Celebrating World Book Day

by: Marilyn Owen (12 March 2014)

On 6 March, schools all over the UK celebrated World Book Day, an annual event to make reading fun and interesting, fostering a love of books and favourite authors. Many schools have made full use of this fantastic opportunity, many selecting a particular theme so that children can dress up as their favourite character from a well-known and much-loved story. Just visiting www.worldbookday.com is fascinating and stimulating in itself, with a whole range of exciting children's authors and opportunities to spend the £1 book token given to every school child.

One of my local schools really took this opportunity to encourage their children and the reception class focused on the wonderfully creative writer Judith Kerr. The four and five-year-olds dressed up as various cats and The Tiger that Came to Tea! At the same time, this Ofsted outstanding primary school held a book swap so that children swapped outgrown books for some exciting new ones and in this way children could refresh their book collection and find excitement in reading new stories.

Indeed, celebrating World Book Day is a fantastic way to bring books to life, arguably even more vital than ever in the days of addictive computer game, twenty-four-hour television and limitless internet. Parents and teachers face a unique challenge in encouraging literacy and love of books in their children. Here are some ways to do so:

• Visit the public library, help them choose new books, and look out for story-telling sessions too.
• Browse internet book sites such as Amazon.
• Sit and read with your children!
• Read stories to young children.

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