This week is Children's Book Week!

Children's Book Week is being celebrated in schools, libraries, bookstores and homes across the country this week. The event, however, isn't a recent one. In 1913, Frank Matthiews, the librarian for the Boy Scouts of America, cast the vision for a national Children's Book Week and traveled around the country to promote excellence in children's books. By 1916, the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association were sponsoring Good Book Week with the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1944, ownership of this event transferred to the newly-established Children's Book Council who administered the event in conjunction with Every Child a Reader -- a 501 (c)(3) literacy non-profit who still runs the event and instills a lifelong love of reading in children today!

This long history makes this festive week of reading the longest-running national literacy initiative in the United States.

Here are Some Children's Book Week Highlights!

• Official Events are being held in all 50 states from coast to coast! (You can find an event near you here.)
• Each year, the Children's Book Council enlists beloved children's literature illustrators to design the commemorative Children's Book Week Poster and Bookmark.Get the story behind this year's poster (currently featured in the sidebar of the Sparkhouse Family blog) here. Learn about the making of the awesome Children's Book Week bookmark designed by Cece Bell  here (pictured below).
• The Children's Choice Book Awards Program, which gives young readers the chance to voice their opinions about the books being created for them, will announce its winners.

• You can follow @CBCBook on Twitter for more information.

Celebrate Children's Book Week With Your Family

Come check out the Sparkhouse Family online store to gift your little one with a special keepsake for Children's Book Week!

Originally Published 5/3/2016