Today, April 23rd, 2021 is International Book Day, an international celebration promoted by UNESCO and celebrated since 1926. The aim of this day is to encourage everyone, and in particular the youngest, to discover the pleasure of reading and to respect the irreplaceable contribution of creators to social and cultural progress.
The choice of April 23 as the date to pay tribute to books and their authors was decided by UNESCO’s General Conference, since this symbolic date has witnessed the births and deaths of great authors of world literature, such as Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.
In Spain, this day has special repercussions in the Community of Catalonia, as it celebrates Sant Jordi, patron saint of the community, in which it is tradition to give a rose at the conclusion of a reading, event or proclamation and that lovers and loved ones exchange a rose and a book.
Benefits of reading
In the case of children, the benefits are multiple, directly affecting their cognitive and emotional development:
- It encourages creativity, as it stimulates the imagination.
- It helps graphic-verbal recognition, it encourages the relationship between graphemes and phonemes.
- It expands the lexicon (adoption of new words).
- Encourages the taste for reading.
Especially the elderly can benefit from reading, since reading:
- They feel less lonely, avoiding loneliness.
- Improves empathy
- Increases the ability to concentrate
- Provides entertainment
- Helps to remember things better
- Gives a sense of well-being
- Helps to catch sleep better
Recommended health books
Some books written by our Top Doctors specialists that are worth a look are:
Ms. Luisa Fernanda Yágüez, a clinical psychologist specializing in child and adolescent psychology, wrote this book on the prevention of child sexual abuse. The story tells the experiences of a child who has been exposed to sexual abuse.
In this article you can find more information about this much needed book.
If you click here you can download the complete story.
Ms. Mariela Astudillo Ramirez, a reputed speech therapist in Malaga, wrote in 2016 about her voice feminization methodology, her well-known Astudillo Method.
This book includes an introduction to the world of transgenderism, covering important concepts and terminologies.
You can purchase it here.
How has reading helped us in our confinement?
The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has made us live during this last year in very hard circumstances: isolation, uncertainty, loneliness, fear… This limiting situation has affected us all in some way, but reading has helped us to fight isolation, to strengthen the bonds between people and to broaden our horizons. Moreover, as we have already mentioned, reading stimulates our minds and our creativity.
It is the power that reading has always had, to transport us to other places without moving from the place where we are.
To finish this article, we recommend you to follow Radio 3’s Book Day Celebration at the Cervantes Institute, where a special program will start at 7 am and will last all day until 8 pm. The program will be live and will include the collaboration of writers and editors from the world of literature and essays.