And what a whirlwind of a week it’s been! World Book Day is one of our favourite times of the year. Seeing kids so excited about books and reading is what we’re all about because, after all, without strong young readers, we don’t have strong adult readers. And what kind of world is that?
We kicked off the week with a sell out event with Laura Wood, bestselling teen author of The Agency for Scandal series. Laura absolutely enchanted a room full of readers of all ages with the behind-the-scenes thoughts and insight of her most fabulous books!
The schools in our area had a huge flurry of authors coming through their doors. We organised some ourselves and supported some school-organised author events with book sales. We were very happy to support Fleur Hitchcock, Catherine Bruton, Anna Wilson, Adam Stower, Claire Hatcher-Smith (who popped into the shop), Maudie Smith, and Tamsin Mori at all their Bath based school-visits across the week!
Our Children’s & Schools Lead, Hannah, made an effort to dress up this year as Renee from Mikey Please’s picture book The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods.
Three local schools hosted World Book Day Week book fairs. Thanks to Widcombe Junior School, Peasedown St John Primary School, and St Mary’s CofE Primary School for coming to us to design, organise and deliver a book fair to get kids excited about reading!
Throughout the week, we also hosted a couple of classes for story times in the shop. This gave the kids a story time with a bookseller, a chance to browse the shop, as well as spend their World Book Day Tokens on the free books! The story time winner seemed to be the new young graphic novel Detective Stanely and the Mystery at the Museum – three students brought their parents back on Saturday to snatch their own copy!
The week finished on a high with a busy weekend, full of kids spending their tokens on the free books in shop or for £1 off any book in the shop. We spent two days recommending books left, right and centre – like book ninjas, we were!
World Book Day isn’t just about the costumes or the events. It’s about sharing a love of books with kids, about making sure that every kid has owned their own book at some point in their life. ‘Just 1 in 3 (34.6%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2024. Reading enjoyment levels have decreased by 8.8 percentage points over the past year alone. Children and young people who read daily (n = 789; M = 109.49) had higher average (mean) standardised reading scores than children and young people who didn’t read daily (n = 3,026; M = 103.35). This difference was statistically significant.’ These statistics are from the National Literacy Trust’s 2024 research. You can read more about their findings here.
We’re here to help you find the perfect book for your young readers to keep them in love with books. Pop in for recommendations, use our recommendation station service, or email hannah@mrbsemporium.com to learn more about how Mr B’s can support your school!