Novel ideas to celebrate World Book Day

A token of our appreciation for reading…

by Marieke Audsley

It was World Book Day this week! What did you do?

Every year, the wonderful people at World Book Day Ltd team up with publishers, booksellers and National Book Tokens Ltd and set a date to celebrate books and the joy of reading in over 100 countries worldwide! Here at Enjoy, we relished the opportunity to share our favourite children’s books in our email signature with a ‘photo costume’ and key quote. For one day only, members of the Enjoy office were transformed into Mary Poppins, Matilda, Aslan and even the Cat in the Hat!

The principle aim of World Book Day is “to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.” Children are given book tokens, which they can redeem in bookshops and get their mittens on something wonderful to read, not to mention all sorts of exciting activities in schools and libraries.

There are gazillions of fun events taking place all week but one of the absolute best includes getting dressed up as a character from your favourite book.

If you want to put on a costume but are stuck for ideas then here are a few suggestions

Grab some glasses and paint a scar on your head and ‘ta da’, you are… Harry Potter

Got a check dress and some red slippers? Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz is your gal.

Red hair that is long enough to plait? Now you’re Pippi Longstocking!

Wally from Where’s Wally is fun and easy – just pop on a stripy t-shirt.

Pair up with a friend and then you could be Thing 1 and Thing 2 or Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

The Cheshire Cat is another great character from Alice in Wonderland.

Got a giant peach lying around? Grab it and now you’re ‘James’!

If you really want to go wild and get into the spirit of the day then here are some other fabulous things you can do, suggested by teachers and participants on the World Book Day Website – perfect for planning for next year!

• Take pictures of yourself reading in extreme (or at least VERY unusual) places.
• Create a book quiz by drawing a scene from a famous book and asking the participants to guess which book it is from.
• Get the glitter and glue sticks out and make your own funky bookmarks.
• Host an event inspired by famous books – anyone for a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party or game of Quidditch?
• Using Ernest Hemingway as inspiration, who famously wrote: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” when challenged to write a story in just 6 words; organise a competition getting participants to write a story in just six words.

If you want to find out more, visit www.worldbookday.com for loads of great info and resources as well as some cracking suggestions about what to spend your free book token on. Enjoy!