World Book Day will be held on 7 March 2024.

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With a programme of exciting events, brand new inclusive activities for home and school, and our fantastic line-up of £1/€1.50 books, World Book Day on 7 March 2024 is shaping up to be the best ever. 

Keep an eye on this space as we update it with announcements on our 2024 events, activities, and partnerships that will ensure that more children than ever can have the opportunity to discover a love of reading. This is more vital than ever as this World Book Day, half a million children in England don’t own a single book. Our Impact 2023 reveals the effect World Book Day can have on the lives of children across the UK. Our Strategy 2023 – 2027 sets out how we intend to encourage even more children, from all backgrounds, to develop a life-long habit of reading for pleasure, and benefit from the improved life chances this brings them.

Read more in our press release.

THE £1/€1.50 BOOK SELECTION

We’re delighted to share with you the line-up of £1/€1.50 books for 2023 that children can choose for free with their £1/€1.50 book token! With books for beginning, early, fluent and independent readers, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Alongside the 12 titles available across the UK, we also have two exclusive books for Ireland and a World Book Day Welsh title. The books will be available from booksellers from 15 February 2024 – find your nearest participating bookseller. The token redemption period is from 15 February – 31 March 2024.

Find out everything you need to know about the books and token exchange here. For more information about World Book Day 2024, please visit our FAQs.

RESOURCES FOR CELEBRATING WORLD BOOK DAY 2024

Find everything you need to prepare for your World Book Day celebrations in education settings and at home on our Celebrate World Book Day page, including our Primary School Pack, Secondary School Pack and Early Years pack, fun activities, resources, display and celebration materials.

World Book Day and Oxford Children’s have worked with the 2024 £1/€1.50 publishers on dressing up templates and ideas to create low-cost costumes related to the 2024 £1/€1.50 books. The pack includes a workshop outline to run this as a whole class activity you can find this here.

To check out our £1/€1.50 information sheets please click here.

We  also have some fabulous competitions including the ever-popular Design a National Book Token competition in partnership with National Book Tokens.

BOOKSHOPS AND RETAILERS

Over 4,000 booksellers will be taking part in World Book Day 2024, hosting events and activities to inspire children and reach those less likely to be readers. Over 400 independent bookshops and retailers across the UK and Ireland including The Works, WHSmith, Waterstones, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda will be gifting the £1/€1.50 books and welcoming children, families, schools, and local communities to choose a book and discover more about the exciting world of reading.

£1/€1.50 tokens can be redeemed for any £1/€1.50 book from Thursday 15 February to Sunday 31 March 2023 in bookshops, bookshop chains and participating retailers. Alternatively, they can also be used as a £1/€1.50 contribution to any other book. The single-use digital token can also be downloaded from the World Book Day website.

Be sure to keep an eye on your local bookshop’s website and social media channels to stay up to date with what’s on offer in your area or visit our events map.

FUNDRAISING FOR WORLD BOOK DAY

In the UK, up to 500,000 children (1 in 15) don’t have a book of their own. This goes up to 1 in 10 for children receiving free school meals. Having access to books and developing a love of reading for pleasure is vital for a child’s future. Our vision is to see more children, from all backgrounds, developing a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and benefitting from the improved life chances this brings them. By making a donation or raising funds for World Book Day, you can help us change lives through a love of books and reading.

Click below to download our 2024 Fundraising Pack!

• World Book Day 2024 Fundraising Pack
• World Book Day 2024 Fundraising Pack – Schools & Early Years Settings

Find out more about fundraising here.

EXCITING EVENTS FOR 2024

This year we have some amazing online events for you to integrate into your celebrations. For all the details visit our events page.

World Book Day Online Events:

GREAT WORLD BOOK DAY FOOTY & BOOKY QUIZ 2024 (07/03/24)

• Join us and our partners the National Literacy Trust on World Book Day for up to 45 minutes of interactive quiz, featuring top ballers from the Premier League, Football League and the Women’s Super League, cutting it alongside authors at the top of their game.

BBC LIVE LESSON (07/03/24)

• We’ll be celebrating the joy of books, authors and reading for pleasure in a World Book Day lesson for 7-11 year-olds.

To sign up for either of our digital events click here.

WEBINARS

Preparing For World Book Day Webinar Recording

Overcoming barriers to Reading for Pleasure Webinar Recording

Bookseller Webinar Recording

Charity & not-for-profits Webinar recording 

World Book Day In-Person Events:

LIBRARY EVENTS

Funded by Julia and Hans Rausing, World Book Day is working with 20 libraries in high-deprived areas with low literacy levels to help create a legacy around reading for pleasure. Libraries in areas where there is limited access to retailers/bookshops will welcome local children to swap their £1/€1.50 book tokens for books, followed by an exciting event in Spring, to inspire local families to continue enjoying reading together long after the day itself.

Four library events, supported by Arts Council England through its National Lottery Project Grants programme, will also bring to life the World Book Day 6 Principles through exciting activity with £1/€1.50 book authors.

BOOKSHOP TOUR

Every single World Book Day £1/€1.50 author (and some illustrators) will be at their local bookshop sometime between 15th February and 8th March.

Public Events:

• Thursday 15th February – Alex Falase-Koya, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Vivian Truong will be at Moon Lane Books
• Saturday 17th February – Paula Bowles will be at Waterstones Weston-super-Mare
• Saturday 24th February – Tọlá Okogwu will be at Waterstones Bluewater
• Saturday 9th March – Rex Stone (Jane Clarke) will be at Quinns Bookshop

School Events:

• Thursday 29th February – Dr Sheila Kanani with Storytellers St Annes bookshop 
• Friday 8th March – Rob Biddulph, Jennifer Killick, Rosie Jones and Louie Stowell  with Muswell Hill bookshop

Over 400 independent bookshops and retailers across the UK and Ireland including The Works, WHSmith, Waterstones, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda will be welcoming children, families, schools, and local communities to have fun choosing a free book with their £1/€1.50 token to discover more wonderful ways to read.

£1/€1.50 tokens can be redeemed for any £1/€1.50 book from Thursday 15th February to Sunday 31 March 2024 in bookshops, bookshop chains and participating retailers. Alternatively, they can also be used as a £1/€1.50 contribution to any other full-priced book or audiobook. The single-use digital token can also be downloaded from the World Book Day website. There is no cost involved at all in claiming a £1/€1.50 World Day Book.

Be sure to keep an eye on your local bookshop’s website and social media channels to stay up to date with what’s on offer in your area or visit our events map.

ADDITIONAL PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES

BBC

This year will include a brand new BBC Teach Live Lesson which will be available to watch on CBBC, a deeper content partnership with Tiny Happy People and a collaboration with the returning children’s writing competition, 500 Words.

McDonald’s Happy Meal® 

McDonald’s will be supporting World Book Day 2024 across all its UK restaurants with a special range of Happy Meal® boxes. The £1/€1.50 book token will feature on every single World Book Day-themed Happy Meal® box during the promotional period ensuring tokens are available to millions of children during this time and will be supported by further marketing in-stores.

National Literacy Trust

There are lots of opportunities for families to get involved in the hugely popular annual ‘The Great Big Footy and Booky Quiz’ this World Book Day. Find out more here.

#PassThePen, with BookTrust

Expect to see a host of familiar names hand over the reins of their social media accounts to some rising stars in children’s literature – watch this space! Designed to help promote visibility, champion new voices and generate book sales, World Book Day 2024 authors will be paired with up-and-coming writers and illustrators from a diverse range of backgrounds.

MEDIA AND COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS

National Book Tokens is our headline sponsor and has been for over 20 years.

• Amscan International Ltd

Amscan International Ltd have launched a new collection of World Book Day-themed costumes from classic fairytales, with 5% from every sale going to support the charity’s work. Sales of a new World Book Day celebration pack from Party Delights will also give a 5% donation to the charity. Both companies are part of Wonder.

• Green Gourmet

Children in schools across the country will also be able to enjoy a book-themed menu and activity sheet, thanks to school catering provider Green Gourmet.

• Jigsaw Education Group

Jigsaw Education Group are producing free resources based on their Jigsaw Outdoors programme (as part of their bigger Jigsaw PSHE programme) which are World Book Day themed, encouraging active engagement with reading outdoors, at both school and home.

• Joanie

Joanie have created two collaboration pieces for the charity, donating £5 from each sale of its TOBY sweatshirt and £10 from each sale of its TALLY dress from its collection to World Book Day this year.

• Tatty Devine

Tatty Devine has created a 16-piece jewellery collection, inspired by some of its favourite books, authors, and genres. Launched on 25th January 2024, 10% from each piece sold will be donated to World Book Day.

• YOTO

Yoto is our Official Audio Partner for the second year running. As well as providing a selection of free audiobook stories via the Yoto App and on World of Stories, £1 from the sale of a selection of 35 Yoto Cards sold during the campaign period (15th February – 31^st March) will be donated to the World Book Day.

We welcome the opportunity to work with partners who share our commitment to changing lives through a love of books and reading. We work with those who can help us do more to achieve our mission to promote reading for pleasure and offer every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own. We select our commercial partners carefully and work with them in a range of ways, from one-off fundraising events to longer term partnerships. Find out more here – Work With Us. – or email us at hi@worldbookday.com

World Book Day is a registered trademark. This means you must have our written consent through a formal licensing agreement to use the name ‘World Book Day’, our logo or any of our artwork assets.