International Book Giving Day

31 Comments

IBGDWhat is International Book Giving Day? It takes place on 14th February each year and aims to get books into the hands of as many children as possible. Some facts:

  • Most children in developing countries do not own books.
  • In the United Kingdom, one-third of children do not own books.
  • In the United States, two-thirds of children living in poverty do not own books.

To support the day, you could give a book to a friend or family member, leave a book in a waiting room for children to read, or donate a used book, in good condition, to a local library, hospital or shelter. You can download book-plates from the site to include in your gift.

There are also numerous charities that work year round to give books to children. Ones I like are:

In the past I’ve sold an old banger and donated the (meagre) proceeds to Book Aid, collected books for Brownies, and taken part in an international book swap. This year, I’m supporting the Norfolk Children’s Book Centre which is acting as a focal point for sending books to the refugee camp in Dunkirk.

Happy Book Giving!

Books and Libraries ,

31 Comments »

  1. I knew nothing about refugee camps in France. The United States is such a big country and we have so much, but our government is doing so little in this refugee crisis. We are doing so little THROUGH our government. It is time for me to write to my senators and congressman. The books are good, but we need to do something about shelter, food, safe water, and sanitation. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Mine is just one voice — but it is a voice that will be silent no more.

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    • Thank you, Claudia. After I posted this, I read that at another camp, in Calais*, all the facilities that residents and volunteers have built up (churches, a library, a theatre, education facilities) are to be bull-dozed. There seems little reason other than to make life more difficult. I just thought it was wonderful that people in such dire conditions had created a community like that. Our own government is also doing as little as it can get away with. I despair sometimes!

      *http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/hope-and-community-in-calais-jungle.html

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  3. I’d not heard of this before, but the facts you shared didn’t surprise me. One of my friends on my course at university was quite proud (?) of the fact that she wasn’t a reader. I couldn’t believe she was planning on being a teacher and wasn’t planning on passing on a love of books to children!

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  5. Books are so important and the sad thing is that I have a couple of friends who own no books! I just don’t understand how they don’t feel the need to read. They don’t have Kindle or any other reading device. Other people would love to read and can’t afford a book, very sad

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    • I know, I always find it very strange when I walk into someone’s house and I can’t see any books at all. This scheme is one small way of helping by giving children books. Get’em young!

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  10. What a great idea! I grew up in a house where there were always more books to read than there was time to read them. It was shocking when my brother started teaching in New Orleans and most of his kids had never owned a book of their own. Anything to help with that is something I can get behind!

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