April 23 is a big day for books: Shakespeare’s birthday, Cervantes’ death day, and UNESCO’s International Day of the Book. It is also World Book Night, a world-wide celebration of adult literacy. Volunteers of enthusiastic readers go out into their communities and pass out special editions of books, hoping to share their love of reading with non-readers, particulary those who don’t have regular, easy access to books of their own. Thirty titles are selected each year and publishers donate copies to participants for the event. This is only the second year World Book Night has been celebrated in the United States, having originated in the United Kingdom the year before, but it is growing in popularity. In the Birmingham a
