About
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, young people across the country participate by attending events at schools, libraries, bookstores, celebrating at home, and engaging with book creators both online and in person. The 2023 Children’s Book Week will take place during two dedicated weeks of celebration, May 1-7 and November 6-12!
To learn more about participating this year:
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.
Matthiews enlisted two important allies: Frederic G. Melcher, the visionary editor of Publishers Weekly who believed that “a great nation is a reading nation,” 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, the administration of Children’s Book Week, including planning official events and creating original materials, was transferred to Every Child a Reader, CBC’s charitable arm.
In 2019, the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book week was celebrated.
2023 Children’s Book Week Highlights:
Exciting new resources and materials are being created now. What to expect?
- Read Books. Spark Change. This year’s theme speaks to the power that books and stories have to inspire positive change. Books can spark change within an individual reader, a family, a classroom, or a whole community.
- Two celebrations, one in the spring and one in the fall, that allow kids to become directly involved, with adult supervision, as individuals and groups.
- Official poster by Rilla Alexander.
- Activities pages in English and Spanish.
- Exclusive 2023 bookmarks by six prominent children’s book illustrators.
- Find Your Spark Challenge with activities to discover and share the spark a book can make.
- Step-by-step drawing instructions from your favorite book illustrators.
- Follow #ReadBooksSparkChange to see how readers across the country are celebrating.
- Floyd Cooper Day on May 5 to celebrate the beloved children’s book illustrator.
- Free resources for schools, libraries, bookstores, for people celebrating at home, and for publishers and book creators.
- During the May celebration we will announce the winner of the Anna Dewdney Read Together Award, a picture book prize in honor of the late author and illustrator.
- A second week of celebrations, November 6-12, which focuses on engaging students at schools, libraries, and after-school programs. 2023 is the fifth year that two celebrations have been held with a special Educator Kit created just for the fall week.
More Resources and FAQs
