Fifteen new £1/€1.50 books are announced for World Book Day 2024
Ahead of the celebration on 7th March 2024, World Book Day has revealed the 15 new £1/€1.50 books as part of the charity’s commitment to encourage reading for pleasure.
The 2024 £1 World Book Day selection includes re-imagined classics, adventure tales, picture books and comic book and graphic stories, as the charity continues to create a £1 book line up that gives all children choice in what they read.
At the core of the charity’s work to change lives through reading is the opportunity for all children to have a book of their own. More than 500,000 children in England don’t own a book, which rises to one in 10 for children eligible for Free School Meals. Of these children, one in five shared that the book they ‘bought’ with their World Book Day token was the first book of their own.
Data from World Book Day’s Impact Report for 2023 revealed the charity’s considerable effect on the lives of children across the UK. In 2023, over 2 million £1/€1.50 books were gifted to children by booksellers and publishers. A total of 50 million £1/€1.50 book tokens were distributed by the charity through schools, magazines, and partnerships and more, ensuring that as many children as possible had a book to enjoy and call their own. There were opportunities for all to get involved with the festivities, with over 4,000 booksellers and 1,930 libraries joining in with events, displays and activities and over 560,000 children enjoying digital events in partnership with the National Literacy Trust and Book Trust.
As reading for pleasure continues to be the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than family circumstances, parents’ educational background and their income, World Book Day aims to reach communities, families, and children in areas of high deprivation and low literacy. To further boost its reach and impact the charity’s newly published strategy for 2023 – 2027 sets out how it will encourage more children, from all backgrounds, to develop a life-long habit of reading for pleasure, and benefit from the improved life chances this brings them.
World Book Day will continue to work with a network of partners to extend its reach and impact, including the National Literacy Trust, BookTrust, Read for Good, and Libraries Connected. Last year, these partnerships resulted in over 90,000 £1/€1.50 books given to children in areas of high deprivation and low literacy across the UK and Ireland, with the charity looking to expand on this success in 2024.
Cassie Chadderton, CEO, World Book Day said: “Encouraging children to love reading for pleasure is our charity’s mission. It’s vital we reach more children than ever, so that every child can benefit from the improved life chances that reading for pleasure brings. We are thrilled to announce an exciting list of £1 book authors for 2024. We are confident that these fun and inspirational books will spark children’s interest in discovering more books and reading for pleasure!”
World Book Day’s 2024 £1 /€1.50 books are:
BEGINNING
Greg the Sausage Roll: Lunchbox Superhero by Mark and Roxanne Hoyle (aka Ladbaby), illustrated by Gareth Conway, published by Puffin
Elmer and the Patchwork Story by David McKee, published by Andersen Press
Charlie McGrew and the Horse That He Drew by Rob Biddulph, published by HarperCollins
EARLY
InvestiGators: High Rise Hijinks written by John Patrick Green, with Christopher Hastings and Pat Lewis, published by Macmillan Children’s Books
Marv and the Ultimate Superpower by Alex Falase-Koya, illustrated by Paula Bowles and published by Oxford University Press
Dinosaur Club: On the Trail of the T.rex by Rex Stone (Jane Clarke), illustrated by Louise Forshaw, published by DK
FLUENT
The Amazing Edie Eckhart: The Friend Mission by Rosie Jones, illustrated by Natalie Smillie, published by Hachette Children’s Group
Onyeka and the Secret Superhero by Tolá Okogwu, published by Simon & Schuster
Loki: Tales of a Bad God by Louie Stowell, published by Walker
Can You Get Jellyfish in Space? by Dr Sheila Kanani, illustrated by Liz Kay, published by Puffin
INDEPENDENT
Creepy Creations by Jennifer Killick, published by Farshore
The Doomsday Date by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, published by Usborne
IRELAND
Inis Mara by Tristan Rosenstock, illustrated by Mark Wickham and published by LeabhairCOMHAR
The Curious Case of the Irish Yeti: Molly Malone and Bram Stoker by Alan Nolan, illustrated by Shane Cluskey and published by The O’Brien Press
WALES
The new Welsh-language £1 World Book Day book for the 2024 campaign will be announced in November 2023.