World Book Day was created by UNESCO on 23 April 1995 as a worldwide celebration of books and reading.

In countries around the world it is celebrated on the anniversary of that date, but in the UK it is generally marked on the first Thursday of March.

Spending just 10 minutes a day reading and sharing stories can make a crucial difference to a child's future success and is fun for all involved.

That’s why World Book Day continues to encourage children and young people to read for pleasure through its work with authors, illustrators, publishers, bookshops and libraries.

Article 17

Access to information from the media: Every child has the right to reliable information from a variety of sources and governments should encourage the media to provide information that children can understand. Governments must help protect children from materials that could harm them.

 

Article 29

Aims of education: Children’s education should help them fully develop their personalities, talents and abilities. It should teach them to understand their own rights, and to respect other people’s rights, cultures and differences. It should help them to live peacefully and protect the environment.

 

Article 31

Rest, play, culture, arts: Every child has the right to rest, relax, play and to take part in cultural and creative activities.

 

 

This week in school, we have a range of activities focusing on Book Week and on World Book day itself, children and adults will be dressing up as book characters. 

How can reading help us? 

Reading is an important skill, and we often talk to the children about the purpose of and reasons for reading. Here are just a few:

• We can learn new things about the world
• We can enjoy a story that makes you laugh, cry or get excited
• It can help us calm down or get to sleep
• It inspires us
• We can use our imagination
• We can share with friends and family
• We learn new skills
• We can find out how other people view the world and learn about their experience
• It helps your brain to develop
• It is a good alternative to spending time on a screen or phone
• We get ideas for your own writing and stories

 

Here are some suggestions for activities that you can do at home to mark World Book Day:

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Favourite Books

Does your child have a favourite book? Can they draw a picture of the cover? Talk to your child and see if they can describe what they can see on the cover. Encourage them to talk about what the book is about and why you think they should read it. In school, we talk about book recommendations - can your child decide who they would recommend the book to?

 

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Singing about books

Listen to this World Book Day song. How many books and characters can your child hear mentioned? Can they create their own song/story or poem about reading or their favourite books (with your support)

 

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Share A Story Corner

Share A Story Corner videos have familiar characters, easy to follow stories, and tips for reading together with your little ones. Look at the pictures together, guess what the characters are up to and ask your child what they think will happen next.  You can find a range of video books here, and you can download the World Book Day sharing stories together poster here which contains some ideas for ways to explore stories.