News and Stories

2026 Family Literacy Week January 25 – February 1

This month, Vancouver Island Regional Library is once again joining families, schools, and other public libraries across B.C. to celebrate Family Literacy Week. This celebration supports our strategic goal of improving literacy levels across our region and helps raise awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family.

This year’s theme for Family Literacy Day and Family Literacy Week is “Make mealtime family learning time.”

We encourage families to read together or learn together for at least 15 minutes a day. That’s all it takes!

Need ideas for how to celebrate Family Literacy Week? We’re here to help! Check out one of the fun activities or resources below!

Five Ways to Celebrate Family Literacy Week

• Gather round, everyone. Take a look at our chock-a-block events calendar to see for yourself all the wonderful ways VIRL branches are inspiring and promoting literacy across our service area during Family Literacy Week, and every week in between.
• Try something tasty and new. Dig into our upgraded catalogue to discover delicious recipes you can cook up with your family.

• Share with your family. Make a list, share a laugh, or swap stories around the table. Discover even more fun resources from ABC Life Literacy Canada.

• Explore. Pick up one of our literacy kits for babies, toddlers, preschoolers or kindergartners on topics tied to our environment, like sharks, slime and mud, animal sounds, temperate rainforests, animal babies, forest, garden and wildfire resiliency. Each kit is stocked with books, CDs, DVDs and/or toys.
• Read together. Borrow a book, eBook or audiobook from your local library! You can also use the Libby App for eBooks or Blackstone Unlimited, our app for audiobooks.

Family Literacy Day

Family Literacy Day was founded by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999 and is celebrated annually on January 27 to raise awareness about the importance of literacy and encourages families to engage together in reading and other literacy-related activities.

Award-winning Canadian author and illustrator, Barbara Reid, is the Family Literacy Day Honorary Chair. On Thursday, January 22, 2026, Barbara will be doing a demonstration on how to use clay to create a picture. This event is ideal for families with children in grades 1 to 6. Those interested, can register here.