World Book Night April 23

The following information is from the World Book Night website (click here).

World Book Night is an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading, person to person.  Each year on April 23, tens of thousands of people go out into their communities and give half a million free World Book Night paperbacks to light and non-readers.  In 2012, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, and Germany.

An independent panel of booksellers and librarians selects the books, using lists curated by experts in the bookselling and library world. All of the information comes from external, independent sources. Additionally, each year, givers from the previous year’s World Book Night nominate books for the panel to consider.  We print a total of half a million books, and the book givers take these special paperback editions out into their communities in search of light or non-readers.   The authors of these books have agreed to waive royalties in order for us to be able to afford to print the free World Book Night editions.  

World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading in those who don’t regularly do so. But it is also about more than that: It’s about people, communities and connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways—through the sharing of stories.

This year's books to give away are:

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 

City of Thieves by David Benioff 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros 

La Casa en Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros -translated by Elena Poniatowska

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho 

El Alquimista by Paulo Coelho

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh 

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan 

Bossypants by Tina Fey 

Still Alice by Lisa Genova 

Looking for Alaska by John Green 

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham  

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan 

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster; illustrated by Jules Feiffer 

Moneyball by Michael Lewis

The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer 

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley 

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson 

Population 485 by Michael Perry

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman 

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 

Montana Sky by Nora Roberts

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline 

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris 

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith 

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith 

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain 

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward 

Favorite American Poems in Large Print edited by Paul Negri

Each year on April 23rd, 25,000 passionate readers spread the love of reading by sharing free World Book Night U.S. paperbacks within their communities.  The volunteer book givers each personally hand out 20 books to light or non-readers across America. That's half a million books shared on one day!

Would you like to take part in this and give books?  Then click here for more information on how you can share your love of reading - or you can donate to this non-profit to aid their efforts (click here.)

Video from last year's event.

Reading Rainbow with LeVar Burton