This year’s celebration will be launched with a storytelling session on 17th of July. The Philippines’ Prima Ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde will read a storybook to a group of grade schoolers. The registration will start at 10:00 a.m. at the Event Center, Lower Ground Floor, Building A of SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.

Featured are the newest storybooks of Vibal Publishing: The Cardinal and the Cats, which will be read by Miss Macuja, Arroz Caldo ni Lolo Waldo, which will be read by a representative of the BDO Foundation, and Ang Malaking Kahon ng Sorpresa, to be read by a professional storyteller.

NBDB in partnership with the SM Marketing Group presents this storytelling session as the main event of the NCBD 2012 that will be simultaneously celebrated in SM Supermalls nationwide. The Department of Education, SM Foundation, National Book Store Foundation, Vibal Publishing, and BDO Foundation are among the event partners.

To cap this year’s celebration is the 2nd National Children’s Book Awards to be presented by NBDB and the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY). It will be held at the Mind Museum, J.Y. Campos Park, 3rd Avenue,Taguig City on 28th of July. It aims to honor exemplary Philippine children’s books published from 2010 and 2011 and to give recognition to their creators. The winning titles were selected by a board of judges who will discuss the merits of the books during the awarding ceremony.

The NCBA, first awarded in 2010 and held on alternate years, is also meant to document the state of children’s publishing in the country and to promote quality children’s books. It also a unique way to celebrate Philippine literature for children. To check last NCBA winners, kindly visit www.nbdb.gov.ph.