Happy World Book Day

Happy World Book day one and all!

I remember the very first World Book Day, way, way back in 1998. I was teaching in a school in Birmingham and had started working very closely with the school's librarian to promote a new reading scheme. Looking back, they were probably the first steps I took on a journey that eventually led to me creating The Book Zone (For Boys). Said librarian was a huge fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel, and we decided that we would celebrate the inaugural World Book Day by having a fancy dress day for students, and also by encouraging as many of the staff as possible to dress up as a character from a Discworld novel. Those staff who volunteered were each given a character (and description). 

I remember dressing up all in black as an assassin, but for the life of me I can't remember the character's name. That doesn't matter though, the important thing was that loads of staff and students took part in the name of reading, and we even featured on the local news that evening.

Since 1998 World Book Day has gone from strength to strength and is now a major day in the calendar for many schools across the country, and this year it seems like it will be bigger than ever. There are events going on all over Britain today, in schools, libraries, book shops. There is also a brand new FREE World Book Day app featuring short stories from such writing gods and goddesses as Neil Gaiman, Charlie Higson, Malorie Blackman and Anthony Horowitz. I have already downloaded it to my iphone - you can find out more by heading on over to this page on the World Book Day website. There are also a number of special World Book Day books (including a special Skulduggery Pleasant story) available from book shops today for the paltry sum of £1 (or your world book day voucher). And if you have not yet read the totally brilliant Department 19 by Will Hill then look out for the specially priced £1 copies available in Waterstones. Only 3! for the best action horror book I have ever read??!! Bargain!

I hope you all have a great World Book Day!

News: World Book Day website and competitions

Got any plans for World Book Day? If not then you had better get a move on as 3rd March is only a few weeks away. We have a few things planned at school, including staff dressing up as fictional characters - I'm still trying to decide what I will be going as. I would love to hear what you have planned.

World Book Day seems to be getting bigger and bigger each year, and this year the organisers have launched a new website aimed at 11-19 year olds. This website is called digi-tale and it already has a handful of great competitions on it, where entrants could win an Acer Notebook, a Nintendo DSi XL, or even a Toshiba Folio 100 tablet computer. 

To win the Toshiba all you have to do is write a 200-300 word review of one of the following books:

Before I Die, Jenny Downham
Going Postal, Terry Pratchett
Holes, Louis Sachar
Northern Lights, Philip Pullman
Noughts and Crosses, Malorie Blackman
Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Teacher’s Dead, Benjamin Zephaniah
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee


More information about how to enter can be found here at the digi-tale website. You can also follow them on Twitter and like their Facebook page.