World Book Day's New Strategy Receives Major Boost From Arts Council Funding And New Partnerships, As Charity Announces First Ever Official World Book Day Song
World Book Day 2021
• Award-winning teacher-turned-rapper MC Grammar will release The World Book Day Song (Decca Records) to inspire more children with a love of books. All proceeds will be donated to World Book Day
• Oak National Academy, the BBC and Twitter join McDonald’s as organisations supporting charity to reach children and families in lockdown
• Over 30,000 World Book Day £1 books donated by publishers to reach children most in need
• Projects with National Literacy Trust, Libraries Connected, ASCEL, Scottish BookTrust and Read for Good to engage communities in low literacy areas
• £94,360 of Arts Council funding awarded to the charity to continue its work growing reading for pleasure amongst children and young people
Marking today’s opening of the World Book Day £1 token redemption period, the charity has announced new initiatives, partnerships and funding support for its vision to engage children from all backgrounds with a life-long habit of reading.
At a time when Covid-19 has widened the economic and educational gap and made it more difficult for many children to access books, the charity has been working with partner organisations to adapt its plans and ensure the transformative power of reading is available to all young people this World Book Day and beyond.
The charity also announces its first ever official song by MC Grammar. The award-winning-teacher-turned-rapper, real name Jacob Mitchell, became an international sensation in 2019 after videos of him rapping classic children’s books went viral, leading to widespread media coverage and an appearance on The Ellen Show. The father of two, who credits the discovery of books as a turning point in his education, now joins the World Book Day celebration to reach more children and families with a love of books and reading. The charity is working with a number of new organisations and extending its work with corporate partners to engage children learning at home in lockdown, including:
A partnership with Oak National Academy and the National Literacy Trust: HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will lead a day of special events for the online classroom, supported by a selection of this year ’s £1 authors
A World Book Day themed Live Lesson broadcast live on CBBC: the charity will work with BBC Teach on a Live Lesson featuring some of the 2021 World Book Day authors to be shown on TV and livestreamed on the Teach website. The charity will work with the broadcaster and education content creator Twinkl on accompanying resources to help teachers and parents make the most of the day.
A partnership with Twitter: will help the charity reach more families directly online in lockdown. An official #WorldBookDay emoji will be launched to mark the annual celebration.
An extended partnership with McDonald’s: will see the food company include World Book Day’s £1 token in all its Happy Meal Boxes from 3 March to 13 April and offer an activity pack of book themed fun to drive-thru customers. Instore displays will also feature the 2021 World Book Day £1 books.
Introducing a number new community initiatives, the charity will reach children most in need through:
A donation of over 30,000 World Book Day £1 books by publishers to National Literacy Trust hub areas to support communities where low levels of literacy are seriously impacting people’s lives. This donation is a fantastic addition to the work already being delivered by the National Literacy Trust Hub areas through its Connecting Stories initiative, funded by Arts Council England.
Work with libraries and community partners in four areas: Blackpool, Doncaster, Nottingham and Middlesbrough. In partnership with National Literacy Trust and Libraries Connected, the scheme will reach families and children who are less engaged with reading.
A partnership with Read for Good to get 2,400 books directly to school children in deprived areas.
A partnership with Scottish BookTrust to distribute 5k vouchers through Bookbug for the Home, a programme to introduce the benefits of stories to families with very young children who are facing significant barriers such as poverty and social isolation
In ongoing relationships World Book Day will this year continue its work with:
The Premier League, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust: 50 professional football club community organisations across the country will deliver free books to local schools through their Premier League Primary Stars sessions.
All UK prisons in the UK to ensure 24,000 books help families enjoy reading together.
BookTrust to distribute 90k tokens via their BookStart Coordinators working in libraries and community settings
New funding from Arts Council England will ensure World Book Day can continue its work to reach more children and families to encourage reading for pleasure, £94,360 has been awarded to the charity to focus on:
• Building engagement with older children and young people
• Local engagement to make a meaningful impact in low literacy and high deprivation communities
• Funding costs to cover one SME publisher to produce a £1 book, to lead to more inclusive representation in World Book Day’s £1 book selection in 2022
Michelle Graham-Clare, Vice President Menu and Marketing at McDonald’s: “We’re thrilled to carry the £1 World Book Day token on our Happy Meal box again this year. We know the important role we can play in helping books get into the hands of families. Inspiring a lifelong love of reading through access to brilliant stories is at the heart of our Happy Readers programme and we are incredibly proud to support World Book Day once again this year.”
Matt Hood, Principal of Oak National Academy, said: “World Book Day is an unrivalled celebration of reading in every school’s calendar and we couldn’t be more delighted to be hosting such a special event to mark the day this year. We set up our Virtual School Library for exactly the reason World Book Day exists - to make sure the joy and benefits reading offers are available and experienced by all children, particularly during this time. For HRH The Duchess of Cornwall and such brilliant authors including Tom Fletcher to be joining us at Oak National Academy to do just that is very special indeed.”
Sarah Crown, Director, Literature, Arts Council England: “Arts Council England is delighted to be able to support World Book Day in the delivery of its profoundly important work around reading for pleasure. While we’ve long known the many benefits reading brings – from developing key literacy skills, to broader, deeper rewards such as enjoyment, comfort, wellbeing and empathy – the last year, when so many of us have been restricted to our houses and separated from our loved ones, has truly brought them to the fore. The activities World Book Day is planning to deliver will support children and young people across the country to connect with books and enjoy these benefits, and will also contribute to the essential work of shrinking the educational attainment gap which the pandemic has widened.”
Jonathan Douglas CBE, Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust says: “We are thrilled to be working alongside the brilliant team at World Book Day to inspire a love of reading for pleasure. While this year may be a little different, we have helped create exciting reading activities, resources and online events with schools still open to pupils of key workers, to bring the magic of books into homes and classrooms around the country.”
MC Grammar, aka Jacob Mitchell, said: “I am so proud to be a World Book Day Ambassador. Mixing the power of music with the magic of books is the coolest combination and an incredible opportunity to get kids excited about books and reading.”
Stephen Lotinga, Chair of World Book Day’s Board of Trustees and Chief Executive of the Publishers Association, said: “World Book Day offers a moment of joy and hope to children and their families this year. It ’s a time to have fun and enjoy reading together. World Book Day strives to ensure children from all backgrounds can benefit from the improved life chances reading for pleasure offers. The challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic mean this mission is now more important than ever.”
The new plans will add to those already announced earlier this year including a programme of free digital events (3-5 March), an Author and Illustrators learning video series (from 1 February), online toolkits, the launch of the World Book Day Book Club (April), and a new Share a Story Corner feature to support early readers on the charity’s website (available now).
Additional measures taken to ensure children can still access their £1 books this year include the option of a single-use digital token for schools, an extended redemption period for tokens, and the chance for families to collect £1 books with their essential shopping.
The charity continues to work closely with partners in bookselling and publishing, its sponsor, National Book Tokens, in schools and nurseries, libraries, prisons and with other charities to make World Book Day a powerful and positive event this year.
Find our more, and join the conversation, via:
worldbookday.com | @WorldBookDayUK | #WorldBookDay
