We really enjoyed celebrating International Book Giving Day, which happens to be the same day as Valentine’s Day. We started out by selecting a pile a gently used books from our shelf to donate to a school for orphans here in Malawi that is doing amazing things. One of their students recently flew to England to be honored by the Queen for his essay that won the 2012 Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition. He wrote a touching essay entitled, “The Day I Wore My Best Clothes.” In my original post about International Book Giving Day, I wrote about the scarcity of books here and the fact that reading for pleasure is a luxury that the majority of Malawians cannot afford so I was very excited to find out that the school we are donating to is about to open a community library in addition to their school library and that they are always looking for books. We plan to make ongoing donations whenever we can and feel confident that our old favorites will be enjoyed by many, many children.
I also wanted to celebrate by giving a special book to my girls and so I ordered a personalized book for them that my mom shipped from the States a few weeks ago. I was really hoping it would arrive in time, but we are still waiting. Instead I decided to help the girls make homemade books to gift to each other.
They were really simple made out of paper, cardboard and a pipe cleaner but they were from the heart.
I asked each of my girls to tell me four things they liked about their sister and wrote what they came up with on the pages. The girls then illustrated them and I bound them together with the pipe cleaner. Kooks’s book to Boo read, “I like it when you play baby with me, I like to hug you, I like to eat birthday cake with you, and I like to do school with you.” Boo’s book to Kooks read, “I like to paint with you, I love to play blocks with you, I like to do coloring with you, and I love to play on my computer with you.”
They loved their books and spent a lot of the day reading them and asking each other to clarify the drawings in them. It was so touching to see them “reading” together and appreciating something the other had created. When I really look at the way my girls play I have to admit that more often than not they interact lovingly with each other but there are definitely days where it feels like all I do is referee fights and it is easy to focus on that and overlook the positive interactions. These books were just as much a reminder to me that they do in fact love each other as it was a special gift from one sister to another.
I hope you had a happy International Book Giving Day and a happy Valentine’s Day too! How did you celebrate?
Oh Jody! What a sweet idea of making their own homemade books! I love the first picture of them sitting down enjoying each other’s book, nothing like sisterly love! I’m also excited to hear that the school will be opening a community library! I’m sure the locals are excited too!
Thanks Frances – I like that photo too. It was really sweet to see them enjoying something the other had made.
Those heart books are awesome! What a special keepsake for everyone!
We have some books ready to donate, but need to find a local place for them…thanks for the reminder to get on that!
We also have our pile ready to go but haven’t made the trip to the school yet – I’m trying to make a plan for all of us to go rather than just send them in with my husband the next time he goes to town.
Now that I have a faster interenet connection, I can always upload your site. I just lover your ideas and creative ways you teach the girls. Well done. xxx
Thanks Andrea – I’m really enjoying reading about what you guys get up to too!
Lovely idea for them to appreciate each other.
Sounds like a perfect way to celebrate the day! I had Caleb make a book after reading your post about it and I think it was about his favorite thing we’ve done together. His books are all about dragons and race cars, but I think next time I’ll ask him to write about something more directed and something that lets him appreciate the people adn things around him. Great ideas as ALWAYS!
I’m so glad Caleb enjoyed it! Dragons and race cars do make for some pretty great stories!
I really like this idea of kids making books to celebrate International Book Giving Day! Thanks for sharing your story. Be sure to add a link to our blog hop here: http://delightfulchildrensbooks.com/2013/02/21/stories-from-international-book-giving-day/.
I just linked up – thanks Amy!
I had no idea that Feb 14th was International Book Giving Day! I love this and will do my best to remember it for next year. I *heart* books! And I love what you did with your daughters. I’ll be keeping this in mind for when my little guy gets older.
I love those heart books. Those are great. I also love to hear that there will be a community library. Good things!
Ack! I suck! I completely forgot about the book giving day! DRATS! I was so looking forward to sharing it with my girls. Sigh.
I suppose we can do our own late version……
I LOVE their heart books! And how wonderful to help build a community library!
These are just adorable and what a great idea to combine valentines and Book Giving day! We’ll be doing these next year!
What a lovely idea! We love books in our house. I hope my son continues to enjoy them as much as he does now.
Happy belated International Book Giving Day! I love what you did for your girls
What a sweet idea! And what a great way to encourage them to share what they appreciate about each other. I am going to remember this for when my boys are older! (Although I bet they will want to make books shaped by monster trucks instead of hearts
)
Hi Jodi! I have a small home daycare here in Dayton NV. USA. and I would love to send some gently used books your way! Can you please let me know how and where to send them, the kids would love to hear from you and share some pics with you as well..
Mary