Many children could miss out on World Book Day tomorrow, due to school strike action in London.
Tomorrow marks the 28th annual World Book Day celebrated internationally through fundraising, to dressing up as beloved book characters.
However, teachers across the capital will strike tomorrow as part of an ongoing pay dispute.
Despite the strike action, a World Book Day spokesperson has encouraged schools to hold events on a different day, as well as encouraging children to continue reading all year round.
According to LKMco children who optionally read for fun on a regular basis are most likely to achieve academic success.
Children not in school can still dress up as their favourite characters with many at home activities to do alongside London Eye offering a free 30-minute ride from 2-5 March if paired with an adult ticket.
One hundred and fifty free rides will be given to children aged 3-15 who visit the London Eye dressed up whether that be as a villain like Miss Trunchbull or a hero like Harry Potter.
Ways to celebrate at home can be as simple as reading a book such as Bradley The Bus.
Bradley the Bus has two stories centring a bus on his adventure across the globe and even to the moon to find three missing pieces of an enchanted puzzle whilst teaching children about the different modes of transport, countries, cultures and space.
Bradley quite literally jumps out of the page with a real life Bradley created thanks to Ensignbus, who decorated a bus to resemble the main character of the book and drove it to Big Ben, mirroring the books opening scene.
Bradley the Bus’ author and illustrator Inderjit Puaar said: “Books are so powerful as they can change mindsets and be life changing.
“Reading helps children communicate and express themselves from an early age and this is so important right now, especially after tough times during the pandemic.
“It is unfortunate the strike falls on World Book Day but it’s all about balance, fairness and compromise and how we support the teaching profession.
“I will do my best on the day to help inspire children on World Book Day through virtual activities and book readings.”
Puaar recommended celebrating World Book Day by participating in arts and crafts, for example through covering small boxes with coloured tape and stickers to allow children to create mini buses like Bradley or making homemade costumes such as paper hats.
World Book Day is a charity that works throughout the UK and Ireland with the goal to encourage reading by giving every child and young person, especially those from underprivileged homes, the chance of having their own book to increase their future prospects for success.
One way World Book Day follow through with this message is through their carefully crafted book list which only cost £1/£1.50 or can be bought through book tokens.
Some of the listed books include The Boy With Wings: Attack of the Rampaging Robot and Bedtime for Burpee Bears.
For more information about World Book Day visit: https://www.worldbookday.com.
Featured image credit: First Minister of Scotland via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0 licence
