It’s World Book Day on Thursday 1 March and as the Read Manchester campaign continues into its second year, a series of exciting events is set to take place across the city.
Bestselling author and illustrator Rob Biddulph, whose books include Odd Dog Out and Grrrrr!, will visit four libraries on a special World Book Day tour. He’ll entertain 800 Manchester pupils with storytelling activities and inspire them to read for pleasure.
On Wednesday 28 February, Rob will lead sessions at Moss Side Powerhouse Library, Chorlton Library and North City Library.The tour will culminate at Manchester Central Library on Thursday 1 March when 500 pupils from nine primary schools will join in the fun.
Thousands more children across the city will celebrate World Book Day by dressing up as their favourite book characters and every pupil will receive a special £1 book token, which can be exchanged for a World Book Day book or used to get £1 off a full price book. This year’s 10 titles include Oi Goat! by Kes Gray, Brain Freeze by Tom Fletcher and The Girl Who Thought She Was A Dog by Clare Balding.
World Book Day celebrations will continue at Central Library on Saturday 3 March, with a Saturday Spectacular event from 12pm to 4pm. Families will enjoy craft making and celebrate their favourite books with digital-based activities.
Read Manchester is a campaign from Manchester City Council and the National Literacy Trust to promote reading and boost literacy levels throughout the city. As part of the campaign, 4,000 books will be gifted to Sure Start Centres across Manchester for World Book Day to encourage parents to read with their children every day. This will take the total number of books donated by Read Manchester to 14,000.
Executive Member for Schools, Culture and Leisure, Councillor Luthfur Rahman, said: “World Book Day is the perfect occasion to encourage all Manchester children to get the reading bug – and Manchester’s libraries always go the extra mile to inspire our youngest readers. This year is no exception, thanks to the fantastic activities on offer, plus Rob’s inspiring storytelling and the gifting of thousands more free books citywide, through the Read Manchester campaign.”
National Literacy Trust Director Jonathan Douglas said: “It is fantastic to see so much activity going on across the city to mark World Book Day this year, which all supports our campaign to make Manchester a reading city. We hope the exciting events with Rob Biddulph will inspire more children to enjoy reading, which we know can have an important impact on their success at school and in life.”
