You may know that in many countries around the world, February 14th is Valentine’s Day and is a celebration of love. You may not know, however, that since 2012, February 14th is also International Book Giving Day, a day when books are given to children, or left in places where children might find them!
International Book Giving Day now takes place in 44 countries. Do you know if it is celebrated where you are?
Countries which take part include: Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.
Any day that celebrates books and reading is a valuable day. In our post Once Upon a time…- the magic of story telling, we looked at how reading can entertain us, stimulate our imaginations, develop our creativity, enhance our cultural understanding, and help our language learning and development – and this is the perfect day to do just that.
Our recommendations for young readers:
One of my favourite books for children is called Why do Volcanoes Erupt? A fascinating read, it was perfect at a time when my daughter was obsessed with volcanoes and I learnt from it, too!
Laurence Koster, our Readers expert at the Press, agrees with my choice of Why do Volcanoes Erupt? for young readers, recommending the whole series: ‘Why Is It So?’ These books answer the questions children want answered like ‘Why Do Spiders Live in Webs?’ for example. Not only do children get an answer to the question (they make them to catch food, in case you were wondering, but I bet you didn’t know that not all spiders live in their web), they also learn about the habitats of other animals, like otters and bees. There’s a quiz and a glossary inside the book, and it helps them with their Movers test too.
Our recommendations for teenagers:
For teenagers, a great book, which is very accessible and engages with themes of war and loss, is Jojo’s Story by Antoinette Moses. I have given this as a gift to several teenage learners of English who have enjoyed being able to engage with meaningful themes.
For adapted fiction, rather than original fiction, then I love giving detective stories, such as Sherlock – you can’t go wrong with such a classic!
If you need any further inspiration, visit our website.
Are you feeling the love this month? Take a look at Gabrielle Palin’s post on The Language of Love.