Dawn Jones, manager of TD Canada Trust in Dryden shared the story of the TD Grade One Book Giveaway
Organized in association with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC), the TD Grade One Book Giveaway is the largest free-book distribution program to school-aged children in Canada. All English and French Grade One students receive a free copy of a Canadian children’s book, compliments of TD, which they keep and take home.
This past fall, Grade One children nation-wide took home My Heart Fills With Happiness/sâkaskinêw nitêhmiywêyihtamowin ohci (J’ai le coeur rempli de bonheur), written by Monique Gray Smith, illustrated by Julie Flett and published by Orca Book Publishers.
In honour of 2019 being named the International Year of Indigenous Languages, both the English and French editions included Plains Cree text (translated by Mary Cardinal Collins).Since 2000, in cooperation with ministries of education, school boards and library organizations across Canada — the CCBC has given every Grade One child a free Canadian
children’s book.
The book is taken home by each child to keep and to read with their parents. This far-reaching annual book giveaway program, which provides over 550,000 books to Grade One children across Canada, is fully funded by TD Bank Group. To date over 11,000,00 books have been distributed. The program is intended to encourage literacy and reading for young children and supports the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s mandate of bringing great Canadian books to Canadian children and to promote a love of reading and a passion for books.