To think this is ridiculous for world book day??

[Applescruffle]

Not the day but some of the ridiculous costumes. It's supposed to be a celebration of books and authors but aalli keep seeing every year is kids in superhero costumes or a character from their favourite film.
There's so many characters to choose from, why can't they choose an actual book? Something written as a book that the child has read and enjoyed.
I've just seen a costume that really takes the biscuit. A young, primary aged child dressed as.... Del boy. Yep, Del boy from only fools and horses.
Come on!!
I'm sure it's very funny and clever but it's not only a sitcom and very much not a book, it's an adult sitcom and very much not for kids.

As a book lover and children's author, I just find it a bit sad.

@10storeylovesong Jack and the Beanstalk. A few pretend beans in a pouch and some cardboard leaves stuck to him to represent the bean stalk. If you have a old toy cow figure or soft toy - put a label around the neck with "Daisy the Cow For Sale" and he takes that too.

Whilst I understand and sympathise with your position @Applescruffle ,unfortunately YABU.

Your vision for how WBD "should" be is based on a comfortable book loving family ideal which is certainly prevalent in a lot of places (especially where middle-class lifestyles dominate) but those aren't the children who most benefit from WBD. Those kids are alright. They already love reading and have engaged parents with time ro read with them.

The kids whose families don't already engage with books as an intrinsic part of their lifestyle and who don't already love reading are the most likely to be in a superhero costume and are the kids most in need of WBD. Expecting them to have already absorbed enough books to participate in WBD according to your ideals is putting the cart before the horse. They aren't there yet.

Fairytales weren’t author’s works originally. They’re from the oral tradition, only getting encapsulated on paper later. So not so far off Del-boy, who can now be found to in paper form too. The super-hero Spiderman, on the other hand, was first brought to us by Stan Lee in comic book form.

As a teacher, I absolutely loathe this crap. Several times I’ve suggested we drop the costumes (and have suggested alternative ideas) but no. I always get the kids to talk about their character and book. The two most facepalm conversations so far:

• who is your character?
• Scarlet O’Hara
• from which book?
• I don’t know, my mum told me to dress as her

• who is your character?
• Harry potter
• from which book?
• er…

He didn’t know one of the titles…

Because I teach UKS2 and they'd think I was a twat. 😂 It's the little ones who dress as Elsa and Spiderman. Feel free to offer this unsolicited advice to any KS1 teachers you come across on the internet!

@2mummies1baby why does it bother you then that the younger children are dressed as characters from traditional tales and comic books ?
Did you mean KS2 - as in the 7 to 11 year olds?
They would still be interested in the background of traditional tales and the history of comic books surely? I would have thought more interested at that age.

@2mummies1baby obviously I'm not a teacher but I don't understand why your school would do World Book Day but not actually teach/celebrate anything about characters and the stories and backgrounds they come from.

I’m annoyed because ours not only want a costume this year but also a story in a shoe box. I’m tempted to lob an actual book in a box and have done with it

@toomanyleggings point out to the school that very few shoes are actually sold in shoe boxes these days so your child won't be able to do this.
Also they can "want" all they want - but they can't make it compulsory.

what’s wrong with getting books from the supermarket or the works? Plenty of decent authors are sold in those stores. Not everyone can afford to spend £££ on books. Waterstones and usborne are massively overpriced imo.

Spiderman... That originated as a comic BOOK? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Costumes are ridiculous anyway. Take your favourite book in is the way to go.

I agree with you but dd hates going in empty handed so you get guilt tripped into all these things.

My school are very low-key on anything with costumes as a lot of parents can't afford it. They do book exchanges, competitions etc for World Book Day.

One year they suggested just bringing 1 accessory from a character. Eg a wand or a witches hat or something. (I sent my kid in with a brown label around his neck saying 'please look after this bear'. Job done! 😄)

No, I meant UKS2, which means Upper Key Stage 2- Years 5 and 6.

I recognise your username from another thread where you kept coming back at me, so I'm not going to reply to you any more, as I'm afraid I just can't be bothered!

I always dressed mine in what she wanted (book read or not).
I'm so glad she's in secondary now and I dont have to do this anymore!.
Costly and laborious and competitive for some parents.
Celebrate it some other way ..

What happened to the days when a child just took in their favorite book, and spoke a little about what it was about, and why they liked it? No stress for the parent, or expensive layout.

@2mummies1baby fine - you don't have to respond to me.
No I am not a teacher. No I don't really know what the curriculum actually involves fully... but I love books and the characters from books and I love seeing children excited by books.
I volunteered as a parent when my daughter was at primary - reading and accompanying the class to the local library.
Years 5 and 6 was the age many of the boys discovered comic books/graphic novels and would be really interested in a actual background history of DC/Marvel characters.
Perfect age to teach about it - and by "teach" I mean talk about it on World Book Day.
(I don't know what I have said to you in previous threads - I apologise if anything upset you)

I do know that, and I would love to believe children were reading the original Spiderman comic books, but realistically they have just seen the cartoons and films. And Elsa may be in many a book, but she originated as a film character, and I feel confident this is what most children associate her with.

But what if that mini Del Boy was undiagnosed autistic and he hadn't slept for 4 weeks since the school newsletter came out announcing World Book Day, because he was overwhelmed by all the excitement at school, whilst worrying about how uncomfortable a costume would be.
And his parent had spent hundreds of pounds buying different costume options online for him to try, but he just said "I don't know" until the day before when he announced he wanted to be Del Boy. So his parent had to take that afternoon off work to trawl the shops to find EXACTLY what he wanted.
And now he's gone in fairly happy (after the labels were cut out, obviously), and his parent (who also hasn't slept for 4 weeks because mini Del Boy didnt), has to queue up in the Post Office to send the other 15 costumes back, whilst worrying about whether he'll be OK or if he'll have a meltdown when he comes home.

We honestly don't know what anyone else is going through.

(Can you tell I'm slightly traumatised by World Book Day?!)

One in four children can’t read to the expected standard. If comics and cartoons are all they can read, then better to encourage them to be reading than dictating what is and isn’t acceptable in the eyes of some stranger.