International Children's Book Day

Celebrated since 1967 on or around the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen on April 2, International Children’s Book Day (ICBD) aims to inspire love for reading and particularly draw attention to children’s books. Every year, National Sections of the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY) take turns in serving as the international host of the ICBD deciding on the theme and inviting a prominent author and a famed illustrator from the host country to write a message to the children of the world and design a poster. The materials are disseminated to all the National Sections and via the Internet to promote the publication and reading of children’s books. This year, the National IBBY Section in Estonia plays host to the global celebration.

The IBBY is a non-profit organization founded in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1953. It represents an international network of people worldwide who are committed to bringing books and children closer together and promoting international understanding through children’s books. Its membership includes authors and illustrators, publishers and editors, translators, journalists and critics, teachers and students, librarians and booksellers, social workers and parents. The Estonian Section of IBBY was founded in 1993 and re-established in 2003. It is a non-profit organization with 35 individual and five organizational members that include librarians, writers, illustrators, researchers, and publishing houses. The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY), a private, non-stock organization serves as the Philippine National Section of the IBBY.

This year’s ICBD theme is “The Book Remembers.” It stresses the fact that in works of literature, the most accurate accounts of people in the past are those written at the time that these people lived.

If we are to have a nation of readers, we must begin to initiate our young into the love and habit of reading good books. Reading opens new horizons, develops the imagination, broadens one’s vocabulary, and enhances comprehension skills. More importantly, it nurtures in the reader a broader perspective of the world.

As we mark this year’s International Children’s Book Day, we hope our writers will develop books that will enrich the knowledge of the young and promote a better understanding of diverse cultures as well as respect for individual differences.