WHEN it comes to books, foreign authors and illustrators seem to have the inside track on stirring the imaginations of Chinese children.

That was obvious at the 3rd annual China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair, which ended yesterday in Pudong. Parents and children mostly ignored domestic books and flocked to foreign storytellers.

The three-day event offered more than 50,000 book titles from 300 publishers across the world. About 38,000 young readers and their parents and over 8,000 industry insiders attended the fair.