November/December 2002 Vol. 34, no. 6

Celebrating Canadian Children’s Book Week

Charlotte Teeple, Research and Information Services

A sunny October 30 found 50 Grade 1 children from Humewood Community School eating sandwiches, Oreo cookies and chocolate milk while being entertained with stories by TVO’s Reading Rangers at Toronto’s beautiful Casa Loma. The children were there to celebrate TD Canadian Children’s Book Week, "Inside the Adventure," which runs from November 2 to November 9, 2002.

In its 25th year, this is the longest running national bilingual book festival in the country and involves over half-a-million Canadians each year. It is among the most important annual events celebrating Canadian children’s books and the importance of reading. This year, more than 50 Anglophone and Francophone authors, illustrators and storytellers met to entertain children in schools and libraries across the country.

The children at Casa Loma knew that more than a terrific lunch awaited them. They were the first of over 450 000 Canadian children in Grade 1 to receive their very own English or French copy of When Jeremiah Found Mrs. Ming, written by Sharon Jennings, illustrated by Mireille Levert and published by Annick Press.

Right after lunch, Charles Baillie, Chairman and CEO of the TD Bank Financial Group, the organization that underwrites both Canadian Children’s Book Week and the book giveaway program, and the Honourable James K. Bartleman, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, spoke about their own childhood experiences with books and how important books are in their lives. Mr. Baillie announced the TD Bank Financial Group’s involvement with the National Library of Canada’s upcoming International Forum on Canadian Children’s Literature. TD Bank Financial Group will sponsor a national summer reading program through public libraries across the country.

Then, amidst squeals of delight and excitement, they handed out a book to each child in the room. While the children followed along with their copies, Sharon Jennings read the book to them and Mireille Levert showed the children some of the sketches she had made when she began to illustrate the book. The event ended on a high note with a visit from Franklin the Turtle and Elliot Moose, two famous characters from Kids Can Press books.