Kicking off our largest ever celebrations for World Book Day 2022 with over 100 partners
World Book Day celebrates 25 years
This year the National Literacy Trust is celebrating World Book Day with over 100 partners to inspire and delight children with the wonder of books – including hundreds of businesses, publishers, booksellers and authors.
This year will mark 25 years since the inception of World Book Day which was designed to help all children become book owners and inspire a love of reading. A vital step in building strong literacy skills for life.
Jonathan Douglas CBE, Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust said:
“World Book Day is an important moment to inspire and delight children with the wonder of books and a powerful platform to reinforce the importance of building literacy skills for life. Through our fantastic partners, we’re able to reach more children in schools and communities than ever before, providing support to those that need it most.
Everyone has a role in raising literacy levels throughout the country and World Book Day is a fantastic opportunity to bring all our supporters together.”
Up and down the country we are marking World Book Day by distributing 60,000 books to encourage children to read for pleasure as well as producing a host of activities for schools and communities to take part in.
Activities include:
– World Book Day Big Footy & Booky quiz, free to all teachers and pupils. This exciting online event, which will be hosted by sports presenter Kelly Somers, will feature Football School authors Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton, so make sure you sign up today.
– Our 15 Hub areas across the country will also be working in partnership with local libraries and retailers like McDonald’s to distribute books across our hubs. Between 2nd– 15th March, £1 book tokens will feature on every single World Book Day themed Happy Meal® box.
– Highlights from around the country include:
- In Bradford we have author Harry Heape running a session on ‘Inspiration through writing’ and story telling
- In Manchester we will be distributing 2,400 books across four libraries with more exciting author story telling sessions
- In Peterborough you’ll find a ‘Bunny’s on the bus tour’ with exciting story telling sessions, fun craft activities and book giveaways
- In Middlesbrough we’re running a fun World Book Day competition with Middlesbrough library services, for a chance to win a bundle of books and distributing 2,400 books
– We have a range of resources for schools focusing on ‘story telling’ and ‘reading for pleasure’ as well as fun activities for families to do at home.
– Take a look at our 25 ways to celebrate World Book Day and develop a lifelong reading habit
– There are so many activities for you to get involved with. Want to find out what’s happening in your area? Find our more on our hub page
Jonathan continues: Our recent economic study with WPI showed that reading for pleasure can result in children getting better GCSEs, in turn boosting their lifetime earnings and raising the UK’s GDP. In the future, my hope is that more children will grow up to be adults who read and that reading and books are part of their world.” (The Power of Reading; WPI and National Literacy Trust 2021)
Take a look at the full range of World Book Day books available for just £1 here
If you want to find out more about how the National Literacy Trust can help your school, sign up here