Children's Book Week

This week we are celebrating Children's Book Week!

May 4-10, 2015 -- the 96th anniversary!

Children's Book Week is the annual celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading.

Established in 1919, Children's Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes -- wherever young readers and books connect!

Children's Book Week is administered by Every Child A Reader, a 501(c)(3) literacy organization dedicated to instilling a lifelong love of reading in children. The Children's Book Council, the national non-profit trade association for children's book publishers, is an anchor sponsor.

Children's Book Week Highlights!

Children's Book Week is a truly national celebration, with events taking place from coast to coast.

In 2014, for the first time in the initiative's history, Official Events were held in all 50 states!

Each year, the Children's Book Council enlists beloved children's literature illustrators to design the commemorative Children's Book Week Poster and Bookmark. Download the 2014 Book Week bookmark by Steve Jenkins and order your free 2014 Poster by Robin Preiss Glasser!

Children's Choice Book Awards Gala! Launched by the Children's Book Council and Every Child a Reader in 2008, the Children's Choice Book Awards Program was created to provide young readers with an opportunity to voice their opinions about the books being written for them and to develop a reading list that will motivate children to read more and cultivate a life-long love of reading. Winners are announced live during Children's Book Week at the Children's Choice Book Awards Gala, the Academy Awards of children's literature. This year, voting will be open at ccbookawards.com from Tuesday, March 17 through Sunday, May 3.

History

Children's Book Week originated in the belief that children's books and literacy are life-changers. In 1913, Franklin K. Matthiews, the librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, began touring the country to promote higher standards in children's books. He proposed creating a Children's Book Week, which would be supported by all interested groups: publishers, booksellers, and librarians.

Mathiews enlisted two important allies: Frederic G. Melcher, the visionary editor of Publishers Weekly, and Anne Carroll Moore, the Superintendent of Children's Works at the New York Public Library and a major figure in the library world. With the help of Melcher and Moore, in 1916, the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association sponsored a Good Book Week with the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1944, the newly-established Children's Book Council assumed responsibility for administering Children's Book Week. In 2008, Children’s Book Week moved from November to May. At that time, administration of Children’s Book Week, including planning official events and creating original materials, was transferred to Every Child a Reader -- a 501 (c)(3) literacy non-profit dedicated to instilling a lifelong love of reading in children -- and the Children's Book Council became a CBW anchor sponsor. 

Today 

The need for Children’s Book Week today is as essential as it was in 1919, and the task remains the realization of Frederic Melcher’s fundamental declaration: “A great nation is a reading nation.”