Over the past few months, my granddaughter Daisy has been encouraged to read each day on her own. She selects her book, settles on the sofa and for 10-15 minutes, she enjoys her reading time.
It didn’t take long for the adults in her life to stop what they were doing, select a book and join her on the sofa to savour some time with a book! It is a joy for us to be able to share the habit of reading. Recently, you would have found Daisy reading one of her Holly Webb cat books, while I consumed a history of knitted gloves and Daisy’s daddy cracked on with another classic novel from his list.
It will soon be World Book Day 2025. This year, on 6 March, children and young people are being asked to ‘Read Your Way’, and to take the opportunity to read without pressure and expectations.
Characters and costumes
As part of the tradition of World Book Day, young children are also encouraged to dress up. With the help of parents, some children enjoy having the opportunity to dress up as a character from a book.
Daisy has definitely enjoyed these opportunities. Sometimes she likes to dress as a supporting character, rather than the protagonist. Dressing up hasn’t always meant a full costume for Daisy. Through her reading, Daisy regularly has ideas for a character’s costume and she has enjoyed creating hats, headbands with ears, or masks for her character costumes, which she wears with a coloured t-shirt to match.
For parents and carers looking for ideas, the World Book Day website has a section for families including a section on dressing up with a useful resource for parents giving suggestions and tips for putting together costumes that can be created at home, using items you probably already have, without the need to spend a lot of money on dressing up costumes.
There should be no pressure for a child to wear a costume on World Book Day. Some children are not keen to dress up; some prefer to read non-fiction books. The resource sheet for parents presents some alternatives to dressing up.
The World Book website has links to audio books and story corner video stories to share with your children, wherever you have the opportunity to read together!
Granny Smith says…
Podcasts and audiobooks have become increasingly popular with children in recent years. This is great news! Listening and reading are both valuable skills to develop.
Sharing a time to read together, in a library, at bedtime, on a comfy chair can help children discover the enjoyment of reading and understanding the meaning of written words.
Granny Smith's Diary 