Over 700 Birmingham pupils attend programme of events to celebrate World Book Day

Over 700 Birmingham children and families attended a programme of special events to celebrate World Book Day which took place on Thursday 3 March.

Instead of just a single day to celebrate World Book Day there was a series of events which took place across Birmingham libraries throughout the week of World Book Day, with pupils receiving a free World Book Day book.

The literary events were hosted by Birmingham Stories which is a campaign run in partnership by the National Literacy Trust and the University of Birmingham. The aim is to raise literacy levels and change the life stories of young people and adults across Birmingham.

The World Book Day events encouraged children to engage with their local library service, register for the library and understand the importance of reading for pleasure.

Five school events were hosted throughout the week with pupils ranging from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 3 invited to their local community library to hear from a local author, poet or storyteller. Authors involved included Juliet Clare Bell, Hafsha and Salim Shaikh, Kate Wakeling, Julian Armitstead.

On World Book Day itself, Kereen Getten, Birmingham based author of When Life Gives You Mangoes, hosted a virtual author event live from St Chad’s Catholic Primary School attended by 500 children in schools across the city.

Birmingham Stories partner Wesleyan were on hand to support on the day, sitting with various classes in the school and supporting them to participate and submit questions to author Kereen Getten, as well as handing out free books to all students in the school.

To round off the week’s activity, families were invited to an interactive storytelling session with local children’s author Juliet Clare Bell, hosted at the Library of Birmingham. Everyone in attendance received a free copy of one of this years’ World Book Day titles.

Kyle Turakhia, Birmingham Stories Hub Manager, said: “World Book Day is hugely important to remind children of the joy and benefits of reading for pleasure. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being out in the community, chatting to young people and championing the crucial work of local libraries.

“With this programme of events, we have had our most successful World Book Day since Birmingham Stories launched, reaching over 700 people and donating over 3000 books.”