*22nd September 2021 ANNOUNCEMENT* World Book Day 2022 will take places on 3 March 2022!

This is a really special year for the charity, as it is celebrating its 25th anniversary. With a continued commitment to promote reading for pleasure and offer every child a book of their own, the charity has a particular focus on reaching children from disadvantaged backgrounds and its message next year will be "You Are A Reader". And the brand new official illustrator is Allen Fatimaharan (My Hair, Rapping Princess and Llama Out Loud)!

World Book Day has a fantastic schedule of live events, resources and plans for the day and here are the books you can choose with your £1 book token:

Picture Books

- Hey Duggee: The World Book Day Badge (Laydbird)

- Rocket Rules! by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola (Puffin)

- Dinosaur Roar and Friends! (Macmillan)

Early Readers 6+

- Silly Book True or False by Matt Lucas (Farshore)

- Jemma The Pig and the 127 Unicorns by Michael Morpurgo (HarperCollins)

- The Worst Class in the World in Danger by Joanna Nadin (Bloomsbury)

- Welcome to Grimwood by Nadia Shireen (Simon & Schuster)

Fluent Readers 8+

- The Wizard and Me by Simon Farnaby (Hachette)

- Peak Peril by Sharna Jackson (Knights Of)

- Think Like a Boss by Rashmi Sirdeshpande (Hachette)

Independent Readers 11+

- The Last Word by Ben Bailey Smith (Bloomsbury)

- Boy Missing by Sophie McKenzie (Simon & Schuster)

Ireland Only

- Fun with the Celts and the Vikings (O'Brien Press)

......

The World Book Day organisation worked with schools and nurseries to distribute the £1 tokens. The 2022 book tokens can be used between Thursday 17th February 2022 to Sunday 27th March 2022 (some retailers will accept the tokens beyond this date). You can find out more details over on the World Book Day website.

World Book Day is always held on the first Thursday in March

World Book Day 2021 was held on Thursday 4th March 

World Book Day 2020 was held on Thursday 5th March

World Book Day 2019 was held on Thursday 7th March

World Book Day 2018 was held on Thursday 1st March

How to Celebrate

There will be live events - schedule TBC

Plenty of Reading Resources including author and illustrator masterclass videos, how to draws, and more!

Engage with your local bookshop to see what they have planned. Many offer discounts, events and more!

Toppsta resources:

- 50 Simple World Book Day Ideas for Schools (which don't involve dressing up)

-11 Last-minute, Easy World Book Day Costumes because lockdown doesn't mean you can't dress up!

How to use your World Book Day tokens

Thanks to its many supporting partners, World Book Day will be distributing millions of £1 tokens across the UK and Ireland.

The £1 book tokens will be available in February 2022 and can be used between Thursday 17th February 2022 to Sunday 27th March 2022 (some retailers will accept the tokens beyond this date). 

Once you have your token you can take it into your local bookshop or supermarket and either swap it for one of the twelve exclusive books written especially for World Book Day, or use it to get £1 off any full price book, worth at least £2.99 or more. If you are using the digital token, either show it to booksellers on your phone or tablet screen or print it at home. Please do check with your local bookseller which method(s) they are accepting.

If you're based in Wales, you're in luck, there are an additional two books available and if you're in Ireland there's an extra book for you too OR you can use it to get 1.50 Euros off any book worth at least 3.99 Euros.

And the £1 books are also available in braille, large print and audio via Guide Dogs and RNIB.

Currently the tokens cannot be used online but parents/ guardians can use the £1 token when picking up essential shopping in chains that are open, such as major supermarkets and WHSmith. The World Book Day £1 books are a gift from booksellers, who fully fund the cost of the £1 book token redemptions. Bookshops are offering new ways to make the £1 books available, and bookshops will welcome families when they open again (the tokens will be honoured beyond 28 March – while stocks last). 

The WBD tokens can be used at most large bookshop chains such as WHSmith and Waterstones plus all major supermarkets including Sainsbury's, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Marks and Spencer and hundreds of independent bookshops. But they're not accepted at all outlets, so it might be worth ringing ahead and checking to save you a wasted journey. There's a helpful list of participating retailers (including supermarkets) here. Bookshops will have different measures in place to make the £1 books available. 

Contact your local bookseller for information about their opening times and ways to redeem the token before you visit. 

World Book Day History

Run by the World Book Day charity, this is a much-loved annual event, with a mission of bringing children together to celebrate reading.

World Book Day was originally created by UNESCO and first celebrated in April 1995. The UK isn't the only country which celebrates World Book Day! It is celebrated all over the world on 23rd April but in the UK it always runs on the first Thursday in March. For more details on which countries celebrate World Book Day, check out the UNESCO website https://en.unesco.org/commemor....

So what are you waiting for? Make sure you sign up for a resource pack and don't forget to come back and review the World Book Day book on https://toppsta.com!