By Anita Brooks Kirkland
The first ever I Read Canadian Day, held on February 19, 2020, can only be counted as a spectacular success, and school library professionals played an important role in making this so.
This national day of celebration for Canadian books was designed to empower students, families, schools, and libraries to read a Canadian book for 15 minutes and inspire a lifelong love of reading. The final number is not in, but as of February 4, a week and a half before the day, over 1500 schools had signed up.
The inspiration behind the creation of I Read Canadian Day came from author Eric Walters.
Concerned about the dramatic drop in sales of Canadian books over the past decade, Walters looked for allies in presenting a united voice to draw attention to Canadian books. He found support from the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP), the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC), and the Ontario Library Association (OLA), who together hosted a summit of leaders from a broad spectrum of organizations with an interest in championing Canadian writers and writing. Out of that powerful day of visioning, I Read Canadian Day was born.
Canadian School Libraries (CSL) was represented at the summit, and has continued to contribute to the initiative. A CSL committee wrote a toolkit of ideas, that is available on the I Read Canadian Day website. This journal published a fabulous article by author Paul Coccia in the fall edition (I Read Canadian Day: On February 19, We Stand on Guard to Read) that inspired many in the school library world to come on board with the idea. CSL has gone all out on promoting the day on social media. It was clear that the idea had hit a nerve, and the response has been phenomenal.
I Read Canadian Day Play-by-Play
On the big day, we followed the #IReadCanadian and #IReadCanadianDay hashtags, which were trending for most of the day! And this is what we saw.
So many organizations working together to make this happen meant that I Read Canadian Day got national attention, and we were excited to see political leaders and celebrities reading Canadian:
Authors were front and centre of course, sharing inspiration on social media and visiting schools to read and interact with students:
The day was a not only a celebration of Canadian literature but also a celebration of the whole school reading community at so many schools. Some school boards took I Read Canadian Day district-wide!
And in this case, a school district co-hosted the launch of the day with Canadian authors on hand to help celebrate:
The focus was on reading, and that’s what students did, on their own, with their reading buddies, and in their reading communities:
School administrators took leadership, reading with students and modeling a love of reading Canadian books:
Celebrations, be they big and loud or small and intimate made a big impression:
And we celebrated from coast to coast – from Newfoundland and Labrador all the way to British Columbia:
Creative leadership abounded, with wonderful ideas for sharing the excitement in Canada’s school libraries:
Technology for learning and reading engagement worked together:
Eric Walters’ goal of uniting with one voice to support Canadian writing and writers was realized in a spectacular way in Canada’s school libraries:
I Read Canadian Day drew attention to Canadian books, writers and illustrators, but also brought attention to the role of school libraries and the people who work in them in connecting those books with young readers:
I Read Canadian Day brings us all together to celebrate all Canadian books. Some remarkable themes emerged as schools celebrated on February 19.
- The leadership from school libraries helped to make this happen. Teacher-librarians and all school library professionals shone as literacy leaders in their schools and across the country.
- The creativity that was showcased by this day was amazing. The ideas that people came up with were truly inspiring, and we hope to capture these ideas to provide inspiration for next year’s celebration.
- I Read Canadian Day did its job in raising awareness. Students love reading Canadian books, and some discovered that their favourites are by Canadian authors.
- School library professionals increased their own awareness of Canadian writers and writing. Building on their existing mission to bring the best possible books to students, many are now exploring the full and diverse range of Canadian books to add to their collections and to promote in their school’s reading community.
I Read Canadian Day 2019 was a spectacular success. We can’t wait for next year’s celebration!
Anita Brooks Kirkland is the Chair of Canadian School Libraries, and an avid reader of everything Canadian!