International Children's Book Day is an international observation held every year around fairy-tale author Hans Christian Andersen's birthday.

This yearly event falls on 2nd April every year and is sponsored by the International Board on Books for Young People. The holiday aims to perpetuate kids' love of reading and bring awareness to related issues.

Activities include writing competitions, announcements of book awards and events with authors of children's literature. Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of ICBD. It decides upon a theme and invites a prominent author from the host country to write a message to the children of the world.

The slogan for this year’s event is ‘the small is big in a book’ with the message to the children written by Inese Zandere. Inese is a Latvian poet and editor, in addition to an author and publisher of children’s books.

The stamps shown above were issued by India Post during the World Book Fair. The one Rupee stamp shows children sitting in a library and a boy and a girl reading one book. The thirty paisa stamp shows a young boy learning English and Devanagari Alphabets.

Image Courtesy: http://postagestamps.gov.in

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