World Book Day 2016

TODAY is World Book Day - the world’s biggest annual celebration of books and reading.

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe.

It's a partnership of publishers, booksellers and interested parties who work together to promote books and reading with the aim of encouraging children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.

A study last month by BooksTrust found that kids overwhelmingly prefer reading print books, with 76% preferring them to their digital counterparts. “This seems to reflect Irish children’s reading too, with over €34,000,000 worth of children’s print books selling in Ireland in 2015,” said Bob Johnston, chair of the Booksellers' Association Irish Branch.

“This was an increase of 15% on 2014 and just goes to show how both parents and children still value books as an important leisure activity. Children’s books now account for almost 30% of all the books sold in Ireland and this is great to see as it means that we’re raising Irish children to be great readers!”

A €1.50 book token, provided by Irish booksellers, can be exchanged for one of 11 specially published World Book Day books, or is redeemable against any book or audio book of their choice costing €3.99 or more at a participating bookshop or book club.

This year, acclaimed Irish author Brian Gallagher has written a special Irish title, One Good Turn (O'Brien Press), for the day. The other special 2016 books are: Kipper’s Visitor by Mick Inkpen (Hodder Children’s Books), Supertato: Hap-pea Ever After by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books), Daisy and the Trouble With Jack by Kes Gray & Nick Sharratt (Red Fox), The Great Mouse Plot by Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake (Puffin), Welcome to the World of Norm by Jonathan Meres (Orchard), Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space by Cavan Scott (Egmont), The Boy Who Could Do What He Liked by David Baddiel (HarperCollins), Harper and the Sea of Secrets by Cerrie Burnell & Laura Ellen Anderson (Scholastic), Spot the Difference by James Dawson (Hot Key), and Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell (Macmillan Children’s Books). The official World Book Day illustrator for 2016 is Sophy Henn.

Learn more at www.worldbookday.com.