TWENTY years of World Book Day was celebrated at Sainsbury’s Amblecote this week as the store held a reading corner to encourage child literacy.

On Monday (February 27), the store hosted a Harry Potter themed reading corner, to mark the 20th anniversary of World Book Day – the annual event which celebrates authors, illustrators, books and reading.

Designed to encourage child literacy, Sainsbury’s staff members read extracts from Harry Potter to Year 6 pupils from Brierley Hill Primary School. The children then took part in a special range of fun and interactive exercises.

Teresa Allport, headteacher, said: “This was a great opportunity for our children and will inspire them into developing their reading abilities.

“We were thrilled to hear that our school was selected to take part in this special reading corner, which really captured the magic of World Book Day.”

The reading corners are an extension of Sainsbury’s ‘Make Believe’ campaign which aims to get children excited about reading.

Kevin Healy, Amblecote store manager, said: “Child literacy is extremely important and this was a fun way for the children from Brierley Hill Primary School to get involved with reading.

“Our Make Believe event is now so recognised by our customers and it was a privilege for our store to be involved in a reading corner this year.”