Happy World Book Day!

It's World Book Day in the UK and Ireland today. Which kind of makes me think it's not "World" Book Day at all if it's only being celebrated in a tiny corner of the globe? (Kind of like the World Series in baseball.) But, in this case, totally willing to overlook that because BOOKS! Am I right?

So what is World Book Day? According to the World Book Day website: 

World Book Day is a registered charity on a mission 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. 

Tokens are given out in school and at bookshops to be exchanged for a selection of £1 books designated as World Book Day books, ranging from early reading books through young adult. The idea is to bring books home to everyone, and everyone can bring home a book. 

When my son was in primary school, World Book Day was an occasion for dressing up. Here he is as Skullduggery Pleasant in Year 4 or 5:

Now he's in Year 10 and dressing up isn't a thing anymore. Apparently neither is World Book Day, really. This makes me sad but I have to admit, I'm not unhappy to be trying to come up with costumes for a teenager who's over 6 feet tall. (Let's not even talk about the fact that reading isn't all that "cool" anymore, sadly, and even though my son does read, he'd hate acknowledging his recent favorite book almost as much as dressing up.)

Of course, there are loads of ready-bought costumes for younger kids available now. Kind of like Halloween part 2?

I admit, we always made our own World Book Day costumes. Some years were better than others. The Skullduggery Pleasant costume was so good my son wore it twice, although I'm not sure if he didn't just want an excuse to wear that mask.

Is it another stress on parents - this random day in March when suddenly you not only need to come up with a costume, but it needs to be book-related? AB-SO-LUTE-LY! My son wore glasses from a young age and there was definitely the year I threw a scarf around his neck and drew a "scar" on his forehead with lip liner so he could be Harry Potter.

But I have to admit, this one (stolen from Facebook this morning) is definitely my favorite:

If my son were still doing World Book Day, I'd be all over this idea. Just saying.

However you're celebrating World Book Day, I hope it's with your favorite book.