Youngsters to enjoy World Book Day fun at Centenary Square, Bradford (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting TANEWS to 80360, or email
Youngsters to enjoy World Book Day fun at Centenary Square, Bradford
7:00am Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News
By Claire Armstrong, T&A Reporter
Getting ready for World Book Day are Aisha Bisma, five, from Princeville Children’s Centre with teacher Balbir Kaur and ‘Banana Man’
Centenary Square, Bradford, will be transformed into a jungle for a book-themed children’s extravaganza.
Children can ‘go bananas’ at a cooking event, explore a giraffe jungle or learn to dance like a wild animal at the fun day tomorrow.
More than 1,000 pupils from schools across the district will be converging on the square as Bradford celebrates World Book Day.
Also joining in the fun, from 10am to 2pm, will be the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Bradford, Councillor Dale Smith and his wife Margaret, along with other council bosses and dignitaries.
Throughout the day, children will take part in dance, poetry and reading in different coloured marquees, beginning with a ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’ session.
In the ‘Bananas at Bedtime’ marquee, Bradford Council bosses and councillors will read their favourite children’s stories to youngsters.
Those taking part include the Council’s chief executive Tony Reeves and Councillor Ralph Berry, executive member for Children’s Services.
Jane Arundale, who leads Bradford Council’s Reading Strategy, said: “Children who read succeed. The most significant part of a child’s mental growth between the ages of three and seven is the ability to imagine.
“Books boost imagination and all the children who have had the opportunity to take part in the World Book Day Event will remember their experience and understand how important books are.”
World Book Day aims to encourage children to explore the pleasure of books and reading by providing them with a book of their own. To mark the day, all school children are entitled to receive a World Book Day £1 book token.
The Book Token can be exchanged for one of eight specially published World Book Day books, which include Alfie’s Shop by Shirley Hughes, Giraffe’s Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees, Horrid Henry’s Guide to Perfect Parents by Francesca Simon and Tony Robinson’s Weird World of Wonders by Tony Robinson.
Children can exchange their tokens at the Centenary Square event.
