Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day by Sharing a Book!

Since today is Employee Appreciation Day, I have a tip for all personnel, human resources, and staffing departments: I'd like to propose that you share a book with your employees to demonstrate how much you value them. And I have a suggestion for which book, but before we get to the specifics, first, a little background about today's significance.

Observed annually on the first Friday in March, Employee Appreciation Day was started in 1995 by Dr. Bob Nelson, to celebrate the publication of his book, "1001 Ways to Reward Employees." Together with his publishing company, he made sure that the holiday appeared prominently on workplace calendars. This was a successful strategy because the book sold over two million copies and was translated into over 25 languages.

Now back to the book that I propose sharing with your employees: GOOD LUCK, ICE CREAM TRUCK by Sorche Fairbank and illustrated by Terry Runyan. The book celebrates friendship and community - two important elements that should be celebrated every day in the workplace, but especially today on Employee Appreciation Day. 

According to Harper CollinsPublishers' description, "The sweet anticipation of waiting for the ice cream truck is tempered by the arrival of eight other trucks — a dump truck, a mail truck, a fire truck, a news truck, a utility truck, an excavator, a garbage truck, and a cement truck — in this picture book celebration of vehicles, professions, community, friendship, and delicious ice cream."

This book features a group of friends including a giraffe, cats, dogs, birds, frog, turtle, alligator, and more as they eagerly await the ice cream truck. However, as the book progresses, eight other trucks travel by the group. However, the group doesn't get upset, they don't yell at each other, they don't go home...they simply appreciate all the trucks that go by and calmly look forward to the ice cream truck. And they are happy when the ice cream truck appears.

Why do I suggest reading, sharing, and discussing a children's book for Employee Appreciation Day? The answer is simple. According to Katherine Rundell, author of WHY YOU SHOULD READ CHILDREN'S BOOKS, EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE SO OLD AND WISE, "Ignore those who would call it mindless escapism; it's not escapism; it is findism. Children's books are not a hiding place, they are a seeking place."

The Guardian explained Rundell's argument, "There's something particular about children's fiction that can open up new perspectives for adults. The best children's fiction helps us refind things we may not even know we have lost, taking us back to a time when new discoveries came daily and when the world was colossal, before the imagination was trimmed and neatened. There's also something instructive in reading books that are specifically written to be read by a section of society without political or economic power."

So, while you enjoy GOOD LUCK, ICE CREAM TRUCK, I will end by sharing three quotes from authors and their referenced books:

"If you give a person a book, you give him the world." ~Kristin Harmel, author of THE PARIS DAUGHTER

"For you unlock magic that is hidden within, and opening the cover is how you begin. Oh, all the worlds and the places you'll see; when you hold a book, you hold the key." ~Caroline Derlatka, author of WHEN YOU OPEN A BOOK

"If you can, always be yourself, unless you can be Batman — then always be Batman." ~Jenn McKinlay, author of PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA

Image Credits: HarperCollinsPublishers and Amazon.

Check out some reading tips from September 2024 here on my blog:

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/09/five-readingtips-to-fall-back-to-reading.html