When is World Book Day 2026?
World Book Day 2026 will take place on Thursday 5 March 2026.
This annual celebration of authors, illustrators, books and the joy of reading is one of the highlights of our year at the National Literacy Trust!
World Book Day® is a registered charity, company and trademark.
Why do we celebrate World Book Day?
We love celebrating the work of the charity World Book Day, and their purpose: To champion the fun of reading because it seriously improves children’s lives.
Each year in March, it's a great opportunity to join in with the national buzz around reading and the celebration of books when we can encourage everyone to let go of pressure and expectations and give children a choice, and a chance, to grow a lifelong love of reading.
World Book Day is a chance to spotlight and celebrate reading for pleasure, supporting children's autonomy in book choice, and embedding a habit of reading that brings a wide range of benefits.
Read on to access reading for pleasure resources, ideas and activities that can encourage a love of reading on World Book Day and throughout the whole year.
A note on World Book Day £1/€1.50 books/tokens
Each year the World Book Day charity releases a new line-up of £1/€1.50 books, and issues tokens to schools that have registered.
Registration for tokens and packs for 2026 closed on Friday 10 October 2025. For any queries about registration, tokens or the books, please contact World Book Day directly by emailing hi@worldbookday.com.
You can find answers to many questions in their helpful World Book Day FAQ section.
World Book Day event: The Great Big Footy & Booky Quiz
Featuring questions pitched by your football heroes and our author pals, each year we run an annual quiz that provides a bundle of fun and is an absolute ball - whether or not your class relish reading or are fanatical about football.
- Date: Thursday 5 March 2026
- Time: 9.30am to 10.15am
- For: pupils aged 8 to 12 (Years 4, 5, 6 and 7/P5, P6, P7 and S1).
Plus, this year the quiz will be a Go All In Together moment to mark the National Year of Reading 2026 and will be hosted by a very special ambassador.
Teaching resources and activity ideas for schools on World Book Day and beyond
The Ultimate Character Champion Battle
New for World Book Day in 2025, we created an oracy-based classroom resource that encourages your pupils to explore the characters they enjoy reading about the most in a way that celebrates the joy of reading for pleasure and sharing books they love. Designed for age ranges 5 to 7 (KS1/P1 to P4), 7 to 11 (KS2/P4 to P7), and 11 to 14 (KS3/S1 to S3).
World Book Day celebration ideas - book choice and pupil voice
Drawing on the six elements that we know support children to read for pleasure, we developed this collection of fun ideas that champion both providing pupils with choice, and giving them a voice, as they progress in their reading journey. Great for World Book Day, but also full of inspiration to support reading for pleasure throughout the year.
Celebrating favourite characters and books
We want to make sure no child is left out of World Book Day, and understand that that families may be under significant financial and time pressures.
Explore our resource to find step-by-step ideas for accessible, classroom-based fun that provide an alternative to dressing up. We aim to ensure that every child can participate in World Book Day, and can celebrate the stories they love, without an expectation for families to provide a costume.
Supporting reading in the early years
Early experiences of reading will have significant influence on children’s views and feelings about reading as they get older. Our practitioner guidance helps you to build joyful experiences of books and stories alongside the skills they will need to develop to prepare them for reading.
More resources for celebrating storytelling and reading for pleasure
- Reading for Pleasure resources for schools
- National Storytelling week
- Supporting early years children to tell stories
- Brilliant ideas to encourage reading for pleasure
- How to choose books you'll love
Premium resources available for those with a subscribed National Literacy Trust membership:
- Developing a whole-school reading environment for primary schools
- Reading: Primary Literacy Guide and Review
- Developing a whole-school reading environment for secondary schools
Working with authors and storytellers
- Explore research on Writer visits and children and young people's literacy engagement for insights on how visits can impact pupils' engagement with reading and writing.
- Consult our directory of authors and storytellers to plan a school visit (virtual or in-person) in the coming year.
World Book Day for families
Sharing stories is a great way to enjoy time together as a family, and help children build a love of reading for pleasure. Our Words for Life site is packed with ideas for fun, family activities that support children's reading, writing and speaking at home.
Research: Children and young people's reading
Each year we conduct the Annual Literacy Survey and report our findings on reading enjoyment, frequency and motivation and exploring responses by age, gender, socio-economic background. This longitudinal study allows us examine changes in attitudes and behaviours in relation to reading enjoyment. Our latest research found that:
- Just 1 in 3 (34.6%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they enjoyed reading in 2024. This is the lowest level since we first asked the question in 2005.
- Only 1 in 5 (20.5%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they read daily, again, the lowest levels since 2005.