New York, NY – January 29, 2021 – Every Child a Reader and the Children’s Book Council announce new plans for an expanded year of celebrations in 2021, including a Superpower Challenge for kids and teens and the mailing of official posters to triple the number of homes, classrooms, and libraries.

Bryan Collier is the illustrator for the 2021 official Children’s Book Week poster, with original artwork being created to reflect this year’s theme, Reading is a Superpower. Children’s Book Week will take place during two dedicated weeks of celebration — May 3-9 and November 8-14.

In addition, the illustrators for the 2021 official bookmarks are: Angela Dominguez, Paola Escobar, Ebony Glenn, Oliver Jeffers, and Aram Kim.

Shaina Birkhead, Associate Executive Director, said, “We are so thankful to all the incredibly talented illustrators for this year’s artwork.  As for the theme, the CBC team debated many, as we always do, and felt that Reading is a Superpower is an inspiring message for 2021. With the Superpower Challenge, we want to empower kids and teens, working with their teachers, parents, and librarians, to participate in fun activities and discussions about their own superpowers. We plan to create a national map of the U.S. filled with first names, age, towns, states, and superpowers! #BookWeekSuperpower.”

The poster and bookmark art will be revealed in March. The independent panel of judges who chose the poster and bookmark art were: Dahyna Garcia, James Jeske, Stephanie Seales, Rocco Staino, Shadra Strickland, and Sugene Yang-Kelly.

Carl Lennertz, Executive Director, added: “Shaina and the team took the lead on pivoting to our At Home plans last year, and we are eager to meet the needs of those at home and those back in the classroom this year. We will mail two posters to teachers and parents still at home to use in class and home projects during Children’s Book Week, as well as to schools, libraries and bookstores. Our goal is over 5,000 mailings versus our usual 1,500, in addition to our usual abundance of great online materials designed by CBC’s Laura Peraza.”

The QMC Group will be this year’s official poster sponsor. Birkhead added, “QMC has been our poster printer for many years, doing outstanding quality work. This year, they’ve offered to help underwrite the printing and mailing cost of yet another beautiful poster. We are very grateful to them for enabling us to triple our poster outreach and know that they do quality work for many CBC member publishers.”

Children’s Book Week will once again feature the announcement of the winner of the Anna Dewdney Read Together Award in May and voting in the fall for the Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards.

Registration Now Open. Interested schools, libraries, and bookstores, as well as individual educators and parents, can register online now for the May 2021 Book Week. This registration signifies a pledge to participate in some form during the week of May 3-9 and will allow Every Child a Reader to send posters to locations and homes.

About Every Child a Reader

Every Child a Reader is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that creates and supports programs that strive to make the reading and enjoyment of children’s books an essential part of daily life and a lifelong joy by providing free resources to all educators and parents to share with children and teens.