WORLD BOOK DAY

World Book Day is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and most importantly, it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and it has been celebrated in over 100 countries all over the world for two decades. The main aim of World Book Day is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. World Book Day is celebrated worldwide on 23rd of April which is William Shakespeare’s birthday. However, only in the UK and Ireland, it is celebrated on the first Thursday of March.

Everyone who loves books can take part in World Book Day. It is dedicated to getting children closer to the books and authors they already love – and helping them discover new books and authors that they will love. World Book Day , in partnership with schools all over the UK, gives more than 14 million £1 book tokens to children. That’s almost one for every child or young person under 18 in the UK and Ireland. When children get their book token, all they need to do is to take it to their local bookshop and swap it for one of the ten exclusive, new and completely free £1 World Book Day books. Or, if they prefer, they can use the book token to get £1 discount for any full price books or audio books instead.

There are various activities that teachers can offer at school or parents can do at home with their children. Most of the schools in the UK organize a costume party where children dress up as their favourite book character. Also, some schools ask famous authors to visit their school where they can spend some time with students, read stories, draw ilustrations of the books and create different book-based games with their teachers and even parents.