8 reasons why we’re looking forward to World Book Day 2025

Will you be celebrating World Book Day this year? It falls on Thursday 6th March and we’re counting down to it already!

World Book Day is such an important celebration of children’s reading and books. We love the fact that children and adults come together to celebrate and discuss their favourite books and characters. Whether it’s the excitement of dressing up as book characters or getting stuck into book-themed activities, there’s so much bookish fun to be had!

The official World Book Day 2025 website is brimming with suggestions to keep you busy in the run up to the event and on the day itself. However, we thought it might be handy to highlight 8 activities we’re most excited about:

Our pick of the 2024 World Book Day £1 books

Each year, World Book Day creates a series of exclusive books designed specifically for the occasion. These fantastic books are available for just £1 each or in exchange for a World Book Day £1 book token (distributed through schools and nurseries across the UK).

Our biggest challenge is always choosing which £1 books to get! To help those facing the same dilemma, we're sharing our favourite fiction picks:

1. The Wolf Trials: A Geomancer book

Eira longs to see the world, but as the daughter of the fearsome Wolf Queen she’s lived all her life concealed in the Castle of Broken Boats at the heart of her mother’s kingdom. The Ryders, an elite group of sea wolf-riders who are the Wolf Queen’s most trusted warriors, are selected at a young age after proving themselves in the wolf trials. Eira decides to disguise herself and participate in this year’s selection – but will she succeed?

We love Kiran’s writing and can't wait to get lost in this epic fantasy adventure, perfect for readers aged 8 and up. 

Find activity and dressing up ideas, videos and more here.

2. The Soccer Diaries: Rocky Takes the Lead

We love the sound of this sporty story that addresses culture clash and the power of friendships.  Bright, tough, and sporty Rocky has always loved football, so much in fact that she’s moved to the United States to train at a high school with an amazing soccer team. But when her best friends from her home in Melchester, England, come to play a match against her new American team things do not go exactly as she hoped!

Find activity and dressing up ideas, videos and more here.

3. This Story is a Lie

We’re intrigued by this story for gripping teen thriller from Benjamin Dean. We’ve loved his recent middle grade books The Boy Who Fell from the Sky and The Secret Sunshine Project but haven’t yet tried his books for older readers.

Harley’s world is turned upside down when he’s chosen to compete in the school’s Rising Stars programme. with new-found supporters comes envious enemies. And when he finds a chalk outline of his body drawn at the bottom of the school stairs, he has the face the reality that someone wants him out the competition – permanently. But the underdog deserves to win, right?

Remember, this story is a lie.

Find activity and dressing up ideas, videos and more here.

More fun World Book Day activities to enjoy

 

4. Dressing up fun with 50 new character ideas

We love the challenge of creating quick, cheap yet effective World Book Day costumes for our kids. We think the best ones are based on outfits you already have in the wardrobe or dressing up box with the addition of a few strategic props!

This year we've created a brand new download featuring 50 costume ideas based on characters from the most popular books in our bookshop and subscription boxes over the last 12 months. 

We're sharing it exclusively with our email subscribers - sign up today and we'll email it to you straight away!

5. Online events for World Book Day

World Book Day is organising a line-up of online events featuring children’s authors and illustrators, which everyone can participate in from home or school.

6. Free children's audiobooks to enjoy

We love audiobooks and are grateful for the range of free audiobooks offered on the World Book Day website. Our top picks would be:  Bronte Tempestra and the Lightning Steeds by Bex Hogan, I, Spy by Rhian Tracey and Shiver Point by Gabriel Dylan. All three have featured in our subscription boxes over recent years, so it’s fair to say we’re fans!

We’d also recommend Maggie Sparks and the Alien Invasion, The Marvellers and The Boy Who Grew Dragons. 

7. Fun competitions to enter

There are a number of competitions to enter, organised by World Book Day. 

We're most excited to see signed copies of Grumpfort by Jamie Hammond up for grabs, along with full sets of the Grimwood Series for a lucky school and tickets for a class to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the West End.

8. Bookish merchandise to brows

This year there’s a World Book Day shop packed with fun clothes and accessories so you can wear your book love with pride.

We also love the Pawprint Family’s official World Book Day pins and patches.

More to explore...

We’ve brought together even more brilliantly bookish activities in our One-Stop Guide to Celebrating World Book Day!