On the 25th World Book Day the Premier League and clubs inspired young people to read by giving 27,000 free books to schools via the Premier League Primary Stars education programme. The books are being given to primary schools across England and Wales via the 81 clubs that run PL Primary Stars in partnership with the National Literacy Trust. Brentford was one of the clubs involved.
Since Premier League Primary Stars started in 2016, 152,000 free books have been gifted to young people. The availability of books is vital for generating a love of reading as, according to National Literacy Trust research, children who own their own books are nearly three times more likely to enjoy reading. See more below.
World Book Day is an annual event designed to change lives through a love of books and shared reading. The mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own. On World Book Day this year there was also an online Premier League Primary Stars football and book quiz, featuring authors Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton, which had more than 65,000 pupils tuning in from across England and Wales.
World Book Day was created by UNESCO on 23 April 1995 as a worldwide celebration of books and reading. It is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. World Book Day 2022 was held on Thursday 3 March and the 25th anniversary was marked of the first World Book Day in the UK and Ireland, which took place in 1997.
The Premier League's Primary Stars scheme provides free, flexible and easy-to-use curriculum-linked teaching resources for schools. Using the power of football, the programme offers a host of free resources to teachers and pupils to encourage youngsters to learn, be active and develop important life skills. See more on the way Primary Stars and clubs marked World Book Day on the Premier League website here.