Put down your paperback and gather your kids around the computer screen, because this World Book Day (1 March 2012) the world's biggest book show is being streamed online. Meaning you can use your Plusnet broadband to interact with children's authors and illustrators like Julia Donaldson, Cressida Cowell, Eoin Colfer and Jacqueline Wilson. Read on for more about how you and your kids can use the internet and get reading online as part of World Book Day (1 March) and World Book Night (23 April).
Get online this World Book Day and …
- Find out more about your £1 book token As part of World Book Day, every child under the age of 18 who is in full-time education should receive a £1 token that can be swapped for one of eight specially-produced £1 World Book Day books. The vouchers are sent direct to nursery, primary and secondary schools. But you can use t'internet to visit the World Book Day website and find out more about each book before you make your choice and go to your local book shop to pick up your copy.
- Keep the kids entertained with official resources, games and videos Parents, guardians and teachers can all use t'internet to help keep kids - the bookworms of the future - entertained and learning. On the World Book Day website there's activity sheets to download, as well as games to play and 'story-time' videos to watch. And you can engage with World Book Day on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to find even more fun, child-friendly content. What’s more - it's all free.
- Stream the world's biggest book show, live This year, World Book Day is going online to deliver an online festival of reading that's been billed as the biggest book show on earth. Just register on the World Book Day website and you'll be able to watch famous authors and illustrators come together live and for the first time.Nursery and pre-school favourites Korky Paul, Lydia Monk, Alex Scheffler, Emma Chichester Clark, David Melling and children's laureate will be streaming from 9.30 - 10 am. And kids and teen favourites Jacqueline Wilson, Eoin Colfer, Derek Landy, Cressida Cowell, Holly Webb, Jeremy Strong, Nick Sharratt, Andy Stanton, Steve Cole, Chris Bradford, Antony McGowan and a mystery Roald Dahl representative will be streaming from 11am to midday.
Don't think it's just for the kids. Adults, go online for World Book Night as well
World Book Day might be geared towards kids, but grown-ups can get involved too - on World Book Night (23 April 2012). Each year, 25 titles are published in their thousands and distributed to volunteers or 'givers' who personally hand-out the books to members of their community, encouraging them to read and enjoy their free book. It's too late to register to be a giver for 2012, but that doesn't mean you can't get involved. Just read one of this year's books, and share your thoughts with fellow bookworms by following World Book Night on Twitter and Facebook or by joining an online book group at ReadingGroups.org.
E-reading - our hints and tips
- Struggling to set up your Kindle? Have a look at our handy guide on how to connect your Kindle to your wireless network and you'll be online, downloading and reading your first e-book in no time.
- Love reading, but stuck for spends? Try Project Gutenberg for free reads. They've over 36,000 e-books that are free to download - and you can download them straight to your PC, Kindle, iPad or e-reader.
- Too busy to read at your PC or on-the-go? Try Instapaper - it's a read later bookmark that grabs web articles you come across and adds them to a magazine for you to read later. And you can read your magazine on your computer, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Kindle or e-reader. And you can also try Quick Reads - super-short e-books that cost just £1.99 and have been written by big name authors and celebrities.
- Want to listen, rather than read? If you've got poor eyesight or you're too busy to sit down and read a page, you can have your e-books read out loud to you. Amazon Kindles can read out, publishing rights permitted. And you can use iBooks on any iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to read out load - just open your settings, turn on voice-over and tap the first line of text you'd like read aloud, swiping down the page with two fingers.
Will you be going online this World Book Day? Has t'internet changed the way you read? What do you think of the Kindle and other e-readers? Please leave us a comment and let us know … image originally by shutterhacks