Penguin Random House | Munich, 04/21/2023

Cbj Is Giving Away A Million Children’s Books Again

Next Sunday, book lovers will once again celebrate World Book Day. In Germany, the children’s book publisher Cbj and its partners have a longstanding tradition of giving away one million books to school classes. The “Ich schenk dir eine Geschichte” campaign has been running since 1997; this year, Katharina Reschke and Timo Grubing created the graphic novel “Volle Fahrt ins Abenteuer” (Full Speed Ahead Into Adventure) for the occasion.

Bookstores, publishers and schools throughout Germany are once again preparing, together with many partners, for the biggest reading festival of the year. This coming Sunday, World Book Day, they will once again host a wealth of book-related activities to convey the joy of reading and storytelling. And once again, the biggest and most high-profile campaign is the “Ich schenk dir eine Geschichte” (My Gift To You: A Story) initiative. Every year, the children’s and young adult imprint CBJ, part of Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe, has a children’s book produced especially for World Book Day, which is then distributed free of charge to school classes throughout Germany. This year, the gift story was written by Katharina Reschke and is titled “Volle Fahrt ins Abenteuer” (Full Speed Ahead Into Adventure). As last year, illustrator Timo Grubing supplied the drawings for the graphic novel.

Over a million children in grades 4 and 5, as well as from special education, welcome, and transition classes, will receive the graphic novel “Volle Fahrt ins Abenteuer” this year. Starting today and continuing until May 31, they will receive their personal copy as a gift from a previously selected bookstore upon presentation of their voucher during a class visit. Around 3,300 bookstores in Germany are taking part in the campaign. Since 1997, making this the 27th time, schoolchildren have received a book gift from local bookstores on World Book Day. “Ich schenk dir eine Geschichte” is a campaign by Cbj, Stiftung Lesen, Stiftung Buchkultur and Leseförderung des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels, Deutsche Post and ZDF, and is under the patronage of the education ministers of the German states.

To accompany the “Ich schenk dir eine Geschichte” campaign, Cbj is offering a livestream for school classes on April 21 all about this year’s graphic novel. Katharina Reschke and Timo Grubing will be guests on the program and will read aloud, do live drawings, and answer questions from moderator Günter Keil and the virtually participating school classes. The event will be streamed live to the Cbj Verlag Facebook page and litlounge.tv, among other places. The World Book Day website www.welttag-des-buches.de  also features a video reading with a background portrait of author Katharina Reschke and other video clips on the topic of “How does a book come into being and how does it reach its readers?