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Friday, April 1, 2016

International Children's Book Day

by Katie Wilson

Books by Roger Mellow,
2014 H.C. Andersen Award winner


211 years ago this Saturday, April 2nd, the notable Danish author and father of many famous fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen, was born. On or around the time of this special day, the International Board on Books For Young People (IBBY), celebrates International Children’s Book Day (ICBD), a tradition started in 1967. Every year, IBBY picks a different National Section member of the board to be the international sponsor of ICBD. After setting a theme, they pick a well-known author from the host country to write a message to children around the world and a prominent illustrator to design that year’s poster. This year, the author is Luciana Sandroni and the illustrator is Ziraldo, both from the host country, Brazil. You may read Sandroni’s message and see Ziraldo’s poster here.

Books by H.C. Andersen Award Nominees
Here at the Clarke, we understand the importance of collecting children’s books from all over the world. We have been fortunate enough to receive a large donation of  hundreds of books written or illustrated by contenders for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, IBBY's biennial top prize, over the past decade. We have also collected dozens of IBBY honor books by authors and illustrators not yet nominated for the prestigious H.C. Andersen Award. With over 50 languages represented, our collection does its best to celebrate International Children’s Book Day every day.


More international children's books from the Clarke
Later this month, the Clarke will continue the spirit of ICBD and reading across cultures with the 2nd annual International Children’s Books Read-In. We will have native speakers of over ten languages reading from our fine collection of beautiful IBYY books. This event will be held on Tuesday, April 19th from 3:30pm-6:30pm in the Park Library Baber Room. Stay up with the News and Notes blog or the Clarke's Facebook and Twitter profiles for more information.