World Book Day!

Today is World Book Day! Don't you miss going to school and dressing up as your favourite book characters, spending the whole day talking about books and doing book based activities? I certainly do! I couldn't believe it when my youngest sibling, the only one still at school, said that she didn't want to dress up because she didn't care. Okay, so she may be thirteen but still. How could you not care? 

For me, World Book Day was always important. You got to express your love of books without being called a nerd and were given that special little voucher, which meant that you could treat yourself to a new book! I loved it, but that's probably because I loved reading and writing almost as much as I loved food, if not more. 

I can't remember a time when I couldn't read. I remember reading the basic Biff and Chip magic key books at the age of about four, but I don't remember struggling through them. I just remember reading, the thrill of moving up a reading level at school, so you could now take a book from the gold box, the ultimate box, rather than the white or brown or pink boxes. I used to go to the library and take out as many books as I could on one card and then struggle to walk home with them. I'd read after my parents turned the lights out in my room, either sitting under the curtain using the quickly fading natural light or using a torch until the batteries ran out. I'd read from the moment the sun rose, using the light from around 5am to race through a book before breakfast. Because that was another thing- I could read fast. I read through all five of the Spiderwick books in five hours. At the age of 11, this was quite something. But reading fast just meant I could read more. I have read more books than I can count. 

Of course, it was my love of reading that lead to my love of writing. Jacqueline Wilson was my favourite author, I had all of her books and had read them all ten times over too! I'd even gone to meet her twice (the total now stands at three times and she's read my blog!). Jacqueline Wilson seemed to be my other half. We both read when we shouldn't be reading, we both daydreamed all the time, we both loved to be creative and make things up and we both sucked at maths. So when I read about all of Jacqueline's writings, her journals, her plays, her first 'novels' as a child, I knew I had to write too. So I did. I wrote stories, paper magazines, fake diaries and countless real diaries, constantly writing until my hand ached. I even used to write out the UK top 40 every Sunday, list after list, writing it all down. If I wasn't reading, I was writing. 

So I have a lot to thank World Book Day- and I guess Jacqueline Wilson- for. As a paid writer now, an editor of my own magazine and a blogger, my love of reading and writing has not dimmed at all. Whilst I do read a little less than I used to, I write a lot more. The passion and love for the two still remains within me. World Book Day is such an important day, and for people not to celebrate it or to act like they don't care really upsets me. How can people not enjoy books, getting lost in worlds that don't exist, meeting amazing characters and having their heartstrings tugged on as they follow their journeys? It baffles me. Reading is so important. It helps people to learn new things, it helps people improve their reading and language skills and it also improves people's writing skills. 

When was the last time you sat down and had a good read? If it wasn't yesterday, you need to have an even longer sit down and read today to make up for that! Dig out your favourite book and get well and truly lost in it! I'll definitely be settling down at some point today with one of my four favourite books; Copper by Rebecca Lisle, Marshmallow Magic and the Wild Rose Rouge by Karen McCombie, Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates or The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. 

What are your favourite books? Let me know in the comments below! 

Happy World Book Day!

Love from,

Florence Grace

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