June 1 – International Children’s Day

Happy International Children’s Day!

In 1925, the World Conference for the Well-Being of Children in Geneva, Switzerland proclaimed June 1st as Children’s Day to draw attention to children’s issues. Afterwards, many different countries around the world also declared Children’s Day on June 1st making it an International observance. Organizations are established all over the world in response to children’s issues. These organizations work to eradicate poverty, disease, hunger, abuse, and illiteracy.

Below is a great little picture book aimed at helping children realize that we are not so different from each other.

Everybody Cooks Rice written by Norah Dooley and illustrated by Peter J. Thornton (1992)

This is a story of a girl named Carrie who is supposed to go out to find her little brother, Anthony, and bring him home for dinner. Along the way she stops at all their friend’s homes looking for him and everyone is preparing dinner. She samples a little bit from each house. And she realizes that everyone is cooking rice in so many different ways. By the time she gets home, she’s not even hungry anymore, but she has had an international dinner. Recipes for all the different rice dishes are found at the end of the book.