World Book Day 2026: What are you dressing up as this year?

It's almost time for World Book Day.

That's right, the huge celebration of reading kicks off on Thursday 5 March this year.

Thousands of children in the UK will join in the celebrations by dressing up as their favourite book characters, as well as reading and talking about their favourite books.

So, we want to know who you'll be dressing up as this year.

Let us know in the comments below, and you can find out more about World Book Day below too.

In the UK, World Book Day is celebrated on the first Thursday in March.

This is because the official date for it - 23 April - usually falls during the Easter Holidays for most UK schools.

World Book Day is celebrated by 100 countries all over the world. Unesco - a worldwide organisation that encourages people to enjoy art and culture - choose it as a special day to celebrate reading.

Unesco organised the first ever World Book Day on 23 April 1995. Two years later, people in the UK and Ireland got their first official World Book Day.

World Book Day was created to celebrate books and reading. In the UK, the focus is on encouraging children and young people to read for fun.

The aim is for children to be able to get together and celebrate a love of reading.

This year, World Book Day takes place during the National Year of Reading 2026, and the motto is 'Go All In'.

"Go All In, is all about diving deeper into the things you already love through reading. Whether you're passionate about football, animals, space, fashion, gaming, history, music or making people laugh, books can bring your interests to life in exciting new ways."

On World Book Day, children can get a £1 token from National Book Tokens Ltd.

These can be spent towards a regular priced book, or used to get one of the World Book Day £1 books for free.

There's 16 different £1 books to choose from, at different reading levels,

Children have until 15 March to spend their tokens, and they can be used in bookshops and supermarkets across the UK, so there is plenty of time.