Thanks to World Book Day, children can buy certain books for just £1 (Picture: Getty Images)
World Book Day 2023 is here as schools in 100 countries celebrate the joys of storytelling and reading.
Many parents will have gone the extra mile to help their kids dress as their favourite literary character, and lots of schools are running book-themed activities and lessons.
Children will each be given a £1 book token to use, and a specially-commissioned series of books costing just a pound each is available.
So which books can you buy for £1 and where can you use your World Book Day tokens?
Here’s what you need to know.
£1 books to buy
There are 15 children’s books available in the UK for just £1 on World Book Day in the UK – including some specially penned by comedian Lenny Henry, fitness guru Joe Wicks and doctor turned author Adam Kay.
Fitness expert Joe Wicks tells a tale of a family of bears who love to have fun (Picture: World Book Day/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Children in England and Scotland have 12 books for £1 to choose from, while those in Wales have an additional one in Welsh. In Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland there are an additional two books.
Bestselling writer and illustrator Tom Percival has created a special book for very young children (Picture: World Book Day/Bloomsbury)
They are suitable for readers of different ages – beginning with titles such as Billy’s Bravery by bestselling author Tom Percival, all about a little boy who wants to dress up as a female superhero, but worries his friends will make fun of him. You can listen to the free audiobook on the World Book Day website.
Older readers can dive into Being an Ally: Real Talk About Showing Up, Screwing Up, and Trying Again, which features essays on topics such as racism and gender.
Fluent readers might be fascinated by Being An Ally – a collection of essays on racism, sexuality, gender identity, disability, and religion (Picture: World Book Day/DK)
Lenny Henry’s book, The Boy with Wings: Attack of the Rampaging Robot, is about a secret superhero, while Kay’s Brilliant Brains by Adam Kay tells the stories of ten of the people whose inventions changed the world – including Ada Lovelace, who invented computer programming two hundred years ago.
Books on sale for £1 as part of World Book Day 2023
Bedtime For The Burpee Bears by Joe Wicks
Lifesize Creepy Crawlies by Sophy Henn
You Choose Your Adventure by Nick Sharatt and Pippa Goodhart
Dave Pigeon: Bookshop Mayhem by Swapna Haddow
Marvel Spider-Man The Amazing Pocket Guide by Catherine Saunders
The Boy with Wings: Attack of the Rampaging Robot by Lenny Henry
A Dragon Realm Adventure by Katie and Kevin Tsang
The Strangeworlds Travel Agency: Adventure in the Floating Mountains by L.D Lapinsky
Kay’s Brilliant Brains by Adam Kay
Boot It! by A.M. Dassu
Being an Ally: Real Talk about Screwing Up, and Trying Again edited by Shakirah Bourne and Dana Alison Levy
Also in Wales: Gwisg Ffansi Cyw by Anni Llyn
Also in Northern Ireland, and in Ireland (where token are worth €1.50): One Stormy Night by Alma Jordan and Rita agus an Dragun by Maire Zepf and Mr Ando
You can see full details of the all the £1 books on the World Book Day website.
How to use your World book Day tokens
The tokens will either be given out at school, sent directly to your home or emailed.
Lenny Henry is among those penning children’s books for World Book Day 2023 (Picture: World Book day/Macmillan Children’s Books)
You can use a token either in exchange for one of the £1 books, or in part payment for another book, at the following retailers:
Participating independent booksellers
Asda
Blackwell’s (selected stores only)
Morrisons
Sainsburys
Tesco
The Works
Waterstones
WHSmith
To find your nearest participating retailer, use the official World Book Day map.
