TD Grade One Book Giveaway
The TD Grade One Book Giveaway program provides a free book to all Grade 1 students across the country. We believe that all children should have access to books, regardless of their background or socioeconomic status. That’s why we give Grade 1 students a book to call their own, with the hope that it leads them toward a love of reading. These books help students explore important topics like diversity and inclusion.
This fall, Grade 1 children nation-wide will take home Chaiwala!, written by Priti Birla Maheshwari, illustrated by Ashley Barron and published by Owlkids Books. Translated into French by Benoit Laflamme, francophone Canadians and French immersion students across Canada will receive copies of the French translation, also entitled Chaiwala !
When their train stops at the station in Jaipur, a girl and her mother hurry to line up at the Chaiwala’s cart. They breathe in scents of ginger, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon sticks. Tea leaves rustle, sweet milk bubbles, and the steaming chai is poured back and forth until the cups are filled. A sensory celebration of family, food and culture.
Since 2000, in cooperation with ministries of education, school boards and library organizations across Canada—the CCBC has given every Grade 1 child a free Canadian children’s book.
The book is to be taken home by each child to keep and to read with their parent(s) or caregiver. This far-reaching annual book giveaway program, which provides 500,000 books to Grade 1 children across Canada, is fully funded by TD Bank Group. The program is intended to encourage literacy and reading for young children and supports the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s mandate of bringing great Canadian books to Canadian children and to promote a love of reading and a passion for books.
The coordination of the TD Grade One Book Giveaway is done by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. School boards and ministries of education in all provinces and territories will be contacted in spring 2023 for their 2023-2024 Grade 1 enrolment figures. If you have any questions regarding the 2023 program, please contact Meghan Howe at bookgiveaway@bookcentre.ca.
These are some of the major impacts of the TD Grade One Book Giveaway:
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Grade 1 students get a free book to call their own.
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Owning a book gives children an opportunity to develop a love of reading.
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Students are exposed to difficult topics in an approachable way.
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Reading helps children develop their critical thinking skills.
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The book offers a chance for important conversations in the classroom and at home.
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The free book promotes inclusivity, and supports children’s literacy.
Here’s what educators and parents have to say about the TD Grade One Book Giveaway:
“Thank you very much for the ongoing program to present books to children in Grade 1. It is a highlight for the children. In many cases, at our school at least, this book may be the only book they have at home. I am truly grateful.” — Teacher, Calgary, Alberta
“Dear Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Thank you very much for our new books. The children were very excited to receive them and even more excited that they could actually take them home to read. As you may be able to tell from their faces, they were somewhat shocked that they could actually keep these books and that they did not need to stay in the library. Again, this was very much appreciated by our small rural school.” — Mark Lewis, Principal, Alexis Creek School
“My name is Kayla. I'm a Mummy of 4. I'm an auntie to 2 more. One of my beloved is Haddie. She's 8. My niece was born with Rhett, and IP. And she's non verbal, with no muscle tone. Heather, I read your book to my littlest one. And your story brought me to tears. Your story normalizes children loving our girl. Your story brought me down when Suze laughed. I heard Haddie laugh for the first time in a while when we took her in the wagon with the horses. She likes to rip too, we go fast when we hook up the ponies and we giver through the fields. I want you to know your story was important. And it means so much to my family.” - Kayla, Parent