When you think of February 14, do you imagine cards, chocolates, hearts and roses? Many people think of it as the day of love, while others consider Valentine’s Day a commercial holiday, pushed on us by greeting card companies.
At the NWT Literacy Council, we celebrate February 14 by marking International Book Giving Day.
Each year we deliver books to groups around Yellowknife for their programs or to give away to clients. We have visited the YWCA, Centre for Northern Families, Literacy Outreach Centre, Tree of Peace, Native Women’s Association of the NWT and more. We have also sent books out to NWT communities. If you want to receive a visit from us on February 14, or to be mailed a package, please contact katie@nwtliteracy.ca.
Would you like to share your love of reading with your community? Here are some ideas of ways to celebrate International Book Giving Day.
- Host a community book exchange. Members of your community can bring used books and swap them with others. You can find tips for this in our Community Book Swap How to Kit.
- Host a read-in at lunch. Invite families and community members to your school or community hall to share lunch or dinner, and spend the time reading together. You could invite storytellers, or have books on hand for people to read in small groups.
- Make your own books! You can make many different kinds of books with your family, class or Family Literacy program. It’s fun and then you can write any stories your imagination comes up with. You can find lots of book-making ideas in our Book Making How to Kit. We have five videos that show how to make different kinds of books on our YouTube channel. Kids can make books for their friends instead of buying Valentine’s Day cards.
- Buy books for your loved ones. Do you usually buy your loved ones cards and gifts for Valentine’s Day? You can buy them a book instead for the same price. They might treasure it much longer than a card.
- Host a Living Book Day at your school. Invite students to come dressed as their favourite book character, and to bring a book-themed snack. You can play games based on different books, have students paint scenes to transform their classroom into a book, or reimagine the illustrations in a well-loved book.
However you choose to celebrate, be sure to share it with us. Use the hashtags #bookgivingday and #bookgivingNWT on social media to let us and the International Book Giving Day organizers know all of the creative ways you celebrated. Look on social media, such as Instagram, for our posts too.
— Katie Johnson
