World Book Day works to provide kids with books

The charity was founded by Baroness Gail Rebuck on April 2nd 1995 to encourage children and young people to read and celebrate books and their authors. The first World Book Day was held in 1997 in the UK and Ireland and it has been going on for over 23 years.

“We wanted to do something to reposition reading and our message is the same today as it was then – that reading is fun, relevant, accessible, exciting, and has the power to transform lives.”

The charity also offers resources for Nursery, Primary, or Secondary school students. These resources consist of activity packs, colouring sheets, teaching techniques and help for teachers, book character posters, etc.

This year Ireland will celebrate World Book Day on Thursday, 5th of March 2020.

In 2018 World Book Day launched “Share a Story”. Participants can win lots of book prizes. There are also book prizes for the school. World Book Day is trying to share a million stories during the celebrations month.

You can participate by recording yourself reading a story for at least 10 minutes. You then have to register on the Share A Million Stories website and upload your 10 minute story.

World Book Day – Tokens

National Book Tokens, one of their sponsors, sends out €1.50 tokens to primary schools. Children can use them to buy a book of their choice or pick a free book from a wide range. The charity sends out 15 million tokens around the UK and Ireland. They aim for one token per every child under the age of 18.

There are ten to fifteen new and exclusive books every year exchangeable for tokens. Most bookstores and some online stores accept tokens.

The tokens can be exchanged between Thursday, February 27th and Sunday, March 29th 2020.

Some of this year’s free books are: