UK and Ireland celebrate reading this week

World Book Day 2008 in the United Kingdom and Ireland will take place Thursday, March 6. The origins of the day of celebration in these countries come from Catalonia, where roses and books were given as gifts to loved ones on St. George’s Day—a tradition that started more than 80 years ago.

World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. On this day a free book token is given to all school children in the UK and Ireland. The book tokens are for £1.00 in the UK and €1.50 in Ireland. They can be used to buy one of the books that are released especially for the day and cost the value of the token, or be put toward purchasing any other book or audiobook. In other countries World Book Day takes place at a different time of year, usually in April. For further information, visit the World Book Day website.