Second Annual Celebration of Canadian Children’s Literature, February 17, 2021
By Melissa Jensen & Anita Brooks Kirkland
I Read Canadian Day was held on February 17, 2021. It was the second year for the celebration and most events were pivoted into a digital celebration – with great success!
The event is a national celebration of Canadian books for young people, with the goal of elevating the genre and celebrating their breadth and diversity. I Read Canadian Day (IRCD) took place in homes, schools, libraries and bookstores all across the country.
The number of schools and libraries that registered to participate doubled from last year! This is significant: with pandemic stresses on education systems, many teacher-librarians and library technicians were not able to provide the same leadership as they did last year in their schools. The celebrations that did happen mostly migrated online.
What is I Read Canadian Day?
The inspiration for I Read Canadian Day came from best-selling Canadian 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 for children and teens. 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, in the summer of 2019. Out of that powerful day of visioning, I Read Canadian Day was born. The first annual I Read Canadian Day took place in February of 2020.
In its second year, Communication-Jeunesse (C-J) and Canadian School Libraries (CSL) were invited to join the steering committee. Other organizations have stepped forward with their support.
Why I Read Canadian Day is Important, Now More Than Ever
This year, now more than ever, the celebration of our Canadian identity through books was needed to engage young readers to read for pleasure and for well-being. IRC Day also provided a much-needed way for creators to promote their work. People with access to reading material, reported they read more during our “stay at home” shutdowns this year (BookNet Canada, April 2020). Others have had limited access to literature. Many school libraries were closed and in some cases, books were not circulated due to COVID-19 policies. This event reminds us that reading can transport us to places we can’t go to at the moment. So, now more than ever, it was important to celebrate the benefits of reading and celebrate our Canadian identity.
Building on Last Year’s Success
Awareness for I Read Canadian Day is growing across all sectors. Participating organizations volunteered marketing and social media expertise, translation, and promotion to engage members and the broader community. Regional committees were struck to ensure Canadian voices were heard from all regions. These hard-working volunteers spread the word about IRC via social media. They further updated and added to the I Read Canadian Day website toolkits for participants.
We were thrilled to see our parliamentary leaders step up with their support for I Read Canadian. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the point clearly: “We are all lucky, because Canada is home to some of the world’s best authors and illustrators.” MP Lloyd Longfield and several colleagues made statements in Parliament and shared their support through social media. The Manitoba legislature declared the month of February I Love to Read Month, and many schools linked this to I Read Canadian celebrations. This year we were thrilled to see several municipalities declare I Read Canadian Day, including Ontario cities Toronto, Burlington and Barrie. The local Rotary Club in Barrie even donated special flags, which were flown in front of city halls and schools.
Last year the school community was the driving force behind the celebration and this year Canadian creators took the lead. Several participated in the I Write Canadian videos launched on IRCD, and now archived on the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Bibliovideo YouTube channel. Authors and Illustrators created engaging online presentations for children via schools and public library programs. Several reflected on how I Read Canadian Day had helped them connect as a community. As Kevin Sylvester put it in one of his many Twitter posts,
“One of the things that anyone following @ireadcanadian day tweet and social media posts should take away (apart from the excellence of our books) is that we are an incredibly supportive and connected community of creators. I am blown away by all the CanKidLit love and proud.”
Kevin Sylvester
As a new member of the steering committee, Canadian School Libraries contributed many volunteer hours, actively promoting I Read Canadian Day through our varied communications channels, and also connecting directly with provincial organizations to encourage local involvement across the country.
I Read Canadian Day Play-by-Play
on Twitter.
Creators Ramping Things Up
As the day approached, authors and illustrators contributed to the growing excitement with their own posts and social media promotions from I Read Canadian. Many people celebrated IRC Day by creating videos and sharing their favourite reads. Marty Chan hosted an amazing author’s celebration on Saturday, February 13th as the digital replacement for the planned in-store author book readings and signings. The video captured authors from across our vast country and celebrated our diverse readers and creators from coast to coast to coast.
Celebrity Endorsements: We are All Readers
Famous Canadians from all walks of life celebrated their love of reading and sharing Canadian stories.
and rock superstar Geddy Lee.
On the big day, we followed the #IReadCanadian and #IReadCanadianDay hashtags, which trended across Canada for most of the day! Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off the day with a special message to the young people of Canada.
Virtual celebrations kicked off mid-day, with a set of three videos celebrating books, authors, and illustrators. The I Write Canadian videos were hosted on Bibliovideo the exciting new YouTube channel dedicated to discovering great Canadian children’s books.
A highlight of I Write Canadian was host Wali Shah sharing the poem he wrote especially for Canadian School Library Day last October at the beginning of each video.
Schools Celebrate I Read Canadian Day
School participation was up significantly across the country, but celebrations were generally more subdued. In-school events were replaced by virtual events in many cases. The focus was on fifteen minutes of reading.
Students across the country had a great time reading Canadian.
Teachers stepped up to create excitement, despite COVID restrictions.
And a mask never kept a kid from enjoying a great book!
Read-alouds were very popular, face-to-face and virtually.
IRCD falls in the middle of Black History month. This teacher-librarian took the opportunity to feature Black Canadian authors for the school’s celebration.
Authors and illustrators made virtual visits, thrilling young readers across the country.
Creativity abounded. These students got some fresh air during their wintery IRCD story walk.
The theme Now More Than Ever hit the mark. On I Read Canadian Day, students across the country celebrated the joy of reading, of seeing themselves reflected in what they read, and seeing the world around them through others’ eyes and voices.
We look forward to seeing you and your students participating in I Read Canadian Day in 2022. Watch the I Read Canadian Day website for information!
Melissa Jensen is a recently retired Simcoe County DSB educator who is continuing her learning and teaching as a TVO Ambassador. Melissa has been reaching out to Ontario educators to share TVO resources via online sessions. She continues to support reading initiatives like Red Maple and #IREADCANADIAN Day as a committee member. Melsssa assisted in the development of the toolkits on the IRC website and encouraged her local Rotary group to fund IRC flags for schools and libraries. She looks forward to curating resources for IRCD 2022!
Anita Brooks Kirkland is the Chair of Canadian School Libraries (CSL) and co-editor of CSL Journal. She represents CSL on the I Read Canadian Day steering committee.