National Literary Holiday - April 2018

April is full of holidays for the reader in you to enjoy. 

National Poetry Month:  Began in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets and it's celebrated by schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets.  There are many ways that you can celebrate National Poetry Month such as signing up to receive a Poem-a-Day, buy a Poetry book, start a poetry book reading group, etc.  You can check out their website to see 30 ways to celebrate national poetry month.

International Children's Book Day (ICBD) - 4/2:  International Children's Book Day (ICBD) has been celebrated since 1967 on Hans Christian Anderson's birthday.  It is "celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books.  Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of ICBD. It decides upon a theme and invites a prominent author from the host country to write a message to the children of the world and a well-known illustrator to design a poster."  This year IBBY Latvia is sponsoring International Children's Book Day 2018.

National Library Week:  This year marks National Library week's 60th year anniversary which started in 1958.  Concerned that Americans were reading less the National Book Committee was created in 1954. "The committee's developed a plan for National Library Week based on the idea that once people were motivated to read, they would support and use libraries." The first National Library Week theme was "Wake Up and Read!"

National DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) Day - 4/12:  DEAR is designed to remind families to make reading a priority in their lives.  The date of April 12th is in honor of Author Beverly Cleary and creator of the books Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins which is a favorite book of many readers.  To celebrate National DEAR Day families are encouraged to take at least 30 minutes and enjoy books together. 

​Happy reading!!
How have decided to celebrate these holidays this month?  Do you have any favorite poets or poems?  Have you heard of any of these literary holidays before?  Have any of them interested you to start looking for them yearly?