Five things you can do today to celebrate!

• Give a book to a child as a Valentine’s Day present.

• Borrow a book from the library, and share it with a child.

• Rifle through your bookshelves for children’s books that could use a better home, and donate them to a good cause within the next week. Consider donating your books to your local library, second hand store, children’s hospital, shelter, after-school program etc.

• Identify a waiting room with few to no good children’s books, and commit to leaving a book in that waiting room within the next week.

• Donate money or time to a charity working to distribute books to kids. A few excellent organizations working internationally to increase children’s access to books are Books for Africa, Room to Read, Book Aid International, The Book Bus, The Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Pratham Books.

Barney Saltzberg was inspired to write this poem after International Book Giving Day 2012.

Connect with others celebrating International Book Giving Day!

Can you imagine not being able to read a newspaper, a road sign or directions on a bottle of medication? Sadly, this is a reality faced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders living in remote Australian communities today.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation aims to raise literacy levels and improve the lives and opportunities of Indigenous children living in remote and isolated regions of Australia. This is done by providing books and literacy resources to communities and raising broad community awareness of Indigenous literacy issues.

Over the past three years the Indigenous Literacy Foundation has sent over 85,000 books to more than 230 remote communities across Australia. The books that our Foundation provides are brand new and very high quality and are carefully selected by a committee of education and literacy experts. Indigenous Literacy Foundation has launched Book Buzz, an early literacy project and has worked with communities on specific literacy projects, including translating books into local language and recording Indigenous stories.

The Foundation is an initiative of the Australian Book Industry drawing on its diverse range of expertise, skills and resources. It works with the support of the Australian Publishers Association, the Australian Booksellers Association and the Australian Society of Authors.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation’s major fundraising campaign in 2013 is Indigenous Literacy Day Wednesday, 4 September. You can help us in a number of ways:

1. Individuals can support the day by buying a book at a participating bookshop or making a donation.
2. Participating booksellers and publishers can make a donation or give a percentage of sales.
3. Schools can participate in the Great Book Swap or run fundraising events throughout 2013. Visit the website for ideas.
4. Other businesses, bookclubs and libraries can support Indigenous Literacy Day – register online.

Our mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of Australian Indigenous children by focusing on ways to improve their literacy levels.  We believe that a young child’s future educational experiences can be greatly improved through enjoyable and positive engagements with books in the family and community environment at an early age.

For more information, visit our website www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au.

Like us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IndigenousLiteracyFoundation

Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/indigenouslf

The Book Bus aims to improve child literacy rates in Africa, Asia and South America by providing children with books and the inspiration to read them.

One in six adults around the world have come through childhood unable to read and write, a situation mainly due to lack of books and opportunity to read. In response to this shocking situation, the Book Bus was founded with help get children reading. Our library work, book donations and assisted reading programme is helping strengthen the reading culture resulting in a more confident reading population that is better equipped for the future.

In 2008 the Book Bus began delivering books to schools in Zambia and mentoring children to read. Five years on and we have opened reading schemes in Zambia, Malawi, Ecuador and India where over 5,000 children now have easy access to hundreds of fabulous books that are relevant, fun and appropriate to their lifestyles. We look forward to continuing our reading schemes in 2013 with the aim of reaching a further 10,000 children by 2015.

How you can help the Book Bus

Help as a volunteer – Join the Book Bus Crew

Book Bus Volunteers are the backbone of our child literacy scheme, they inspire the children to engage with books through assisted reading, creative arts and plain old fun and games. If you enjoy working with children and can make the magic of a story leap off the page of a book then read on to see how the Book Bus can take you on the most rewarding journey of your life.  Each of our destinations offers its own unique attractions and whether you join us for 14 days or up to 4 months, your participation will transform a child’s life, and your own, for ever.

Help as a donor

Most children growing up in Africa, Asia and South America do not have books in their homes. This lack of affordable reading materials is the biggest barrier to reading and child literacy. The Book Bus distributes free books so that children can discover the joy of reading and become confident readers for life.

The Book Bus reaches over 3500 children per year. Your donation will help fund our campaigns to put children’s books into schools, libraries and homes.

Literacy in motion – keeping the wheels turning

The Book Bus fleet is what gets our volunteers and books out to the schools. These vehicles, their drivers and their volunteer crews put in heavy hours to reach remote schools and deliver our literacy support programme. We look after them well to ensure that we can maintain our service and continue to deliver into the future. Your donation will ensure that our 4 Book Bus vehicles are safe, well driven and well maintained.

For more information: www.thebookbus.org

Write to info@thebookbus.org

The Book Bus is a charity registered in England and Wales. No. 1117357

Barney Saltzberg was inspired to write this poem after International Book Giving Day 2012.

1. Add your name to our list of people celebrating International Book Giving Day! 

2. Email a photo to amy dot broadmoore at gmail dot com. You can view photos here and stories here.

3. Share a photo via Instagram by including #giveabook in the caption. Instagram users can view the most recent photos tagged #giveabook by clicking on the hashtag. Everyone can view photos tagged #giveabook here.

4. Participate in our International Book Giving Day blog hop. If you have a blog, share a story on your blog about how you celebrated International Book Giving Day. Parents, teachers, librarians, authors and others from around the world are invited to participate! On February 21st or shortly after, add a link to your post to our blog hop at any of our host blogs: My Book Corner, Playing by the Book, Mommy Labs, sharpread, Try Curiosity, Gathering Books, My Best Friends Are Books, Jojoebi Designs, Kids Indoors, Toddler Approved, se7en, Asia in the Heart and Delightful Children’s Books. Everyone is invited to stop by one of our host blogs after February 21st to read stories from around the world about how people celebrated International Book Giving Day.

5. Join International Book Giving Day on Facebook. 

6. Connect with others via Twitter. Use the hashtags #giveabook or #IBGD[location] (e.g. #IBGDLondon).

7. Get together with others in your community. Host a storytime session at your local library; volunteer at a nonprofit organization with friends or colleagues; or invite a local bar to host a Beers for Books event.

What about you? Which book was your favorite when you were a child? Which book do you recommend to reluctant readers? Which book makes children laugh out loud? Which book is particularly moving? Which book will you give to a child for International Book Giving Day?

Millions of children in India cannot read for two reasons: 1. their books are not in a language they understand, or 2. they are simply not affordable. This is the distance Pratham Books is committed to bridging.

One of India’s largest children’s book publishers, Pratham Books is a not-for-profit organization that was set up in 2004. Pratham Books’ mission is to see “a book in every child’s hand” and to democratize the joy of reading.

Pratham Books has published over 245 titles in English and 10 Indian languages. That’s over 1500 books, and most of them are priced below Rs. 35 — a price that makes it possible for children across India to discover the joy of reading.  The books, lovingly written and illustrated, cover a gamut of subjects from fiction to science, history, math, nature, and even bilinguals. Their stories are all uniquely Indian, with settings, themes, and characters to which children can easily relate.

So far, Pratham Books has sold over 10 million books and 10 million story cards and achieved a readership of 25 million.

In order to make books and stories available to as many children as possible, Pratham Books has created innovative products like story cards (available at Rs.2) and “library in a classroom” (a model for as low as Rs.6 per child). Pratham Books has also used new and innovative Creative Commons licenses for some books.

Pratham Books realized that it was not possible to achieve its mission — “a book in every child’s hand” — on its own. For this reason, Pratham Books has been actively using social media platforms to build a strong online community to help promote reading. The online community has created more reading material than Pratham Books is able to create alone. The community has remixed content shared under Creative Commons licenses and given them new avataars – new books, audio books, translations in Indian as well as foreign languages, creation of iPad and Android apps, Braille and DAISY book formats.

Pratham Books has also invited community members to become Pratham Books Champions and to conduct storytelling sessions on a specific day. The last Champions event saw 250+ people volunteer to conduct storytelling sessions across India and resulted in reaching out to about 20,000 children in one day!

With over 200 million children in India, a lot needs to be done to see “a book in every child’s hand.” If you would like to be a part of this movement as a writer, illustrator, publisher or volunteer at Pratham Books, please email us at info@prathambooks.org.

Book Aid International is an international charity that believes books can change lives. Each year, we strive to send as many books as we possibly can to communities in sub-Saharan Africa. There the books are vital for education, improving literacy, providing information and underpinning development.

As you’ll see from this video — which shows libraries in Kenya and Nairobi — books bring all sort of practical support. From teaching children to improving livelihoods. From feeding imaginations to expanding horizons. From giving voice to simple stories to uniting feuding communities.

In 2012, with the incredible support of publishers and donors, we:

• sent 543,280 books to 200 partner organisations in 12 African countries,
• increased access to books for 21,000 school children in 45 schools in Zanzibar and the Kagera region of Tanzania via our School Library in a Box project,
• transformed 16 community libraries in rural Uganda, Zanzibar, and the Mathare slum in Nairobi, and
• extended our successful children’s book corner project from Kenya and Tanzania into Uganda.

In short, in various ways, books mean hope. Books really can change lives. Your support for International Book Giving Day will mean a tremendous amount to the communities that we work with.

Thank you.

If you are interested in supporting Book Aid International’s work, you can donate or volunteer. Book Aid International volunteers stamp and pack books, collect donated books from book publishers and raise money. Book Aid International accepts book donations solely from book publishers. If you are a publisher and are interested in donating books to Book Aid International, see Become a Book Donor.

Those of you in London are invited to celebrate International Book Giving Day by volunteering for Book Aid International! On February 26th, help stamp, sort and pack books at Book Aid International’s London office. With as many as 13,000 books to pack in one evening to send to partners in Africa, this volunteer opportunity will combine good, hard work with drinks, nibbles, socializing and learning more about Book Aid International. Since places will be limited, Book Aid International urges those of you interested in volunteering to contact Grace for further information: Grace[dot]Allingham[at]book-aid[dot]org

In 1988, Tom Warth took a life-changing trip. Warth, a British immigrant to the United States with a life-long passion for literacy, met a Ugandan woman while she was visiting her children in the United States. Tom was thrilled to plan a visit to the woman’s home in Jinja, Uganda. Though the second largest city in Uganda, Jinja is off the beaten path and often missed by tourists.  

Books for Africa Founder Tom Warth (center) hiked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money to ship books to Africa.

Wandering about one day, Warth and his hostess came across the local library. Warth was astonished to find its shelves so empty. What few books he saw were tattered and at least 25 years old. The site inspired him to return to the United States with a mission: to end the book famine in Africa. Upon his return, Warth and a handful of other book lovers met and formed what was to become Books For Africa.

After 25 years of operation, Books For Africa has become the largest shipper of donated educational materials to the African continent in the world. Warth has inspired people to give the gift of literacy in many ways over the years. One of the most unique ways is to host grand “book walks” that bring in big crowds and cross great distances. Here, Warth gives you some insight on how to organize your own book walk.

As the Founder of Books For Africa, now in its 25th year, I suppose I have an advantage. My emphasis with all my events — which have thus far included climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, walking across The Gambia, climbing to the highest point in Minnesota and walking from Lake Michigan to the South Dakota/Minnesota border — is to raise money to ship books to Africa. (Other organizations might raise money to purchase books.) In the case of the overseas projects, I solicit all my friends and Books For Africa supporters for donations for completion of the effort.

If you organize a local book walk, the first aim is to get friends and supporters to join you in the endeavor. They can then, in turn, solicit funds or more walkers. In recent years communication over the internet has made fundraising for such projects much easier to accomplish. I recommend the Razoo website for accepting donations. Razoo charges non-profits a lower donation processing fee than some other fundraising websites.

Book walks are a lot of fun. At present, I am developing an interesting and scenic walking route from Menomonee, Wisconsin, to St. Paul, Minnesota, for a three day, 60+ mile walk that will take place at the end of April (April 26-28). Each day will be divided into two legs of 10+ miles each, and we will consider an individual to have participated if they complete as little as one leg.

The University of Wisconsin – Stout in Menomonee, Wisconsin, has given the children of Africa perhaps half a million dollars worth of college-level books over the years. Those of us participating in the walk will each carry a symbolic book on the first part of its journey to Africa. We will also get good exercise, generate PR for the University of Wisconsin and Books For Africa and raise funds to ship books to children in Africa.

Readers in the Upper Midwest of the United States who are interested in participating can contact Books for Africa.

Alice König volunteers for Book Aid International as a community ambassador. As a community ambassador, König raises money for Book Aid International and promotes reading in her community. König became a community ambassador because she believes in the importance of Book Aid International’s work: “Books, literacy and education are so key to aid and development, and the work of Book Aid International not only changes lives — it has the power to change the future.” For more information about becoming a Book Aid International community ambassador, see Book Aid International’s website.

As a community ambassador, Alice König has raised money for Book Aid International in a variety of ways. Organizing a storytelling session is one way to both raise money and promote reading.

Alice König leads a storytime session.

Children’s storytelling sessions are a wonderful way to share the joy of books and do a bit of fundraising at the same time.

To begin, choose an age group for you storytelling session. Will you aim the session at toddlers and pre-schoolers, five to eight-year-olds or older kids? Once you know who you are reading for, pick a theme; it might be Africa, Christmas around the world, tigers, space – anything you like. You might want to collect a few pictures, a map, or some toys or other props to help you introduce the theme at the start of the session. Let the children pass the objects around. Ask the children what they know about your theme. It is great fun to share ideas, and it warms them up for what’s to come.

Next, you will need to find some stories. Several short stories, which offer different perspectives on the theme, are always better than one or two long passages. You want to keep the children’s attention and give them plenty to think about. It is always best if you can find stories that kids have not read before. (There are plenty of book recommendations online as well as in bookshops. Your local librarian might have some good suggestions.) It is fun if you can get the children involved in some of the storytelling by giving them roles to play and taking along props or clothes to help them play their parts. Variety is important, so mix plain storytelling with acting stories out. You might even throw in a song or a poem or two.

Themed crafts following the storytelling are good for helping children think more about what you have been talking about. They might make Africa-themed bookmarks, Christmas tree decorations, rockets, animal pictures or something else. Build plenty of choice and decision making into the crafts you prepare so that children can innovate for themselves within the basic template.

Choosing a good venue and publicizing your event are both important. You might try approaching your local library to see if they would be happy to host your session. You might find a friendly local café that would be happy to host. The nicer the venue, the more likely it is that people will come. Cafés are an excellent option because they give the grown-ups a chance to relax and enjoy a cuppa. Put posters up in local schools and nurseries, but do not forget to advertise through social networking media too. Word of mouth is often the most effective way of publicising an event. Ask people to book ahead of time so you know how much craft material to prepare!

Finally, think about whether there are any child protection issues you need to consider. Does the host venue have public liability insurance? Will you allow parents to take photographs of the session? Will you expect parents to stay or leave their children in your care?

You do not have to own tons and tons of books or even be a grownup to organize your own book drive. BookEnds works with over 20,000 kids every year who run student book drives. It does not matter if you are 4, 14, or 74 years old, you can help get books to eager and needy readers. But there are a few things you’ll need to think about.

Student volunteers in Los Angeles, California, in the United States organize a book drive.

Before you begin, ask yourself what would my life be like without books? Would I use fewer words? Would I know less about important historical events and scientific discoveries? Would I think differently and have a different perspective? Would I be less imaginative? Answering these questions can help you decide why you want to make a difference and can help you inspire your friends and neighbors.

To begin, set a goal for the number of books you want to collect. Dream big! You will probably realize that the number of books you want to collect is bigger than the number of books you own, so you will need some support. Reach out to as many people as possible. Tell everyone what you are doing, and ask for their help. Evangelize! Advertise! If you collect books by yourself, you may collect enough books to supply a classroom full of children with exciting new reading material. With the help of your friends, who knows? You may collect enough books to fuel the imaginations of an entire school in need of books.

Next, consider how you will market your book drive. In order to reach your fantastically high goal, you will want to make it as easy as possible for people to bring you their books. Where will people bring their books and when? (Note: Establishing start and finish dates for your book drive is key!) Will you set out bags or boxes to collect books in? How will you manage the collections so they do not overflow? Make sure to tell people what types of books you are looking for! Are you collecting only children’s books? Are you collecting only books that are new or in good shape? Only one in every million children will develop a LOVE of reading from “How to Properly Stain Your Deck for April Showers.”

Once you have finished collecting books, you only have a couple more steps. You will want to sift through the books in your collection pile and make sure they are all appropriate books to donate, and, of course, you will want to COUNT THEM! Regardless of whether you meet the goal you set for motivation, it is a great feeling to know how many valuable resources you will be providing to improve literacy!

Finally, take a breath. Give yourself a high-five, a wink or a pat on the back. Use your imagination to see your books placed in the hands of others who really need them. Realize how simple it is to make a difference.