April 2 is celebrated Danish author Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, which also marks the annual International Children's Book Day (ICBD). 

Founded in 1967 by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), ICBD aims at inspiring a love of reading and calling attention to children's books. Each year a different IIBY country has the opportunity to be sponsor of the day.

Slovenia is the sponsor for this year, and the theme of 2020 is "Hunger for Words." 

A hunger for words

"Words in poetry and in stories are food. Not food for the body, not food that can fill up your stomach, but food for the spirit and food for the soul."  

It was written by a Slovenian author Peter Svetina, as part of the theme of 2020 ICBD. Every year shares a different theme, as "Books Help Us Slow Down" was last year's theme. 

Reading books during the COVID-19 pandemic

As the novel coronavirus outbreak has pushed countries around the world to suspend schools, roughly half of world's students have been told to stay at home, which could be a chance for them to do more reading. 

A study of over 17,000 people in Britain discovered that those who frequently read books at age 10 and more than once a week when they were 16 had higher test results than those who read less.  

It's no doubt that reading has been a beneficial activity for children's development, which helps to enhance their imagination, improve their memories, and boost critical thinking skills.

"Books are the way that the dead communicate with us. The way that we learn lessons from those who are no longer with us, the way that humanity has built on itself, progressed, made knowledge incremental rather than something that has to be relearned, over and over," said renowned writer Neil Gaiman. 

No matter what's going on with the outbreak of coronavirus, reading books can offer some respite.  

(Cover image designed by Du Chenxin)

(Infographic designed by Yin Yating)