Book Days, Weeks etc.

At various times during the year (in normal circumstances) there are celebration of all things literary in the form of Book Days, Weeks and the like., At such times one can sometimes wonder at some people's interpretation of the term 'Book'.

Among the requests we have received are 'Thing One and Two' (Dr Seuss - fair enough) and Pokemon. When we pointed out that this wasn't really a book character, the parent seemed to think that the fact you stuck cards in an album constituted a book!

On the wider scale, it is true that this year some supermarkets are featuring a range of good book-related characters (at prices we wouldn't be able make them for, even if we were allowed to - usual whinge). All the same, in the interests of economy (or perhaps laziness) many parents are happy to allow their offspring to toddle (/) off to the event in superhero outfits or even character sleep-suit onesies.

Some schools do make the effort to channel children's thinking along conventional lines, perhaps asking the student to bring a copy of the book that inspired their costume, but others just go through the motions, aware that parents resent the extra cost, and that the shops are increasingly looking to Book Day as another cash cow marketing opportunity...