With increased on-demand media memberships, we cannot let the vital 25th anniversary of World Book Day go amiss. Reading is an escape for many and we must ensure that the next generation don’t let it become a lost art.

I spoke to a local primary school teacher, Sara Reilley, about how she keeps reading alive in her classroom, "I teach a Reception class and the children are just starting out on the reading journey. Every day I read a story to the children, which is a highlight for most of them. ” Encouraging reading and providing access to books is also of upmost importance, “Each child gets a book token on World book Day that they can exchange at a bookshop for a free book.”

You can visit the World Book Day website (https://www.worldbookday.com/books/) to find out more information on how you can receive and spend book tokens.

Most schools add an extra element of creativity and enticement toward reading as they ask the students to dress up as their favourite book characters. Students can share the stories of their favourite book characters with each other spreading the love of these books further. Sara Reilley explains, “At my school each year group has a theme based on their topic and children dress up as characters from books related to the theme. We also do shared reading across the year groups and special assemblies to share highlights of the day.”

In addition to this with platforms such as TikTok we have a perfect opportunity to engage teens and young adults into reading that we cannot let slip through our fingers. This World Book Day anniversary is a great reminder of the joys, knowledge and escape we can gain from reading. I encourage you to pick up a book and at the very least give it a go, or if you are already a reader use this 25 years of celebration as an excuse to buy that book that has been on your TBR (to be read) for a while.