World Book Day 2013: Parents Celebrate Reading With Children
World Book Day 2013 will celebrate parents reading with children. World Book Day is featured in England and Ireland throughout Thursday, March 7, and an exciting online festival will be hosted by Tony Robinson.
World Book Day is hailed as The Biggest Book Show On Earth. The online portion will be streamed live from 11 AM to midday on March 7 to thousands of children in England and around the world. World Book Day also features talks and Q A sessions with famous children’s authors.
The Telegraph explains who will be speaking for World Book Day:
“Tony Robinson, actor, presenter and author of the upcoming Weird World of Wonders series, will kick off the event with advice on how to start writing. Other speakers include Anthony Horowitz, author of the popular Alex Rider series, who will give a talk on how to create suspense and plant clues, while Horrid Henry writer Francesca Simon will show how to bring characters to life. Lauren Child, creator of Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean series, will be hosting a talk on how to develop characters while Cathy Cassidy, two time winner of the prestigious ‘Queen of Teen Awards’, will explain how to structure a story. For the budding illustrators there will also be advice from the acclaimed Shirley Hughes OBE on where to start and tips on drawing animal characters from Guy Parker-Rees, whose Giraffes Can’t Dance and Spookyrumpus have made him one of the bestselling illustrators in the country.”
Instead of being about reading, World Book Day has transformed to a Halloween party inside English schools. Some parents feel that the focus should be put back on reading.
BBC reports that “in many schools up and down the land WBD has become an excuse to dress up as characters with the most tenuous links to any literary form. It’s slowly ceasing to be about reading.” Basically, World Book Day is becoming commercialized like many American holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas where the true meaning of the celebration is being lost.
Do you think America should adopt a national event like World Book Day? Should English parents stop allowing their kids to dress up for World Book Day?
