World Book Day | thebookactivist

A week today, it’s World Book Day (4th March); that time of year when we all go a bit more book-crazy!

I love World Book Day – the fact there is a whole day marked out for celebrating just how wonderful books are is brilliant. And I love the costumes (yes really I do – it helps being married to Mr Dilly who has a big costume cupboard!) Yes, books should be celebrated every day, but I think it’s great that the whole world comes together to celebrate books every Spring. A UNESCO initiative marked in over 100 countries around the world, World Book Day is enjoyed by hundreds of children – and dare I say it, adults too -up and down the country.

Working as a school librarian, World Book Day was always a great day to be in the library. Children would love to see what was happening – and generally just be excited to be in there, in costume, trying to find the book their character was from (if they hadn’t brought it in from home)! I’ve run Jackanory (always a huge favourite – teachers and other guests reading aloud), book breakfasts (food and books…),Mad-Hatter tea parties (more food and books …) a multitude of competitions (Show us your Shelfie, Guess Who’s reading, Get Caught Reading) book art sessions (crafting using old books), reading treasure hunts (use the clue to find the book). And then there’s the special World Book Day assemblies – I once delivered an assembly in my pyjamas (we chose to celebrate Bedtime Stories that year), as a Ringmaster (circus themed another year) and even using a Dr Who pop-up wardrobe through which teachers ‘appeared’ as their favourite book characters. Fond memories! Despite schools being closed for most, and in-person events not possible, there’s still plenty of ways to celebrate. This year more than ever, bringing the magic of books to life wherever you are, is a great idea and there are some brilliant online events that will help.

National charity, World Book Day, seeks to change lives through encouraging a love of books and shared reading. They’ve a planned a whole host of events and participation campaigns to mark the occasion, supported by high-profile partners, authors, illustrators and poets. On the World Book Day website you can access Early Years, Primary and Secondary toolkits with activities and discussion guides for teachers, parents and carers with useful downloads like ‘5 ways to encourage children to read’ and ‘Top Tips for Sharing Stories’. Also available now, there’s an Authors and Illustrators Academy with tutorial videos from this year’s World Book Day authors including Jonny Duddle, Joseph Coelho and Lydia Monks to encourage creativity. From the 1st March, a brilliant social media participation campaign #ShowYourShares invites everyone to post photos of themselves sharing a story (and maybe win a prize!).

From 3rd-5th March there’s a programme of FREE ‘Share a Story’ events featuring a range of children’s favourite authors – Katherine Rundell, Humza Arshad, Tom Fletcher, Sita Brahmachari to name a few. Each event runs between 25-30 minutes on the World Book Day YouTube channel or via their website and focuses on ‘Books that make us LOL’ (6yrs+) ‘Words and pictures -bringing reading to life’ (4yrs+) and ‘How reading helps us understand the real world’ (9yrs+).

All in all, World Book Day have made something for everyone and it’s all free. Not only that, the website is active all year round so you can keep celebrating, every day!

Find out more at www.worldbookday.com.

Happy Book Birthday – and Happy World Book Day! It’s publication day for these three titles and I don’t think as an author or illustrator you could ask for a better day to have your book published! Stripes Publishing are releasing these great books for young readers aged 6 and up.

Dirty Bertie: Spider! by Alan MacDonald, illustrated by David Roberts

One of the most popular book characters, Dirty Bertie, is back with three new stories perfect for newly independent readers. Featuring a new pet spider, his Gran’s awful knitting and digging for treasure children will delight in Bertie’s latest adventures. Fantastic illustrations bring to life the rather revolting habits of young Bertie, along with his classmates and long-suffering parents. Dirty Bertie is great way to introduce young readers to the fun that can be found in a book!

Find out more at www.alanmacdonald-author.co.uk and www.davidrobertsillustration.com

Little Lion Rescue by Rachel Delahaye

Little Lion Rescue is the first book in a gorgeous new series following the adventures of Fliss as she saves wild animals in danger. During a school trip to the zoo, Fliss is magically whisked away to the Serengeti, where she meets a real little lion cub and helps reunite the cub with the lion pride, encountering some amazing animals and birds on the way. Young readers will love the experiencing the Serengeti, learning all about the different species and the environment in which they live. With Little Dolphin Rescue and Little Penguin Rescue next in the series, this is sure to be a hit transporting readers to amazing new places.

Find out more at www.racheldelahaye.com

Vlad the World’s Worst Vampire: Spook-tacular Surprise! by Anna Wilson illustrated by Kathryn Dunst

Another adventure for Vlad makes it’s entrance today and he’s now got his Bat License (remember cousin Lupus?!). But this isn’t enough for his rather fussy mother, who thinks he should have super strength too. Vlad can’t seem to please her and then things get really tricky as his true identity is revealed at school. But perhaps it’s even more of a shock for his vampire parents as they discover the truth about Vlad’s human friendships. Thankfully Vlad has some good friends around him to help and just when he needs it, the school play comes to his rescue! These stories are a brilliant take on school life and it’s trials and tribulations. With lively illustrations throughout, readers are bound to relate to Vlad’s conundrums and delight in his successes.

Find out more www.littletiger.co.uk

With thanks to Stripes Publishing for sending me these books to review.