Marking today’s opening of the World Book Day £1 token redemption period, we’re announcing new initiatives, partnerships and funding support!

We’re so excited to announce our first ever official song by MC Grammar. The award-winning-teacher-turned-rapper, real name Jacob Mitchell, became an international sensation in 2019 after videos of him rapping classic children’s books went viral, leading to widespread media coverage and an appearance on The Ellen Show. The father of two, who credits the discovery of books as a turning point in his education, now joins the World Book Day celebration to reach more children and families with a love of books and reading.

To find out more about our collaboration with MC Grammar, click here and check back next week when the music video will be going live!

Thanks to new funding from Arts Council England, we will develop our work in reaching out to children in areas of low literacy and high deprivation. We’re hugely pleased about the grant of £94,360 that has been awarded to us, which will help us make a more meaningful impact in low literacy communities and also help us to offer you £1 books from more diverse and independent publishers. 

We will also be extending our work this year with our partners to help engage more children learning at home during lockdown. These include: 

• A partnership with Oak National Academy and the National Literacy Trust: HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will lead a day of special events for the online classroom, supported by a selection of this year ’s brilliant £1 book authors.
• A World Book Day themed Live Lesson broadcast live on CBBC: we will work with BBC Teach on a Live Lesson featuring some of the 2021 World Book Day £1 book authors to be shown on TV and live-streamed on the Teach website. We will work with the broadcaster and education
  content creator Twinkl on accompanying resources to help teachers and parents make the most
  of the day.
• McDonald’s will include the World Book Day’s £1 token in all its Happy Meal Boxes from 3 March to 13 April and offer an activity pack of book-themed fun to drive-thru customers!
• We’re also working hard this year to ensure that books can still reach the children most in need. Together with publishers and the National Literacy Trust, we are co-ordinating the donation of over 30,000 World Book Day £1 books to selected National Literacy Hub areas to support communities where low levels of literacy are seriously impacting people’s lives.

To stay updated on all of these new initiatives, sign up for our newsletter here. Don’t get to check out our new resource packs for schools which detail all the ways you can celebrate World Book Day this year. 

Read our full press release here.