Green Books

Publisher Dorling Kindersley claims to have printed the most environmentally conscious series of books in the world. Vegetable inks, 100 per cent recycled card and “environmentally friendly” glues have been used, it claims. Chief Executive Gary June said its Made with Care series represented “a best practice example of how green and clean books can be produced in the future”. The first four titles include a guide to organic gardening and a children’s encyclopedia on the environment. The company, a division of Penguin books, has called their launch “a global publishing first”. By removing the book’s jackets and an energy efficient binding process, the company said it had saved both paper and energy. It has also printed the books on paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), ensuring a tree is planted for each one used.

Courtesy: ‘Young World’, Supplement to The Hindu, April 15, 2008

Celebrating the Book

Celebrating the book
International Children’s Book Day (ICBD) are held on April 2 to honour Hans Christian Andersen

By Rachna Chhabria

There is a day for mothers, for fathers, for children, for friendship and many other such days. A day that is more than welcome, is the International Children’s Book Day sponsored by IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People), a non-profit organization representing an international network of people. The sole aim of IBBY is to bring books and children together. The first encounter with the world – amusing, delightful and quirky characters are all courtesy books. Today books are pitted against PSP’s, computers, iPods, and cell phones to claim a share of the ever shifting attention.

International Children’s Book Day celebrations are held on April 2 to commemorate one of the greatest children’s writers, Hans Christian Andersen, who was born on the same day in 1805, in Odense, Denmark. After his father’s death, H.C.Andersen as he later came to be known as in his country, worked in factory. He displayed a talent for poetry, publishing a volume of poetry in 1830. H.C.Andersen is famous for his fairtytales, “The Tin Soldier”, “The Tinderbox”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “The Snow Queen”, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, and “The Little Mermaid”, which gained popularity and delighted children worldwide. These fairytales have been translated into many languages. Hans Christian Andersen died in 1875.

Each year a different national section of IBBY, has the wonderful opportunity to be the international sponsor of the International Children’s Book Day. The host nation decides upon a theme, and invites a prominent author from the host country to create a message for the children of the world, and a well known illustrator is asked to design a poster. These messages are used in many and different ways to promote books and reading.

The host country for the 2008 International Children’s Book Day is Thailand and the theme is ‘BOOKS ENLIGHTEN; KNOWLEDGE DELIGHTS’.

You can pitch in and support the ICBD by disappearing into the pages of a book at least on that day. Not only will you emerge armed with knowledge, you will also get to meet delightful characters that only reside in the world of books.

Courtesy: ‘Young World’, Supplement to The Hindu, March 28, 2008

Grateful thanks to Rachna Chhabria and The Hindu.