The World Book Day book tokens cannot be used for online purchases.   

Children and families can start using their £1 Book Token from Thursday 18 February.

To ensure that children have more time to use their token, participating bookshops will honour tokens beyond the 28 March, whilst stocks last. Each retailer will decide whether they are able to offer £1 off other children’s titles.    

World Book Day’s £1 books can be found in major supermarkets as well as bookshop chains and hundreds of independent booksellers. A full list is available here:

https://booksellers.org.uk/wbd

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. 

There are lots of ways you can celebrate World Book Day at home or at school, or wherever you are! 

A full list of free resources is available on our families and schools’ hubs, including audiobooks, activity sheets, discussion guides, and brand new Author Academy learning videos with our £1 authors and illustrators. 

You can take part in Show Your Shares on social media, celebrating the joy of reading together.

And, remember, World Book Day can be any day! Your events, author visits, library trips, fun school activities can happen at any time of the year. Our resources are here to support you all year round.

The lockdown means doing things differently, so we have some amazing resources to help.

A full list of free resources for nursery, primary and secondary level is available on our schools’ hubs including audiobooks, activity sheets, discussion guides, and brand new Author Academy learning videos with our £1 authors and illustrators. 

You can take part in Show Your Shares on social media, celebrating the joy of reading together.

And, remember, World Book Day can be any day! Your events, author visits, library trips, fun school activities can happen at any time of the year. Our resources are here to support you all year round.

This year has been challenging for so many families; we want to make sure that World Book Day 2021 sends a powerful and positive message about books and reading, and that we do all we can to make sure that children have access to books, especially in lockdown. 

We all hope schools and high streets will be open in February and March, but if you’d like to postpone your children’s events and activities until later in March, or even later in the year, please do.

We’re asking families to hold on to their tokens to use later. Please honour them when you’re open again (until stocks of the books last, and with £1 off other titles at your discretion).

Families and schools may ask how they might use their token during lockdown through ‘call and collect’ and your other plans to keep in touch with communities.

Contact local schools and tell them how children and young people can redeem their tokens – pop-up bookshops in schools, call and collect, arrange visits for when schools are fully open again.

Our full guidance for booksellers can be found here.  

This year has been challenging for so many families; we want to make sure that World Book Day 2021 sends a powerful and positive message about books and reading, and that we do all we can to make sure that children have access to books, especially in lockdown. 

We’d like to support libraries to use World Book Day to promote reading and library membership across the UK.

We hope libraries will be open in February and March, but if you’d like to postpone your children’s events and activities until later in March, or even later in the year, please do.

Our support and resources for libraries can be found here.     

Our World Book Day plans may change to respond to the most recent news and government guidance. The best place to seek out regular, live news from us is via our social media. You can follow us on Twitter (@WorldBookDayUK), Instagram (@worldbookdaysocial) and Facebook (@worldbookdayUK).  

This FAQ will also be updated on a regular basis to reflect the most recent developments.   

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.

If you have already registered, but wish to receive more tokens, please 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.

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 https://booksellers.org.uk/wbd

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.

We encourage you to contact your 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.

We’d like to support libraries to use World Book Day to promote reading and library membership across the UK. Our support and resources for libraries can be found 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.

Our 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.

Each year publishers suggest titles that they believe will encourage a range of children to read for pleasure. A selection panel involving a wide range of expert voices (including libraries, those working directly with children and families in communities, colleagues from partner charities, as well as retailers) chooses a long and shortlist from these submissions. The final decision on the £1 books rests with WBD’s trustees.  

The charity is funded by a wide selection of publishers, as well as a sponsor, National Book Tokens and booksellers nationwide.

The World Book Day £1 books are a gift from booksellers, who fully fund the cost of the £1 book token redemptions.

 You can see more about our team here.

You can find out all the ways to fundraise for us here. 

The bottom of our fundraising page details all the different ways you can donate to us: via BACS transfer, cheque, by phone, or simply by donating online through our JustGiving campaigns. 

Please note that we have two JustGiving campaigns: these are clearly labelled on our Fundraising Page to indicate where schools (and individuals raising money as part of school-organised fundraising) should donate, and where other individuals should donate. 

World Book Day aims to change lives through a love of books and shared reading. We encourage children to use their imagination and engage with the world of books creatively. Children can do this in any way they like, including bringing their favourite book characters to life in a range of ways. 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.