How to Celebrate World Book Day With Your Students

Written language is a defining characteristic of humankind, setting us apart from other species. And, whether it’s the reason for our advanced intelligence or a product of it, it’s undeniable that it expanded human communication to a whole new dimension. Just think about it – reading a book means reading the thoughts of an author who lived hundreds of years before you, and yet, you’re able to communicate with them (in a way). That’s the power of books and people always knew this, which is why they designated a day, World Book Day, that honors reading, books, and authors.

It’s hard to actually capture the true impact that books make in our lifetime. Some might even argue that books are the cradle of civilization. They transfer knowledge transgenerationally and have a positive impact on intelligence and cognition overall. In addition, books broaden our worldview, enable us to better understand the society in which we live, and shape our imagination. 

As we said, we can’t do justice to the important role books have on civilization, but as a teacher or a homeschooling parent, we’re sure that you’re more than aware of it. This is why, without prolonging the introduction any longer, we’re jumping right into the main topic – what’s World Book Day and how to celebrate it with your students? 

A Word or Two About World Book Day

World Book Day, also known as International Day of the Book, is an annual event observed every 23rd of April. It’s organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) whose mission is to change people’s lives by promoting reading for pleasure. 

According to the official World Book Day website, the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success is reading for pleasure – even more than the economical and social standing of the family. With this in mind, UNESCO wants to even the odds, help raise awareness about the importance of reading, and improve the quality of life, especially for individuals of disadvantaged backgrounds. Today, World Book Day is celebrated in more than 100 countries. But, is that enough? 

Unfortunately, there’s a negative trend revealing that in 2020, less than 19% of 8-10-year-olds were reading for pleasure daily, which is down from 25% in 2017. To reverse this trend, there are three strategies that UNESCO promotes:

1. Share a story or read out loud a story to children of every age, every day for at least 10 minutes. The aim is to establish a reading habit. 
2. Gift a book! World Book Day has a £1 book campaign, the goal being for every child to be able to own a book. 
3. Raise awareness through campaigns, book clubs, fundraisers, calls to action, etc. World Book Day is a celebration that reminds everyone about the benefits of reading books. 

So, aside from the practical activities listed below, make sure to explain to kids the history and significance of World Book Day. This way, all the activities will have deeper meaning and they’ll consciously take part in the global movement that aims to make reading cool again!

Historical Background

World Book Day began in Spain when the Spanish writer Vicente Clavel Andrés had an idea to honor the legendary author Miguel de Cervantes. Those celebrations officially began in 1926 on the 7th of October – Cervantes’ birthday. However, just four years later, in 1930, King Alfonso XIII moved the day to the 23rd of April – the day Cervantes died. The reason for this was the weather – spring is a much more suitable season for reading books outdoors. 

In 1995, wanting to promote reading for pleasure and make books more accessible to kids of all backgrounds, UNESCO decided to organize an annual international campaign revolving around the above-mentioned goals. Thanks to this initiative, the World Book Day we know and love today officially started. 

If you want to know more, on our website, we have a Facts, History, and Worksheets World Book Day bundle you can download with just one click. It’s the fastest and most fun way to introduce kids to this event. 

Selecting The Date

Why did they choose to designate World Book Day at the same date as Spain’s Book Day? 

Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the case of making Spain’s celebrations international. The reason is far more intriguing. We’ve said that Spain celebrated Book Day on the day Miguel de Cervantes died as a way to honor him. Well, that date is coincidently significant for many other prominent authors! In fact, William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died on the 23rd of April. 

Here’s the most fascinating part that you can turn into an amusing riddle for the students: Shakespeare and Cervantes both died on the same date, but not on the same day! How is that possible? And, no, the year is not important here. It’s actually because of the different calendars being used at that time. Spain used the Gregorian calendar and England used the Julian calendar, which means even though Shakespeare’s death was 10 days after Cervantes, on May 3rd, the deaths of both authors are considered on the 23rd of April. 

Here’s a list of all prominent authors that are born or have died on this day: 

• Miguel de Cervantes 
• William Shakespeare 
• Inca Garcilaso de la Vega 
• Manuel Mejía Vallejo
• Josep Pla
• Maurice Druon 
• Halldor K.Laxness
• Vladimir Nabokov
• Robert Fayrfax

World Book Day Celebrations

We’ve mentioned that today World Book Day is observed in more than 100 countries. So, how do these countries celebrate World Book Day and what can you do with your students? 

In the USA (Kensington, Maryland), World Book Day is usually marked with a street festival on the Sunday closest to the 23rd of April. Similarly, in Helsinki, Finland, there are big book fairs organized on that day. 

Traditions and observations vary from country to country, but some have very interesting ways of marking the day. For example, in Tanzania, students form groups on the street and read parts of their favorite books, whereas a 5-minute reading campaign is typically organized in Poland.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year, we can’t really encourage you to organize street book fairs or group events in person, but still, we have some wonderful ideas on how to celebrate World Book Day.  

How to Celebrate World Book Day With Students?

In a year where direct social interactions have been severely limited, books may provide an escape and serve as psychological support for students who have trouble adjusting. That’s one more reason for you to celebrate World Book Day! Here’s how!

Organize a (Virtual) Reading Assembly

Regardless of whether you have in-person or online classes, organizing a reading assembly is a nice way to mark World Book Day. The purpose of the assembly could be celebrating an author (example: Emily Dickinson), discussing some literature themes such as good vs. evil (example: The Crucible by Arthur Miller), or simply reading parts of children’s favorite books.

It’s up to you to figure out what the specific topic of the virtual assembly is going to be. Make sure it’s appropriate for the age of the students (nothing too demanding or intimidating) and relatable. It’s best if the topic revolves around something they experience currently. One example might be The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – a good topic for confronting loneliness and mental health issues that have arisen during the pandemic. 

Donate Old Books to Charity

Part of UNESCO’s mission for World Book Day is to make books accessible for kids of all backgrounds. They believe that every child should be able to own a book and we agree, which is why we think you could do a charity event! 

If you’re a teacher, then you can ask children to bring old books that they would like to donate to someone in need. Children who don’t have old books to donate can help you organize the charity event and then go home with a few books as a gift! The books can be donated to students in the school from disadvantaged backgrounds or to an organization that supports people in need. 

You can also organize an annual charity event, where kids donate their school books to younger students, meaning they’ll also receive books from the older students. 

On the other hand, if you’re a homeschooling parent, talk to your kid about the importance of books and how it’s crucial for every kid to have books and to be able to read about the stories your child is already familiar with. This way, you can encourage your kid to donate some of their old books (whether they’re textbooks, picture books, or novels) to a charity organization of your choosing. You can also find local support groups on social media and donate the books to a family in need. 

Share Students’ Favorite Book Collection

Another great activity for World Book Day is to ask students to think about their favorite book and write about it. Along with the title, they should write the book’s genre, literature topic, plot, and why it’s their favorite book. Encourage them not to give out spoilers, but instead to talk about their interpretation of the book, how it made them feel, and what’s the one thing they’ve learned from it. 

For the shy ones, highlight the fact that their submissions would be anonymous and you won’t share who wrote the review. This will hopefully allow them to be more honest and expressive. 

Once you have a review from everyone, share a World Book Day Collection of books for students recommended by students. It’s a great way to show kids what their peers got from reading those books and how passionate they’re about the storyline. 

We promise that this approach is going to motivate a lot of students to read more frequently because there’s nothing more meaningful than hearing about an emotional experience from someone who’s going through the same stuff in life as you. 

Organize a Book Club

World Book Day is a great opportunity to announce to kids that you’ll be creating a virtual book club. It can be a once-a-month get-together where students can discuss a particular book they’ve been assigned to read the previous month. You can participate yourself or allow the children to express themselves more freely in an unsupervised setting (for older children). 

An important thing is to let students choose the books they would want to read. Tell them that the book club’s purpose is for students to get in a habit of reading for pleasure, meaning the books can be of any genre! Anything that seems interesting to you. 

As a teacher, you can mediate the organizational aspect of the book club and make sure everyone gets a chance to express themselves and share their preferences.  

Organize a Fundraiser for Updating the School’s Library

Finally, our last recommendation for World Book Day is organizing a fundraiser for updating the school’s library with new books! This is a great way to make sure that every student gets access to high-quality literature! 

Best of all, updating the school’s library means that generations and generations of students in the future will benefit from such a campaign. 

They’re plenty of ways one could organize a fundraiser. For instance, the students can host a talent show or make DIY projects which they can later sell. Anything’s possible! 

Before You Leave

April is an exciting month for English literature in general, and World Book Day is the major event that gives teachers and homeschooling parents an opportunity to engage kids in fun reading activities. Hopefully, our suggestions were just the inspiration you needed for finding the perfect way of honoring World Book Day. 

However, don’t forget that our English Language Arts(ELA) section is a valuable resource for improving children’s reading and writing skills – an important goal for World Book Day’s mission. In addition to this, we have separate sections with hundreds of Poets and Authors worksheets – another valuable resource when celebrating World Book Day. 

Of course, we like to believe that our growing library of worksheets and other teaching resources is supporting teachers and homeschooling parents every day of the year, not just World Book Day. We also try to keep up with the current trends and share with you the best practices, as well as tips and tricks for optimizing children’s education and organizing memorable lessons that leave a positive impact! Sign up for our newsletter and check out our blog to stay in touch.