Book lovers are celebrating their favourite stories once again as World Book Day is back for the 21st year.
The annual celebration of authors, illustrators and reading is marked in more than 100 countries around the world.
It’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.
The main aim of World Book Day is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.
Book tokens will be given to children so they can purchase £1 books from a special selected list of titles
This year it falls on Thursday, March 1 (today) but in other countries World Book Day is celebrated on April 23 – William Shakespeare’s birthday.
The date of World Book Day changes every year.
In the UK and Ireland, World Book Day is on the first Thursday of March.
The event sees kids all over the UK dress as their favourite characters, receive precious book tokens and take part in the events that schools and community groups run to mark the wonder of reading.
