Wereld Boeken Dag - Nederland

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“My first book was the book that changed my life.”

Stephen Ambrose

W.B.D. Netherlands

World Book Day drive at schools

From 2002 onwards every year tens of Dutch high schools and international schools participate in a World Book Day drive. During the drive in March and April thousands of good English and French language books are collected by the students and libraries of the schools. The main part of these books is donated to many small scale educational projects in developing countries In that year. Hundreds of thousands of books have been collected in the Netherlands since 2002.

World Book Day Award

Every year Read to Grow hands out the World Book Day Award to the school that collects the largest average number of books per student. When a Dutch school has won the award we aim to have an important person from the field of development hand it out. In the past the Award has been handed out by a.o. Hans van der Lee, former director of UNESCO Centre Netherlands and by Agnes van Aardenne, at that time Minister of Development.

The Giving Child

In cooperation with the township of Helmond on October 1^st 2005 the statue “The Giving Child” was inaugurated in the new district Brandevoort. The Giving Child symbolizes the students at the schools who have donated books to students in developing countries in the context of World Book Day. Herewith The Giving Child also symbolizes all children and youths who share their material wealth with people in developing countries. The Giving Child was inaugurated by children together with Agnes van Aardenne, at that time Minister of Development.