Embracing the Future.
In 2025, ARPress reached a new milestone by joining the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF), one of the Asia-Pacific region’s leading events dedicated to children’s and young adult content. Held from 14 to 16 November at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, the fair reinforced our mission to champion diverse voices and cross-cultural storytelling. With a history of participating in major global book fairs, ARPress welcomed the opportunity to engage with CCBF’s vibrant international community.
Approved by the Shanghai Press & Publication Administration and organized by major Chinese publishing groups, with Ronbo BolognaFiere Shanghai Ltd. as co-organizer, CCBF has been a cornerstone of global children’s publishing since 2013. Its partnership with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair reflects China’s “going global and bringing in” strategy, promoting international exchange and introducing outstanding global titles to Chinese readers. The 2025 edition hosted around 500 exhibitors from more than 35 countries across its 25,000-square-meter venue, drawing tens of thousands of visitors and showcasing thousands of new titles, artworks, and multimedia projects.
The fair featured two main zones: a Copyright Zone focused on rights trading and a Hybrid Zone blending publishing, marketing, and retail. ARPress was honored to exhibit in the Copyright Zone at Booth 2A17, presenting curated fiction, nonfiction, and poetry collections. CCBF’s renowned programming continued in 2025, with the Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition receiving over 15,000 submissions, the Illustrators Survival Corner offering masterclasses and portfolio reviews, the Children Plus – COMICS exhibition highlighting nearly 200 international comic titles, and the expanded Cross-Media Lounge spotlighting innovative global projects.
Across forums and seminars, international experts explored topics such as AI in education, inclusive storytelling, and global reading promotion, further strengthening CCBF’s role as a hub for cultural exchange. For ARPress, participating in this event deepened our connections across the Asia-Pacific region, enabled meaningful engagement with authors and illustrators worldwide, and affirmed our commitment to stories that transcend borders. As we welcomed partners and book lovers to our booth, we left inspired to continue nurturing global collaboration and advancing imaginative, empathetic, and diverse storytelling for young readers.
A few books were only featured in this globally reached book fair. One of the masterpieces featured is “Trashed or Treasured?” by Glenn Bryant Havumaki. This book isn’t your typical church-themed book filled with polished theology, distant language, or concepts that never touch real life.
Havumaki writes from nearly five decades of hands-on ministry with older adults—work that began in 1976 and continued through his long service as chaplain at the Elim Park Baptist Home. This depth of experience gives the book a lived-in authenticity. Aging, for him, is not an abstract topic. It’s personal, relational, and sacred. He reminds readers that every person, at every stage of life, is made “fearfully and wonderfully” (Psalm 139:14-16), and that how society treats its elders reveals the quality of its spiritual health (Leviticus 19:32). What makes the book refreshing is its tone: there is no heavy doctrinal weight or academic distance. Havumaki speaks through stories, gentle reflection, and pastoral wisdom, encouraging readers to see aging not as an ending but as an ongoing transformation—an opportunity for reconnection, renewed purpose, and rediscovered value.
Havumaki’s warmth, sincerity, and grounded presence shine through every chapter. Even after retiring in 2014, he didn’t step away from ministry; instead, he continued serving as a Certified Ministry Partner with the Christian Grandparenting Network. His life, enriched by a strong marriage, three adult children, and eight grandchildren, reflects the convictions he shares on the page. He is not writing theories; he is testifying to a lifetime of shepherding, listening, and learning.
The book’s central message—that older adults deserve honor, opportunity, and a meaningful role rather than marginalization—is a timely challenge to today’s youth-centric culture. One reviewer captured the essence beautifully: the book “focuses on the transformation of both objects and the human heart… he gently and skillfully guides readers through stories of discarded items and, through them, unearths stories full of hidden value.”
In this way, Trashed or Treasured? becomes more than a devotional—it becomes an invitation to reorient the way we think about aging, legacy, and ministry. For readers seeking a sincere, spiritually rooted, yet deeply practical approach to later-life faith and purpose, Havumaki offers exactly the kind of gentle, wise, and compassionate guidance that lingers long after the final page.
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