Canadian Children’s Book Week
Canadian Children’s Book Week connects Canadian creators with children and teens across Canada. Our touring authors, illustrators, and storytellers speak to audiences about the delights of reading Canadian children’s books, and offer an inside look into their own work. These workshops and presentations can be a turning point in a child’s life, inspiring a lifelong love of reading.
30
30 authors, illustrators, and storytellers tour across every province and territory.
28,000
28,000 young Canadians participate
400
Over 400 readings and workshops throughout the week.
Here’s how Canadian youth benefit from the experience:
Creator visits help inspire an informed generation of young Canadian readers.
Hearing directly from authors, illustrators and storytellers can encourage youth to tell their own stories.
Remote communities that would not otherwise have access to creative opportunities are visited by leading Canadian authors, illustrators and storytellers.
Here’s how Canadian authors, illustrators, and storytellers benefit:
Creators have the opportunity to tour locally, regionally or nationally, as well as virtually—allowing them to connect with new audiences.
Creators get to meet their young fans, and witness the impact their work has on readers.
Creators are paid for the presentations they give on tour.
How teachers, librarians, and parents benefit:
Book Week provides the themes, materials, and opportunities to discuss reading with Canadian youth.
The event motivates children to read at school and at home, and explore the world of books with the help of the adults in their lives.
The free event poster can be downloaded and printed to share and display.
What people are saying about Book Week:
“It is our fifth participation in Book Week. We have welcomed the following authors at our school: Sharon E. McKay, John Wilson, Caroline Pignat, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch and this year, Rukhsana Khan. Book Week is a tradition at our school!” — Shawinigan High School (Shawinigan, QC)
“We have done many visits over the years… but this one will be a favourite because of the children’s rapture listening to Meg Tilly read. One child said: ‘I felt like I met new friends this afternoon!’ She had an incredible bond with students. The CCBC and Gail Hamilton are a most magnificent team when they move authors to and from Manitoba, and all around our fair city! Good job! Three cheers!” — Luxton School (Winnipeg, MB)
“This was an enjoyable experience for all. It was easy to tell as all the kids kept very focused and listened well. I loved the idea of storytelling. We get the children to ‘read’ their stories out loud but this is definitely something I will encourage our writers to do. This showed them how to learn a story, tell it with expression and use facial expressions allowing them to entertain!!” — Hazen White St. Francis School (Saint John, NB)
Costs
The Canadian Children’s Book Centre subsidizes each presentation so that authors, illustrators, and storytellers are properly compensated. Our subsidies also lower the overall cost of these visits, so that hosts pay a reasonable rate. Authors, illustrators, and storytellers earn $250.00 (plus GST or HST, if applicable) per presentation given during the tour. Host schools and libraries are required to cover this fee and to pay it directly to the authors, illustrators, and storytellers. Presentations are offered as talks or workshops and last 60 minutes but may be divided into two 30 minute sessions to accommodate the attention span of younger participants.
The History of Book Week
The first Children’s Book Festival tour took place in 1977, organized by the newly-established Children’s Book Centre. It featured just eleven authors, taking them to schools across the country over seven jam-packed days.
Today, that celebration, now called Canadian Children’s Book Week, includes dozens of creators and hundreds of events in a single week.
Along the way, we’ve explored countless themes and featured a wide selection of genres. We keep striving to make Book Week an accessible and inclusive celebration, giving students the chance to learn about the diverse experiences of their fellow Canadians.
We are always looking for volunteer drivers during Canadian Children’s Book Week. Creators touring in-person are often in unfamiliar locations, visiting different schools and libraries each day. If you’re interested in driving an author, illustrator, or storyteller around from one event to another, please email carol-ann@bookcentre.ca with your contact information (including the city and province where you are located). If a creator comes to your region, we’ll contact you to see if you are available to help out during the week. Mileage is reimbursed at $0.66 per kilometre.