International Book Giving Day Coming Soon!

I’m delighted to join the crew behind International Book Giving Day coming up February 14th! It’s another way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Instead (or in addition to) …

We invite individuals to …

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.

In addition, we encourage people to support the work of nonprofit organisations (i.e. charities) that work year round to give books to children.

International Book Giving Day

International Book Giving Day is a 100% volunteer initiative aimed at increasing children’s access to, and enthusiasm for, books.

Many children in developing countries do not own books.

In the United States, two-thirds of children living in poverty do not own books.

International Book Giving Day’s focus is on encouraging people worldwide to give a book to a child on February 14th.

Chris Haughton designs the official poster for International Book Giving Day 2015!

The International Book Giving Day team are delighted to announce that Chris Haughton is the illustrator behind 2015’s official poster.

Chris Haughton has been an illustrator for over 12 years. His first children’s book, A Bit Lost, has been translated into 19 languages and has won 9 awards in 7 countries.

This was followed by Oh No, George! in 2012, winner of the Junior Magazine Picture Book of the Year award.

His latest picture book SHH! We Have A Plan (March 2014) won the AOI award for children’s books for 2014. (I posted on this book here.)

“I am absolutely delighted that Chris Haughton has designed this year’s poster. His unique, eye-catching style will help spread the word to encourage many more people to give books on 14th February 2015.” Emma Perry, IBGD.

Successes from 2014

2014 saw participants from across the globe donate books to many, many children. Reports flooded in from Fiji, Singapore, America, Nigeria, Canada, France, Australia, India, Czech Republic and plenty more! Books were left in hospitals, schools, trains, parks, playgrounds, free libraries were even set up especially for the day. Scholastic gifted new books to all the children at the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital, Publishing House Host (Czech Republic) provided books for children at a traveler’s centre.

2014 attracted plenty of media attention including a feature article in The Guardian UK, and a letter of support from Australia’s Children’s Laureate Jackie French published across the media. Twitter was abuzz with #giveabook highlighting tales of generosity as the love of books was shared. Visitors to the official website was double those seen in 2013 as International Book Giving Day continues to capture imaginations.

2015 is set to be even bigger! I hope you will mark your calendar to join us February 14th of 2015!

For further information, please contact Emma Perry at emperry@gmail.com

Website | www.bookgivingday.com

Twitter | @bookgivingday

Facebook/BookGivingDay

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BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.

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