisations such as the South East Asian Zoos Association (SEAZA) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The zoo needs about VNĐ6 billion ($259,000) per month to care for and feed its plants and animals.

Nearly five tonnes of meat, vegetables, fruits and leaves should be offered daily. These ingredients, supplied by the zoo’s partners alongside its own farm in Củ Chi District, should be clean, fresh and meet quality and disease checks before processing by specialists.

The zoo attracts more than 20,000 people on weekends. — VNS