World Book Day: Peterborough school kids take on city centre treasure hunt to find free books

Hundreds of schoolchildren from across Peterborough celebrated World Book Day today (Wednesday, March 5) by taking part in a city-wide treasure hunt which rewarded them with a free book.

The event, which was organised by Peterborough United Foundation and the National Literacy Trust, saw primary schools from across the region descend upon the city centre to enjoy a day of book-themed fun.

Organisers said they hoped the event would inspire a love of reading in the children.

“We’re bringing World Book Day out of the classroom and into Peterborough city centre – to make reading and choosing your own book an exciting and engaging event for all children,” said Becky Marrs, Manager for the National Literacy Trust in Peterborough.

Local schools took it in turns to take on the treasure hunt, which saw children and teachers trekking across the city to collect and solve clues hidden in local landmarks like Cathedral Square, Weston Homes Stadium, the Town Hall, the Lido and the Key Theatre.

Collecting and solving all of the clues enabled the children to assemble the ten letters required to spell out where their free World Book Day books were waiting for them.

Gavin Slater is the School Sports Manager at Peterborough United Foundation.

He said the club was “delighted to work with the National Literacy Trust again, for this year’s World Book Day.”

Using a treasure hunt to engage kids with reading in a fun, dynamic way is, he believes, a great way to get kids hooked on books.

“We were keen to support pupils in the city obtaining a reading book in an exciting way and also earn additional books for their school libraries, meeting club mascot, Peter Burrow at the Weston Homes Stadium in the process.”

The National Literacy Trust – which is an independent charity – recently commissioned a report which showed more than half of children in the East of England are not reading for fun in their free time.

The charity is hoping that its aim to deliver more than 1,000 copies of the £1 World Book Day books directly to children in schools and community organisations across the city, will go some way in reversing that startling statistic.