National Children’s Books Day 2025 — A Celebration of Imagination and Truth

Last July 15, 2025, the National Children's Books Day filled the air with imagination, hope, and powerful stories. Advocates for children's literature, storytellers, artists, and educators gathered to celebrate the importance of reading in shaping an empathetic, creative, and free-thinking generation. The annual event, held every third Tuesday of July, honors the publication of Jose Rizal's The Monkey and the Turtle—and continues to celebrate stories that help children imagine a brighter future.

In her inspiring keynote, Sectoral Representative for Mass Media, Emily Abrera emphasized how imagination—likhang-isip—is not just about escape but about creating something new from nothing. 

"Imagination is the power to create something new or different from what already exists around us.” - Emily Abrera

She reminded us that ideas are often born unrecognizable. They need discipline, creativity, and purpose to transform into something useful. Children's books play a unique role in shaping young minds to outwit falsehoods and fear, and to seek truth through stories that shine a light in dark places. 

Through children’s books, imagination is shared. In a world where many cannot dream, books become lifelines for hope. Books allow a child to freely roam the realm of endless possibility so they may find the courage to step into the unknown, to move our society forward.

The celebration honored some of the most excellent new works in children’s literature:

🏆 Salanga Prize Winner: Three Thimbles by Patricia Marie Grace So. Gomez  

A story about the making of the first Philippine flag through the eyes of two women and a child displaced from their homeland. In the featured reading, a child questions whether the freedom our heroes fought for still exists today, echoing a timely and profound challenge: Do we truly have the freedom they gave their lives for?

🎨 Alcala Prize Winner: Art for Three Thimbles by Christina L. Javier 

A Cavite-based artist specializing in paper collage and digital art, Javier created the illustrations for this year’s PBBY-Salanga Grand Prize-winning story, Three Thimbles by Patricia Marie Grace S. Gomez.

📚 De Jesus Wordless Book Award: Alikabok sa Liwanag by Rommel E. Jason 

A haunting yet hopeful visual narrative about a child displaced by war, inspired by the Marawi siege. With no words, the book invites children to fill the silence with their own imagination.

This year’s National Children’s Books Day reminded us that while knowledge tells us what is, imagination dares us to dream of what could be. And through books, children are not just readers—they become creators of a better world.

By Julienne Salazar