World Book Day 2020: Everything you need to know

On Thursday 5 March, thousands of you up and down the UK will be dressing up for World Book Day.

It's a big international event, started 24 years ago, celebrating books and reading.

Its aim is to give every child a book of their own (you can find out how it does this below).

It's organised by a charity and takes place in more than 100 countries all over the world, although some other countries actually celebrate it in April.

What is World Book Day?

World Book Day is the biggest celebration of its kind. The aim of it is to celebrate authors, books, illustrators and - of course - reading!

To help young people to do that, book tokens are given out at schools, including some nurseries and secondary schools.

Those who are schooled at home can also get the £1 tokens, which can be used in one of the thousands of bookshops and supermarkets which are taking part to get a book for free.

Around 15 million tokens are given out, which works out as one for nearly every child aged under 18 in the country.

This year, there are 12 books which can be bought with the £1 book tokens

How is World Book Day celebrated?

There are lots of different ways to celebrate World Book Day.

Many schools have special events planned for it - whether it's a trip to the local library, classroom displays of famous literary characters or book-themed activities in lessons.

Lots of children also dress up in costumes to go to school as their favourite characters.

Is World Book Day just about dressing up?

While that may be a very fun part of the day, it's not what it's all about. The main aim is to get young people to read and love books.

But it's still pretty great to go to lessons as Willy Wonka, Paddington Bear or Gangsta Granny!

Often schools will ask pupils who come in costume to donate money to a charity, such as Book Aid International, which means books can be sent to children in other countries.

Why do we have World Book Day?

There are lots of reasons that people believe that World Book Day is important.

Some children might not like reading or struggle with it, so it can be an encouraging event for them.

The day is designed to encourage all young people to enjoy reading

Others may not have their own books at home, so the tokens can provide them with an opportunity to get their first book. The World Book Day charity did some research in 2016 and found that for one in four kids, the book they bought with their token was the first one they owned.

It also found that the day inspired lots of young people to read more than they may already do.