Wilson and Walliams among World Book Day 2017 authors

David Walliams, Francesca Simon and Jacqueline Wilson are some of the authors lined up to produce £1 titles for next year’s World Book Day.

The 10 official titles, which are sold via bookshops all over the country, are aimed at readers from pre-school to teen. For younger children, the selection comprises a Peppa Pig title, Peppa Loves World Book Day (Ladybird), Everyone Loves Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books), and Where’s Wally? The Fantastic Journey by Martin Handford (Walker Books).

Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks are providing the picture book Princess Mirror-Belle and Snow White (Macmillan Children’s Books), whilst slightly older children can pick up Horrid Henry: Funny Fact Files by Francesca Simon (Orion Children’s Books) and Good Old Timmy and Other Stories by Enid Blyton (Hodder Children’s Books).

For middle-grade readers there will be an as yet untitled book by David Walliams (HarperCollins Children’s Books) and Butterfly Beach by Jacqueline Wilson (Corgi), whilst teens have the option of Island by David Almond (Hodder Children’s Books) or Dead of Night: A Front Lines Story by Michael Grant (Egmont).

Readers in Ireland will also be able to buy Fast Forward by Judi Curtin (O’Brien Press).

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of World Book Day and the organisers are hoping to sell one million books to mark the event (last year that figure reached 789,738).

Baroness Gail Rebuck, chair of Penguin Random House UK, founded World Book Day in the UK in 1997. She said: “In 1997 the level of children’s engagement with reading was at a point of national crisis. The previous year a Government report had been released showing that 42% of 11-year-olds failed to achieve level 4 in reading and writing on entry to secondary school. We wanted to do something to reposition reading and our message is the same today as it was then – that reading is fun, relevant, accessible, exciting, and has the power to transform lives. I’ve seen first-hand how World Book Day has affected social change and long may it continue.”

World Book Day 2017 will take place on 2nd March. Children in the UK and Ireland will be given a £1 or €1.50 token from January to use in bookshops and supermarkets.