World Book Day is celebrating its 20th anniversary next Thursday.
March 2 will see children of all ages throughout the UK celebrating authors, illustrators, books and readers. Sunderland parents believe that the event is extremely important.
Simon Ferry, father of two, said: “It does work and encourage more reading at a younger age.”
He believes from experience that it engages younger children more, and schools, such as Broadway Juniors where his youngest child, Grace attends, make a day of it by encouraging them to dress up as their favourite literary characters.
Broadway Juniors isn’t the only school taking part as schools all over the country from nursery through to secondary will be getting dressed up.
To celebrate this, an event will take place at Sunderland City Library, located in Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens. Craig Smith, a community engagement worker at Sunderland Council, said: “We will be distributing World Book Day vouchers to pre-school children who come to the library on the day.”
World Book Day vouchers will be handed out by all schools who have registered for the event, allowing them to get either £1 off a book or a £1 book for free.