100th Anniversary Celebration Details

Join us in celebrating the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book Week in 2019!
This years’s slogan: Read Now • Read Forever

Add these key moments to your calendar:

• • February/March 2019: Resources/materials and 2019 Official Poster reveal

• • March 5: Release of 100 Years of Children’s Book Week Posters with introduction and text by Leonard S. Marcus

• • April 29 – May 5, 2019: Spring Children’s Book Week

• • November 4-10, 2019: Fall Children’s Book Week! Sign up information available this summer.

Thanks to everyone who made our spring week so successful! Over 3,500 events at more than 1,300 libraries, bookstores, and schools took place from April 29 to May 5. And now, sign-up is open for our special November week!

About Our November Celebration and How to Participate

Celebrate with us November 4-10.

Since 1919, Children’s Book Week has been celebrated across the United States. The longest running literacy initiative in the country, this celebration of books and reading for young people is closely connected with the rise and cultural importance of children’s literature itself. 

Leonard Marcus’ introduction in 100 Years of Children’s Book Week Posters, published by Random House, provides many fascinating details of Children’s Book Week and the cultural and social changes happening in America that made a celebration like this possible. The program began thanks to a passionate group of librarians, educators, booksellers, and journalists. The very first Children’s Book Week was launched in November of 1919 and was the brain child of Franklin K. Mathiews, librarian for the Boy Scouts of America. With the help of New York Public Library’s Anne Carroll Moore and Publisher’s Weekly editor Frederic G. Melcher, this national celebration had its start with an amazing poster created by Jessie Wilcox Smith and the slogan, “More Books in the Home!”

Since then, Children’s Book Week has evolved and changed in many ways – including moving from its original November timing to May –  but the essence of the program has remained constant. At its core, Children’s Book Week is a wonderful opportunity for kids and teens to connect with books and book creators, and to give teachers, librarians, booksellers, and educators a structured but fun annual occasion to celebrate the love of reading that takes place coast to coast all in one glorious week.

A 100th anniversary only comes around once, so this is a big year with a lot of new partnerships, resources, and events happening throughout 2019. Every Child a Reader, the organization that has had stewardship of the program since 2008, understands the importance of honoring the past, celebrating in the present, and looking towards the future. This is a celebration for kids after all, whose futures are bright and shinning before them. That’s why this year’s slogan is: Read Now ● Read Forever.

As part of our yearlong celebration, we invite teachers, librarians, and all educators to join us for a second week of events November 4-10, or if you are joining us for the first time, we welcome you! 

As part of our yearlong celebration, November will also mark the release of the final group the 100 Creator Corner videos, book creator videos for teachers, parents, librarians, and educators to share with kids. These are a wonderful classroom resource to connect kids directly with authors and illustrators.

Locations that sign up will receive:

• • A specially created Educator Kit: group and solo activities designed to get kids talking about the history of children’s books and their current favorites and inviting them to create their own stories and illustrations. This kit will encourage connection, collaboration and creation.
  • Inclusion in our national promotional campaign: locations will be highlighted on social media, on our website, and through national press releases. 
  • Details of an art contest for your students, with free books for the class or library as prizes.

Locations that sign up will be required to: 

• • Have at least one event during the week of November 4-10 that highlights Children’s Book Week, utilizing elements from the educator kit. Use of our official logo is requested but not required.
  • Share a short description of your event with us and provide a brief quote/testimonial about how the event inspired the kids in your care.

Sign up is now closed. Stay tuned for information on registering your location for our Spring 2020 celebration, May 4-10.

Email Shaina.Birkhead@CBCBooks.org with questions.

Artists for 2019 posters and materials:

• The 2019 Official Children’s Book Week poster, illustrated by the beloved Yuyi Morales
• A twelve-artist collaborative poster, to be revealed in stages throughout 2019, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, Eric Carle, Bryan Collier, Grace Lin, Juana Martinez-Neal, Barbara McClintock, Frank Morrison, LeUyen Pham, James E. Ransome, Erin Stead, Melissa Sweet, and Raina Telgemeier
• Original bookmarks, with activities, created by Selina Alko & Sean Qualls, Vera Brosgol, Jason Chin, Ekua Holmes, Juana Medina, and Jessie Sima
• Seven comic/graphic novel creators contributed to a Comic Activity Kit. Artists are Jed Alexander, Morgan Clement, Gale Galligan, Kazu Kibuishi, Yehudi Mercado, Chad Sell, and Judd Winick

See our 100th anniversary press release announcement here.