This year, the whole world celebrates Children's Book Day – April 2. This year, IBBY is the organizer of the international event. The honor for 2018 goes to Latvia, and the motto is “Small is big in a book” by the writer Inese Zandere; the poster is by the illustrator and animator Reinis Petersons. Latvia has been a member of IBBY for 25 years, and in 2018 it celebrates 100 years of its independence.
Inese Zandere was born in 1958 – she is a poet, writer and editor, as well as an activist for the promotion of reading. She has published over 30 books, translated into German, English, Estonian, Arabic, etc. Inese is the winner of numerous international awards, and in 2017 she was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award by IBBY Latvia.
Reinis Petersons was born in 1981, and his first illustrated book was released in 2017. He has become one of the most productive contemporary artists in Latvia with more than 20 illustrated works. He was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2014, and for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2013 and 2017.
Their message is aimed at the “little man” who thinks he is just a link in the chain, but everyone has their place in the big world. Everything strives for order: rhythmic text, rows of letters, page design, the appearance of the book as a whole. The big is formed from the small, as it is in children's books. A book is a mystery in which we can discover unseen things that are beyond our reach. A children's book symbolizes respect for the greatness of the small. You can read the full message below.
In Bulgaria, for the seventh consecutive year, on April 2, a National Campaign to Encourage Reading, the “Book March,” begins. This year, the “March” focuses on early childhood reading and will accompany the first edition of the Sofia International Literary Festival for Children and Youth, April 18-22, Youth Theater. Throughout the spring of April, “We Read Together, We Grow Together!”.
The entire program of the march can be found on the ABC website.
People are inclined toward rhythm and regularity, just as magnetic energy organizes metal shavings in a physics experiment, just as a snowflake creates crystals out of water. In a fairy tale or poem, children enjoy repetition, refrains, and universal motifs because they can be recognized anew each time – they bring regularity to a text. The world gains a beautiful order. I still remember how as a child I struggled with myself over justice and symmetry, over equal rights for the left and the right: if I tapped a beat on the table, I counted how many times each finger got to play, so that the other ones wouldn’t be offended. I tended to applaud by patting my right hand with the left, but then I thought that it was unfair and learned to do it the other way – left on right. This instinctive aspiration for balance is funny, of course, but it shows the need to prevent the world from becoming lopsided. I had the feeling that I was the one who was responsible for the balance of it all. Children’s inclination toward poems and stories likewise stems from their need to bring regularity to the chaos of the world. From indeterminacy, everything tends toward order. Nursery rhymes, folk songs, games, fairy tales, poetry – all these rhythmically organized forms of existence help small people structure their presence in the greater chaos. They create an instinctual awareness that order is possible in the world and everyone has his or her unique place in it. Everything works toward this goal: the rhythmic organization of the text, the rows of letters and the design of the page, the impression of the book as a well-structured whole. The great is revealed in the small and we model this in children’s books even if we are not thinking about God or fractals. A children’s book is a miraculous force that promotes the small person’s great desire and ability to be. It promotes his or her courage to live. In a book, the small is always big, instantly, not just upon reaching adulthood. A book is a mystery in which something unsought can be found, or something beyond one’s reach. That which readers of a certain age cannot grasp with their minds remains in their awareness as an imprint and continues to act even if not thoroughly understood. A picture book can function as a treasure chest of wisdom and culture even for adults, just as children can read a book intended for adults and find their own story, a hint about their budding lives. Cultural context shapes people, laying down the bed for impressions that will arrive in the future, as well as for the trying experiences they will have to survive while keeping themselves whole. A children’s book signifies respect for the greatness of the small. It signifies a world that is created anew each time, a playful and beautiful seriousness, without which everything, including children’s literature, is just empty busywork.
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