Did you know that Children’s Book Week is only 65 days away? As you might expect, the Children’s Book Council, or CBC, is gearing up for the 2012 event and there are free goodies available!
David Wiesner has designed a poster for the May 7-13, 2012, event and you can get a free poster—or 25—for your classroom. You might already know Wiesner from his Caldecott Medal-winning books, Tuesday (which won in 1992) and The Three Pigs (which won in 2002). He also has two Caldecott Honor Books, Sector 7 and Free Fall. In 2011, he received the Illustrator of the Year Award from the Children’s Choice Book Awards for Art & Max. All of which, I’m sure, makes you eager to get your hands on a copy or two of the poster!
The CBC has also commissioned Lane Smith—of It’s a Book fame—to create a bookmark that can be downloaded and printed at your convenience. The bookmark (“It’s a Bookmark!”) also has a fun little exercise attached to it that kids will enjoy.
Children’s Book Week was established in 1919 and is the longest-running literacy initiative in the country, according to the CBC. The annual event includes author and illustrator appearances, storytelling, parties, and book-related events at schools, libraries, bookstores, and museums across the nation. As of today, over 35 cities are hosting author and illustrator events during Book Week.
If you’re interested in taking a peek at some of the past posters and bookmarks, you can view them on the CBC’s Pinterest boards.
Photo credit: The Children’s Book Council, Inc.