2 March 2023
Local MP champions World Book Day

Jonathan Djanogly, MP for Huntingdon, is today celebrating the importance of reading for pleasure to help mark World Book Day, and this follows his attendance at their parliamentary drop-in earlier this week.

Every year, World Book Day creates bespoke £1 books for children and young adults across the UK and Ireland, to help promote the power of imagination and the importance of reading. Through World Book Day, every child in Huntingdon is given a £1 book token, which they can take to a bookshop or supermarket to get their free World Book Day book

Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income. However, reading for pleasure is at its lowest level in 18 years and many children have limited access to books. 500,000 (one in 15) children in England aged 8–18 say they do not own a single book, which rises to one in 10 for those eligible for Free School Meals. One in five pupils receiving Free School Meals said that the book they ‘bought’ with their World Book Day book token was the first book of their own.

Commenting on World Book Day, Jonathan said:

“It is a pleasure to be supporting World Book Day in their important work across the country, including here in Huntingdon. It is vital that every child and young person has the opportunity to have a book of their own that they have chosen for themselves, and I am delighted to be able to share my own passion for reading through World Book Day’s campaign.”