Gift Days is a children's book (recommended for ages 8 and up) by

Kari-Lynn Winters Kari-Lynn Winters, née Moore (born 1969) is an award-winning Canadian children's author, playwright, drama educator, and literacy professor. She taught children's literacy, literature, dance and drama education at the University of British Colum ...

, illustrated by Stephen Taylor. It was published in 2012 by Fitzhenry & Whiteside.

Plot

Young Nassali longs to read and write like her brother, but since her mother's death from

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, Nassali is responsible for looking after her younger siblings and running the household. There is no time for books and learning. Then one day, she wakes up to discover that her chores have been taken care of. It is her first gift day. From that day on, once a week, her brother gives Nassali the gift of time so that she can pursue her dream of an education, just as her mother would have wanted.

Awards

* Finalist
2013 BC Book Prize
("

Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize The Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize is awarded annually as the BC Book Prize for Canadian authors and illustrator of picture books, picture story books, and illustrated non-fiction books. The prize is shared by the author an ...

") * Finalist: Ontario Library Association'
Rainforest of Reading
July 2013 * Top four: CBC Radio's ''Here and Now'' Recommendations For Children's Books, December 2012

Educational activism

Proceeds from this book are being used to support the charity Because I am a Girl, a social movement to "unleash the power of girls and women to claim a brighter future for girls in the developing world" through education and women's rights; at its book launch in November 2012, enough money was raised to send 10 girls to school in Uganda for a year. Included with the book is information about organizations committed to supporting girls like Nassali. Winters' method of social activism, via social semiotics and critical positioning, and ''Gift Days'' demonstrate how one's socio-cultural environment contributes to literacy — "an education is the path to a better life."

References

{{Reflist

External links

Published reviews of ''Gift Days''''Gift Days''
at

Fitzhenry and Whiteside Fitzhenry & Whiteside is a Canadian book publishing and distribution company, located in Leaside, Ontario. It publishes trade titles in children's and young adult fiction, textbooks, reference, history, biography, photography, sports and poetry. ...

publishers *''Gift Days'' a
Kari-Lynn Winters personal pageStephen Taylor personal page
Children's fiction books 2012 children's books Canadian children's books Canadian picture books Education in Uganda Fitzhenry & Whiteside books Children's books set in Uganda HIV/AIDS in literature