World Book Day will be different this year. As a parent I’m glad that I don’t need to provide my children with costumes to wear to school as both of them dislike dressing up. We will be celebrating World Book Day (Thursday 4th March) at home. We have already chosen books with our World Book Day vouchers and are looking forward to some of the online events we’ve seen.

World Book Day 2021

This year World Book Day falls on Thursday 4th March. We love World Book Day because it encourages everyone to celebrate books! Reading has been a big escape mechanism for us over the last 12 months as I’m sure it has been for a lot of people.

The only thing that puts me off celebrating World Book Day is that is has become commercial. If it’s all about books then why has it suddenly become about dressing up? I get that people become carried away, but why not spend any spare cash at your local bookshop rather than at the supermarket buying a costume you’ll probably only wear a couple of times? Anyway, rant over.

The children are usually given their World Book Day tokens at school so I’m not sure what will happen this year. Thankfully we subscribe to The Week Junior and the tokens appear in this weeks issue and last weeks too. I managed to pick up a couple of this years’ World Book Day books – Katherine Rundell Skysteppers for the 10 year old and Little Badman by Humza Arshad & Henry White for the 9 year old. Alongside the 12 new £1 titles, there is an exclusive World Book Day Ireland £1 book and a new World Book Day Welsh title.

World Book Day costume ideas

World Book Day costumes don’t need to cost a lot of money. I know that a lot of people love to buy costumes and dress up, but we don’t, so in previous years we’ve made our own costumes. These have ranged from George from George’s Marvellous Medicine to George from Captain Underpants. Last year we upcycled an old wooden pallet to make a book sign post, and my children painted the title of their favourite books on each finger post.

Book nooks or book shelf inserts

To celebrate World Book Day 2021 we will be crafting a book nook or bookshelf insert. Have you heard of a book nook before? They’ve been around for a while and are basically a small diorama of an alleyway visible between the books on your shelves. Both my children are bookworms and love the idea of creating a little world on their bookshelves. You can make your own book nook, creating your very own magical world inspired by your favourite books, characters or author.

I can’t wait to share our progress with our own book nooks. We will be using cereal boxes but there are some amazing book nooks and DIY kits you can buy if you need a helping hand. Obviously all of the book nooks we have found have been created by adults but there is no reason why children shouldn’t have a go at creating their own little book nook too.

Some of the amazing book nooks we have seen include Diagon Alley and an Italian courtyard, but there are also magical doors in the spines of vintage books, and windows into crowded shops. It seems that anything goes!

We look forward to celebrating World Book Day next month. Don’t forget to check out the official World Book Day site for lots of author and artist videos, live events and info about the £1 books. Let us know how you will be celebrating!

You may be interested in our other World Book Day posts:

Where’s Wally World Book Day costume

George from George’s Marvellous Medicine World book Day costume

Varjak Paw inspired World Book Day cupcakes

Create a Book Nook to celebrate World Book Day