Penguin Random House | Munich, 04/22/2021

One Million Books For World Book Day

Tomorrow, the international reading community will once again celebrate World Book Day. In Germany, the children’s book publisher CBJ and its partners will be giving away one million books to schoolchildren on this day. The “Ich schenk dir eine Geschichte” campaign has been running since 1997. This year, author Rüdiger Bertram and illustrator Timo Grubing created the comic novel “Biber undercover” (Beaver Undercover) for the occasion.

Tomorrow, it’s that time again: In many countries around the world, bookstores, publishers, libraries, schools and book lovers will celebrate reading on UNESCO World Book Day – even if, due to coronavirus, many of them are doing so virtually. Inspired by Catalonia’s St. Jordi Day, when books and roses are traditionally given as gifts, UNESCO declared April 23 World Book Day back in 1995 – April 23 is also the anniversary of the deaths of the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.

One of the world’s biggest World Book Day campaigns takes place in Germany. Since 1997, each year roughly a million fourth- and fifth-grade students have received a book produced especially for this day as a gift from CBJ, the Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe children’s and young adult imprint. The partners of the “Ich schenk dir eine Geschichte” campaign are Stiftung Lesen, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, Deutsche Post, CBJ, and ZDF. This year, as the campaign celebrates its 25th anniversary, the story comes from Rüdiger Bertram and is called “Biber undercover.” The graphic novel is illustrated by Timo Grubing.

From April 20 to June 30, fourth- and fifth-grade students as well as children from special needs schools and bridging classes from all over Germany can pick up their personal copy at one of some 3,500 bookstores. The children usually receive their book during a class visit to a previously selected bookstore upon presentation of their voucher. If coronavirus measures do not permit this, the initiators are offering flexible delivery solutions for schools and bookstores this year, tailored to local hygiene conditions. As in the previous year, the readings, treasure hunts, and bookstore tours that are usually held on World Book Day have had to be cancelled in many places. As a small substitute, CBJ is offering all children, teachers, booksellers and other interested parties seven video clips  on the topics of books and reading.

On World Book Day itself, school classes can tune in to the CBJ livestream. While author Rüdiger Bertram reads from “Biber undercover,” illustrator Timo Grubing will draw live. Children watching can ask questions, and journalist Günter Keil will moderate.