Going Global on World Book Day
There's a worldwide celebration of books and reading going on! Children in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the UK will be sharing stories and linking lives in a cultural exchange project coordinated by development charity, Book Aid International, on World Book Day, 4th March 2004.
Children in twelve countries will send out postcards, featuring drawings and messages, with information about their local culture ranging from favourite football teams, to foods and fashions. All their postcards will be collected together for a website exploration of global cultures at www.bookaid.org/schools
Ten events are taking place in libraries all across the UK and each of these has been twinned with a community library in the developing world - locations range from Namibia and Nigeria to Mongolia and Palestine.
The day gives school children a great chance to find out more about how people live around the world. Copies of the Encyclopaedia of People (published by Dorling Kindersley) have been donated and these provide a unique snapshot of modern life for more than 80 peoples inhabiting every region of the planet. Spectacular photography gives an intimate view of a huge diversity of cultures within a fragile and beautiful world.
World Book Day is a wonderful opportunity for children to think about books in a wider context; to talk about the huge range of cultures and people reflected in stories, and to learn about the wealth of history handed down through generations via traditional storytelling.
This project neatly combines a global exchange focus with a fun reading promotion event. It is organised by Book Aid International, the UK's largest book development charity, who support hundreds of schools and libraries in the developing world. One of the project's aims is to provide a simple, replicable event for overseas libraries. They can then use this to help them build a reading culture in their communities.