By Community Correspondent Anita Chagar

Its origin lies in Spain, when a single rose was given in exchange for a book between two lovers, in honour of the death of Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes and in celebration of Saint George’s Day. But now it’s gone global. To mark the 13th year of World Book Day in the UK, Lampton School in Hounslow stopped the clocks at 12.40pm on Thursday 4th March to make to time to read a book.

Over 1000 school members took part, with hundreds of books being read by each of them, including the popular books by top children’s author Jacqueline Wilson, the equally as popular Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and true classics such as Great Expectations, Little Women and Alice in Wonderland, recently released in cinemas.

One year seven student spoke about their experience of the event: ‘I’ve been reading the book Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler so I brought that one in to read when the clocks stopped. It’s about a girl called Ivy who goes to a restaurant with her boyfriend, Tristan. But then there is a car crash, and Tristan dies. Ivy once believed in angels, but after the crash she stops believing. However, Tristan turns into an angel and meets another angel called Lacey, who was an actress. So far I’ve got to the part where Tristan has to find out the mission he has to take – I can’t wait to find out what it is! Hopefully, with my £1 book voucher, I can buy the newest Jacqueline Wilson book called Little Darlings. It looks really interesting!’

A year eight student contributed their thoughts to the day: ‘The book I read for World Book Day was Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian. It’s the latest of five books written by Rick Riordan and the first one, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, has been in the cinemas for a while too. It’s all about the main character, Percy, who is the son of Poseidon. To be the son of Poseidon is a great deal because he is known as the Lord of the Seas and is very powerful. Percy has to protect New York from all the Greek monsters and titans. The opposition leader was his old friend but he has to kill him to save everyone. I would like to use my £1book voucher on another book by Rick Riordan, which is called Percy Jackson and the Demigod Files.’

So what do these pupils think of World Book Day and reading itself? ‘I think that World Book Day is an excellent way to encourage people to read, when reading a book, you learn about other people’s experienced and use your imagination to create a world the author wants you to make,’ says the year seven student. And the year eight student thinks that ’World Book Day is good because not many kids are reading and reading is very important for learning and finding out new things’.

Teachers from the school also had some comments to make about the day: ‘It was fabulous finding students and staff everywhere buried in a book and the pin drop silence- what bliss! The event was more than we hoped for with so many people being able to join in and enjoy the reading experience,’ Penny Randhawa, the schools librarian said.

English teacher Nasir Dawood said, ‘Stop the Clocks was effective in that everyone had to stop and think about the importance of reading. World Book Day is an excellent celebration of books, literature and reading. It creates a bigger awareness for students and staff to think about reading and the value it has in our lives. On the day, I read Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a truly amazing book!’

So which book will you find yourself reading next March for next year’s World Book Day? For more information about this year’s event visit http://www.worldbookday.com/index.asp