Every year, World Book Day creates bespoke £1 books for children and young adults across the UK and Ireland, to promote the power of imagination and the importance of reading. Through World Book Day, children in South Gloucestershire are given a £1 book token, which they can take to a bookshop or supermarket to get their free World Book Day book.
Luke Hall MP joined the World Book Day team in Parliament this week to champion reading for pleasure in South Gloucestershire. The World Book Day team are supporting teachers, carers, and parents to ensure that reading for pleasure is encouraged as much as reading attainment.
Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income. However, many children have limited access to books. 500,000 (one in 15) children in England aged 8 – 18 say they don’t own a single book, which rises to one in 10 for those eligible for Free School Meals. One in five pupils receiving Free School Meals said that the book they ‘bought’ with their World Book Day book token was the first book of their own.
Luke Hall said “It is a pleasure to support World Book Day. It is so important that every child in South Gloucestershire has the opportunity to have a book of their own that they have chosen for themselves. This builds on the work I have done to secure the provision of free books for children who are currently in care in our area. My own children love books and I want that excitement to be available for all children in our community.”
