Six free books, a one-year subscription to the media library... Cannes wants to pass on a passion for reading to its young schoolchildren.

is a crucial aspect of education." Laurent is a fulfilled father. On Monday evening, at the Noailles media library, his two children, Albane and Jean, received the very first reading kit awarded by the municipality. In their little bag: six books and a one-year subscription to the media library.

"Today, we have to fight with phones and tablets," continues Laurent. "But in our rooms, there are a lot of books. Our children need to see them and they need to see us reading, too. This action of giving out a reading kit is an excellent initiative."

Launched in 2019 by the mayor, David Lisnard, this operation is aimed at 6-year-old children born in Cannes and registered in the program. The objective, as the City explains, is to " familiarize the younger generations with books and promote access to reading from a very young age, support the learning of the French language and accompany students in their first literary explorations."

Bringing books and digital technology together

Like Albane and Jean, 87 children received their first set of books. "Reading is non-negotiable ," smiles Nina, mother of Mia, soon to be 6, and Eva, 7. "It allows you to dream, to enhance the imagination, to open the mind... It is simply essential." A necessity that, according to her, can perfectly coexist with contemporary uses: "You have to live with your modernity, books and screens are compatible. The key is to set a framework, there is a time for everything."

For David Lisnard, this distribution is proving to be much more than a symbolic gesture. "It's a committed act for books," he argues. "The most technologically advanced countries are putting books back at the heart of education."

Diverse and open reading themes

And to insist on the personal development of the child: "Abandoning reading as the years go by is a catastrophe, while it allows you to be free in relation to the content of the book, to choose your own pace, to dream, to develop your imagination." The book, he adds, also allows you to reconnect with what is essential. "It's about living in the times, but remembering that having an object that is free from all commercial interference, from any technique of capturing artificial attention, as we have on all digital objects, allows children above all to develop in a healthy way."

The first six books distributed as part of this initiative cover a variety of themes combining mythology, the environment, and history: "Jasper and the Flair Brigade," "Jack and the Beanstalk," "The Gods and Goddesses of Egypt," "Bees," "In the Forest," and "Dinosaurs." See you in 2026 for the second distribution of books and library subscriptions.