Hundreds of Manchester pupils enjoy author events for World Book Day

It was World Book Day on Thursday 1 March and the snow didn't stop a series of exciting events taking place across the city.

Bestselling author and illustrator Rob Biddulph, whose books include Odd Dog Out and Grrrrr!, visited four libraries on a special World Book Day tour. He entertained 800 Manchester pupils with storytelling activities and inspired them to read for pleasure.

• On Wednesday 28 February, Rob led sessions at Moss Side Powerhouse Library, Chorlton Library and North City Library.
  
• The tour culminated at Manchester Central Library on Thursday 1 March when 500 pupils from nine primary schools joined in the fun.

Thousands more children across the city celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as their favourite book characters and every pupil received a special £1 book token, which could be exchanged for a World Book Day book or used to get £1 off a full price book. This year’s 10 titles included Oi Goat! by Kes Gray, Brain Freeze by Tom Fletcher and The Girl Who Thought She Was A Dog by Clare Balding.

World Book Day celebrations continued at Central Library on Saturday 3 March, with a Saturday Spectacular event from 12pm to 4pm. Families enjoyed craft making and celebrated their favourite books with digital-based activities.

Read Manchester is a campaign from Manchester City Council and the National Literacy Trust to promote reading and boost literacy levels throughout the city. As part of the campaign, 4,000 books were gifted to Sure Start Centres across Manchester for World Book Day to encourage parents to read with their children every day. This has brought total number of books donated by Read Manchester to 14,000.

Maria George, teacher at Our Lady's RC Primary School said: 

"The children have been really inspired by their visit to see Rob Biddulph at the library.  Many of my class are from Moss Side and have very little opportunity to meet an author, never mind visit a library.  So I was delighted so many were excited by his books so much so, they have saved up to buy them."

A 10-year-old pupil from Northenden Community School said: "I can't believe I've seen a real author".

Executive Member for Schools, Culture and Leisure, Councillor Luthfur Rahman, said:

 "World Book Day is the perfect occasion to encourage all Manchester children to get the reading bug - and Manchester’s libraries always go the extra mile to inspire our youngest readers.  This year is no exception, thanks to the fantastic activities on offer, plus Rob’s inspiring storytelling and the gifting of thousands more free books citywide, through the Read Manchester campaign."

National Literacy Trust Director Jonathan Douglas said:

“It is fantastic to see so much activity going on across the city to mark World Book Day this year, which all supports our campaign to make Manchester a reading city. We hope the exciting events with Rob Biddulph have inspired more children to enjoy reading, which we know can have an important impact on their success at school and in life.”

Schools involved in events with author Rob Biddulph:

Moss Side Powerhouse Library: Claremont Primary School
Chorlton Library: Chorlton CofE Primary School and Oswald Road Primary School
North City Library: Mount Carmel RC Primary School
Manchester Central Library: Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School, Temple Primary School, Cheetham Church of England Academy, Ravensbury Community School, Chorlton Park Primary, Cringle Brook Primary School, Abbott Community Primary School, Our Lady's Roman Catholic Primary School and Church of England School of the Resurrection.