CELEBRATING NATIONAL CHILDREN’S BOOK READING DAY

WILMA S. DAVID

We all know that reading is a good habit to form, especially among young children. It adds knowledge, widens the imagination, and improves one’s vocabulary. Reading may also improve one’s mood and relaxes the mind.

This is why a giant mall in the Philippines has been advocating for good reading habits for many years now.

This year, they recently conducted the 35th National Children’s Book Day simultaneously in 70 SM malls across the Philippines and 7 malls in China. Here in Pampanga, the event was held at SM malls in the City of San Fernando, in coordination with the SM Committee on Youth and Children’s Welfare. Such an event is held yearly to inspire love of reading and to call attention to children’s books.

SM Cares along with its partners, UNICEF, Anvil Publishing, National Book Store, and Vibal Publishing have worked together to encourage children to develop their love of reading, thereby helping improve literacy rate.

The mall has given over 10 years of committed service to promote an environment of continuous learning and values-education for the young.

The mall serves more than 4 million customers a day, with almost half being children, so they had put it upon ourselves to make their establishments not just child-friendly, but more importantly, an avenue for a kid’s growth and learning.

Learning should not be restricted inside the four corners of a classroom. They had made it a point to care for each and every child that enters their mall by promoting their rights, prioritizing their safety and enhancing their learning experience in a child-friendly environment.

Together with partners from the Department of Education (DepEd) and National Book Store, they have truly given new meaning to National Children’s Book Reading Day by providing additional tools for learning, to thousands of children, across 70 locations, nationwide.

Anvil Publishing and SM Foundation have also provided more than 7,000 books and 70,000 pencils for school libraries.

The primary objective of this SM Cares campaign, is for kids to have fun in learning, by experiencing the wonderful world of books through storytelling, book-character parade and book donation drive for children’s literature and many more activities that would instill proper values and reinforce a child’s rich and colorful imagination.

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The author is Teacher III at Sta. Maria Elementary School