WORLD BOOK DAY 2020

World Book Day has just announced their new £1 book titles for 2020 and we’re delighted that Bing’s Splashy Story is on the list. We’re very proud to be a part of the #shareastory campaign that aims to get us all reading together for pleasure.

World Book Day is the registered charity behind the world’s biggest annual celebration of children’s books. It is dedicated to celebrating the benefits of reading for pleasure for everyone, everywhere – promoting the magic of books, the power of imagination and the importance of sharing stories. Designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, World Book Day is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. 

It is sponsored by National Book Tokens and supported generously each year by the publishing industry, book trade, authors and illustrators. Every year, with a host of publishers and booksellers, World Book Day curates a list of bespoke £1 books for children and young people across the UK and Ireland. World Book Day’s mission is to encourage children and young people to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. Designed to be as accessible as possible, the list is available in braille, large print and audio formats

To mark the day each year, children are welcomed into bookshops and supermarkets across the nation where they can redeem their £1 World Book Day book token (or equivalent €1.50 in Ireland) to redeem for a free World Book Day title or, if they prefer, they can use it to get £1 off any book or audiobook of their choice, costing £2.99 or more. The day also sees children bringing books to life through an array of organised events and activities in schools, bookshops, libraries and at home. 

The National Literacy Trust’s annual literacy survey for 2019 showed that children who took part in World Book Day activities were more likely to enjoy reading, to read daily outside class, to enjoy shared reading and to go on to read independently, than those who didn’t take part.

In 2020 World Book Day will continue its Share a Story campaign initiated in 2018 to drive the reading for pleasure message beyond the school gates, with a call to action for parents, families and carers to find ten minutes every day to Share a Story with children in their care. Sharing stories together for just ten minutes a day has long-lasting positive effects on a child’s future and creates readers for life.

NB: World Book Day 2020 is Thursday 5 March.