This week, on Thursday, it's World Book Day. It's not something I've ever been directly involved in but we've all seen the newspaper, tv and social media items presenting children dressed as their favourite book characters, and heard of the struggles their parents faced in creating the costumes.
This year it seems that, due to the increased time and financial pressures we're all facing, there's less emphasis on the fancy dress. So a variety of other initiatives have been introduced to encourage fun, creativity and enjoyment through reading.
There's one easy and simple way to do this, of course, and that is to share enthusiasm - for parents to spend dedicated time with their child reading together, for teachers and other adults to show their unrestrained delight for particular titles.
From my own childhood I remember my mum reading Beatrix Potter stories to me before I went to sleep and at primary school the last period of the day would be spent with the teacher reading aloud from 'Stig of the Dump', 'Smith', 'The Children of Green Knowe' and 'A Wrinkle in Time'.
It's wonderful to see children discover a book that has unleashed in them a passion for stories and storytelling, which they will return to time and again, recognising that it has changed them in some way.
In recent years, leading a book group at a local primary school, I've seen that wonder and excitement in a number of books, notably 'Boy 87' by Ele Fountain, 'October, October' by Katya Balen and 'The Final Year' by Matt Goodfellow.
It's so important that we dedicate time and space for children to make these discoveries, and that we get alongside them to share our experience of all that books mean to us.
Thank you for reading.