Senior members of the Spanish National Honors Society led the book drive. (The Barstow School)

Día del Libro, also known as International Book Day, is celebrated throughout the world and focuses on promoting reading and world literature. Second-year members of Barstow’s Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (SHH) shared this celebration with the rest of the school through an upper school reading day and a book drive.

Día del Libro officially started in 1995 when it was approved by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is commemorated on April 23, the day influential literary figures Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega died. In Spain, the day has been celebrated since 1930 to honor Cervantes, a Spanish author who is most notably the author of Don Quixote.

The Día del Libro celebration at Barstow began with an AP Spanish project.

“In AP Spanish, we do a project about festivals and celebrations in various Spanish-speaking countries that they write a paper on. Mine was Día del Libro, and this was always kind of one of her [World Language Department Chair Amanda Marvin] favorites,” explained SHH member,  Brooke Dryden ‘22. “So she was like, ‘let’s see if we can make this happen this year and proposed it to the Spanish honor society.”

Since COVID, many clubs and societies at Barstow have struggled to arrange school-wide events. The SHH inductees from 2021 did not have much of a chance to do much last year. As restrictions relax, however, it has become easier to organize celebrations and coordinate with the community.

Although April 23 is officially the Día del Libro, Barstow’s celebration continued through April 29. It started with an upper school English class activity the following Monday where students read short stories picked by members of the SHH and upper school English teachers. These included Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains,” Julio Cortazar’s “Axolotl,” Carlis Fuentes’ “Chac Mool,” and more.

The celebration continued with a book drive for J.A. Rogers Elementary ELL students. This idea took root when an SHH member’s parent recommended that the books be donated there.

“Maddie Bauman’s ‘22 mom, who works with people who work in school districts, had a friend who thought that would be a great place to go,” Dryden explained.

Those who brought in books received special bookmarks decorated by SHH members as a memento of the holiday. 

The book drive was a success, and students were able to learn about the Día del Libro.

For future SHH projects, Dryden advises that “it’s good to look at what people have enthusiasm for because even if you’re doing the coolest project, it’s not really going to be fulfilling if students don’t have a passion for it. It’s good to look at what you find interesting because there are so many ways and different things you could do with it and find that passion and that path.”