IN CELEBRATION of Earth Day on 22 April and World Book Day on 23 April, Exclusive Books launched the Book Tree Project, an initiative aimed at cultivating reading culture and literacy among young minds.
It propelled the Grow Their Minds campaign by donating books to school libraries.
For the Book Tree Project, representatives of the bookselling chain visited three schools, in partnership with Food & Trees for Africa, planting more than 150 fruit and indigenous trees with students in the gardens of Kronendal Primary School in Cape Town, Cosmo City Secondary School in Johannesburg and Grandmore Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal.
“Making the time to read, regularly and widely, is an investment in yourself and your world,” Batya Bricker, Exclusive Books general manager of books and brand, said.
“Reading pays off in the moment, in the following week, the next year, and even the rest of your life.”
The team that visited Cosmo City Secondary School in Johannesburg was greeted by 2 000 students ready to receive new books for their budding library. A Grade 9 student spoke about her love of reading, and the school choir serenaded the visitors.
You can support the Book Tree Project and Grow Their Minds, by buying children’s books in April. Follow @exclusivebooks on all social media platforms for more updates about the Book Tree Project.
Meanwhile, TikTok celebrated the power of #BookTok to bring readers together by highlighting the inspiring journeys of two #BookTok creators from South Africa, Yonela Ntshakaza and Rozanne Visagie, who have been using the platform to share their love of reading and connect with a growing community of book lovers.
Ntshakaza, from Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, shares her passion for reading through creative book reviews, recommendations, and discussions on her platform, @bookedandbeing, on TikTok. “I love being a part of the #BookTok community,” she says, “because it’s a space where people can come together to talk about books and share their love of reading. I’ve made so many friends on the platform who share my passion for books.”
Visagie (@rozanne_visagie), a writer and #BookTok creator from Rustenburg in North West, uses the platform to share her own writing journey and encourage others to pursue their dreams. She believes that #BookTok has the potential to change the way people perceive reading and writing in Africa.
“I’ve received so much encouragement and support from the community, inspiring me to keep writing and pursuing my dreams,” she says.
#BookTok in Africa is still in its early stages, but engagement with book-related content on TikTok in the region is steadily growing.
The top three #BookTok hashtags in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past six months were #Read with 1 628 940 video views, #Booksyoushouldread with 725 920 views, and #Bookstoread with 186 847 views.
Image supplied (Exclusive Books staff and teachers distributing books at one of the schools in Jhb).
