World Book Day smashes Guinness World Record

World Book Day today (3rd March) announced it has broken a Guinness World Record for the number of people taking part in a book quiz, as retailers, librarians and authors in the UK gear up to mark the annual event with events across the country.

The organisers behind World Book Day said 6,388 children and adults from 62 schools, libraries, bookshops and publishers took part in a quiz about children books, beating the previous record of 2,679.

Director Kirsten Grant: “I was so impressed to see how many organisations joined together to help us to break our record. Everyone loves a quiz, so it was great to see adults and children working in teams, sharing their knowledge – and, most importantly, having fun with books.”

Retailers across the UK will this week sell the £1 World Book Day titles, which include books by Juno Dawson and Mick Inkpen, as well as celebrate the day with activities for children.

A spokesperson for Waterstones said every shop has been encouraged “to do something special”, adding: “All have received the WBD display stand and many will also add extra displays and implement windows to mark the occasion. There will be a variety of events to celebrate World Book Day, ranging from activity days and dressing-up competitions to quizzes and school events.”

Foyles is organising a “giant colour in” session at its stores, whilst WH Smith shops are hosting storytelling sessions, store tours and book quizzes. The WH Smith Trust is also giving donations of £100 to hundreds of schools to spend on library resources.

In terms of other events, debut children’s author and Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy is joining Michael Rosen at the launch of The Big Write, the annual literature festival run by the Discover Children’s Story Centre in London. Hoy is then speaking to school children at the Old Town Hall, whilst Rosen is running a story session with children at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

The Mayor of London candidate Sadiq Khan will also be joining the Discover centre, to take a tour of the ‘Bear Hunt, Chocolate Cake and Bad Things!’ exhibition with a group of pre-school children.

Yesterday, Julian Clary hosted a storytelling session based on his new book, The Bolds to the Rescue (Andersen Press), on the Emirates Air Line cable car yesterday (2nd March).

Outside London, Brighton Festival is launching its Young City Reads 2016 programme, which this year will be based around Danny Wallace’s Hamish and the Worldstoppers (Simon & Schuster Children’s).

Royal Mail is also getting in on the act and has created a special World Book Day postmark, which will be stamped on the approximately six million pieces of post sent today.