A Library for World Book Day

Well, World Book Day, or rather World Book Week has officially ended.

It all went pretty well. My dress with books on it was pretty and I enjoyed wearing it. A few children asked, “What character have you come as?” and I simply said, “I am a whole library,” and did a little twirl.

It did make me smile that around lunchtime, after the initial excitement had died down, I was finding props, discarded capes and children washing off face paint because it just wasn’t comfortable anymore.

I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say I dislike fancy dress.

Halloween Nursery

Friday morning was Summer’s and River’s dress-up day. The outfits were simple (and from books) and it all went surprisingly well, with just one little lie to help move the morning along.

“Good morning River.”
“I’m not going to Nursery.”
“I know.” (our little morning script)

“There’s a parade and there’ll be music and everyone will be in costumes.”
“I’m not going to Nursery.”

“You get to wear your skeleton costume and go as Funny Bones.”
“I’m not going to Nursery.”

Change tactic.

“It’s Halloween at Nursery.”

Pause. Thinking time.

“I want to go to Halloween Nursery. See my Halloween friends.”

I mean, it is a bit like Halloween. Lots of little kids dressed up and since Wicked there are witches everywhere.

Kike said he’s never seen him so happy on the school run. He skipped all the way there.

As we approached he was shouting out all the characters:

“IT’S THE GRUFFALO!”
“IT’S IRON MAN!”
“IT’S A WITCH!”

Everyone smiled. It was very cute.

When we entered the school gate he froze.

The Headteacher was dressed as Supertato. (Sidebar: I always thought it was Superpotato but was quickly corrected, by a child.)

River loves Supertato, especially the little online game, so he couldn’t quite compute why Supertato was standing in the playground.

He smiled but refused to move.

The Headteacher said, “Good morning River.”

He whispered quietly,

“He’s got Evil Pea.”

And indeed there was a small cuddly Evil Pea under his arm.

The Parade

I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Summer as she’d already run ahead to class, but it was fine, I was staying for the parade anyway.

I walked River to nursery and he was a little taken aback again when he walked in. His 1-1 greeting him dressed as a giant butterfly and lots of little princesses, cowboys and superheroes wandering around.

We stuck to his usual routine of going to the toilet when we arrive. He was very reluctant to take off his skeleton outfit but I just about managed it.

Then it was time to go.

I asked one of the teachers if nursery would be joining the parade.

She laughed. “Absolutely not. Can you imagine?!”

I was actually very relieved. I could imagine it and it would have been awful. Trying to walk nursery children round a large playground with loud music, lots of eyes and their parents waving…

So many tears.

If River had been in the parade I’d already made a plan to hide when he came past. I know that sounds mean, but he would never have just happily walked past waving and I needed to be there for Summer.

He said goodbye and ran off happily chasing Stickman.

The parade itself was great fun. I stood with one of my friends and we joked that it seems to get bigger and louder every year.

Music blaring, tannoy announcing, the whole school marching around while we clap and cheer.

Summer loved it.

And hearing Bad Bunny at 9:15am in a school playground is quite a fun way to start the day.

The SEND Debate

There’s been a lot of discussion online in the SEND community about World Book Day and whether schools should do it at all.

One local school has stopped dress-up days completely because they want to prioritise a consistent, professional appearance through uniform.

That feels a bit much to me. They are still just children.

There are also arguments that it puts pressure on families to buy costumes when times are already tight. But there are usually plenty of suggestions about using things from home or simple ideas.

(Spoiler: that wasn’t Summer’s jacket.)

Another concern is that neurodiverse children can struggle with days like this because it breaks routine. Teachers look different. Classmates look different. Costumes themselves can cause sensory overload — wigs, face paint, itchy fabrics.

Like I said earlier, even plenty of neurotypical children were abandoning their costumes by lunchtime.

As always, my take isn’t meant to be a definitive answer because, funnily enough, not all autistic people are the same.

For River, it was fine because we simply altered the narrative to fit his reality.

Meeting Him Where He Is

Summer was dressed as Daisy Wells from the Murder Most Unladylike series. (Her current special interest is murder mysteries.)

When she told River this he screamed:

“WEDNESDAY! SUMMER IS WEDNESDAY!”

Because that was her Halloween costume. I mean, they’re both school girls so he wasn’t a million miles off. She was about to protest when I gently said,

“Yes, Summer is Wednesday and River is Skeleton. Time to go to Halloween nursery.”

She rolled her eyes, understood the assignment and picked up her bag.

I’m hoping that in time we’ll be able to explain World Book Day properly and he’ might enjoy choosing a character. But if that takes a few more years, that’s fine too. We have plenty of Halloween outfits and luckily plenty of books to match them.

Or he can just go in whatever clothes he feels comfortable wearing, like I did.

Because inclusion doesn’t mean cancelling things because someone might struggle. It means being flexible enough to meet people where they are.

That might mean calling it Halloween Nursery instead of World Book Day.
It might mean letting someone stay in their skeleton costume.
And sometimes it means accepting that Supertato in the playground might take a minute to process.

Evening Routine

After school I was telling a colleague about our little lie and she reminded me that if River attended the school I work in, technically he could come dressed as a Skeleton every day. (We don’t have a uniform.)

I laughed but quickly added,

“There still have to be some boundaries.”

And on that note, I’m off to watch Scooby-Doo: Escape from Zombie Island for the eighth time this week. River’s latest safe programme.