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.

I was so glad when my kids finished primary school and the endless dress up days ended. I’m crafty and can sew but I didn’t have much spare £ and it was always 11 Disney shop princesses, 11 footballers and my kids in something I’d cobbled together, broken a needle on the sewing machine and stressed about for a week. Then add in the dress as a Victorian urchin, dress as a Roman, dress as a Viking, comic relief ‘come in spotty clothes’. It was exhsusting.

@2mummies1baby that's why you give them access to the original stories.
Copies of traditional fairy tales and superhero graphic novels should be available in the school library for all to read if they want to.
(sorry.....I know you don't want my opinion 😂)

And this is why it should just have been kept as it was, a child taking in a book, and leaving out all the rest. Some parents do not have the resources to be catering to their child like that.

But Spiderman originated as a comic BOOK character, so what’s the issue with him?

Dressing up for WBD only became a "thing" when DD was in her last year at primary. She decided just to go in wearing jeans, trainers, t-shirt and jumper and said she was Tracey Beaker. The fact that she never went in fancy dress didn't detract from her love of books.

Only Fools and Horses is my favourite book too

I genuinely don’t mind world book day. I ask kids what they want to be in advance and we sort something out. This year eldest’s school isn’t doing it and youngest wants to be Hermione from Harry Potter (easy as we have some dress up already). In the past they’ve been the hungry caterpillar and cat in the hat, where we bought costumes; The princess from Zog, the dad from Fortunately the Milk, the rock (with snail) from the Snail & the Whale, supertato, Miranda from the book about the python in school and a who from
the grinch one, where we made a costume from stuff we had plus the odd charity shop find and they’ve each gone in a nightdress to be Sophie from the BFG which we didn’t need to do anything with. There are plenty of ideas for easy options if you don’t want to make/buy something. Ballerina as someone mentioned earlier, school uniform based outfits, a witch to recycle Halloween, normal scruffy clothes and a golden ticket to be Charlie. Still in the end it’s really just a fun day for the kids so if they want to be a tv character I don’t think it’s doing any real harm. I also don’t think dressing as a book character makes you more likely to read.

I hate the costumes. It's ridiculous. Just bring your favourite book to school. Nothing else is needed. Utter waste of time and energy

I honestly think everyone should dress as a character from Only Fools and Horses as a protest to release us all from the annual pain in the hole that is World Book Day.

For the first couple of years DS1 refused to dress up and I fretted that he was somehow 'missing out'. Then he decided to go all out. He would keep changing his mind about which character he wanted to be and I'd be running around at the last minute trying to cobble something together. One year he decided he wanted to be Aslan and DP, seeing my expression of wtf, took him down to a costume shop in town and bought him a lion costume. When we arrived at school the next morning the first thing we heard was some kid shouting 'Oh look! A DONKEY! Why is he a DONKEY?' Oh dear😅

I still do world book day as an adult. I don't tell anyone I just dress for work with a secret nod to a character. Think I'm going to be Matilda this year, blue dress and red headband. It amuses me for some weird reason . I did used to like it when the kids were little too, we used to like cobbling something together. Never spent much. But I'm creatively minded and we were all big readers. (Not that it did any good my 20 and 18 year olds.never pick up a book anymore even on holiday.)
Anyway even though I did and do enjoy it I can see it wasn't a level playing field. I think it's probably better just to.do.some reading and activities at school. Liked a pp's experience with the 101 dalmatians. Also contemplating a bit of del.boy sheepskin for next year!!!!

I think a little presentation or even a book review saying what you like about the character or why you chose them would make it more worthwhile- or maybe not I don’t know

My DC isn’t a big reader , one year their group of friends decided to dress up as characters from a somewhat obscure movie from a few years previous
My DC happened to have a book related to the franchise but hadn’t read it in years , I dug it out and got them to read it again and then managed to find a newer book that focused on the character DC wanted to be
one by one all the friends dropped out once they (and their parents ) realized how difficult and expensive the costumes were to find or even make but my DC insisted on still being the character anyway
DC had a good day , loved the costume we made but none of the teachers knew who they were meant to be and didn’t ask anything about the books
I had envisioned a scenario where the kid stands there with the book and says “I’m whoever from this book and I chose their character because “

younger DCs prefer animal or creature characters which are a pain to do because most costumes that look like a dragon or a hedgehog are onesies which are totally impractical for a full day of school ! And sticking spikes or wings on a hoody is all fine but half the time it ends up looking nothing like the character and no one knows who they’re supposed to be anyway 😂

that was a bit long winded I’m sorry , but I suppose if Del Boy Kid was to bring in a book featuring him and say “well here’s why I love this book” I wouldn’t have an issue with it myself

Lovely idea but who is paying for it?

Schools I've taught in don't have a library, just a little reading corner of books approved by the trust - we couldn't take donations or add to it at all! (One of the many reasons I left teaching tbh)

If a child who is at primary school now is going to be a professional writer in the future, they are probably as likely to be writing television or podcast scripts or comic books as they are to be writing novels. A child who can appreciate the language and humour in Only Fools and Horses is doing well.

I didn’t know kids read books anymore. Shame. Missing out on so much.

@user1487424951 the PTA of my daughters primary raised £100s so the school could buy more books and people donated books all the time.
Money was also raised to furnish the "library" (basically a multi purpose room) with some beanbags.

Reading is part of the curriculum in primary. There is a lesson separate to literacy which teaches reading comprehension skills.

Why can’t World Book Day be about introducing children to literature rather than some kid tipping up dressed as Superman. It’s all so lazy

@DaBlackCatsAreDaBestCats huh? Of course kids read books.
Strange comment.

@Needmorelego ooh that sounds lovely!! I'm jealous, our trust was like the gestapo, we weren't allowed to give stickers out either by the end either! Or plan our own lessons...ooh I'm getting cross now ignore me 🤣

@user1487424951 that's really sad. What a strange way to run schools 🙁

@DaBlackCatsAreDaBestCats why just "literature" ?
Graphic novels/comics are just as good as a way to read a story.
Some classic literature novels are as dull as dishwater.

@Needmorelego yeah I know! On paper the trust were brilliant and had great results/attainment. I think parents were very happy it was just the total lack of autonomy for teachers!

My school was taken over by the trust and pretty much all the staff left as it was a big difference! Anyway I'm worried I've derailed the thread so I'll 🤐😅 xx

Ours aren’t allowed to dress up but are allowed to bring a “prop” that goes with their story.

DC is taking a toilet roll. Done!

@Ελλe well I NEED to know what that book is.....😂

That's a great idea.