NCBD Dreams

July, next to December, is my second  much loved month of the school year. I know the teachers reading this are bobbing their heads as I put December on top of my list.  But, golly! July is just a few points behind the gift-giving month.

I started loving July when I learned about the National Children's Book Day or NCBD.

 I've heard about it in my Children's Literature class circa 2007 (Thanks to Teacher Portia!) Back then, for a number of imaginable reasons, I didn't appreciate it as much as I do now. One, we never had any NCBD celebration when I was in grade school and high school, given that the NCBD is a 28-year-old fete, and I'm only 23. Two, our librarian-slash-guidance counsellor didn't know that such celebration exists nor did I know that she was the librarian in that textbook-full room. Three, I wasn't yet hooked on children's  books then (the lamest excuse I could think of).

In the traditional school calendar, July is dubbed as the Nutrition Month. I think our Department of Health (DOH) is the instigator, rather, brain behind this nationwide event which the Department of Education (DepEd) adapts and implements on a nationwide scale. 

(Thank you DOH! I believe, with all my heart, that in your theme-brainstorming meetings, there are other topics aside from breastfeeding. So why be fixated on breast-

feeding alone?

And DepEd, please do not copy everything. I think you have the power to change/modify the theme.  Make it something more relevant, meaningful and developmentally-appropriate. I am not in the position to give you a lecture on this.)

Unlike the highly-celebrated nutrition month, the NCBD is just like a drizzle quenching the thirst of teachers, librarian and students for books. I'm guessing that the DepEd annually  releases a memorandum advising, if not requiring, schools to have modest NCBD activities. I'm sure that the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY), the one spearheading this affair,  never forgets to inform the education bureau the impact of this event to the lives of the Filipino children and to the history of Philippine literature.  For a number of years, NCBD posters, sponsored by Jollibee and, I guess, Adarna Publishing House, in coordination with the PBBY, are issued to different institutions.

Of course, for free.  But how come that out of the 10 teachers that I asked about their school's NCBD event/s, only one excitedly said yes, they are having an NCBD school program? And the others texted back with "Anong NCBD?"  True story. Epic fail.

Children's Lit advocates, WE still have so much work to do.

Yes, I agree with the great Ma'am LDR (Lina Diaz de-Rivera), teacher of teachers of children's literature in UP Diliman, that we are in the Golden Age of Philippine Children's Literature . There are more companies now that are publishing high-quality books for kids. Okay, there are some books that need to be sent back to their editors or to their FGD groups. The number of writers and illustrators for children is growing  __________. a) fast; b) faster than my toe nails: c)period. Different NGOs who are big on children's literature like PBBY, Alitaptap Storytellers, Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting (Kuting), Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang InK) are gaining more members and volunteers. These are just some of the signs that the state of Philippine children's literature has gotten better.

But why do  I feel that something is missing in that measure of success?

In one of my daydreams, I pictured a festive  third Tuesday of July in almost all Philippine schools. Students are swelling with joy as they read stories written for them by their fellowmen. Teachers are busy choosing locally-published  books to be included in their class reading list. Authors and illustrators are touring different schools for book talks--signing copies of their books as their fans giggle in excitement. And the most ambitious of all, for the first time in Philippine television, the president is reading a Rene Villanueva or an Almario story and ending the storytelling with this:

"Mga kababayan, lalo na sa mga kabataan, Happy National Children's Book Day!"