It’s World Book Day on 2nd March 2023. Find out how you can get involved and celebrate.
World Book Day will be held on 2nd March 2023. It is a celebration of reading, authors, illustrators, and all things books! Thousands of people across the UK celebrate this day and raise money to ensure all children have access to books.
According to the World Book Day charity, nearly 400,000 children in the UK don’t have a book of their own. Having access to books and developing a love for reading is vital for a child’s future – it’s the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success, more than family circumstances, educational background, or income!
What does money raised on World Book Day do?
- It helps every child get a book of their own. Book tokens get sent out to children across the UK and Ireland which they can use to get a book. For 1 in 5 children receiving free school meals the World Book Day £1/€1.50 book is the first they have had of their own.
- It encourages more children to read for fun. Making books more accessible transforms attitudes towards reading and helps families enjoy books together.
- It ensures every child has access to books. The charity works with communities, libraries, and partners to deliver activities and get books to the children that need them most.
What can you do to celebrate World Book Day 2023?
Dress up as your favourite book character
Express your creativity and become your favourite character for the day! Creativity is a great skill to have in life, and can help us build our self-belief.
Find out how to make a last minute and inexpensive costume with what you own at home.
Consider what skills your favourite characters have
Think about what skills your favourite characters have that help them throughout the book, and then consider how you could build your own. For example, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games is an excellent problem solver, and she has the self-belief and resilience to overcome all the challenges that the Capitol and Gamemakers threw her way.
A great way to start building your skills is with the Young Professional training programme. All your favourite characters from literature will posses a Young Professional skill such as self-management, self-belief, communication, teamwork, and problem solving. This programme will help you build these skills in your own life and set you on your way to mastering them.
Explore what books you would like to read
You may be think you don’t like reading, but the chances are you just haven’t found out what you like and what works best. There are so many different genres, and so many ways to read. If you don’t like having to actually read books, why not read by listening to them as an audiobook?
The best idea is to just explore what kind of books are out there to find something you think is interesting. You don’t have to buy the book for yourself – you can get them for free from your school or local library.
Here are some great places to explore books and find recommendations:
- Top 25 Stories for Young People
- World Book Day recommendations from a bookseller
- Top 50 books that will change the way you think
- 10 minute story shares – here authors read you the first few chapters of their own books. By listening to them read, you can decide if the book is something you want to continue with, and also whether audiobooks could be a preferred way of reading for you.
The Author and Illustrator academy
World Book Day doesn’t just have to be about you reading books – it can also be about you creating your own. The World Book Day charity have made some quick video lessons to teach you about making your own stories and using your imagination.
Explore the World Book Day online masterclassesPick up something to read
Lifelong learning is about learning new things because you want to, and not just because it’s something you have to for school. Reading is a great way to boost lifelong learning as you always gain some new knowledge and insights when you do it.
But it’s not just about reading books! Reading can be anything from comics to recipes to news articles or magazines. Don’t worry about what counts as reading and try to learn something new each day.
Reflect on what you have learned
It’s not just knowledge of what happens on the pages that we learn from books – there are many positive messages and skills we can find in them.
Reflecting on what positive messages you have learned about life and growth from your favourite characters is a great way to make the most of what you read. You could then think about what goals you could set in your own life to further your own growth a small step at a time – a great way to do this is with SMART goals.
