Celebrating World Book Day

World Book Day is an annual celebration of the written word that takes place on April 23 (the UK celebrates in March, which makes it not quite a world day, but still). This day was chosen because it was the day Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died.

April 12 is also Drop Everything and Read Day, and the week of May 6-12, 2024, will also be Children’s Book Week, so you can use these ideas for those celebrations, too.

It’s fun to celebrate books in the classroom and at home any time, but this day is an especially good excuse to read, write, illustrate and talk about books.

Here are some ideas of things you can do in the classroom or at home to celebrate World Book Day:

Dress up as characters from books. There are so many great costume ideas out there but here are a few roundups to get you started: Crafts on Sea | Clean Eating with Kids (get the Diary of a Wimpy Kid printables from them) | Finding Myself Young | Desert Chica
Print and color or otherwise make bookmarks. I have a collection of printable bookmarks to color, and another one here, or you can get out your art supplies and have kids design their own. And if you want to make a big activity of it, you can even get kids to stitch their own bookmarks.
Design a reading fort. If you have room in your classroom or house for a dedicated reading space, you can actually make it, or just have kids draw a design for their own ideal reading space.
Write a book. You can make books out of a piece of paper with these instructions from Instructables, or use journaling paper with space for a drawing (you can download lined pages with space to draw from Paper Trail Design).
Show and tell or book tasting. Depending on the age of the kids, have them bring a favorite book from home to talk about, or write about a favorite book to share with their classmates. More on how to do a book tasting here.
Read books! If kids bring books from home they can share those, or pick from your classroom books. If the weather is nice you can read outside, or try something else fun like turning off the lights and reading with flashlights.
Host a book swap. Kids can bring books from home they aren’t reading and swap for others they might be interested in. Books that don’t get picked can go in the classroom or school library or be donated to a Little Free Library.
Go to the library. Speaking of libraries, if your family hasn’t visited your local library in a while, take a trip there. Or do a tour of local Little Free Libraries if your town has a lot.

If you celebrate World Book Day or any of the other upcoming bookish holidays, I’d love to hear what you do!

[Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay]

Next Plan Idea:

Learning about Deaf History Month

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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