It's That Time of Year Again! Happy World Book Day!

Happy World Book Day folks! Today is one of my very favourite days of the year for anyone out of the loop World Book Day happens once a year and booky sorts like publishers, authors, librarians, book sellers etc. get together to promote reading (especially in children) as much as possible. All around the world book shops and schools celebrate by hosting fun events for the kids, like going to school dressed as your favourite book character, and readings and games with authors. World Book Day is more famously known though as being the day where children under the age of 18 who are in full time education are entitled to a free World Book Day book and so are given a £1 book token that they can use to get one of the specially selected £1 books for free from their local bookshop.

This year there are some fantastic titles to choose from for all ages. So if your kids come home with a token all you have to do is go to your nearest Waterstone’s, if you live in the UK most across the country are taking part, let them pick a book on the special World Book Day £1 offer, hand over your token at the register and ta da! One book for every child absolutely FREE! Here are the books on offer for this year…

The What the Ladybird Heard Song by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks (Ages 2+)
Winnie Flies Again by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul (Ages 3+)
Where’s Wally Now? by Martin Handford (Ages 5+)
Magic Molly: The Clever Little Kitten by Holly Webb (Ages 5+)
Roald Dahl's Fantabulous Facts by Roald Dahl (Ages 8+)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Day of the Dreader by Cressida Cowell (Ages 8+)
Big Day Out by Jacqueline Wilson, Illustrated by Nick Sharratt (Ages 8+)
Skulduggery Pleasant: The End of the World by Derek Landy (Ages 9+)

For teen readers or just fans of Young Adult like myself you can also get the fantastic Department 19 by Will Hill and/or The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson for just £1 each!

Or if none of the above tickle you’re fancy you can use your £1 book token to get £1 off any book of YOUR choice. How awesome is that?

Basically I think that World Book day is a fantastic way to spark a lifelong love of reading in young children. When on average one in three children doesn’t even own a book this day gives every young person a chance to own their very own book for FREE. Even as a grown up I still remember how excited I would get about World Book Day as a kid and today I’m a little envious of all the little ones who get to dress up as characters and have authors speaking at schools and get to play games at the library or bookshop and who at the end of a fun filled day get to go home with a brand new book that may be the first in a lifelong love of reading. Today is a day that I’m really passionate about and I hope that whatever you’re doing to celebrate today whether you’re taking the kids to their local library or bookstore or are simply an adult looking forward to reading a good book when you get home from work today I hope you all have a wonderful World Book Day and I encourage you all to take part in the celebrations in any way that you can! For more information on World Book Day visit the website here.