World Book Day

Yesterday was World Book Day in the UK.  (The rest of us celebrate on April 23rd.)  Most of the activities were aimed at school children.  But also ten more titles were released in the excellent Quick Reads series - putting pacy reading material of a manageable length into the hands of adult readers who need to get into their stride as far as books are concerned. Why we haven't seen a serious effort to get these titles in Malaysian bookstores and feature them prominently, I do not know.  I feel that here the need for such material is perhaps even greater.

Victoria Barnsley on The Guardian blog reports on why World Book Day matters more now than ever :

...  if I had just the smallest opportunity to bend the ears of our political leaders, my plea on this World Book Day is that we really make sure that not only do children master literacy but also that we fire their imaginations so they can love and treasure the great power of stories.

I'm sure we also want the same.