World Book Night arrives at Broadway musicals, baseball game
The American edition of World Book Night was celebrated on April 23, and activities around the country involved a baseball game, a Meals on Wheels program, and Broadway musicals as well as the more traditional bookstore and library celebrations.
On World Book Night, volunteers distribute copies of pre-selected books to family, friends, or anyone they meet. The event was held in the US and Germany for the first time in 2012, while the UK and Ireland started it in 2011.
Some of the titles selected to be given out this year included 鈥淢iss Peregrine鈥檚 Home for Peculiar Children鈥� by Ransom Riggs, 鈥淲ild鈥� by Cheryl Strayed, and 鈥淲here鈥檇 You Go, Bernadette鈥� by Maria Semple.
This was the first year that a graphic novel (鈥淪ame Difference鈥� by Derek Kirk Kim) was given out and the book 鈥淲hen I Was Puerto Rican鈥� by Esmerelda Santiago, which was distributed in both English and Spanish, was the first title to be available in Spanish.
According to industry newsletter , this year鈥檚 WBN was the largest ever, with about 580,000 copies of books given out by more than 29,000 distributors.
Many bookstores held parties and some included authors, like the celebration at Seattle鈥檚 that was attended by Semple.
Meanwhile, there were some creative distributions methods. According to the World Book Night account, books were given out at Broadway performances of 鈥淢atilda鈥� and 鈥淐inderella.鈥� In Boston, those who attended a Red Sox game at Fenway Park had the opportunity to receive copies of Doris Kearns Goodwin鈥檚 baseball book 鈥淲ait Till Next Year.鈥�
In addition, those who visited the American side of the Otay Mesa border crossing between the US and Mexico were offered copies of 鈥淏ridge to Terabithia鈥� by Katherine Paterson and New York City鈥檚 Henry Street Settlement added a book to the meals they gave more than 1,000 Meals on Wheels participants, according to Shelf Awareness.
