World Book Day raises awareness around the enriching experience of books

World Book and Copyright Day is a Unesco commemorative day celebrated on 23 April, because of its association with the death of literary luminaries such as William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.

“World Book and Copyright Day allows countries to bring attention to the significance of reading.  This is especially significant for our youth, creating awareness around the enriching experience of books with stories giving insights into different places and cultures,” said Amanda Rogaly, founder of BabyYumYum and Chief Mommy.

According to Unesco, the date pays a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone to access books, the most beautiful invention for sharing ideas beyond the boundaries of humanity space and time as well as the most powerful forces of poverty eradication and peace building.

“Unesco champions this day to highlight creativity, diversity and equal access to knowledge with a focus on promoting literacy and mobile learning,” said Rogaly.

This day also brings an opportunity to focus on literacy in our country and echoes comments made by Professor Mary Metcalf during her three-day lecture, South Africa’s School Crisis, at the University of Cape Town’s January 2019 summer school in which she said lack of access to reading material and textbooks are two of the main reasons that 78 per cent of South African children in Grade 3 still can’t read for meaning.

 “Literacy development has a far-reaching effect. It plays a key role in interacting with others, teaching children to understand and ‘read’  social cues and follow strategies for developing independence as they grow into adulthood,” Rogaly said.

Rogaly said books are a wonderful way of bonding with your child they also help your child expand their vocabulary and even show how to work through problems which are solved through the story line, while expanding your child’s imagination and their world.

Rogaly suggests the following to encourage your child’s love of reading and nurture literacy:

• Make reading a fun, tactile experience, using books with different textures of lift-the-flap books.
• Show the association between the words on the page and your reading by moving your finger along the sentences as your read.
• Use pictures to create talking points around the story.

“We encourage teachers, moms, dads and families to use World Book Day as an opportunity to expand our children’s world – taking them off to faraway places, both real and imaginary. By introducing our children to different characters and cultures we can teach them values beyond the story: to embrace diversity and our common humanity, entering into the world of possibility found in a book,” Rogaly said.