Zhang Mingzhou, former head of the International Board on Books for Young People, says the CBBY has been celebrating the International Children's Book Day since 2007 and the scale and influence of the celebration have continued to expand.

On April 2, 2021, the celebration of the Book Day was held at the Palace Museum under the theme "reading starts with children".

"The vitalization of rural areas is closely linked to the vitalization of rural education, and the latter cannot be achieved without promoting reading among rural children," Zhang says.

"Reading is a powerful tool, and extracurricular reading in particular can greatly enhance students self-learning abilities. For rural schools with relatively limited access to high-quality educational resources, this is especially significant," he adds.

"I was a rural child from the mountains of Northeast China. By chance, I came across an original Chinese picture book called The Little Seed's Travelogue, which sparked a strong interest in reading and classroom learning within me," Zhang recalls.

Despite the relatively underdeveloped teaching conditions in his small mountain village, Zhang says he was able to pass various exams and gradually step out into the outside world.

"During my over 20 years of working for the International Board on Books for Young People, I have made friends from all over the world, whose personal experiences also demonstrate the irreplaceable value of reading for personal growth," he adds.

Dream Builders, a public welfare project that will aim to promote reading among rural children, was also launched during the recent forum. The project will kick off in Shanghang county, Fujian province, with reading activities at local rural primary schools.

Zhang, also the president of the Life Tree Culture Promotion Center, says the project calls on writers, illustrators, editors and publishers to create and publish quality books that are better suited for rural children, and appeals to teachers, parents and reading advocates to allocate more time to read with children.