Author Hans Christian Andersen’s Birthday–International Children’s Book Day

I have always appreciated Google for not only it being the best search engine but also for its creativity and preparedness for the relevant occasions. The Google through its logo often throws surprises and I enjoy them in the same taste . It helps to know more and Go-ogle more :)  The Google search giant has been commemorating days of importance, festivals and events across the globe by its logos. These ‘Google Doodles‘ are quite interesting and attention seeking and I kinda love them for the freshness that they offer.

On 2nd April, the above Google logo was very pleasing. I observed it carefully and it reminded me of some of my delightful memories. It struck instantly ‘The girl was ‘Thumbelina‘ and it brought back her whole story of adventures at one go. She was the first miniature character that I had read about. To alleviate my urge to know more about it, I went ahead with my Googling spree and to my surprise, I was able to unearth the relevance of the day in a better manner. It brought me closer to things which i was not aware of.  I also found that there were four other Google doodles available on Google site, depicting the story of THUMBELINA  

The Google Doodle on 2nd April recognized the works of the famous classic fairy tale story teller, author and poet Hans Christian Andersen. It was his 205th birthday. Later it appeared that 2nd April was celebrated as International Children’s Book Day this year to mark his birth anniversary and to promote the love and fondness for books among children. Wow! This seemed absorbing and I went to discover more. Also there were many of his books that had introduced me my favorite childhood characters. This beloved Danish author had created some of the most beautiful and fairy-like stories like The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, Thumbelina, The Emperor’s New Suit, The Princess and the Pea, The Red Shoes, The Fir Tree, The Little Match Girl The Nightingale, The Marsh King’s Daughter etc.

By celebrating Andersen’s 205th birthday, Google has acknowledged his work in the best manner.  I must thank Google creative team for coming up with these beautiful illustrations which reminded me of the sweet and adorable Thumb size girl- Thumbelina. I have grown on the fairy tales and the magical world depicted in them. In fact I had loved the ‘Little Mermaid’ and the ‘Ugly duckling’. They taught some wonderful lessons of survival and empowerment.

Since 1967, on and around Anderson’s birthday it has been celebrated as the International Children’s Book Day. This day conveys a very strong message to bring kids closer to books and reading.  This is important as children books capture the imagination and joys of the young in the best manner. They help them to learn about people from other countries, learn to respect other cultures, and learn to get along with others.

International Children’s Book Day is celebrated under the care of International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). Presently it has 73 National Sections under it and India is also one of them. In fact, much more should be done by schools and libraries to make this day more and more looked upon.  This year it was sponsored by Spain and the theme was “Un libro te espera, búscalo! A book is waiting for you, find it!” Indeed a lovely theme.

PICS- Sources: Google, Wikipedia,IBBY