By Bethan Croft
Growing up, World Book Day was my Halloween. As much as I enjoyed the gory face-paint during October, there was something magical about dressing up as your favourite character or the author you aspired to be one day. Schools always had a varied collection of children dressed up as the likes of the Gruffalo, the Hungry Caterpillar or Harry Potter.
Being someone who has always let their creativity run wild, I expressed it through writing – whether this was short stories about mythical lands whilst a child or trying my hand at blogging as I got older. Reading and writing was such a big part of my childhood and in a way, it has put me on the path that I’m pursuing career-wise today. As I look towards the future of finishing my journalism degree and possible job prospects in this field, I have to thank younger me for taking an interest in literature.
This is why I think World Book Day is so important, not only is it a way to make reading seem fun to those who may not have naturally picked up a book without the encouragement, but it also inspires creativity. To some, the act of reading is sometimes seen as a chore but nowadays the options of audiobooks and eBooks make reading more accessible.
Although you do have to respect that as you get older, your perspectives change and to some reading may not be a priority, but if positively encouraged to read at a young age reading may become a comfort space for other children in the same way it has for me. No matter how long the gap is between each book that I read, there is a certain relief in knowing that there will always be something new for me to get invested into.
My reading habit has indeed fluctuated through phases of reading non-stop, to not picking up a book for months. Along with this, my choice of literature material has also developed from beginning with Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl as a child, to Jacqueline Wilson, The Hobbit and Harry Potter in my pre-teens, John Green and the questionable Anna Todd series during my teens and now as I enter adulthood the range is even more varied.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I hope schools continue the tradition of celebrating World Book Day. Hopefully this will inspire future generations that the written word isn’t just a chore or a dying art, but that reading is a comfort and pleasure.
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