Celebrating World Book Day 2021 - making it all about the books!

World Book Day 2021 was certainly an experience that none of us could have predicted. With most children learning remotely and physical book events an impossiblity, our celebrations this year were definitely different. But sometimes change can be a positive thing and can open our eyes up to what is really important. Independent Usborne Partner, Sophie Pitt, shares her World Book Day experience with us and tells us how celebrating it virtually was actually a real positive:

"As a secondary school teacher, I know how important World Book Day is. After becoming an Independent Usborne Partner in July 2020, I knew that World Book Day would be the most exciting event of the calendar year - a real chance to make a difference in childcare settings and revamp entire libraries! I jumped at the chance to be able to showcase Usborne’s incredible initiative, offering up to 60% FREE books when running a Ready, Steady, Read… or Ready, Steady, Listen… event.

"The obvious ‘elephant in the room’ when working with schools and nurseries was the P-word - pandemic! Being completely honest, I thought this would be a huge setback for embedding and maintaining the excitement of the challenge - I am glad to admit that I was completely wrong! The obvious obstacles at not being able to showcase our beautiful books, or be present in the settings as Partners, inadvertently promoted something rather beautiful - so many of the parents in the settings that I worked with commented on how gorgeous it was to see their children listen to a story over zoom with their nanny, or have a FaceTime reading session with their favourite cousin, to clock up their reading and listening minutes for that day! It also meant that I was able to work with settings up and down the country which enabled me to make a difference to so many more libraries in the UK.

"Celebrating World Book Day virtually meant that, although everyone LOVES a good costume on the day, it really did become ‘all about the books’ once more! The settings I worked with embraced the idea of making literacy fun and interactive. One of my favourite examples was seeing the pictures from Adventure Playschool in Leicestershire, who combined the reading challenge with their ethos of encouraging outdoor play as they picked new and exciting places to have their storytime each session, such as creating an outdoor garden party whilst they read amazing stories! As a Partner, one of my ‘little extras’ I was able to provide was a personalised video for each setting of me, “The Book Fairy”, telling a story from our fabulous Usborne Phonics Readers Range (I can now recite Big Pig on a Dig with my eyes closed!) It was so heart-warming to provide a real sense of magic with this little personal touch and it was good to know my three years at Drama school hadn't gone to waste!

Children enjoying their outside storytime session at Adventure Playschool

"I think that everyone agrees that teachers and nursery/childcare workers have been part of the backbone of this country at one of the most difficult times in its history and therefore parents seemed so keen to use these events as a way to show their support and gratitude for the setting so loved by their child. One of my most successful events was Cornfields Day Nursery & Pre-School in Huddersfield, who raised a whopping £1074 and so got an extra £750 books on top- all for free!! Their core value as a setting is to create somewhere that feels like home, an extended family, which summed up for me what these reading and listening events are all about - using the power of books to bring home and school together for each child. This seemed so much more poignant at a time when people couldn’t visit all of their family, so World Book Day felt even more special as it transcended the difficulties we have all faced this year.

"To hear genuine shock when the staff members at each setting saw how much they had raised was the best feeling in the world - Queenbee Nursery in Edgware raised over £1000! This was, in the manager’s words, ‘record breaking’ for the setting and will greatly enrich the children’s experience of literacy when spending time at the nursery. St John Fisher Catholic Primary School in Perivale have been my current top total so far- a HUGE £1850! Meaning over £1000 of EXTRA books are coming their way! This was a really exciting project for me as their teacher and I combined a two week reading challenge for all children, aged 3-11, with a Virtual Book fair; this dual sponsorship was fab as the parents’ orders really helped to boost the school’s overall total. A highlight of their week was the two author events they held with Claire Barker and Serena Patel. The kids loved talking to real authors and were so inspired as a result.

"I started Usborne with a passion for children’s books myself, but now that has translated into working with educational settings up and down the country to get THEM passionate about our books. I have had the most wonderful first World Book Day and am already counting down the days until the next one!"

Some of the brilliant free books the schools and nurseries that held events with Sophie chose

Usborne works with schools and nurseries all year round to provide events that bring books to life and promote reading for pleasure. If you are interested in finding out more about the events that your establishment could have and about the free books and benefits you could access, check out our Book Fairs and Events page. We'd love to help you!