World Book Day: British and Irish children head to school dressed as book-based characters
Today is World Book Day in Britain and Ireland, and to parents that means one thing: their child better have left the house this morning dressed as a literary character.聽
World Book Day, which is celebrated on March 5 in Britain and Ireland, celebrates reading and for the event, children receive book tokens equivalent to one pound that allow them to go to bookstores and get certain titles in exchange for the tokens. They are able to do so for much of the month of March, according to the World Book Day . Titles that young readers can get with their token include "Elmer's Parade" by David McKee, "Best Mates" by Michael Morpurgo, and "Killing the Dead" by Marcus Sedgwick. Readers can also use their token to purchase a regular book and get a one pound discount. In addition, schools, libraries, and bookstores host various activities for the celebration.
And according to various media outlets, dressing children in book-themed costumes has become one of the most prevalent activities. writer Rachel Jones called the activity 鈥渢he all-important costume.鈥�
鈥淲e salute all the parents who made it through the聽seven stages of World Book Day costume crisis聽and delivered their children to school looking this brilliant,鈥� Jones wrote.
Meanwhile, reporter Sarah Ditum wrote that she felt some pressure to deliver a great costume for her child.聽
鈥淔or the last four聽World Book Days, my daughter has gone to school dressed as Alice [of 鈥楢lice in Wonderland鈥橾,鈥� Ditum wrote. 鈥淭his is not because she particularly likes the Alice books. In fact, she hasn鈥檛 read the Alice books. It鈥檚 because I am a terrible parent and every year I forget about World Book Day鈥� Some mums and dads insist on trying, and apparently some children are reckless enough to encourage them, judging by the joyful tiny faces that you鈥檒l see on Thursday morning peeping out from elaborate outfits. There鈥檚 still a minor sheen of snobbery around the store-bought outfit鈥� My resentment on this point, however, really stems from my own incompetence and the fact that I secretly think anyone who is organised enough to get to the shop is probably cheating.鈥�
鈥淗arry Potter鈥� fans can check out 鈥淧otter鈥� author J.K. Rowling鈥檚 for some great examples of 鈥淧otter鈥� costumes 鈥� she鈥檚 been retweeting pictures today.
The US celebrated World Book Night (which takes place in April), which came to America from Europe, for the past few years, but this past summer, the organization behind the event (in which books are handed out for free by volunteers) announced that the event was finished because of lack of funds.
