For those new to this wonderful day in the literary world, please add 14th February to your calendar. It’s not just for giving your sweetheart a home-made card on the universal day of love but for another special reason…
FEBRUARY 14TH 2018 – International Book Giving Day
Emma Perry, creator of the wonderful book review website My Book Corner, is the brains behind this amazing book giving day shout out. This year, the 6th year running, she has teamed up with illustrator Elys Dolan to create the much admired poster to promote this amazing event.
Elys is an author and illustrator based in Cambridge where she studied children’s book illustration. She works predominantly with ink, newfangled digital witchcraft and coloured pencils of which she is the proud owner of 178 but can never seem to find a sharpener. When not doing pictures and making things up Elys enjoys growing cacti, working on her PhD about funny picture books and eating excessive amounts of fondant fancies.
International Book Giving Day is a 100% volunteer initiative aimed at increasing children’s access to, and enthusiasm for, books. It continues to grow from strength to strength reaching places such as Nepal, India, Canada, South Africa, UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Nigeria, Fiji, Czech Republic, USA, Cambodia, Hungary, Philippines and Romania.
On the 14th February, #bookgivingday, participants are encouraged to give books to children, this can take many forms, the only limit is the imagination.
What can you do? How about…
1) gift a book to a friend or family member,
2) leave a book in a waiting room for children to read
3) donate a gently used book to a local library, hospital or shelter or to an organisation that distributes used books to children in need internationally.
Maybe you can help promote reading within your local school and community and help introduce children to the amazing worlds hidden within the pages of a good book.