The Beano has partnered with World Book Day to launch their Share A Million Stories campaign with a special edition comic created in conjunction with the charity, complete with a free £1 World Book Day token.
In this first-ever partnership between World Book Day and a comic, readers are called on to create their own stories with Beano’s ‘Story-O-Meter’.
Beano has partnered with World Book Day, the charity that encourages children to love books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own, (March 5th) to support their Share A Million Stories campaign for a special edition, out today. The one-off strip entitled ‘A Million Stories in One’, sees Dennis, enjoying reading and mashing-up classic children’s tales to entertain Bea and Gnasher, in the name of World Book Day. The charity is calling on kids and families to Share a Million Stories during World Book Day month (27th February – 29th March).
Alongside the special strip, Beano.com will feature a Story-O-Meter which provides kids with the building blocks to create their own stories. The online tool allows children to use millions of combinations of characters, objects and places to make their very own creations. Kids will then be asked to share their story with a member of their family or a friend so they can be added to Beano’s totaliser and World Book Day’s Share a Million Stories national total.
For over 80 years, Beano has had a rich heritage of championing stories and reading, using combinations of visual story-telling and funny stories to get children loving reading.
Research shows that parents reading with their children for as little as 10 minutes a day can make a significant difference to the child’s achievement levels[1] and shared reading has the single biggest impact on a child’s independent reading habits.[2] That’s why World Book Day is calling on everyone in the UK and Ireland to share stories for 10 minutes a day in schools, libraries, bookshops, at home, everywhere and anywhere, to Share a Million Stories together.
Children can use their £1 token to get a free World Book Day book or get £1 off any book or audiobook from tomorrow, Thursday 27th February. Everyone can help to smash the national target and log their story shares here: https://www.worldbookday.com/share-a-million-stories/. Over 400,000 children are already registered. There are loads of book prizes up for grabs every week of the month.
Emma Scott CEO of Beano Studios said, “We are so happy to have partnered with World Book Day this year. Whether kids are enthusiastic or reluctant readers, Beano has always been a great comic-leap in helping kids to find great joy in reading. With World Book Day and our Beano Story-O-Meter at Beano.com, we are getting kids to carry on their reading adventures, so they can make their own stories and let their imaginations run wild.”
Cassie Chadderton, CEO of World Book Day said, “We know that children love comics, and that children are more likely to read more when they can choose what they read. World Book Day is very excited to be part of the Beano world, with Dennis, Bea and Gnasher all getting involved to help us Share a Million Stories. We hope they’ll inspire many more children to use their £1 World Book Day book token to choose a book of their own.”
Dav Pilkey, author and illustrator of the Dog Man and Captain Underpants series said, “As a kid growing up, I have fond memories of going to the library with my mom who let me pick whatever book I wanted to read—including comic books—which helped me to associate reading with love, and led me to discover many other books from different genres. Reading without judgment was a turning point in my life and is what made me a lifelong reader.”