The 4th Annual National Give-A-Kid-A-Book Day

Children's Activity at Fallsington Library

Today, July 6, 2018, marks the 4th annual National Give-A-Kid-A-Book Day. This is the yearly celebration dedicated to getting books into children's hands over the summer. Literacy research has shown that the single best way to combat summer reading loss is to get books in kids hands. One way to do this is to give children books.

Participation is easy. All you need to do to is find a child and give that child a book. The child could be your own, a neighbor's child, a student, a grandchild, one of your own kid's friends, children in a homeless shelter. Just give the child a book and say, "I thought you might enjoy this." Some participants like to include a lollipop or other small sweet treat to send the message, "Reading is Sweet!", but the most important thing is to give a kid  book.

National Give-a-Kid-a-Book Day is dedicated to the many hard-working people and organizations who have gone to extraordinary efforts to make sure that all children have access to books. Toward that end each year on this day, we recognize these folks by placing them on the NGKBD Honor Roll. Past inductee's include Luis Soriano, Lisa Willever, Philadelphia's Words on Wheels, Dolly Parton, Leland B. Jacobs, Margaret Craig McNamara, M. Jerry Weiss, Joan Kramer, and The Children's Book Project of San Francisco.

If you wish to read more about these inductees and about the project you can find each year's National Give-A-Kid-A-Book blog posting here, here, and here.

This year's inductees into the National Give-A-Kid-A-Book Day Honor Roll are the following:

Donalyn Miller - Perhaps no educator in the past 10 years has had a greater impact on getting books into children's hands than Donalyn Miller. In her books, like The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild, in her blog with Colby Sharp, The Nerdy Book Club, and in her presentations at conferences around the country, Donalyn has become the leading advocate for children's independent reading in the country. Donalyn Miller has truly become the nation's book whisperer.

Project Night Night - Project Night Night provides "Night Night" packages to 25,00 homeless children every year. Each package contains a book, a blanket, and a stuffed animal. Project Night Night works with tens of thousands of volunteers each year who volunteer to bring a little comfort, joy and literacy to a homeless child's bedtime routine.

Fallsington Library - This tiny library in a tiny town in Bucks County, Pennsylvania is housed in a 150 year old Classic Revival building. The Fallsington Library offers many special programs for children and children who participate are given a coupon for a free book from the on-going book sale housed in a small room off the main library. A great way to bring families, children, and books together.

Readers are welcome to nominate candidates for next year's induction.

Take a moment to Give-A-Kid-A-Book today1