Did you know there was an International Book Giving Day? I knew about World Book Day and World Book Night but a day for giving any used or new children’s books to children? What a fantastic idea. And having it on February 14th, a date currently destroyed by crass commercialism, even better!
Amy from Delightful Children’s Books introduces International Book Giving Day and gives three simple options that anyone can do: Give, Donate or Leave a book.
International Book Giving Day is a day dedicated to getting new, used, or borrowed books in the hands of as many kids as possible.
If you’ve read my post Biblioholism, you may have seen that we wouldn’t miss one or two books (okay, I’ll still miss them, I’m an addict – but it’s for a good cause…) so I’ll definitely be joining in.
The idea is to get books into the hands of as many children as possible. I live in an area where getting books to children isn’t such a problem, but there are plenty of charities that would love to have more books to give – Zoe from Playing by the Book has an extensive list of charities that accept book donations, along with more ideas.
You don’t have to rush out and buy lots of books for your local hospital. One book, one child is all it takes:
Has it been a while since you went to the library? Take your child(ren) and borrow a book that’s new to them.
Has that board book outlived its welcome? Leave it in a waiting room for a bored toddler…
A rainbow of touchy feely board books
What will I be doing? Well, I did mention there were some board books that needed a new home. To start with, a little pile of That’s Not My… books which have been well-loved but are still in good condition.
I will donate several books to my local Helen and Douglas House shop. Helen and Douglas House charity supports Helen House and Douglas House hospices. The sale of the books will help children and young adults with life shortening conditions and their families, plus the books will get to be loved again by whoever buys them.
I’ll also be giving a couple of That’s Not My… books to friends whose first children are coming up for a year old, because they’re just the right age to really start enjoying them.
We got to a lovely little church cafe / toddler group on Tuesday mornings so I’ll leave a book or two there too, as they don’t have many.
I think I might keep That’s Not My Dragon though, it was the first That’s Not My… book I bought for MG. Oh, but can’t I keep the Tiger one too? And DG loved the Monkey one, and I got the Dolly one after MG borrowed it from the library so many times… No, no, I will give them up for adoption, I will!
You can keep up to date with International Book Giving Day news via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or their blog. You’ll also soon be able to download an exclusive bookplate designed by children’s author & illustrator Clara Vulliamy!
To join in with International Book Giving Day, give/donate/leave a book (or several) and share the love…
Child-Led Chaos 
Fabulouso! Soon there will be a page on http://bookgivingday.blogspot.com/ where you can leave a link to this post – we’ll be collecting all posts by people spreading the news of #BookGivingDay. Am off now to write the post with Clara’s bookplate to download – it’s very lovely!
Thank you! I think we could collect a lot of books to donate to kids if we began with all of the bloggers who blog about children’s books! (:
What a lovely inspirational post! I think it’s a great idea to give books that are no longer used away! I must admit that I am rather partial to the ‘That’s not my …’ books too. On world book day at my children’s school, they have a book swap day. Every child is asked to bring a book in and teachers and parents can too and you simply choose another book to take home. I think it’s a great idea.
I’m loving this idea, plus the enthusiasm it’s generating – we’re in too – spreading the book love in Australia!
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