World Book Day: changing lives through a love of books and shared reading

World Book Day’s mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own.
 
World Book Day is a charity supported by the Booksellers Association and the Publishers Association, and sponsored by National Book Tokens.
 
The next World Book Day will take place in the UK and Ireland on Thursday 7th March 2024.

Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income (Source: OECD)
 
So World Book Day wants to see more children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and the improved life chances this brings them.

- 1 in 5 of children receiving free school meals say the book they receive with their WBD book token was the first book they had of their own (Source: National Literacy Trust).

-55% children read more books, 38% share more books with family and friends, 40% buy more books as a result of World Book Day (Nielsen, Understanding the Children’s Book Consumer, 2021)

 
Creating the Readers of the Future

Bookshops are a big part of what makes World Book Day special. Thanks to you, World Book Day brings the transformative power of reading for pleasure to more children and young people.
 
The World Book Day £1 book tokens will be valid from 15 February –31 March 2024.
 
All retailers are asked to respect the collective on-sale date of Thursday 15 February 2024 for all World Book Day £1 Books.    
 
Children are encouraged to take their token to their local bookseller or supermarket to:

- swap it for one of the TWELVE exclusive new and completely FREE World Book Day books (additional books in both Ireland and Wales)

- get £1 off any full price book (€ 1.50 off in Ireland) or an audiobook (costing at lease £2.99 or €3.99 in Ireland )

Children are told that the £1 books are a free gift from booksellers.
 
Terms and conditions for bookshops participating in World Book Day have been updated. 

World Book Day, The BA and Booksellers – in conjunction with World Book Day and the BA Children’s Bookselling Group, we’ve put together a document to Help you Get the Most Out of World Book Day.

Sign up here to receive your World Book Day 2024 dumpbin and poster, and to hear more from the World Book Day team.
 
Get in touch with your questions about World Book Day at booksellers@worldbookday.com