April 2 was International Children’s Book Day.  Started in 1967 by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), International Chlidren’s Book Day is held on Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday to celebrate and inspire a love of reading children’s books.

2012 International Children's Book Day poster designed by Juan Gedovius.

Andersen, a Danish author, lived April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1975 and is best known for his fairy tales for children including “The Little Mermaid,” “Thumbelina” and “The Ugly Duckling.”

National sections of IBBY take turns each year being the international sponsor of International Children’s Book Day.  The section gets to choose a theme and invites a prominent author from their country to write a message to the world’s children as well as an illustrator to design a poster for that year.

This year’s host country was Mexico and the theme was “Once upon a time, there was a story that the whole world told.”  The message to the children was written by Francisco Hinojosa and the poster was designed by Juan Gedovius.

You can read Hinojosa’s message to the children in this PDF or on IBBY’s website.