A comprehensive mailing list is used to distribute material. If you would like to check that your school’s details are correct, including contact name and roll numbers, please contact the World Book Day Helpline: [email protected]

Primary Schools – All primary schools will be automatically mailed as in previous years; there is no need to register. However, if you have previously requested to not receive any mailings from The Education Company, WBD’s mailing house, you will not receive any WBD material. To rectify this situation, please contact the Helpline.

Secondary Schools – Since World Book Day 2004, secondary schools in the UK have been required to register to participate. As of 2018, secondary schools are required to register and re-confirm their requirements. Schools who are not yet registered are also welcome to do so. Please see the secondary school registration section on this site for all details and to check your registration status. There is a £30 administration fee payable.

Pre-Schools – In 2004 we extended the reach of the World Book Day initiative into the pre-school sector. For further information on this activity please visit the registration section of this site where establishments can register their details. If your nursery or pre-school cannot be found, please email with full establishment details, contact number, Head of Establishment and pupils on roll so we can add your establishment to our system.  Individuals and childminders are ineligible for this service, due to the potential cost.

Yes, email [email protected] with your school name, postcode and number of tokens required and our team will do our best to get your school registered. Successful late registration does incur a fee of £30, however. Please note, we only have a limited number of spare tokens.

Email [email protected] with your school name, postcode and number of additional tokens required and our team will do our best to obtain more tokens for you. It we are able to do this, there is a small fee of £15. Please be aware we only print a limited number of spare tokens.

The Book Token redemption period is: Thursday 27 February – Sunday 29 March 2020 (inclusive).

The Resource Pack, mailed to schools with the £1 Book Tokens from early January 2021 contains lots of ideas for events and activities you can organise in your school or library, even if you are making arrangements at the last-minute. You can also find online versions of the nursery, primary, and teen resource packs on the WBD website which you are free to download.  

The events listing on this site will tell you what other schools, bookshops and libraries in the UK and Ireland are planning and you may get ideas from this list that you can apply in your school. The main objective for World Book Day is to have fun and enjoy reading and sharing books together, so please feel free to use these ideas as a starting point and add other ideas you have yourself.

Registered Childminders, Home Educators, and other registered individuals should send in a stamp-addressed envelope to receive tokens. The outer and inner return envelopes must have valid stamps for the correct value. The outer envelope should be addressed to:

EdCo – World Book Day SAE
Denne Court
Hengist Field
Oad Street
Borden
Sittingbourne
ME9 8LT

Please write the number of tokens you require in the top right-hand corner of your return envelope. If you do not enter a value we will only send you 1 token.

You must fix the correct value, 1st or 2nd class stamp to both the outer and your return envelope.

Envelopes which do not have the correct payment on the outer envelope will not be delivered to us by Royal Mail. If there is no stamp on your return envelope, unfortunately we cannot process your request. Postage on your return envelope must be enough to cover the weight of the number of tokens sent, otherwise you may incur a surcharge from Royal Mail. Each token weighs 2 grams.

Any request received up to the 31st January will be stored and despatched after that date. For requests received after the 31st January, please allow up to 14 days for this process.

In 2004, we extended the reach of the World Book Day initiative into the pre-school sector. For further information on this activity please visit the registration section of this site where establishments can register their details. Individuals and childminders are ineligible for this service, due to the potential cost.

Unless a school book club used by your school has made prior arrangements there is a charge for a copy of the Resource Pack, and Book Tokens will not be sent overseas. You can download the nursery, primary, and teen resource packs for free on our website or to order a Resource Pack, please contact the World Book Day Helpline (details given above). Charges start from £15 for packs sent overseas and increases depending on the number of tokens and destination.

Please contact the World Book Day Helpline (details given above) to find out if your school is on the existing mailing list. Otherwise there will be a charge for the Schools’ Pack. The charge is £6 plus carriage for packs sent overseas. NB. Book Tokens will not be sent overseas. International schools may register to access the World Book Day Portal for information and resources.

Material, including Euro Book Tokens, is sent in bulk to Ireland and is despatched to schools by the Irish Department of Education. We would like schools in Ireland to help ensure that the list used for dispatch is completely up to date. Please visit the site registration section or contact the main Helpline at [email protected].

The Irish Helpline operates for a limited period around World Book Day – please contact it on: [email protected]

Booksellers will have limited quantities of the £1 books exchangeable for the WBD £1 Book Tokens, and are neither obliged nor able to supply large quantities of £1 books in exchange for bulk quantities of Book Tokens. You are urged to bear this in mind when planning for your pupils to celebrate World Book Day, as any misunderstanding can lead to disappointment.

Early contact with your local bookseller, including Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Waterstones, WHSmith, as well as hundreds of independent bookshops nationwide is recommended to find out what their plans are for £1 Book stock.

You may wish to consider contacting your nearest bookshop to find out if they might be able to help you.

You may also wish to organise a book club or fair; please note that Book Clubs and Fairs do not stock the £1 Books.

Please visit www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch. Details are given so that you can check before travelling to make your purchase. All major supermarkets including Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and most large bookshop chains including WH Smith, Waterstones and Eason and hundreds of independent booksellers are participating, as are a number of school book clubs – Scholastic and Usborne Books At Home.

Please check before making a journey that your local store is participating.

Unless a BFPO has made an arrangement with a Book Club or supplier in advance we will not be sending packs out separately. If they have made an arrangement with Usborne Books At Home, then this will already be covered as the main contact for UBAH has already made a substantial request for Euro book tokens for BFPO schools. If the BFPO school would like to receive a pack from us we will need to make a £6 charge, cheque payable to “The Education Company”. Please contact the Helpline with your details: [email protected]

Registering pre-school establishments – see the pre-school section on this site.
Exclusion Units/Individuals educating excluded children.
Hospitals, hospices or other settings educating children in long term care.
Immigration and asylum units that educate children internally.

Sunday Schools, after-school clubs, school reading clubs or organised groups such as Brownies and Guides.

You can download the nursery, primary, and teen resource packs for free.  If you do require an additional schools’ pack it will cost £15. Cheques should be made payable to “The Education Company” and sent to: EdCo – World Book Day SAE, Denne Court, Hengist Field, Oad Street, Borden, Sittingbourne ME9 8LT

No, you need to purchase them through a bookseller who is a member of the Booksellers Association. This is a brilliant way to make contact with your local bookseller, many of whom will be running exciting World Book Day events and activities that you could get involved in. Find your local bookshops here.

No, World Book Day book tokens can only be redeemed by children in participating bookshops and you should direct children to your nearest participating bookshop. Many bookshops run exciting World Book Day events and activities that children could get involved in. You can search for participating bookshops here .

If you contact your local bookshop or library supplier, they may be able to help you. Books are supplied to bookshops at a cost of £5 per 50-copy pack, so you would need to buy the books from the bookseller at cost price, if they can supply them. If you intend to source the books for loan you would need to service them yourself.

You can take a look at World Book Day’s impact here.

Each year, World Book Day hold a selection meeting, where publishers put forward a number of titles to the World Book Day team and a selection panel consisting of independent booksellers, Waterstones, WHSmith, supermarkets and a libraries representative.

The aim is to create a list of books that will appeal to the widest number of children and young people possible, ensuring there is a representative list with something to appeal to all ages and stages. Publisher representation must also must be balanced.

Getting the right mix of the £1 books (€1.50 in Ireland) is key, as they drive children and parents into bookshops to redeem their book tokens and pick up their free book – or many choose to use theirs to get £1 off a full-price book instead.

The charity is funded by a wide selection of publishers, as well as a sponsor, National Book Tokens and booksellers nationwide, who fully fund the cost of the book token redemptions.

 You can see more about our team here.

Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator for success in life, more than family circumstances, educational background, or income. But it’s in decline.

Our Share a Story campaign aims to turn the tide. Sharing stories together – anywhere, anytime – for just ten minutes a day has long-lasting effects on a child’s future and being read to is critical in igniting enthusiasm for reading, and creating lifelong readers. 

For this year’s World Book Day, some of the most influential people in the country – high-profile ambassadors, diverse authors, politicians, and prominent champions – are coming together to ask the nation to ‘Share a Story’ and help change our children’s future.

World Book Day is principally about encouraging children and young people to read and love books. We aim to create a ‘Christmas morning’ feeling around books and reading, encouraging children to use their imaginations and engage with the world of books creatively. Children can do this in any way they like, including dressing up and bringing their favourite book characters to life. World Book Day encourages them to make their own inexpensive props or costumes at home or at school. Some ideas can be found here.

Alongside activity on World Book Day itself, the World Book Day website www.worldbookday.com is constantly updated with reading recommendations, ideas, resources, activities and competitions for children of all ages all year round.