World Book Day

As we celebrate 2020 World Book Day, SMART Garden Offices thought we’d take a closer look at the meaning behind it.

World Book Day is a registered charity whose purpose is to give every child and young person a book of their own. It’s also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and most importantly, it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind. Introduced by UNESCO in 1995, it has quickly become a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is now marked in more than 100 countries.

The main aim of World Book Day is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. Thanks to the generosity of National Book Tokens Ltd, publishers and booksellers, millions of book tokens are distributed to around 15 million children and young people. Each book token can be taken to a local bookseller and used to pick one of ten exclusive, new and completely free books or can be used to get £1 off any book costing over £2.99 at a participating bookshop.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”  – Dr. Seuss

The theme for World Book Day 2020 is to ‘share a million stories’, the goal being to show how important it is to try and make every day a book day. Recent research by the National Literacy Trust shows the need to celebrate books and reading is greater than ever when only a quarter (26%) of children now read daily, compared with 43% in 2015.

There are lots of different ways to celebrate World Book Day and many schools have special events planned, whether it’s a trip to the local library, classroom displays of famous literary characters or book-themed activities in lessons. Children are actively encouraged to dress up as their favourite story characters.

In other countries World Book Day is still celebrated, but most recognise 23rd April as the official day because it was the birth or death date for many famous writers around the world, including Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Maurice Druon. However, this was changed in the UK to March 5 to avoid clashes with the school Easter holidays, as well as St George’s Day.

Each year UNESCO chooses a country to be named as the World Book Capital, and in 2020, Kuala Lumpur was selected because of the strong focus on inclusive education, the development of a knowledge-based society and accessible reading for all parts of the city’s population. 

“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

If your book collection has outgrown your house, or you want a fun and dedicated space for you and the family to relax and enjoy your favourite authors, a SMART garden room is THE perfect solution for an outdoor library. Separated from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, a SMART garden library will nestle itself beautifully into your garden, surrounded by the peace and tranquillity of nature. As books are very sensitive to heat, humidity and damp, a SMART garden library is perfect for storing books as they boast full insulation and as little or as much double-glazed glazing as you like.

With our chunky custom-made shelving, you can easily maximise the storage space from floor to ceiling with numerous robust and solid shelf units as well as keeping them upright away from drafts and bright lights.

I am sure you will agree, a SMART garden room really is an ideal solution for an outdoor library. So, if you want to know more about how to create your perfect SMART garden library, get in touch with the team today, either by following this link or clicking here to request one of our free catalogues.