Every year on the 7th March World Book Day is celebrated up and down the UK. It aims to give every child a book of their own and celebrate reading!
22 years ago The World Book Day Charity set up World Book Day in the hope to encourage and celebrate authors, books, illustrators and, primarily, reading. On World Book Day schools give children book tokens in the hope that it will help them to buy a book of their own, even if they are not in a financially stable family. These book tokens can be used to get books for free in many bookshops and supermarkets taking part in the scheme; in recent years around 15 million tokens have been given out which means that nearly every child in the UK has been given one.
Around the UK World Book Day is celebrated in many different ways, many schools go on trips, do reading or book related activities but the most common celebration is for children to dress up as their favourite book characters. Many schools have processions for children to show off their costumes. Many children also donate to book related charities, like Book Aid.
World Book Day is now celebrated in over 100 countries, though some celebrate it on different days.
Hannah Veltze, 11, says that “Book Day is really fun, you get to do loads of really exciting activities that you don’t usually do, I love getting dressed up and seeing everyone else’s costumes. It really inspires you to read more new books.”
World Book Day inspires hundreds of children and young people to read and allows every child a book of their own.
