#TDBookWeek has officially come to an end. This year’s Book Week took 28 authors, illustrators and storytellers outside of their home provinces, allowing them to share their love of stories with children across the country. We want to thank everyone who helped make this the best Book Week ever.
This year, more and more people prioritized reading Canadian children’s books during Book Week, including our staff, Canadian creators and Canadian Members of Parliament such as Lloyd Longfield, Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep S. Bains, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism Pablo Rodriguez and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Thank you to everyone who took part and we hope that you keep the spirit of Book Week alive all year.
For the touring creators, Book Week can mean going off into the unknown. The tour requires a lot of energy, flexibility and spirit of adventure. We would like to thank all 28 of this year’s touring group for their amazing job on the tour. Our coordinators are also pivotal in making sure this tour happens: we couldn’t do it without them. Thank you to the hosts and to everyone who welcomed a creator into their school, library, community centre or bookstore. We’d also like to thank Eric Walters, Lloyd Longfield and the talented Elly MacKay, creator of the art for this year’s Book Week poster. This nationwide celebration of reading couldn’t take place without our sponsors and funders, TD Bank Group, Sylvan Learning, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Public Library, Friesens and the Canadian Council for the Arts. We’d also like to thank everyone who followed the tour at home.
Your support of this celebration of reading helps ensure that 28,000 children can be a part of a reading each year. The readings that took place this week will have a lifelong impact on the lives of youth and can turn children into readers and readers into the authors and illustrators of the future.