SM Supermalls push bookreading among kids

Malls aren’t just places for recreation and leisure—these can be venues for learning, too, as proven by the enduring success of the annual celebration of National Children’s Bookreading Day (NCBD) in SM Supermalls.

NCBD, which happens every third Tuesday of July, brings kids together for a morning of storytelling and reading with partner publishing houses.

Last July 18, various school kids in key cities of Mindanao trooped to local SM Supermalls to celebrate NCBD simultaneously with the rest of the country.

In SM City Davao, the celebration was lead by presidential daughter Kitty Duterte who read the story “Two Friends, One World” by Ramon Vicente Sunico. Kitty engaged students from Euro Asia Emil’s Early Child Development and The Values School.

She was joined by SM Supermalls group marketing manager Aron Dalaza who read a Filipino story that imparts love for the environment: “Bumabara-bara” by Fernando Rosal Gonzalez.

“We take lead from the Department of Education who continues to inspire us in contributing to our common goal of child development and in uplifting the level of education in our country,” said SM City Davao mall manager Lynette Lopez.

In SM Lanang Premier, SM regional leasing manager Jerome Yeo and professional host Joey Sy-Domingo were the featured readers. They lovingly told stories to children from Holy Child College of Davao.

In SM CDO Downtown Premier and SM City Cagayan de Oro, Nicole Abas-Datayan, Jam Bantigue, Jennifer Yting-Amora, and Corinne Bollozos narrated the same stories to school children from PN Roa and Corrales elementary schools.

Featured readers in SM City General Santos were the RMMC storytellers from the Storybook Project and Jhon Kenny Muaña. They read Ramon Vicente Sunico’s “Ang Kwento ni Antonio” to the students of Dadiangas East Elementary School.

Now on its ninth year, NCBD in SM Supermalls is supported by Vibal Publishing, Unicef, Anvil Publishing and National Bookstore. Participating kids received books and school supplies from the event partners.

SM Supermalls serves as much as four million customers a day, with almost half being children. The mall brand believes that learning is not restricted inside classroom—instead, it can happen in any child-friendly environment.