News Release

2001-05

A World to Read

Ottawa, March 26, 2001  --  The National Library of Canada, in collaboration with IBBY-Canada, will celebrate International Children’s Book Day on April 2. The books on the IBBY 2000 Honour List, along with a retrospective of the Canadian titles that were on the IBBY Honour List between 1980 and 2000, will be on display at the National Library of Canada.

The IBBY Honour List (International Board on Books for Young People) is a biennial selection of outstanding books for young people from IBBY member countries. IBBY’s mission is "to promote international understanding through children’s literature". It is the very first travelling exhibition of its kind to includes 188 books from 44 countries in 37 different languages. This travelling exhibition was presented for the first time in Cartagena, Colombia, in September 2000. It will travel through Canada before continuing on to the United States and Europe.

The retrospective of 58 Canadian children’s books that have been included on the Honour List over the past 20 years will also be presented. Discover or rediscover the Canadian children’s authors and illustrators that rank among the favourites of young readers. It is a perfect opportunity to become familiar with the Canadian children’s books that serve as our ambassadors to young people all over the world. Original illustrations from Ian Wallace’s award-winning work Boy of the Deeps and from Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance will be included in the retrospective.

The IBBY Honour List exhibition will be presented in the sunken lobby of the National Library of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, in Ottawa, from March 29 to April 25, 2001. A catalogue of the Canadian books that have been included on the IBBY Honour List will be available for $10.00. Admission is free. From 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily.

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For additional information:

Josiane Polidori, Head, Canadian Children’s Literature

Pierre Ostiguy, Media Relations Coordinator