April 2021 Magazine

International Children’s
Book Day
Last month saw many of us celebrating World Book Day in our settings, with the traditional
dressing up as our favourite book characters. This month, we have International Children’s Book
Day, (ICBDO) which his similar, but different in that the focus is only on children’s books, although
it has a similar aim to inspire a love of reading and to celebrate the writing and publication of
children’s books. The date is the 2nd April, which is Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday and it has
been celebrated since 1967.
The day is organised by IBBY, (The
International Board on Books for Young
People) which is an international
non-profit organisation founded in Zurich,
Switzerland in 1953 by the author and
journalist, Jella Lepman. According to
their website, they have a lot of aims
within their mission which revolve around
helping children have access to books
with “high literary and artistic standards”,
encouraging the publication of high
quality children’s books, stimulating
research and supporting training
for those involved with children and
children’s literature. Their mission also
includes a pledge to “uphold the Rights of
the Child” according to the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child.
IBBY consists of 80 ‘National Sections’
from all over the world, so it is
truly international in its reach and
opportunities. Some countries have
established and well-developed
publishing and literacy programmes,
whilst others are involved in emerging
and pioneering work. What makes IBBY
important is that its members consist of
authors, illustrators, publishers, editors,
translators, journalists, critics, teachers,
students, parents and children so they are
well represented in all areas, and they
are actively involved in the production of
children’s books,
Each year, a different National Section
of IBBY has the opportunity to be the
international sponsor of ICBD. The
sponsoring nation decides 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. They then
promote the day through the media,
schools, competitions and awards and in
2021, it is the turn of the USA to host and
organise the events.
The theme this year is “The Music of
Words” which has been written by
Margarita Engler and the poster has been
designed by Roger Mello from Brazil.
How to celebrate ICBD in your
setting
Authors write books to be read and as
early years practitioners, part of our remit
is to promote the lifelong love of reading.
But once it’s been written, a book can
take on a life of its own and there are
many different ways in which that book
can be enjoyed and a myriad of learning
opportunities that can be devised if you
begin to think of books as more than just
words on paper. Books create characters,
with lives and backstories, relationships
and problems. They increase our
vocabulary and develop our emotional
intelligence. They inform and inspire us
and allow us to explore new lands and
experience things that we might never
even have dreamed of, let alone have the
opportunity to physically sense. They teach
us how to respond in certain situations,
and how not to. And they can develop our
learning in so many more ways than by
just reading the book or hearing the story.
So why not take the opportunity this ICBD
to really think about how you can use your
favourite children’s books to develop and
enrich your curriculum? We’ve listed a few
ideas below to help you.
1. Read the book to the children. When
you read it, try to really bring it to life
using your voice and intonation to
deliver the emotions of the characters.
Think about changing the pitch of your
voice to create different characters,
and vary the pace and volume of your
voice to make it more exciting.
2. Make the experience a full sensory
story by planning things out. If there
is a seaside, can you incorporate a
sandpit or a bowl of water so the
children can experience the waves
and the beach? Think of some sound
effects that you could use and play
them during the storytelling. The BBC
has just opened up its sound effects
archive and you can search for and
download tens of thousands of sound
effects for free.
3. Once you have read the story, ask
the children questions about the
characters and what happened. Start
with simple questions such as “Who
was the main character?” and “What
happened?” but you can also move
on to things about their appearance
and background and eventually, even
more challenging questions such as
“Why do you think the character did
what they did?” Or “Would you do
the same if that happened to you?”
By doing this, you can introduce the
idea of social stories and start an oral
conversation about how these things
may help the children relate to their
own life and experiences, increasing
their understanding and vocabulary at
the same time.
4. Create a music-based activity
using the story. Think about how the
characters in the story move and
what they represent, then think about
what instruments or rhythms might
match those characters. Prokofiev’s
classic, “Peter and the wolf” is a great
example of using music to represent
different animals. You can even find
some interesting music clips online
or if you have instruments, get the
children to make their own. It will
stimulate their creativity and get them
thinking about sounds and what they
represent.
5. Dress up and improvise other
stories. Once you have explored the
first adventure in the book, get the
children to think about what other
things could happen. For example,
where else could the snail and the
whale go? What else might they
discover together? Or what happened
to Goldilocks when she got home?
You can help facilitate children’s play
by posing these kinds of questions.
You may be very surprised with some
of the innovative and inventive things
they come up with.
6. Do some arts and crafts. Use the
story as a stimulus for some arts
and crafts – it could be drawing the
characters, their clothes or houses,
or making a cardboard spaceship
inspired by a story.
So don’t stop at reading – explore,
create and inspire too!
28 April 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | April 2021 29