Happy shopper ... a schoolboy reads. Photograph: Corbis
The public face of World Book Day (WBD) is the wonderful events up and down the country where readers have the opportunity to meet the authors whose books they love. Mostly, children are quite used to meeting their authors; for good or ill, children's authors are perforce entertainers too. They already spend much of their time engaging with their readers and building audiences.
But although the WBD events are valuable high-profile additions, the real and lasting value of WBD lies in the £1 book token that every child is entitled to receive. It may not seem like much, but these small gifts are making book owners and book selectors.
Even after 10 years of WBD books, the UK lies lamentably far down the international measure of children's enjoyment of reading, but I'd still pin hope on it. Book ownership and book choice are two strong factors in encouraging enjoyment of reading.
The first is already addressed by the Bookstart offers - an amazing and vital first step towards creating a country of book owners, by giving every child in the country a pack of free books. Families are of course grateful for these but these pre-selected books miss out a crucial second step to becoming a reader: choosing for yourself.
With a strong range of books available at just £1, children can just go for those, and have a taste of some of the already successful authors on offer - from Michael Bond's classic Paddington Bear to Dav Pilkey's more recent successful creation, Captain Underpants. Or, they can use their £1 voucher to go towards the cost of buying any book or audio book.
Either way, they have the chance to find a book, any book they like. There's no coercion about what it is and no testing of its purpose or impact. It really is just a book to enjoy. If that doesn't make readers, it is hard to see what will.
National Book Tokens, which sponsors this offer, and the publishers and authors and illustrators who give to it to make it work should all be hugely applauded for sticking with this neat scheme. Long may it last.
