Celebrate World Book Day 2025: Discover Free Events, Must-Read Books, and Creative Costume Ideas to Inspire Readers of All Ages!

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Children and young people can choose one of the specially selected World Book Day books, from prominent authors, as well as independent writers, for FREE with their £1 tokens

Click on the image to download a digital £1 book token.

World Book Day, 2025, is on Thursday 6th of March, and you can grab a free children's book from the 13th of February – 23rd of March 2025.

Quick Links: ▸ What is World Book Day? ▸ How do I get the free World Book Day book ? ▸ Where Do I Get The Books From? ▸ What Books Are On Offer?

What is World Book Day?

World Book Day is a registered charity that promotes reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own, which is a great way to get children more interested in the joy of reading. The charity offers children the opportunity to own their own book for FREE, with the hope that children from all backgrounds and those from lower economic households can develop a life-long habit of reading for pleasure, benefiting from the improved life chances this brings them.

Many schools get involved in the event, with book-themed activities taking place, to help promote the love of reading, including dressing up book characters for the day, usually in exchange for a donation to the World Book Day charity. World Book Day and Oxford Children’s have worked with the 2024 £1/€1.50 publishers on dressing up templates and ideas to create low-cost costumes related to the 2025 £1/€1.50 books. This information is in a pack for parents and is full of information. This pack can be downloaded here.

How do I get the free World Book Day book?

Children and young people can choose one of the specially selected World Book Day books, from prominent authors, as well as independent writers, for FREE with their £1 tokens. The tokens are distributed through schools, early years settings, and a range of children’s magazines to help children discover their new favourite book. You can also download a digital token HERE (It opens as a PDF). The Offer is valid from the 13th of February to the 23rd of March 2025, inclusive.

The restaurant chain McDonald's will be getting involved by including £1 book vouchers for the children to get a book for free on Happy Meal boxes.

The National Trust, are joining the fun for the first time, with a range of World Book Day celebrations taking place at up to 80 places across the UK.

Where Do I Get The Books From?

Once you have your token, you can go to one of the nominated retailers to pick up your free book. If you don't want the books on offer, you can use the token to receive £1 off a book, or audiobook of your choice, thats £2.99 or more.. Retailers include:

Most independent booksellers
Asda
Blackwell’s (selected stores only)
Sainsburys
Tesco
The Works
Waterstones
WHSmith

You can see all the participating retailer locations on this map. The tokens can only be used in physical shops and not online. You can also buy the books via Amazon. These aren't free but are available for just £1. You can view the 2025 World Book Day books on Amazon HERE

All the World Book Day £1/€1.50 books are available in braille, large print, and audio with help from RNIB, Guide Dogs, Calibre Audio and Vision Ireland. To find out more, click here.