Supporting the belief that all children should have access to great Canadian books, regardless of their background or socioeconomic status, the TD Grade One Book Giveaway program provided a free Canadian picture book to all Grade 1 students across Canada. With the support of TD Bank Group, the CCBC gave Grade 1 students a book to call their own, with the hope that it would help foster a love of reading.
Largely distributed through schools, each child took home a book of their very own, thus encouraging reading with their caregivers. For many, this was the first book they owned.
The CCBC is grateful to TD Bank Group for twenty-five years of support in helping to build a love of reading in Canadian children. TD’s commitment to the TD Grade One Book Giveaway has had a stunning impact—since 2000, 11.4 million books have been given to young readers.
"TD is honored to have collaborated with the CCBC for the past 25 years in advancing the far-reaching TD Grade One Book Giveaway program which helps to foster a love for reading among young children across Canada," says Alicia Rose, Associate Vice President, Social Impact Canada, Sustainability & Corporate Citizenship, TD Bank Group. "Our commitment to early learning initiatives remains unwavering, and through the TD Ready Commitment, our corporate citizenship platform, we will continue to focus on supporting programs that deliver tangible and measurable impacts for the communities we serve."
The TD Grade 1 Book Giveaway began as a gift in honour of Canadian Children’s Book Week and was originally distributed during a week when authors and illustrators were on tour. Selected books featured stories to inspire a love of reading or a passion for books. It was one of several children’s reading programs that TD Bank supported across Canada. Each year, the TD Grade One Book Giveaway title was chosen from a pool of excellent submissions that fit the program criteria.
Throughout its history the TD Grade 1 Book Giveaway featured many of Canada’s foremost authors and illustrators and brought joy to millions of children, teachers and families. In recent years the program evolved to ensure inclusion of characters of different ethnicities, cultures, genders, family structures, and abilities, and experiences. The book was distributed in both official languages and available in accessible formats, including ebook, audio, and Braille versions.