The 2013 Fun Summer Reading campaign was launched at a special event held in Greenwich Book Center in Sofia. The initiative organized for a third consecutive year by Az-deteto.bg children’s online portal and Sofia City Library brought together many young friends of books. Guests of the official opening included school children from several schools in Sofia (31st High School for Foreign Languages and Management, 6th Primary School and Deutsche Schule), teachers and parents.
 
The event marking the official opening of this year’s Fun Summer Reading campaign was attended by many official guests and partners: Ms. Spaska Tarandova, Deputy Director of Sofia City Library, Ms. Diana Vakarelska, Director of UNICEF Bulgaria, and the campaign ambassadors – the journalist and TV presenter Nicky Kunchev, children’s authors Rosi Kota and Petya Kokudeva, as well as the singer Orlin Pavlov and the actress Silvia Lulcheva.
The campaign was launched on 28 May by Ms. Spaska Tarandova. She addressed young readers with the wish they never stop reading and combine the benefits of technological progress and reading books. She wished them to become successful people and added that to be such they need to have read many books. Ms. Tarandova advised teachers, parents and librarians that they should always stimulate children to read. These wishes were shared by the authors Rosi Kota and Petya Kokudeva who told interesting stories about books and took children to the magical world of fairy tales.
Following the successful launch of the 2013 Fun Summer Reading campaign in Sofia, the initiative continues in the towns of Smolyan and Gotse Delchev bringing together children from different schools and their parents and teachers.
The meeting in Gotse Delchev was hosted by the library at Prosveta Public Chitalishte and special guests included Rositsa Poparkova, representative of the library, Nikolay Marinov, artist and poet, and the special guest Valeri Sarandev, Deputy Mayor of Culture of Gotse Delchev.
The ninth-graders from Yane Sandanski High School of Mathematics in Gotse Delchev delivered a special address to the third-graders from Sts. Cyril and Methodius Primary School and told them about the benefits of reading and books.
The first-grader Nicky Papadopoulos presented his book “My Poems”, attracting the attention even of older participants.  
The Fun Summer Reading ambassador, artist and poet Nikolay Marinov, famous for his exhibitions in the USA and Europe and as a manager of the fine arts children’s school and author of several collections of poems, among which “Kangaroo Jump” and “Pictures from a Life”, said he would stir children’s enthusiasm through his own example: “the book is a window to the world and words are guardians. Words protect from the evil spirit’s mischiefs. Books are the link between visible and invisible worlds”.

Ms. Spaska Tarandova, Deputy Director of Sofia City Library, wished school children many prizes and said that “reading is a way to have multiple lives. Reading is a way to become embodied in a character and their lives.” She appealed to children to discover reading as a type of entertainment.
 
The meeting held in the District Library in Smolyan was attended by more than 30 children – third to seventh-graders from Ivan Vazov Primary School, their parents and teachers. This year’s reading ambassadors include Miryana Naydenova, actress, and Todor Kapitanov, lawyer and author. Special guests included Angel Dobrikov, representative of Smolyan Municipality, and Ivan Mutsevski, Head of the Regional Inspectorate of Education.
The actress Miryana Naydenova talked about her favorite author – the naughty Astrid Lindgren and her book “Emil of Lönneberga”. She said she discovered “The Little Prince” at the age of 16 and it became her most favorite book because it contains messages to all – young and old. “When we were kids, we created our own tales when we got together and we told to each other what we had read in the books”, she said and then quoted some messages to children from “The Little Prince” and acted the key scene with the fox and the prince. “Whenever you have 53 free minutes, come here to the library to get a taste of authors and literature”, she addressed her message to the children, using one of the witty answers given by Exupery’s character.
The children were happy to read their poems and show a book of short stories written by Ms. Iliana Tsenova’s pupils. The demonstration of the online reader’s diary created by Az-deteto.bg attracted great interest. Together, we browsed the books included in the list in the “Library” section of az-deteto.bg. The children came up with suggestions on books to be added to the list.
In both towns, children declared their serious intention of participating in the 2013 Fun Summer Reading and winning this year’s prizes.