A record number of books will be launched during the International Children’s and Youth Book Fair that will take place in Chisinau during April 7 – 10. Claudia Balaban, director of “Ion Creanga” Library that organizes the event, has told Info-Prim Neo that there will be displayed about 15,000 books and launched 130 new books, which is a record number. The fair will involve more than 130 publishing houses from 13 countries, including Moldova, Romania, France, Germany, Sweden, China, the UK, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, Serbia and others. Most of the books will be sold at prices that are by up to 20% lower than in bookstores. The forum of laureates of the national contest “Parents, Grandparents and I – We are All Book’s Friends” will take place on April 9. There will be launched the volume “Discover the Story through Theater” that contains plays based on stories written by children in a contest. The fair also includes symposiums and conferences that will bring together librarians, editors, researchers, writers, and teachers from the country and abroad. The children who will visit the event will be given gratis a book, which is usually the Book of the Year in the previous fair. This year, the surprise book is Nicolae Rusu’s “Star Brothers”. There will be distributed 15,000 copies of this book. The first International Children’s and Youth Book Fair was held in April 1997.