World Book Day's 20th anniversary celebrations

September 14th 2016

On 9th September, World Book Day UK announced plans to give away 1 million books as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations.  They've also teamed up with a range of fantastic children's authors, including David Walliams, Dame Jacqueline Wilson and Julia Donaldson, who are each donating an official World Book Day £1 book, which children can get for free, in exchange for the £1 book token. The £1 book tokens are available to all schoolchildren in the UK and Ireland, and all they have to do is take it to their nearest book shop. World Book Day was first designated an international event by UNESCO in 1995 after being observed for over 70 years in Catalonia, where giving books to friends and family had become an annual tradition. It was first marked in the UK two years later in 1997, in response to an increasing concern over poor reading and writing standards. Over the past 19 years, World Book Day UK has delivered 13 million £1 books into the hands of young people across the country. In 2016, the number of £1 books given away was 789,738, and so the charity's aim for its 20^th anniversary is to increase this number to 1 million - and we can't wait! The 2017 World Book Day £1 titles include:

• Peppa Loves World Book Day (Ladybird)
• Everyone Loves Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books)
• Where’s Wally? The Fantastic Journey by Martin Handford (Walker Books)
• Princess Mirror-Belle and Snow White by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks (Macmillan)
• Horrid Henry: Funny Fact Files by Francesca Simon (Orion Children’s Books)
• Good Old Timmy and Other Stories by Enid Blyton (Hodder Children’s Books)
• An as yet untitled book by David Walliams (HarperCollins)
• Butterfly Beach by Jacqueline Wilson (Corgi)
• Island by David Almond (Hodder Children’s Books)
• Dead of Night: A Front Lines Story by Michael Grant (Egmont)