Celebrating International Children’s Book Day

In March, many of us celebrated World Book Day and lots of schools and nurseries held dress up days, with children turning up as their favourite book character. On Tuesday 2nd April, there is another chance to celebrate the great world of literature on International Children’s Book Day (ICBD), organised each year by IBBY.??

IBBY is the International Board on Books for Young People, which is a non-profit organisation representing an international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together. It was founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 1953 and has 80 national sections in all corners of the world. Each year, a different section organises the International Children’s Book Day and in 2024, it is the turn of Japan. The theme this year is “Cross the Seas on the Wing of your Imagination”, and you can show your support for the day by posting on social media with the hashtag, #ICBD24.?

Their mission is far-reaching and includes promoting publishing and supporting developing countries, including:?

• To promote international understanding through children's books?
• To give children everywhere the opportunity to have access to books with high literary and artistic standards?
• To encourage the publication and distribution of quality children's books, especially in developing countries?
• To provide support and training for those involved with children and children's literature?
• To stimulate research and scholarly works in the field of children's literature?
• To protect and uphold the rights of the child according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

April 2nd was chosen as it is the birthday of the famous Danish children’s author, Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote some of the world’s favourite children’s stories such as "The Little Mermaid", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Snow Queen" and "The Ugly Duckling”.??

Celebrating the day in your setting is a way to encourage children to read and appreciate books, but why not try to encourage other things as well, such as the creation and writing of stories this year to tie in with the theme of imagination.?

Ideas For You To Try In Your Setting This International Children’s Book Day

1. Publish your own storybook

Use children's book day to encourage the children to use their imaginations to come up with some stories. You can use a story dice or other storytelling scaffolding techniques such as games, cubes, pictures or ideas generators to help the children with their stories. Other techniques include getting one person to say one line and then ask the next person to say what happened next. When you have your stories, you can collate them together using a word processor and print your own copies. You might even consider using an on-demand print service to print a more professional book that includes several stories and use it as a fund-raiser for your setting or ICBD.

2. Read some stories from around the world

There are many children’s authors around the world who have written amazing children’s stories, who might not be as well known in the UK as they might be. This is a good opportunity to expand the stories that you read to your children by encouraging more international authors. Since Japan is the sector promoting this year’s ICBD, why not investigate the stories of Eiko Kadono, a prominent Japanese author and winner of the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award, who composed a poem as a letter to the children of the world for the day.?

3. Collect books to pass on to charity

Some children in the world have lots of books, and others, very few, so why not organise a charity book collection in your setting to try to help? The Children’s Book Project is a nationwide project which collects pre-loved books in good condition and passes them on to other children to help end book poverty. They have donation points across the country, and this is a fantastic way to help your sustainability too.?

4. Celebrate other types of books?

Although we all love a good story, there are many other types of non-fiction books that you could celebrate in your setting as well. From gardening books to cookbooks, information books to encyclopaedias, there is sure to be something for everyone if you look at non-fiction books. You could ask everyone to bring in their favourite non-fiction book and see what you can learn, or see a list of some favourite non-fiction books at: https://www.booktrust.org.uk/booklists/n/non-fiction/ for some inspiration. There will always be something to learn, and you could also try to follow a recipe and do some cooking, or try a science experiment, or even learn how to hunt for mini beasts.?

5. Hold a book swap

Organise a day for people to bring in books and swap them with other families within the setting. You could also get your youngsters to help organise the day for you by giving them simple headings to sort the books into such as fiction, science, gardening, cooking etc. If it is a success, why not hold it as a monthly club??

6. And of course… dressing up!

Everyone loves to dress up as their favourite character, so there is no harm in getting your little ones to use their imaginations and dress up on the day too.?