Scribbles & Munch

      You've heard me mention things like National Eggs Benedict Day (April 15th), National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (August 4th), and National Surf & Turf Day (February 29th--only happens on leap year!). But there is more to me than food. Really. So I'm jubilant to draw your attention a WORLDWIDE holiday that, in my opinion, checkmates them all: World Book Day is April 23rd! This event was founded on the 379th anniversary of Shakespeare's death,* in part to keep the spirit of the Bard alive. But the main idea (as you can likely guess from the title of the event) is to celebrate reading good books!

One of my bookcases. Yes, that is a Freud action figure in the upper right hand corner.

      While this event has thrived in Great Britain for twenty years, it's had difficulty taking off in the U.S. There was a national non-profit to proliferate the idea, but last year it closed down due to poor funding and support. Apparently plenty of people were happy to read books - even hand out free books to strangers - but paying for said books and funding the advertising to spread the word...well...that was harder to do.
      I'm sad to report I haven't found a single independent bookstore in my area that is celebrating World Book Day this year. I'm going to call them today and ask about that, see if they'll throw something together last minute. But I am not going to stop there! Truth is, I've got at least a half-dozen books on my shelves I've been meaning to donate to Goodwill. So on Thursday, I plan on making myself a T-shirt that says, "Ask me about World Book Day!" I'll carry around my books in a canvas bag, and anybody who actually asks about my T-shirt may have a book for free. Maybe they'll even be inspired to give a book to somebody else--or at least mark their calendar for next year!
      In my experience, most people have read at least one book that they really loved**, so they like the idea of encouraging others to read. It's just that reading is sort of stationary, and hobbywise many people perceive it as being "meek," "nerdy," or "stodgy." Especially when you add the whole British part. So those misconceptions need to be mixed up with fun, goofy, shake-people-out-of-their-complacency events such as World Book Day/Night! I invite you to come up with something you can do, whether privately or publicly, so celebrate this event, and I want to know about it!
      Fill me in, either with what you're doing this year, or plans for next year. If I have something published by next year (a veeeery long shot, but a girl can dream), I will even send you a dozen of my books to hand out!


*Or World Book Night, depending on who you ask. Or maybe when you do most of your reading.
**Some of us have loved too many to count!