All the City’s  libraries celebrated World Book Day on 23 April, and this commemorative day is aimed at encouraging a love for reading and books.

The Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health  Zahid Badroodien says books “give expression to our history, culture and social interaction. It gives flight to our imagination and makes that which may seem ordinary a magical experience. World Book Day celebrates all of this and in particular this year focused on highlighting and protecting indigenous languages.”

As one of the notable events to celebrate World Book Day, South Africa’s first multilingual children’s book was launched at the Wynberg Library.

The Sign Language Saves children’s book aims to be accessible across languages including to hearing impaired children who use sign language as well as hearing children who speak Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa and isiZulu.

The book is produced by the Department of General Linguistics at Stellenbosch University and is available on order to all public libraries.

Central Library in Cape Town celebrated World Book Day with a storytelling festival with the theme ‘Share a story’.

Badroodien joined local authors at the library in reading several stories to almost 400 children.

“A passion for reading starts with hearing stories being told. We cannot expect our children to enjoy reading when parents and other adults do not set the example and set them on a reading journey. It is never too early to start reading to a child and to give them the lifelong gift of a love of books.”

Area teams from the City’s Library and Information Services Department, aptly named the Amaboekies, will compete for the coveted Reading Team of the Year Award as part of the City’s celebration of World Book Day on Wednesday 24 April.