Bookgiving Across the Nation with National Book Development Board’s Book Nook Project

Kids visited BN Polomok to read their new books.

With our One Million Books for One Million Children Campaign, CANVAS teamed up with the National Book Development Board (NBDB) in their own nation-building project, the Book Nook.

The Book Nook Project aims to bring Filipino books that reflect who we are—our language, culture, experiences, and more. About 88 indigenous and remote sites have been established in the Philippines so that more children have access to proudly Pinoy books. We had the honor of sharing “#YOUTHink: Pildiha ang Fake News,” the Cebuano version of our book on navigating misinformation online.

A BN Polomok visitor filling out a borrower’s card.

With this noble mission in mind, the Book Nook (BN) team exhausted different means for books to be in the hands of children and library shelves. Last June, they headed to their sites for visits and community outreaches, equipped with CANVAS books to give away. From November 2022 to January 2023, they had been hard at work, preparing book packages to be shipped to schools and communities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The community outreaches and book packages continued on till March, reaching up to 1,880 copies of #YOUTHink now owned by children, libraries, and communities.

Kids in Visayas and Mindanao connected with their new books, bringing their school lessons to a deeper level. A faculty member of BN Legazpi appreciated the relevance of the book’s themes, saying it was a helpful tool in teaching fact and opinion.

The book also reached non-Cebuano speakers in different parts of Luzon. While the young readers were not as familiar with the language, they could make out the message of the material based on context clues, English translations, and the material’s illustrations. Some Cebuano-speaking family members of these children appreciated the book, too. This can create opportunities for children to learn about different local languages, and to connect with their family’s origins.

Visitors at BN Surallah

This bookgiving mission has fostered mutual support between us and our partner organizations, and we are grateful to lend the hands we could to the Book Nook project. Here’s to a future generation who appreciates reading and local art!